Melty, Cheesy, Beefy, Juicy, Crispy Patty Melt

Hello, delicious patty-melt-on-sour-dough-because-I-don’t-like-rye….you are beautiful ;-)

Why no….I have no idea why my ass is currently 3 feet wide….do you?

Who doesn’t love a hot, melty, stringy, cheesy, crispy, grilled……..anything?! I didn’t grow up a fan of the patty melt – I hate rye bread. But at this stage of the game of life, I should consider myself lucky that I didn’t thank about swapping breads long ago- ‘cuz my caboose would be even bigger!

I don’t think y’all need to be told how make a patty melt – after all it’s just a patty of juicy ground beef (fyi, press it thin and make it a good inch all-around bigger than the bread if your meat is 80/20); lip-smackingly caramelized, grilled onions; Swiss cheese, 1,000 Island dressing and good bread. Yes, yes…..traditionally rye, but in this case – it as sour dough….about ¾ inch thick sour dough. The loaf was heavy, but we could tell the bread was ‘airy’ which told me ‘this will get totally crispy on the grill!’ (as opposed to a more dense bread that could get soggy on the inner sides).

What makes a patty melt different from a ‘grilled cheese with hamburger in it’? I don’t really know – but I can tell you this: it IS different! I think the trick to this awesome, juicy, cheese-oozing sandwich was time and temp on the griddle. The heat was not too high (you don’t want your sandwich to burn before the inside has gotten sufficiently melty) and not too low (butter on the outside takes so long to melt is hardly gets crisp ands golden…just more yellow). You want a good, medium heat and then, if you have a cast iron press (I used a cast iron bacon press), layh it on top of the sandwich to help concentrate that heat and get the most crispy, uniformly melted, hot sandwich ever!

Yeah, yeah, I know….my bacon press allowed me to create a ‘poor mans panini press’. If you have an actual panini maker, I’m sure this post will sound rather like a grandparent telling you how to crank up the old Victrola – but I beg you…indulge me.

Thanks much ;-)

You know…if you were making three or four sandwiches on a griddle, I imagine you could press the tips down with a bog ol’ cast iron pan and do all four at once! Who needs Oprah’s favorite Breville Panini Makes (at $119) when you can slap a pan on yer sammich?!

Anyhoo – on one of these cold days, treat yourself to a toasty hot, cheesy, dreamy, juicy patty melt – pick your own bread………….you know I will :-)

Happy Thanksgiving!

In my own humble opinion, this pumpkin pie looks good enough to eat – but you might notice the hardware that’d make it a tad hard to swallow! That’s because this isn’t real pumpkin pie….they are charms made of polymer clay!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday - anyone who calls my house on TG gets a turkey greeting (I have a mean gobble, thank you very much)!

Anyhoo - I made a bunch of these for some of the ladies in my life that I not only adore, but get to see at Thanksgiving time. I love working with polymer clay – and being the food addict that I am, my favorite thing to make with the clay is…food ;-)

I made the tiny pies then made wire loops and inserted them into the back crust. Once they were baked, I attached a ring and strung the charms onto black cord necklaces.

Because I didn’t want the recipients to wear the necklace only a few days, I also made Christmas charms - not all food…

....and let each wonderful woman...
...pick the one they wanted most.

This first batch of charms were given this past weekend……then I went home and went kinda charm nutty and made……

…all of these! Somehow my hands worked liked the wind and I busted all of them out in a couple of hours.

I’m not sure which one is my fave…the hubs likes the presents the best. I really like the ‘Christmas Pudding’ though and the poinsettia ;-) I think my big sis will snag one of the Christmas Lights charms but what anyone else will pick is…well…anyone’s guess!

I had all the stuff on hand to make all of these charms, but should you choose to do some yourself, it doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. Watch for coupons to your local Michael’s, Joann’s or other craft store and you can save big!

With that I’ll wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving ;-) Here’s hoping you don’t get too full and that you make warm family memories to take you into this joyous holiday season!

By the way - to all my family and friends...I love all of you! I am so lucky to have you in my life. All of you are what I'm thankful for every day of the year.

World's Best, Loaded, Baked Potato Soup!

