When Life Gives You Lemons....

Actually, this post should more accurately been titled, "When Your Dad Forces You To Take Home All the Lemons..." (Right, Lora?)

Sometimes, my Pop gets it in his head that something has to be done and you have to do it right away.  A few weeks ago, he got it in his head that the lemon tree in his yard was overburdened with lemons.  So he insisted we pick them all and take them home.  Seriously.  He did.  My parents live in Ventura County and if you didn't know this, Ventura is known for it's citrus.  Bam!  Look at these suckers!  They are so ridiculously juicy.  I don't think they are Meyer lemons, but they could be because they are sweet while still sour.  Or they could just be amazing Ventura lemons.  If you work with me, then you've received some of these suckers.  One lemon goes a looooong way.

I happened to make these suckers today:

It's such a nice day today and I thought lemonade would go really nicely with my bacon and leek quiche (you can find the recipe here).  The Indian LOVES lemonade too and since I had about 10 pounds of lemons from my pop's yard, here we go!

All you need is love....well, and bacon.

Just kidding.  But not really.

All you really need for this is:

1 cup of sugar 

as many lemons as you need to get 1 cup of lemon juice

water

THAT'S IT!!!

So I like to use this kind of sugar:

I like it because it's unrefined.  Just like me!  HAHAHA.

But you can use any kind of sugar you want.

You could just dissolve 1 cup of sugar in 1 cup of water....But that takes FOREVER.  So just make a quick simple sugar syrup by heating 1 cup of water on your stove until it's boiling and then mixing in 1 cup of sugar.

Stir it around, remove from heat.  Boom!  Simple sugar syrup.

Mine is this brownish color because I used unrefined sugar.  If you used refined, white sugar then your simple syrup will be clear.  Did ya notice that with one cup of water and one cup of sugar, you end up with MORE than one cup of simple syrup?  Yeah.  Science.  Pretty cool stuff.

I use this jug that I got from AmazonSmile.  I support University Camps (UCLA UniCamp.  Learn more about them here)...Shop AND make a difference?  Pshhh.  No brainer.  

Here's the side view of the mug.  I love this one because it's square.  I use it for iced coffee too.  

The jug is made by Bormioli Rocco and it's the 2 liter size. 

I poured my simple syrup into the jar and let cool.

So now I take these bad boys...

Cut in half.  Pretty, yes?   I don't need to roll these against the counter.  They are super juicy and easy to juice. You should roll your lemons, pressing down hard with the palm of your hand if they are kind of hard.  It makes it easier to juice.

The Indian bought me this and I never used it before.  Here goes!

Wow. That was easy.

Can you believe only TWO lemons gave me over a cup of juice?  Yeah.  I know.  Super Lemons.

I poured the fresh squeezed lemon juice into the pitcher with my cooled simple syrup.  I guess I should admit that "cooled" is kind of exaggerating.  I never have the patience to wait.  It was more lukewarm/warm side than cooled. Whatever.  It's fine.

Then I added 4 cups of water to the pitcher.

I put the top on.  It's airtight.  I love it.

I chilled in fridge.  

When I was ready to eat my quiche, I poured over ice and garnished with an Oxnard strawberry.  

Ever have one of those?  They are divine.  They taste like they've been rolled in sugar. 

You can add as much or little water as you want.  Taste as you go along.  I know my lemons are sweet and super tasty so I can add a lot of water and it won't taste watered down.  Taste yours as you add water so you don't end up with watery lemonade.  And yes...this is sugar, but more importantly this is vitamin C.  So there.

I'm gonna go pig out now.  Bye!

This is realllllllllllly good with a (BIG) splash of vodka too.  Just saying....

Can Cauliflower Pizza Crust Be Done?

As I was typing the title of this post, I shot back a few decades and for a hot second (no pun intended, since it was 92 degrees on this fine March day) I was back in Brother Hinger's middle school science class writing up my lab experiment for homework.

And sidetrack, this just happened as I laid down to type this out:

HAHAHAHAH.  Apparently I make for a good place to rest.

Back to this science food lab experiment...There's been a lot of posts online about using cauliflower to make pizza crust. I'm interested in the lower carb aspect, but I also LOVE cauliflower-interest peaked.  Big time. The Indian also LOVES pizza.  Me?  Not so much.  Every once in awhile, but not all the time like he does. So maybe he'd eat this....So while this ISN'T my recipe,  I thought it might be worthwhile to try and make it and blog about how it went and how it turned out.  Can it be done?  Will it taste good?  Will it be soggy?  Dun, dun, dun! 

