Where did my infant go?

A Study in Lemons

The tap water in my city is wretched. WRETCHED.  I've lived in the city for years now, and I can not get used to it. I'm also tired of buying water by the jug, trying to remember to buy a new filter for the water pitcher, and wondering why the snap on filter that attaches to the faucet has to be so stinking expensive...but I digress...

I grew up in the country drinking well water, and it was truly the nectar of the gods. There may have been all sorts of "bugs" in it. But they were tasty, tasty bugs.

In looking for enjoyable fluid solutions I revisited homemade lemonade. I had been drinking the Kook Aid 20-cent-per-pack version, but once I went homemade again (after literally years of ever having homemade) I just can't go back. I even went wild and picked up some 38 cent limes to do a little lemon/limeade version.

Lemons: Round 1, 

Lemonade (2 quarts)

1 cup sugar (more or less to taste)
8 cups of water
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (roughly 2 lemons)

Mix the sugar and 1 cup of water in a 2 quart pitcher until sugar is dissolved. Add the lemon juice and fill the pitcher with the remaining water. Taste and adjust accordingly. Refrigerate.

I like mine a little less sweet and will do 3/4 cup of sugar. If you add lime juice you may want to go ahead with 1 cup of sugar.

Lemons: Round 2

I had a couple of bananas that had reached the perfect "blackness" for bread making, so I tried my hand at adding a little lemon zest to the batter just for kicks. I had seen this addition in a "Joy of Cooking" recipe, and since I never had lemons on hand, I just pretended it wasn't part of the instructions.  

"Zesting" anything is not something I am even remotely practiced at, so with a fine grater in one hand and a trusty lemon in the other, I would gently swipe at the yellow skin, check the grater, find there was just minuscule amounts of zest and go back to step one.  This went on until almost all the yellow was off the lemon. In the back of my mind I could hear the voices of every Food Network personality saying "don't zest the white pith, it will be bitter." Each time I looked at the grater there were just tiny pieces stuck to it. I stood there a moment very confused, then remembered to look down into the batter bowl. And there was my lovely banana bread batter covered in lemon zest. The recipe called for 1/2 tsp. Surely the zest of one lemon was equivalent...maybe...sort of...not really.

My "banana" bread was moist, cake-like and oh so lemony.

Quick Lemon-Banana Bread

1-1/2 cups of self rising flour
1 cup sugar
6 tablespoons of butter (room temperature)
2 large eggs
Zest of 1 lemon

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a non-stick loaf pan (adjust temp to 325 if using glass). Cream the butter and sugar together until well combined and smooth. Add eggs one at a time until each is incorporated; add lemon zest; and then add flour 1/2 cup at a time until just combined. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool slightly, then remove from pan.

Lemons: Round 3

 So after the bread, I had a zested lemon that need to be used ASAP, and since it was time to think about dinner, lemon chicken popped into my head. There are a 1001 recipes for lemon chicken out there. I just opened my cabinet and searched for what I thought would work.

Lemon Chicken:
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
Juice of 1 lemon
3 large chicken breasts, boneless/skinless

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place chicken in resealable gallon plastic bag (or just in a shallow bowl), combine the remaining ingredients and pour over the chicken. Seal the bad and massage it around, making sure the marinade gets in every crevice.  Marinate for 20-30 minutes. Remove from bag and into lightly greased baking dish. Salt and pepper the chicken again. Bake for 25-30 minute or until you reach an internal temperature of 160 degrees. Remove from oven and cover with foil and allow to rest for 5 minutes.

My side dish did not have a drop of lemon in it, but I was pretty proud of how it turned out. I was inspired by a rice dish I had eaten in New York many years ago, and by a recipe I had on hand. Since I had none of the exact ingredients for either, I just winged it.

Happy Rice
One pouch of boil-in-bag rice
1 tablespoon salt
Small snack size box of raisins
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice

In 2 quart sauce pan, cook rice according to package directions adding 1 tablespoon of salt to the boiling water. After rice has cooked and is removed from water, turn off the heat and throw in the raisins. Empty rice into mixing bowl and add butter, salt, pepper and pumkin pie spice. Mix until incorporated. Drain raisins and add to the rice. Mix and enjoy.

I think it only fair to point out that the only person that was happy with the rice was me. My daughter wouldn't eat the chicken or the rice, and my husband wouldn't even try the rice. I was unphased, especially since I had gladly eaten half of it and gave the other half to my Labrador and lab-chow mix, Ellie and C.C. I think they enjoyed it as much as I did.