First signs of spring

Spring is here! This year it came for me with a first fragrant lemon Meyer bloom. Welcome, March and sunshine!

Lemon Meyer curd recipe

Our lemon Meyer tree is full of fruits this year and it is time to harvest them. They are not storing very well, even in a refrigerator so I am trying to find the ways to preserve and enjoy them year-round. I made some delicious marmalade yesterday (will share the recipe later) but today I'd like to share the lemon curd recipe.

Lemon curd is delicious and is great on toast, scones or cake. It can not be stored for very long since it has the eggs in it so plan to use it within a week. It does not have any preservatives so it should be kept refrigerated all the time. My friends love it, so I don't have any problems with homemade gifts from my kitchen :)

This recipe was published originally in Good Housekeeping so I tried it once and have been making it ever since. I tried to use stevia instead of sugar for a healthier treat but I do not like the result so I am going to stick with sugar in this one. You will get approximately 2 cups of lemon curd from this recipe.

Here is how to make this:

The ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar

3 large eggs

6 table spoon butter

1 table spoon lemon Meyer peel, grated

2/3 cup lemon Meyer juice.

pinch of salt

You will also need a stainless steel 4-qt. saucepan, blender, whisk and 2 pretty jars.

Combine all ingredients but butter in a blender and blend just until smooth. Cook it on medium low setting for approximately 15 minutes. Do not boil. Add butter after about first 5 minutes of cooking.

Stir with your whisk all the time while cooking.

Transfer to a prepared clean jars. Let it cool, cover and refrigerate to chill. Enjoy!

Candied lemon Meyer's peel

As I mentioned in my previous post, I had lots of lemons this winter and was looking for an easy way to store them for future use. So I froze the juice and used the peel to make a candied lemon peel. All you need is sugar, water and of course, a lemon peel ( I am using a lemon Meyer one and just love how thin and fragrant the skin is).

 Here is how I made it:

 

1. Clean your lemons with warm water and wipe them dry. Cut in half horizontally and juice them, using citrus juicer. Strain the juice through fine mesh colander and pour into prepared ice cube trays. Save the peel.

 

2. Cut the half lemon peel into quarters. With a flexible knife, remove the inner white lining and discard it. Cut the lemon peel into long skinny strips. Pack it in the prepared measuring cup (I am using 2-cup measuring cup as a measure) .

3. Heat 4 cups of water until it boils. Add 2 cups packed lemon peel, reduce the heat and cook about 5 to 7 minutes. Remove the peel with a slotted spoon and set aside.

4. Add 4 cups of sugar to the water, increase the heat and cook until the sugar dissolve, constantly stirring. Add the peel, boil about 1-2 minutes, then reduce the heat to medium low and cook for about 40 minutes, stirring from time to time.

5. Remove the peel out of the syrup with a slotted spoon and transfer it on to prepared cookies trays lined with a parchment paper.

6. Let it air dry for a couple of days. I am tossing mine from time to time to make sure it will dry well. If it feels dry enough, it's time to store it.

I am using a glass jar with a vacuum seal and storing my candied peel in the refrigerator. The leftover syrup can be used also so I just sealed it in jars and put it the refrigerator.

Citrus harvest

Winter for us is a citrus harvest time. This year we were so lucky to have our  first harvest of lemon Meyer.

I quickly found out that they do not store well, even in refrigerator, so besides giving them away I was looking for some recipes. As always, the dilemma is how to get a healthy food without adding too much sugar. I've tried several great recipes and loved them all but I was looking also for a longer storage life also.

I have not cooked with stevia yet so I've decided to juice the lemons and freeze it in the ice cube trays. The skin was so thin and fragrant that it was pity to throw it away, especially knowing that it is full of vitamin C. So I made a candied lemon peel with it. After it was dried, I was surprised to see that the whole harvest fit into one jar!

Everyone loves it. We are storing it in refrigerator and using it as a snack. It was easy to make and really a great way to use the whole fruit. I will share the recipe in my next post.

Our winter garden

We had a very warm winter this year so no wonder that my garden is happy. I am picking up cherry tomatoes and bell peppers for our salad right from the bush.

We just harvested our yearly 5 (!) oranges (the orange tree is still a baby) and our lemon meyer tree is in full bloom. Everything in our garden was planted not too long ago so we are pretty happy with how it is turning out.

(Some of the ingredients for this incredible :) art work were happily stolen by our forever-puppy little dog during a photo session and was eaten quietly in a far corner. Bad girl.)

I am already preparing the soil for the spring planting and finding some great seeds to plant. Light gardening makes me happy and I love to take a pictures of our plants! This year I even used some of the pictures to make some new photo cards.

Oh, and the little colorado spruce.

It seems to be happy in the spot it is at and looks like it is going to make some side branches!