I went to Heaven twice this past weekend. The first time was when my sister and I made this most delicious, loaded, baked potato soup. The second time - was when I made the soup again the next day! I'd sent a bunch home with my big sis since we'd cooked it up together - it's so much more fun to share the wealth ;-) But by the time my husband put clams and a handful of bay shrimp in his half of what was left, and my daughter and I had a bowl each - it was gone! And I have to tell you....this soup is SO freaking amazing I had no choice but to make it again.
Not only is this soup PERFECT when made to the letter of the recipe below - but I believe it could very well be the grand base for a million other soups (*note- the original recipe calls for whole milk - the first go-'round we used 2% as I never buy whole milk and it was PLENTY thick. Round two, I used skim as that's what I always buy and it was a thick and velvety as the first batch - trust me). I'd first halve the amount of potatoes in it and I'd probably dice them whereas in the original recipe, you simply put the scooped out chunks tater of any size right into the pot. Depending on what other ingredients I'd add, I also might use my immersion blender to make the soup silky smooth with tates rather than chunky at all. BUT...think of the varieties of soups you could make just by tossing in your favorite ingredients! Like I said, the hubs threw in a can of clams and a small handful of bay shrimp to create Slumgullion - but what I wanna try is a bag of frozen super sweet corn and a can or two of green chilies! But what about leftover ham, or sweet or spicy sausage? Maybe roasted garlic cloves or roasted peppers and onions - Holy Moly the list is endless...ENDLESS I'M TELLING YOU! Besides the fact that I adore this soup 'as is', it may be my my newest fave recipe only because it's SO versatile and I can make it the way I want it when the moods strikes me..whatever my mood might be! If I've ever wanted you to try ANYthing on this site before...this is THE one thing I beg you to cook up. It's super easy, really fast and insanely good!

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Ingredients:
9 baking potatoes
2/3 cup butter
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
6 cups skim milk (can use 2% or whole as well)
1/2 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup bacon bits
4 green onions, chopped
10 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese
1, (8 ounce) container sour cream

Directions:
Prick potatoes with a fork and cook in the microwave until soft baked (you can do this step ahead of time if you choose). Scoop out the baked potato flesh into bowl. In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Whisk in flour and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly till mixture bubbles, then cook a minute more to dispel a flat 'flour taste'. Whisk in milk, a little at a time, stirring constantly (will be very thick when first few additions of milk are whisked in - just keep whisking and adding in all milk). Stir until this mixture begins to thicken - about 5 minutes. Add in potatoes, salt, pepper, bacon bits, green onions and the cheese. Stir to incorporate. Add in sour cream and heat through. Serve topped with additional bacon, onions and cheese if desired.

Arriba! Mexican Shredded Beef!

You know when you buy a piece of meat on sale and you maybe cut it in half and freeze one-a the halves for later use? Can’t it be so easy to forget about that frozen hunk-a meat?! When we recently bought a rather large pot roast on sale, I vowed that when placed half in a freezer bag that I would not let it go to waste. And this past Sunday, we cooked up that wonder cut of beef and made it into the most succulent, delicious Mexican, shredded beef I’ve ever had. Shredded beef is a great change-up for tacos and nachos, etc. We use many different proteins in our Mexican, hamburger, ground turkey, chicken…but this was SO dang good and we’d always wanted to try it. Besides…after my daughter announced, the last time we had actual pot roast dinner – that she didn’t like pot roast – I knew we had to try something different with it….and you know what? She liked it! Ha!

All you have to do is make up the rub, poke garlic into the meat and toss it all in a crock pot with onions and peppers and leave it for 7 hours. I’m telling you it could not be any simpler! Totally give this a try – you will be glad you did J Yum, yum, yum!

Start by poking a few slits into the roast and filling each one with a peeled clove of garlic….
Spoon all of the rub ingredients into a bowl and mix’em up good – then rub’m all over the meat. Next, slice up the two jalapenos, onion and green pepper... Massage both sides of the roast with the rub, put it in the crock pot, cover with the peppers ands onions and pour in the liquid. It’ll seem like a very small amount if liquid, but trust me….this pot’ll brew up plenty of wonderful ‘juice’!

Cover the pot and go about your busy day for approx 7 hours for a 3 ½ pound roast.

Once it’s done, slap that chunk-a beauty meat down on a cutting board. Trust me, you’ll only need to use a fork to ‘smash’ through the meat as it be practically falling apart on itself – Note…remove any fat and all other ‘oogeys’ as you go! No one wants to bite into a blobbity! Leave the garlic cloves whole...smash through them or remove them – you’re choice. We left them whole – see – there’s one at about 9 o’clock!
Return meat to flavorful, brothy liquid until ready to serve. Depending on what you’re gonna do with it, you may choose to strain the meat (save the broth!) or simply let it drain of into the pot as you use tongs to remove servings of the tender, beef.
Now that your meat is done, you can use it in any way you choose..but here's what we did. We heated up some pinto beans (not refried beans...the whole ones are better here – and placed a few beans and some of the beef on a warmed small corn or flour tortilla.
Then dressed with a little lettuce, cilantro, tomatoes - (and some cheese if you choose) – all that was left to do then was to dig into juicy, beefy heaven!

