Positively Leaky Lemon Chicken

I first made this dish a while back and forgot to start taking pictures until I was more or less ready to toss it in the oven.  It was a huge success with the hubby though, so I knew I'd be making it again and getting a second chance to share. 

Leaky Lemon Chicken

Once again I found this lovely via foodgawker and when I went back to find the post I realized its from the same Chicago lady as my  Strawberry scones!  Just another reminder to go back and read your favorite foodie blogs and you never know what you'll find :)

You'll need:

3.5 - 4 lb chicken

2 lemons

salt and pepper

assorted veggies for baking. 

I used 1 red onion, 1 leek, 3 carrots and a handful of potatoes.

Start by rolling your lemons until they are nice and soft.  Then pierce them all over with a knife, like you would a potato for baking.  Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Wash and dry your chicken then shove both lemons into the cavity, being careful not to rip the skin. 

Now, the only tricky part, find some kitchen twine or prongs to close the opening.

I broke a kabob in half and used that.  It worked great. 

For my veggies, I cut a red onion in half, made some slits to loosen the half and placed them in the corners to roast.  

I also cut up a leek to add extra flavor to the potatoes and carrots. 

My pan, ready for the carrots and potatoes.

Once you've chopped all the veggies and added them to the pan, add the chicken, breast side down and add salt and pepper. 

Bake for 30 minutes.  Then turn the chicken, being careful to not rip the skin and turn the oven up to 425 degrees.  Bake for another 40-45 minutes, or until the chicken is done.  

You'll note that I did NOT add any olive oil or other liquid to the pan, that's because the lemons explode with juice!  Check out that drop on the leg.

And all the juice remaining in the bottom of the pan.  All the veggies were roasted through with a great lemony flavor. 

As the skin roasts, it creates air pockets, on both legs of mine there was a large bubble bursting with lemon juice.  Once the chicken is done, be very careful when removing the lemons, they are still very full of juice and might burst if punctured.  They're also really hot!

Add some Sam and you're all set!

You are NOT going to Believe this!

I grew up reading, pretty much anything I could get my hands on.  Encyclopedia Brown, Judy Blume, Boxcar Children. The list goes on, and on and on.  One of my favorite just made the news - and the news is FABULOUS. 

SWEET VALLEY CONFIDENTIAL

Remember Jessica and Elizabeth? and the dramatic and daring life that was Sweet Valley High??  Well its back!  I cannot even fathom the hours I spent reading this series, at home, at school, even curled up at the local library lost in their world of boys and flirting and edge of your seat adventures.  I think, besides MKA, whom I adore, these might have been my favorite twins ever. 

I'll be honest, this isn't a book I'm going to run out and buy ASAP, but some lazy summer afternoon you might just find me curled up in a comfy chair at my local borders delving into the scandalous affairs of these two lovely ladies.  Just for old times sake :)

p.s.  I loved Elizabeth best, what about you?

Strawberry Success

Spring is here and so are strawberries!  Lately my local store has been offering them 2 for 1 and every time I pass by I have to grab some.  Growing up, I really didn't appreciate the fabulousness that is berries.  Our house in Iowa had a giant raspberry bush in the backyard that exploded every summer leaving my Mom frantic to find storage in the freezer for all the berries and during high school my Dad built a strawberry patch and we had fresh wild berries.  I completely ignored them.  What a waste!  Now that I'm awake to the wide world of amazing food, I'd kill for a nice little bush or patch to grow tasty things in.  My new apartment however, isn't very garden friendly and I think I'm going to have to settle for a topsy turvy.  Sad, I know.  

My lemon poppyseed muffins sat quietly on the counter all week and no one ate them :(  I was too busy scarfing down the lemon curd and J decided (without telling me) that he wasn't a big fan.  So this weekend when I was feeling bakey I decided to make something I KNEW would get eaten.  Even if it's all by me. 

Strawberry Lemon Scones.   

All weekend, I wandered into the kitchen looking for something to snack on while I was reading with my cup of tea.  I really wanted to make some homemade biscuits, but I didn't have all the ingredients and really didn't want to head to the store.   Scones were the next best option and they didn't disappoint.  I followed this recipe, from What's Cookin, Chicago? and it was easy, quick and rather messy.  Just how I usually bake :)

Check out her blog for all the details, here are a few pictures of the mess I made!

These took maybe 15 minutes to mix together and only another 15 to bake.  I maybe made them before dinner....and then ate 2!  Sometimes, dessert first is just how it has to be. 

Lemon Poppyseed Muffin Madness

J must have walked into the kitchen a million times on Saturday when I was making the lemon curd asking me how it was going, commenting that it smelled great etc etc.  He knew it wasn't for him and he has this annoying way of making me feel guilty for baking non-friendly items.  Luckily, when all was said and done, I had 2 zested lemons left over and 1 left ready to be zested.  I knew I wanted to make Lemon Poppyseed muffins, I've been drooling over pictures on foodgawker for weeks now.