So my hypothesis is this:

I think this has the potential to be amazing, but given that there are so many unknown factors, this could be a big mess that I will end up having to use a spoon to eat.

That's not a real hypothesis you say?  Well, I'm not a real scientist.  Ha.

I looked up several different recipes and decided to go with a little bit of everybody's recipes and used this combo.

The crust:

1 head of cauliflower.  A Big one.  Go Big or go home...

2 eggs

1 cup of mozzarella cheese (low moisture, part skim)

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (just plain old Kraft)

black pepper

garlic powder/Italian seasoning of your choice

Also, you'll need a pizza stone OR large baking pan plus oil OR parchment paper

All the recipes start with raw cauliflower either being grated or put into a food processor.  I chopped my large, washed cauliflower into large pieces and I started out using this grater, 

And it was a hot mess.  The cauliflower was crumbling everywhere and I was getting more on the floor and all over the counter than through the grater.  Plus, I'd get down to the end of the cauliflower and start shredding my fingers.  Some recipes called for not using the stalk, but I like that part too.  I was ready to give up.

I don't have a food processor so I just decided to use my blender.

This was SOOOOO much better.  I mean the cauliflower "rice" was getting everywhere and I had to stop and dump out the chopped up cauliflower when the blades got stopped up, but I think it worked out fine. Again, there was still cauliflower rice everywhere, but it was manageable.  I was so obsessed with not getting cauliflower everywhere, I didn't take any pics.  But just pulse a few big pieces at a time in your blender, dump out, start over until you've pulsed/chopped all your cauliflower.

I dumped it all into a large bowl and microwaved for 10 minutes.  

While that was cooking in the microwave, I wiped down the counters, swept the floor and washed the cauliflower confetti off the blender.

After the cauliflower "rice" was done cooking, I grabbed this dish towel.  I chose this one specifically because it's woven but has no "shag".

Like this one is shaggy and I imagined the cauliflower would stick to it. So I did NOT use this one.

I used a muffin pan and laid the kitchen towel on top of it.

Then I poured out my hot, cooked cauliflower "rice" on top. 

 I thought it would cool faster if it was not directly on the counter.

It looked like a barbie king bed.

While that was cooling.  I took my pizza stone and heated in the oven at 450 degrees,

Don't mind the circular marks on it....It started it's life at my house as the base for my birthday beer cake...

After the cauliflower was cooled enough, I carefully pulled up the sides like this:

The bottom of the towel was damp, so I'm guessing the towel was already starting to soak up excess water from the cauliflower as it was cooling....or maybe it was steam...I dunno.  That sounds like some spooky science stuff.

I called over the Indian because he has bigger and stronger hands than me.

He was able to wring out over 2/3 cup of liquid.

Nice.

I dumped the cauliflower back into the bowl and it fell nicely out of the towel with very little sticking to the towel. Ta-Dah!  It's like magic.

It looked like this:

I fluffed it back up with a fork and also took the opportunity to mash up any larger pieces I found.  It was super easy since the cauliflower was all soft.

Then I added 2 eggs, 1 cup of mozzarella cheese, 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese, black pepper and Italian seasoning....I have to confess...I used one packet of Italian seasoning that came with some Papa John's pizza that the Indian had ordered a week ago.  Oh well.  It works.

I mixed it up using my hands.  I divided the cauliflower mixture into two even portions.  I worried a little bit here because with the egg being added in, it felt wet again.  But there was no turning back now.

I cut a piece of parchment paper and laid one portion of the cauliflower mix directly on to it.

I flattened out as evenly as I could while using my fingers to smooth the edges. 

I picked it up by the corners of the parchment paper and quickly placed it on the pizza stone.

I baked for 20 minutes and it came out looking like this!

Pleasantly surprised!

I added some spicy pizza sauce (tomato paste, a little cauliflower water to thin, crushed red pepper)

A little more cheese, grape tomatoes and bacon.  I didn't put a lot of cheese on it because I generally don't like too much cheese and there's cheese in the crust.

I baked for about 5 more minutes while the cheese melted.  Then I took out and sprinkled with arugula.

It cuts like pizza...

You can hold it and eat it like pizza...

So here's the verdict....Totally do-able and tastes like pizza on regular dough, albeit kind of a chewy dough.