Mexican Shredded Beef

Ingredients:
3 ½ to 4 pound pot roast
6 cloves garlic – peeled
1 tablespoon paprika (or smoked paprika)
1 tablespoon celery salt
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1/2 tablespoon ground black pepper
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
1 large onion, sliced
1 green bell pepper, sliced
2 jalapeno chili peppers, seeded & sliced
4 fluid ounces beer (can sub beef broth or cola)
1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoons liquid smoke flavoring
1 can rotelle tomatoes with chilies and cilantro
1 can green salsa verde

Directions:
Poke as many holes in roast as garlic cloves you have, and push a clove into each hole. Combine all spices in a bowl, mix together and rub all over both sides of meat and place roast in crock pot. Slice onion and peppers and scatter over roast in pot. Combine all liquid/wet ingredients (last 5 ingredients) and pour over veggies & meat in pot. Place lid on crock pot and cook on low setting for 7 hours. Remove meat to cutting board or platter and shred with a fork. Return meat to liquid in pot and keep warm until ready to use. If not using right away, you can keep meat in it’s liquid in the fridge. A thin, top layer of fat will form on top once chilled in refrigerator. Once ready to reheat, you may choose to discard this or you can mix it back in as mixture reheats.

Creamy White Chicken Chili

Do any of the following weather conditions apply to where you are right now?

Cold
Dreary
Gray
Rainy
Foggy
Nippy
Pleasantly sunny with a fall bite in the air

If so, you NEED to make this creamy white chicken chili! It is one of my all tie favorite dishes and I can hardly believe I’ve never featured it here before. I can also hardy believe I don’t have a better picture of it! Crap! While it looks rather washed out above, this chili if FULL of flavor with green chilies, tender chicken, creamy white beans and silky ‘broth’. It is a winner - especially in the winter – but it’s great ANY day.

Creamy White Chicken Chili

Ingredients:
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into ½ inch pieces
1 medium chopped onion
1 ½ tsp garlic powder
1 T vegetable oil
3 cans (15 ½ oz each) great northern white beans, rinsed and drained
1 can chicken broth
2 cans (those small cans) chopped green chilies
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
½ tsp pepper’1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 cup sour cream
½ cup whipping cream (can use half-n-half)

Directions:
In large skillet, sauté chicken, onion and garlic in vegetable oil until chicken is no longer pink. Add beans, broth, chilies and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes stirring occasionally. Remove from heat**. Stir in sour cream and whipping cream. Heat through. Serve immediately.

Maple Bacon Pan-Cake

So many great things about this dish…. It’s easy, it’s fast, it’s cheap, it’s something different and it’s good! It’s got the sweet/salty thing going on and what’s better than that?

This hot and tasty breakfast dish came to me from allrecipes.com about two months ago. I clipped it together with all the other recipes I’ve printed off myriad recipe sites that I one day mean to make – but this one called to me way more than any of the others. I mean, the thought of bacon and maple syrup together was enough to make me print it in the first place, but those things nestled in a hot, oven baked pan-cake – with cheese no less…finally this past Sunday I could ignore it no longer!

I must admit – I changed things up just a titch…I had ‘Hormel Real Bacon Pieces’ on hand so I used those instead of cooking up actual, raw bacon – which I didn’t have. I don’t think it made one bit of difference with the exception of it being faster and easier than if I’d had fried up the bacon myself. Also, the original recipe calls for cheese in it as well as on it – but I didn’t want my daughter to freak out about the se cheese before she had a chance to like this dish, so I left it off the top. She never knew it was inside and even though I figured I’d tell her afterward, I thought, “why?” Because I want her to continue to like it! Matter of fact, she asked me to use sausage next time in place of the bacon……done ;-)

Mapley-Bacony Pan-Cake

Ingredients:
8 oz/ 1 cup bacon (REAL bacon ‘bits’ NOT ‘Bacos! Or actual cooked bacon, chopped into small pieces) - divided
1 cup baking mix – like Bisquik
¾ cup cheddar cheese – shredded
½ cup milk
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 T white sugar
2 eggs, slightly beaten
Additional maple syrup for drizzling

Directions:
Preheat oven to 250 degrees and spray a 9” pie plate with non-stick cooking spray. Cook and crumble/chop bacon if necessary. Mix all ingredients – save for 1/3 of the bacon – in nixing bowl until combined. Pour into pie dish and bake on middle rack of oven for 12 minutes. Sprinkle top of pancake with remaining 1/3 cup bacon and bake an additional 5 to 7 minutes or until puffed and very light golden brown. Meanwhile, warm the additional maple syrup. Serve ‘pan-cake’ hot drizzled with hot maple syrup.

