LeBron James Lemon Meringue Pie

Last night I had a dream and LeBron James told me to make a lemon meringue pie. I now present you with the LeBron James Lemon Meringue Pie. Yum! Thanks LeBron.




Ingredients:
1 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups water
2 lemons, juiced and zested

2 tablespoons butter
4 egg yolks, beaten
1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked
4 egg whites
6 tablespoons white sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. To Make Lemon Filling: In a medium saucepan, whisk together 1 cup sugar, flour, cornstarch, and salt. Stir in water, lemon juice and lemon zest. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until mixture comes to a boil. Stir in butter. Place egg yolks in a small bowl and gradually whisk in 1/2 cup of hot sugar mixture. Whisk egg yolk mixture back into remaining sugar mixture. Bring to a boil and continue to cook while stirring constantly until thick. Remove from heat. Pour filling into baked pastry shell.
3. To Make Meringue: In a large glass or metal bowl, whip egg whites until foamy. Add sugar gradually, and continue to whip until stiff peaks form. Spread meringue over pie, sealing the edges at the crust.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, or until meringue is golden brown.

(from allrecipes.com)

Consider serving it with Three Twins strawberry je ne sais quoi ice cream. Heaven on earth. Tastes like early Spring!

Someone has a little cold...

Ingredients

* 1 (3 pound) whole chicken
* 4 carrots, halved
* 4 stalks celery, halved
* 1 large onion, halved
* water to cover
* salt and pepper to taste
* 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules (optional)

Directions

1. Put the chicken, carrots, celery and onion in a large soup pot and cover with cold water. Heat and simmer, uncovered, until the chicken meat falls off of the bones (skim off foam every so often).
2. Take everything out of the pot. Strain the broth. Pick the meat off of the bones and chop the carrots, celery and onion. Season the broth with salt, pepper and chicken bouillon to taste, if desired. Return the chicken, carrots, celery and onion to the pot, stir together, and serve.

(from allrecipes.com)

"Thistle Be Fun"

Eric and I had a few close friends over for brunch yesterday and I wish I had taken a picture of the table! Christine made a beautifully plummy fruit salad which perfectly complemented the quiche and the french toast. Thanks to Regine, Christine, Madhavi, and Eric for such a perfectly pleasant final fall Saturday in Washington Heights!

I have been wanting to upload some of my most successful cooking recipes here for a while. After some rather extensive Internet research, I found this lovely artichoke quiche recipe at Food.com. (I did double the amount of mozzarella from 4 oz. to 8 oz. per the suggestion in the comments section.) I (heart) brunch!

ARTICHOKE QUICHE

Serves: 6
Servings: 1 nine inch quiche
Prep Time: 10 mins
Total Time: 45 mins

Ingredients:
• 1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts, well drained
• 2 garlic cloves
• 4 eggs
• 3 -4 tablespoons grated romano cheese
• 4-8 ounces mozzarella cheese, diced
• 1 -2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup light cream
• 1 (9 inch) pie crust (bottom only)

Directions:
1. Cut artichoke hearts into quarters, or large dice.
2. In frying pan over low heat, add oil, saute whole garlic cloves for a minute or so.
3. Add artichoke hearts and saute them until they start to brown.
4. Remove garlic cloves, and let the artichokes cool.
5. In a bowl, beat the eggs, add the cream, Romano and mozzerella cheeses and pepper, mixing well.
6. Add the artichokes and the oil from the pan to the egg mixture, mix well.
7. Spoon mixture into pie crust.
8. Bake in preheated 350°F oven for 35 minutes or until filling is set and just starts to brown.

P.S. Heads up, book your flights, and mark your calendars! Saturday and Sunday May 21st - 22nd, 2011 the Castroville Artichoke Festival will be here before you know it!