Confession: I was disappointed at first because I thought it would taste like cauliflower....And I don't really think you taste cauliflower...But I guess that's the point.  And guess what?  The Indian wouldn't even try it.  I forced him to take a tiny bite and he claims it tastes like cauliflower.  Whatever.  

I baked off the other portion to make another crust.

Lora-Guess what we're having for lunch tomorrow...

**Update:  

The cauliflower crust held up really well overnight.  I had feared that I would wake up to goo, but it kept it's integrity and can still be cut and picked up for eating.  For the second crust, I opted NOT to sauce.  I LOVED it.  I just did easy cheese, pineapple, arugula and bacon.  This worked so much better for me since I'm a big fan of cauliflower in general.  The whole point was to make a lower carb option for the Indian and with the sauce, it really does taste like doughy crust pizza. 

 But without the sauce, the flavor of cauliflower and cheese was more prominent so in my opinion the sauce-less option was a winner for me.

Left Over Saag Paneer Egg Quiche

So this is kind of an interesting post for me.  I didn't actually make the Saag Paneer. But I guess it's a creative use of leftovers to make another dish.  Kind of like using a can of refried beans as a short cut.  I don't know.  Maybe I'm just babbling.

This is how I use leftover Saag Paneer.  I adore Indian food.  The Indian doesn't like Indian food.
(HAHAHAHA.  That sounded funny).  He likes Chicken Tikka, samosas and Tandori Chicken, but not the curries or dishes I like.  So when we eat Indian food, I'm on my own for most dishes.  After 2 or three days of eating leftovers, I get kind of tired of them.  So this is what I came up with for Saag Paneer left overs.

For those who aren't familiar with Indian food, Saag Paneer is a curried spinach dish.  Essentially, it is like creamed spinach but curried and has a great flavor.   I started thinking about spinach quiche and thought why not?  So this is how this kicked up spinach quiche idea came about.

 I like the idea of fusion food.  But sometimes, one of the two sides gets lost in the fusing.  I think that when you take two really dynamic flavors and try to mix them together, you risk one of those flavors getting lost or muted.  So i LIKE the idea of fusion, but rarely find fusion food that I really enjoy.  This is one of the fusion dishes that I think comes out pretty well.  Since quiche is pretty mild, it doesn't compete with the Saag Paneer.  It just kind of gets kicked up a notch.  I'm also a huge fan of Thai Chicken Prik King quesadillas...I'll have to post that soon.

Here's what you need for the party:
1-2 cups of leftover Saag Paneer
3 eggs
onion or leek
milk or cream

I happened to have some leeks on hand so I cleaned and washed one stalk thoroughly.  You can use onion if you'd like or none at all.  You can read about how I wash leeks here.  Take care when washing leeks or you'll be eating dirt and that's no fun.

I chopped them into even slices.

Over medium heat, saute your leeks with olive oil.  Season with pepper.

Add just a little bit of seasoning salt.

When the leeks are soft and translucent.  Turn off heat and set aside.

In a large bowl, I crack three eggs.

I add just a splash of milk and whip up with a fork.

Then I added my leeks to the egg party.

Now I add my leftover Saag Paneer.  This was about 2 cups.  This is the most leftover Saag Paneer I've used.  Usually it's closer to about 1 cup.  I guess I just got left over-ed out faster this time.  It made the quiche much greener than usual, but still delish.  I guess I could have used more egg to make a larger quiche, but the point is to use up leftovers....not create more food to then have as leftovers....right? Then I'd have to come up with something to do with the quiche that is left over. Oy.

I whipped it up.  It looked gross.  AHAHA.

I opted not to use a crust for this and poured directly into a pie pan.

I snapped this pic because I was amused by how much it puffed up.  Sorry for the quality of the pic.  I snapped it through the window on my oven because I knew it would fall when I opened the oven door.

This is what it looks like after being baked on 375 degrees for 40 minutes.

I've also used more eggs and less Saag Paneer before.  It all really depends on how much I have left over.  I've also poured the batter into muffin tins and made individual egg muffins too.  I like to serve these with a side of home potatoes.

Aaaaand you guessed it.  The Indian won't eat this either.  So I'll take it to work and share with my friends.   

Oh and by the way:

Leftover vs. left over

The one-word, unhyphenated leftover is usually an adjective preceding the noun it modifies (e.g.,leftover pasta). When it follows the noun it modifies, left over is usually two words (e.g., there’s some pasta left over). Leftover also works as a noun, usually pluralized (e.g., save the leftovers). 

Learning stuff.  It's cool.