Meyer Lemons in January

Lemon Parfait.

I'm always happy when I see Meyer Lemons for sale in the early winter, and this week I grabbed a bag of them at the grocery.  Meyer Lemons are a cross between a regular lemon and a mandarin orange and are a wee bit less tart than the regular lemon.  Before deciding how to use them, I replaced the Christmas centerpiece in the dining table with the Lemons and oranges.  The pretty yellows and oranges brighten up cold winter days.

A sunny centerpiece of Meyer Lemons and oranges. 

As it would happen, I fortuitously received an email from my favorite food blogger https://www.italianbellavita.com/2017/02/mini-meyer-lemon-parfaits/ with a recipe using Meyer Lemons to make a lemon parfait.  You can check out the recipe on her blog.

Meyer Lemon parfait. 

I was expecting guests on Sunday, so I made these for our dessert.  I used small dessert bowls rather than the mini parfait glasses that Roz used.  For the cookie crumb layer, I used Trader Joe's Meyer Lemon Cookie Thins

A bouquet of yellow flowers on the table added a sunny ambiance to the day.

Meyer Lemons certainly can brighten up a cold winter day!

Marzipan From Scratch

Marzipan candy made from scratch.

At Christmas, I frequently buy marzipan for certain friends and family.  This year I decided to make marzipan from scratch  As it turns out, it is very, very easy and much less expensive than store-bought.  And fun to make!

There are only four ingredients: almond flour (ground almonds) 1 cup, confectioners sugar 2 cups, light corn syrup l tablespoon, and almond extract 1/2 teaspoon.

You sift the almond flour and the sugar into a large bowl until they become well combined.

Sifting almond flour and sugar together.  

Mix the corn syrup and the almond extract together and add to the dry ingredients.

Almond extract and corn syrup mixed together. 

Slowly add water working into the mixture using a fork at first and then as it becomes dough-like, mix with your hand.  Use no more than 2 tablespoons of water and add the water very slowly.
When you have a smooth dough, roll it into a smooth log and wrap it tightly with plastic wrap.  Refrigerator for at least an hour before using it.

Rolled into a log ready to wrap and refrigerate. 

After the log had chilled for an hour, I rolled some of it into small balls that I dipped in melted chocolate and rolled into cocoa, finely chopped pecans, or coconut.  I was testing to see what kind of candies I wanted to make using the marzipan. I liked them all, and I was pleasantly surprised that the ones that were rolled in cocoa were my favorite.  Now that I have finished a trial run, I am ready to make lots of candy.

Ready to coat with chocolate and other trimmings. 

Marzipan candy read to eat. 

Aside from being coated with chocolate, marzipan is often shaped into various figures, including fruits and vegetables that look life-like.  Perhaps I shall try that next year.

Marzipan candy made like fruits and vegetables.
 Photo by https://www.ehow.com/how_2313223_make-marzipan-fruit.html

A Dairy-Free Chicken Casserole

Creamy chicken casserole without the cream. 

Since I have become dairy intolerant, I have to avoid cream, milk, cheese, yogurt, etc.  Yesterday I was hankering for a creamy casserole so I googled and found this recipe.   I tweaked it just a bit.  I halved the recipe for a serving of four. And I eliminated the yeast (simply because I did not have any, but apparently that would have given the recipe a cheesy flavor plus a dose of Vitamin B.)

Removing the strands of noodles from the spaghetti squash. 

 I halved a small spaghetti squash and cooked it in the microwave for about 8 minutes.  When it was cool enough, I scraped with a fork to remove the strands of squash noodles and placed them in an 8x8 deep casserole dish.

Spaghetti noodles in casserole dish. 

Instead of baking the four boneless chicken thighs, I poached them.

Poached chicken thighs. 

For the sauce, I assembled 1/2 cup of basil (from my garden), 2 cups of fresh spinach, and a 13.5 oz can of artichoke bottoms chopped coarsely.  Must not forget the 1/2 cup of Duke's mayo.  Mix all the sauce ingredients and mix in with the spaghetti noodles.

Chop spinach and basil and mix with chopped artichoke and mayo. 

Cut the chicken thighs into large chunks and thoroughly mix with the rest of the ingredients.  I refrigerated the casserole and when we were ready to eat, I placed the casserole in a 400 degree F oven for 15 to 20 minutes until it was heated through.  I garnished with leaves of basil before serving.

This certainly satisfied my craving for a "creamy" without the cream chicken casserole.  Next time I shall use the yeast for a cheesy taste.

If you must avoid dairy, you might enjoy this casserole.  It is delicious!