Simple-Ly Perfect Sunday Mornings

(*Note* - the font is all screwy today! Can't get it all the same! I know it probably doesn;t mater to you...but this is me we're talking about! ;-) - okay...on with the show...

Don’t you love Sunday mornings? With the exception of peeping through heavy lids and realizing, “Ahhhhh….it’s Saturday”, Sunday mornings are very hard to beat. From the moment I open my eyes, I know that a quiet house, a hot pot of coffee and the Sunday paper will soon be all mine as I curl up in my favorite corner or the couch donning fuzzy slipper socks with a cozy blanket draped across my lap.

The other nice thing about Sunday mornings….breakfast. Saturday’s don’t get much breakfast, if any ‘cuz there’s stuff to do – gotta get ready for the day and head out on those errands or dig into the house cleaning. But Sundays cal for something extra….something hot and savory, maybe a special sweet from time to time - even it’s as simple as a couple of egg whites and toast, there IS breakfast that MUST be had.

This past Sunday I cut up and cooked 6 slices of thick-sliced bacon and tossed it’s chewy, smoky goodness into fluffy, barely creamy, scrambled eggs. I added a little sliced green onion for a bit freshness and an extra crisp, English muffin toasted just-so. Simple, hot, full of flavor and delicious.

A perfect, cozy breakfast to crown my perfect, cozy, Sunday morning,

Thoroughly enjoy each and every one of your mornings :-)

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For......Scones!

OMG….this is my new favorite scone – orange-cranberry. The flavor of these scones is so incredible….delightfully orange, but not over-powering and the slight tartness/chewiness of the cranberries….OMG…just let me say, Yum!

These orange-cranberry scones are SO DAMN GOOD and truly look and taste like they came from a first class bakery. I originally got the recipe from a poster on the Tasty Kitchen blog site (Godchild of The Pioneer Woman blog). The only change I made was to totally cover the top of the scones with large-granule decorating sugar. I mean encrusted them! I adore a crunchy, sweet top on a scone plus...it’s makes them so pretty! They actually sparkle!

I made these scones for the first time for Father’s Day this past June. But because the hubs isn’t 100% a ‘sweets’ kinda guy, I also made these….

Bacon-Cheddar-Onion Scones!

These were also super good…and especially nice with coffee if you happen to drink your java kinda sweet (I use ½ packet of Spenda and a little fat free hazelnut creamer). I’ve come to find that I’m not a huge fan of the ‘sweet food/sweet coffee combo’. I once had a pumpkin scone with a pumpkin latte from Starbucks and afterward I thought I’d die – like, for reals! Anyway….

This recipe originally came from Ina Garten – her Cheddar Dill scones. But I changed it up by omitting the dill (I like dill, but wasn’t nuts about it being in a breakfast scone) and adding cooked, chopped bacon and sliced green onions. These were savory and bacony – really good. But where I could eat one after another of the orange-cranberry (not that I did!)…these scones…no way. They’re more like a little meal in one flaky – yet slightly heavy and very filling – triangle. Eating two of these would be like eating two omelets – and that’d be crazy! ;-)

Both of these scones are super easy to make. And they’re so warm and homey…they’re perfect for a cozy, fall, weekend morning. Store leftovers in an airtight container or freezer-type bag so you can eat them throughout the week or take one to work each day for your morning break! They are Deeeeee-licious!

Orange-Cranberry Scones

Ingredients:

2 cups All-purpose Flour

7 teaspoons Granulated Sugar

2 teaspoons Baking Powder

½ teaspoons Salt

⅓ teaspoons Baking Soda

1 Tablespoon Grated Orange Peel

⅓ cups Cold Butter

1 cup Dried Cranberries

¼ cups Orange Juice

¼ cup Half-and-Half Cream

1 whole Egg

1 Tablespoon Milk

¼ cup large-granule, decorator sugar

Glaze:

½ cup Powdered Sugar

1 Tablespoon Orange Juice

Directions:

Sift together flour, 7 teaspoons sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Stir in grated orange peel. Cut in butter until mixture resembles course crumbs; set aside. In a small bowl, combine dried cranberries, orange juice, cream and egg. Add to the flour mixture and stir until a soft dough forms. On a floured surface, gently knead 6-8 times. Pat dough into an 8-inch circle. Cut into 10 wedges. Separate wedges and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Brush with milk; sprinkle with decorator sugar. Bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Glaze:

Combine powdered sugar with 1 tablespoon orange juice. Brush glaze over scones and give one more dousing of decorator sugar if desired.

