Cheese, Glorious Cheese!

We opened up a special, much anticipated gift this Christmas Eve.

Our 4 pound wheel of jalapeño gouda! It was flavorful, but not spicy. The kids were asking for second and third slices!

It is 7 weeks old and absolutely delicious! SO worth the 7 hour process and the 7 week wait.

To say I was nervous about trying this first homemade cheese is an understatement.

I was elated to find that the taste and texture actually exceeded my expectations. Now I'm even more excited about the cheddar that is the same age and needs a few more months before it will be ready.

Eating my own homemade cheese was just the motivation I needed to get another batch going this week. Now we just need to decide what type to make.

Lemon Bars

Lemon Bars

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 cups lemon curd (recipe here)

2/3 cup flaked coconut

1/2 toasted slivered almonds (optional)

Preheat over to 375.

For the dough:

Cream butter and sugar. Add flour and baking powder and mix until crumbly. Use a stand mixer or a pastry blender.

Pat 2/3 of the dough mix into a 9x13 casserole dish. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes. Remove and cool slightly.

Decrease oven temp to 350.

Spread the lemon curd on the slightly cooled crust.

Sprinkle on the last 1/3 of the dough mixture and the coconut (and nuts).

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes (coconut will appear toasted).

Cool before serving.

Lemon Curd

I never knew that lemon curd was so easy to make. My sister Natalie combined elements of several different recipes to come up with this one over Thanksgiving. This microwave method is so simple and fast. And the curd is YUMMY! It lasts for 3 weeks in an airtight container.

1 1/2 cups white sugar

3 eggs + 2 egg yolks

zest of 3 lemons

1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 cup butter, melted

First, zest the lemons and squeeze the juice. It took 4 lemons to get 1 cup juice for me.

(Next time I'll use a fine grater, rather than a zester, because you don't want big pieces of zest...I threw them in the blender with some juice to chop them up)

Next, in a microwave safe bowl, whisk together egg and sugar until smooth.

Add melted butter, lemon juice and zest.

Microwave in 1 minute intervals, stirring each time, until mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon.

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Keeps 3 weeks.

Maybe a lemon meringue pie is in order.

Or lemon bars.

Green Smoothies

All I have to say is, "WOW!" I figured a smoothie full of spinach and kale could be EDIBLE, but I never expected it to be delicious! I finally jumped in this morning. I didn't have any greek yogurt on hand (making some tonight), but I tossed some protein powder in to make it a meal.

1 cup orange juice

1 cup chopped kale

1 cup baby spinach

1/2 pear

1/2 cup frozen mango cubes

1 frozen banana

1 tsp honey

1 cup ice cubes

Blend the orange juice, kale and spinach until it runs smooth, then add everything else. Yum.

I'm excited to try some variations with yogurt and berries.