Oh-Merciful-Heavens-Hot-Fudge Sauce (Sol's)

6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream (whipping cream)
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 cup sifted cocoa
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

In a large saucepan, heat the butter and cream over medium heat until the butter is melted and small bubbles form around the edge of the pan.

Whisk in brown sugar and corn syrup. Continue to cook until the mixture is smooth and no grains of sugar remain. Add the cocoa, vanilla and salt. Whisk again until smooth. Strain mixture through a fine sieve. The sauce will keep for several weeks.

Hope all is well with you and the family. I've been absent for awhile but hope to be here more often now.

David

Here is a link that might be useful: Pineapple cake recipe

Green Goddess

1 cup good mayonnaise
1 cup chopped scallions, white and green parts (6 to 7 scallions)
1 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoons chopped garlic (2 cloves)
2 teaspoons anchovy paste
2 teaspoons kosher salt (I skipped)
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup sour cream
3 heads Bibb lettuce
2 to 3 tomatoes

Place the mayonnaise, scallions, basil, lemon juice, garlic, anchovy paste, salt and pepper in a blender and blend until smooth.

Add the sour cream and process just until blended. (If not using immediately, refrigerate the dressing until ready to serve.)
Cut each head of lettuce into quarters, remove some of the cores, and arrange on 6 salad plates.

Cut the tomatoes into wedges and add to the plates.

Pour on the dressing and serve.

/tricia

The problem with most, if not all, the so called SAD lights, they are lacking in intensity.

You may want to look into:

The highest wattage balanced daylight CFL bulbs on Amazon.

Daylight metal halide lights more than 250 watts, pr3eferably with digital electronic ballasts.

dcarch

Lemon Yogurt Cake
2006, Barefoot Contessa at Home, All Rights Reserved

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
1 1/3 cups sugar, divided
3 extra-large eggs
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

For the glaze:
1 cup confectioners' sugar (I use 1/3 c confectioners sugar)
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (I use 1/3 c lemon juice)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 1/2 by 4 1/4 by 2 1/2-inch loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease and flour the pan.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into 1 bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, the eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula, fold the vegetable oil into the batter, making sure it's all incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Meanwhile, cook the 1/3 cup lemon juice and remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.

When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While the cake is still warm, pour the lemon-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in. Cool.
For the glaze, combine the confectioners' sugar and lemon juice and pour over the cake.

Meyer Lemon Pudding Cakes

1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup sugar, plus additional for ramekins
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2-3 Meyer or regular lemons
3 large eggs, separated
2 tablespoon butter or margarine, melted and cooled
1 cup whole milk
1 pint raspberries, for garnish
Fresh mint sprigs, for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease eight 4- to 5-ounce ramekins; sprinkle with sugar to coat bottoms and sides. Shake out any excess.

In small bowl, whisk flour, 1/3 cup sugar, and salt. grate 1 1/2 tablespoons peel and squeeze 1/2 cup juice. In large bowl, with wire whisk, beat egg yolks and lemon peel and juice. Whisk in butter and milk. Gradually whisk in flour mixture.

In another large bowl, with mixer on medium speed, beat egg whites until foamy. Gradually beat in remaining 1/4 cup sugar until soft peaks form when beaters are lifted, about 2 to 3 minutes.

Add one-third beaten whites to yolk mixture and, with rubber spatula, stir gently until incorporated. Gently fold in remaining whites until just incorporated. With ladle, divide batter evenly among prepared ramekins.

Arrange ramekins 1 inch apart in large (17-inch by 13-inch) roasting pan. Fill pan with enough hot water to come halfway up sides of ramekins. Carefully transfer pan to oven and bake 30 to 35 minutes or until cakes are golden brown and tops rise 1/2 inch above rims.

Cool cakes in pan on wire rack 5 minutes. With sturdy metal spatula, carefully remove ramekins from pan with water and transfer to wire rack to cool 15 minutes longer.

Run thin knife around edge of 1 ramekin. Place small serving plate on top of ramekin and invert plate and ramekin together; remove ramekin. Repeat with remaining ramekins. Garnish each cake with a couple of raspberries and a mint sprig; serve warm.

Lemon Butter Bars
Source: Land-O-Lakes

Crust
1 c AP flour
1/2 c butter, softened
1/4 c sugar

Filling
3/4 c sugar
2 eggs
3 T lemon juice
2 T AP flour
1 tsp grated lemon peel
1/4 tsp baking powder

Powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350F. Combine all crust ingredients in a small bowl. Beat at low speed, scraping bowl often, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Press into bottom of ungreased 8x8-inch square baking pan. Bake 15-20 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.

Meanwhile combine all filling ingredients except powdered sugar in small bowl. Beat at low speed, scraping bowl often until well mixed. Pour filling over hot crust. Bake 18-20 minutes or until filling is set.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar while still warm and again when cool. Cut into squares.

Makes 16 bars.

Lemon Curd Bars
Source: Midwest Living December 2006

1 c unsalted butter, softened
1 c sugar
2 c all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 10-12 oz jar lemon curd
2/3 c flaked coconut
1/2 c sliced or slivered almonds, toasted

Preheat oven to 375F.
In large mixing bowl, beat butter with electric mixer 30 seconds. Add sugar and beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Add flour and baking powder, beat until combined and mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Reserve 2/3 cup of crumb mixture, and set aside. Press remaining crumb mixture into bottom of a 9x13 pan. Bake 5-8 minutes, or until golden. Remove from oven, spread lemon curd over crust, to within � inc of edges of pan.
In bowl, mix reserved crumb mixture with coconut and almonds. Sprinkle over the lemon curd. Bake for 18-20 minutes more or until edges are golden and topping is browned.