Before Saturday I'd never taken the time to look at any lemon poppyseed muffin recipes.  Every recipe I found had some combination of eggs/sour cream/buttermilk.  All of which J can't have.  Substitutions are hard, and I'm still figuring out what I can and can't do and still have the food turn out well.  My usual strategy involves subbing applesauce for the eggs.  I have no plan for sour cream/buttermilk and most of the recipes called for 2-3 eggs.  Thats a lot to sub in.  J loves cranberry orange muffins, and they're pretty easy to sub, I just add more OJ instead of milk but I wasn't sure I could do the same here and for that matter I was out of OJ.  I was almost in a panic when I remembered that I had recently picked up some ground flax seed from Whole Foods.  I'd been browsing in the Gluten-free aisle back when we thought J might be allergic to gluten and one of the bread mixes called for ground flax seed.  My solution was right there on the bag.   1 tablespoon flax seed mixed with 3 tablespoons water makes a great egg substitute! 

I admit it looks gross.  But it works!   I eventually settled on recipe that called for 2 eggs and only 3/4 cup of buttermilk, figuring that would be the easiest to sub in.  Here is what I did:

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

adapted from Playing House blog

Ingredients: 

2/3 cup granulated sugar
zest of 1 lemon

juice of 2 lemons
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup water
2 ground flaxseed egg equivalents (2 tbsp flaxseed mixed with 6 tbsp water, let sit for 5 minutes)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 stick (8 Tablespoons) butter, melted until browned and cooled
2 Tablespoons poppy seeds
1 Tablespoon powdered sugar

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

 Combine the granulated sugar and lemon zest. 

Mix until the zest is incorporated into the sugar, it should smell great and get slightly sticky. 

Add the flour, baking soda and powder and salt to the sugar. 

In another bowl melt your butter. 

Add the vanilla, egg or flaxseed, water and lemon juice. Don't forget to juice your lemons in a separate bowl so you can strain out the seeds!

Add the wet to the dry and mix. 

When its almost completely mixed together, add the poppyseeds and fold into the batter. 

You may have to add more water to get the right consistancy depending on how juicy your lemons are.  My batter came out just right, which I thought was pretty amazing.

Fill your muffin tins, I never remember to buy the paper liners, I just spray in a little Pam. 

Add a sprinkle of powdered sugar to the tops.  I added too much and some of it wasn't absorbed.  Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden.

 The original recipe called for a frosting or glaze as the finishing touch but J isn't a fan so I left them as is.  See how my powdered sugar stayed put?  J complained. I loved it.

Lemons for Everyone!

The weather may not be shouting Spring yet (well actually today its supposed to be almost 70! and rainy but until this weekend it was still very much Winter) but my food cravings certainly are.  All I want is lemon.  Last week I threw together a last minute chickpea and lemon stir fry and this weekend I went a bit lemon crazy.  Saturday I spent the afternoon making lemon curd, lemon meringues and lemon poppyseed muffins, so the boy had something to snack on.  Sunday I made a fabulous lemon mustard asparagus and red potato salad to go with our grilled sausages. Everything turned out fabulous. 

Lemon Meringues with Lemon Curd

I'd previously made meringues before, they're really the only thing I know how to make when I have lots of egg whites leftover from some other project.  This was my first time making lemon curd though, and I was surprised that it was soo easy!  I'm still tracking down how long its good for in the fridge, any ideas? but I know this batch will disappear so quickly it won't matter. :)

Lately I've been forgetting to take pictures of my kitchen adventures until I've already dug in and gone several steps.  The lemon curd was no exception, it was right about here when I remembered I wanted to document the process.  I followed this recipe exactly, check out her blog because her pictures will surely make you crave lemon curd too! 

My beautiful yellow curd setting in the fridge. 

While my curd was setting I checked out recipes for the 5 leftover egg whites sitting on my counter.  This is what I found: 

Lemon Meringue Cookies by Joy the Baker

I took half the egg whites I had leftover and decided it was ok to throw out the rest. 

I whipped them, until they were nice and fluffy. 

Then I slowly started adding the 2/3rds cup of sugar and dash of salt, continuously whipping while combining.

Keep mixing until you have stiff peaks.

Then add 1 teaspoon each lemon zest and vanilla. 

Fold in with a spoon.

Joy had a fancy piping bag that's now on my "find for the kitchen" list but I just used a spoon to create small dollops of meringue.  It's not near as pretty but it tastes just as good!

Bake the meringues at 200 degrees for 2 hours. 

Let them cool completely and then eat!  Joy made her's into cute little oreo-like cookies and froze them for about 20 minutes, which I totally want to try but I haven't been quite patient enough yet.  These are definately not J friendly so I've been dipping them straight into the lemon curd and its soo good!

Lemon curd is also great on fresh strawberries, toast and pancakes.  J laughed at me all weekend for my "plowman's breakfast" of strawberries, blackberries, toast and pancakes all with lemon curd. It was worth it.

Oh the ball...

Well J and I got all dolled up and went to his ball, which was actually much more of an awkward law review filled cocktail/buffet hour full of stuffy law kid speeches and some really bad dancing at the end.  We had a blast, and my outfit rocked.  Before we left I had J take a couple pictures but stupidly forgot to look them over before we headed out the door. 

He clearly didn't understand what I was looking for. oh well.  The earrings ended up being my favorite piece from the outfit and they were an Etsy find! 

earrings from Edismiles

I'll have to work on the boy and his camera skills.