Cool and cut into squares. Makes 32 bars.

Linda

The best thing for most extracts is actually full-strength Everclear - I think that's something like 180 proof. Well, actually the best thing is pure lab-grade ethanol, but who has access to that? (Well, I did - 35 years ago when I was working for a medical school in the labs, they got it by the drum for cleaning surgical instruments).

My state prohibits the sale of full strength Everclear and rigorously taxes what little they do allow. You can't buy 151 proof vodka here (or at least I've not been able to find it) and the weaker strength Everclear cost me $20 - that's almost twice what a bottle of full strength Everclear can be had for online.

Oh well. Next time I'm in a state that isn't stupid about liquor laws, I'll look for some real Everclear. Its not like I'm going to drink the stuff, I just want to make some lemon extract, LOL!

I buy the beans at Penzey's because we have one relatively close, but you can get them on line or at bigger grocery stores with the rest of the spices.

They usually "soak" about 2 months before the extract is ready to use, more is fine.

Any size jar you want, most places I've seen says 3 vanilla beans to a cup of vodka.

Cut the beans in half lengthwise, leaving them attached at the top inch or so. Put them into a pretty sterilized jar, cover with vodka, shake. Let it sit a couple of months and you have vanilla extract.

When you use some, you can just top it off with more vodka and give it a shake, but I like to add fresh beans now and then. I've been using that bottle Ilana gave me regularly, I just keep "topping it off".

Annie

Caramelized Red Onion Relish

2 large red onions, peeled
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup dry red wine
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/8 tsp each salt and freshly ground pepper

Slice onions into very thin slices. Combine onions and sugar in a heavy non-stick skillet. Cook, uncovered, over medium-high heat for about 25 minutes or until onions turn golden and start to caramelize, stirring frequently.

Stir in wine and vinegar. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to low and cook for about 15 minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporated, stirring frequently. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Remove jars from canner and ladle relish into jars leaving a 1/2 headspace. Process in water bath canner for 10 minutes for half-pint jars.

Copied from: http://www.sbcanning.com/2010/11/carmelized-onion-this-is-prize-winner.html

I've been spending the hot afternoons making Wonder Ovens (aka Wonder Box - a form of thermal cooking) for Christmas (see link below).

Your recipe for homemade mayonnaise made me think of my mother. I don't think my parents bought a jar of mayonnaise until I was a teen in the late 60's - it was always homemade. If you ever are concerned with using raw eggs, you can pasteurize it/them first by bringing the egg/s to 140-degrees F in a pan of hot water, and maintain the temperature for 3-1/2 minutes. Place in cold water to stop the cooking process. It's enough heat to pasteurize the egg, but not enough to completely cook it so you can still use it "raw".

Lots of raw whole foods these days (but that's normal all year round) - especially with the garden producing. Cooling fruit or homemade fruit sorbet for dessert. Lots of homemade sprouts to use in wraps and on sandwiches now that it's gotten too hot to grow fresh greens. I also have a lot of pre-cooked meat, soup and chili in the freezer in user-friendly amounts we use when it's hot (cook once, eat twice - or more). Frozen seasoned steak strips or chicken for hearty dinner salads or a head start on a stir-fry, or quick Mexican entrees. Pulled pork has all kinds of uses.... I portion it in snack-bags and then vacuum-seal it in a FoodSaver bag. Add some bbq sauce and a homemade burger bun from the freezer and top it with shredded cabbage (also from the garden). I baked some new (homegrown) potatoes in the Solar Oven the other day, reheated some chili (formerly frozen) in the Solar Oven as well, to top the baked potatoes for a quick meal along with sliced fresh vegetables from the garden. Chili also makes a quick Taco Salad.

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: Wonder Box

It bakes very well in loaf pans. I usually bake off as muffins for just the two of us.

Multi-Purpose Quick Bread (see the end of ingredient list for variations including zucchini)

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla
1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple
2 cups prepared fruit or vegetable (instructions follow)

Apple Bread: Peel, core and shred 2 med. apples to make 2 cups total.
Banana Bread: Mash 3 bananas to make 2 cups total.
Carrot Bread: Peel and shred 2 medium carrots to make 2 cups total. Stir in 1 tablespoon reserved pineapple juice.
Sweet Potato Bread: Peel and shred 1 medium sweet potato to make 2 cups total. Stir in 1 tablespoon reserved juice.
Zucchini Bread: Shred 2 medium zucchini to make 2 cups total.

Combine flour, soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and nuts; set aside.
Beat eggs lightly in a large mixing bowl; add sugar, oil and vanilla. Beat until creamy.

Drain pineapple, reserving juice if called for in instructions for specific fruit or vegetable.

Stir in pineapple and prepared fruit or veg.
Add dry ingredients,stirring only until moistened.

Spoon batter into 2 well-greased and floured 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pans.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean.

Cool 10 min. before removing from pans; turn out on rack and cool completely.

Yield: 2 loaves

/tricia