Bacon-Cheddar-Onion Scones

Ingredients:

4 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided

2 tablespoons baking powder

2 teaspoons salt

3/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced

4 extra-large eggs, beaten lightly

1 cup cold heavy cream

1/2 pound extra-sharp cheddar cheese, grated

6 - 8 slices cooked, chopped bacon

1/3 cup sliced green onions

1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water or milk, for egg wash

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Combine 4 cups of flour, the baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and, using a pastry blender or two forks, incorporate butter into flour mixture until butter is the size of small peas. Mix the eggs and heavy cream and quickly add them to the flour-and-butter mixture. Combine until just blended. Toss together the cheddar, bacon and onions, and 1 tablespoon of flour and add them to the dough.. Mix until they are just incorporated. Do not over mix.
Dump the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead it for 1 minute, until the cheese, bacon and onion are well distributed. Roll or pat the dough into a 3/4-inch thick disc. Cut into 6 or 8 ‘pie-wedge’ triangles. Brush the tops with egg wash. Bake on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper for 20 to 25 minutes, until the outside is crusty and the inside is fully baked.

Double the Pleasure – Double the Fun!

My very beautiful, smart and talented niece, Samantha turned 21 last week. We had her birthday with family on her special day. This is the ‘ice bucket I painted for her in some of her fave colors and it was filled with 6 different fun-n-fruity wine coolers and a bunch of silver, tinsel ‘ice’. Niece was nice enough to snap this pic a few days after her b-day…the wine coolers are gone – although I’m SURE their in the fridge and not all consumed…..right Darlin’??
Then, on the weekend, a few of us ‘already-21ers’ (or should I say over 21ers…WAY over 21ers!) family members went out to have a few drinks with her to ring in this new phase of her life the right way ;-)

About mid-drink #2, we learned that my big bro and his girlfriend of many years were going to get married…..the day after next (Sunday)! They’d been talking about it a lot lately and finally decided to ‘do the deed’ and make it official. It was another fun thing to drink to that night.

The next day (Saturday), I had a free afternoon/evening and wanted to do something fun for the soon-to-be-married couple. Since they’d planned a very private affair between just the two of them, I assumed they had no wedding cake or special sweet to conclude their happy day, so I thought….mini wedding cake? And this is what I made, start to finish in my kitchen Saturday evening (and secretly left on their doorstep at 7:30 Sunday morning) ….a 6’ 1/2 inch, 4-tier wedding cake that was white with lemon curd filling and creamy vanilla icing! I scrolled their initials on the top along with a tiny heart. The cake was simple, pretty and small – a heartfelt gift from me to them to put a literal sweet ending to their wedding day.

Now – as I’ve stated before, my phone stopped sending pics a month+ ago – but with a little extra effort, I found that if I send a pic over and over (read: one million times), it WILL eventually send! Had I know that ahead of time, I’dve had more than these two pics – which are essentially the same.

Here’s one of the inside of the cake (thanks for sending me the pic, new sis-in-law!) – and it’s taught me a lesson……sliver-shave the golden brown flat bottom off the cake! How much prettier it would‘ve been if only the light, yellow of the lemon curd was showing. Oh well….best part is that my bro and now-sis-in-law said it was “soooo good!” That means everything –‘cuz if it looks good but tastes like doodoo – then, what’s the point?!

Anyhoo….I had a fun weekend celebrating my wonderful niece and baking up a very special treat.

Ice Cream Bombe is DA BOMB!

My birthday was last Wednesday. Because my little family of three lives a little ways away from everyone else in our family, we usually wait to celebrate our birthday’s on a weekend so folks don’t have to get stuck in weekday, rush hour traffic and so that when they do arrive, they can stay a while rather than having to do everything in a rushed manner in order to get back on the road towards home.

Anyhoo…..so we had about 20 people out to our house and it was a really fun time. I usually have a hard time relinquishing food items that need to be made as I like to do so much of it myself – but this year I wanted to make several fun dessert items so I turned over most every side dish to others - the hubs and I still did the meat dish (chicken wings! I could LIVE on them!) and it was great to have everyone pitch in – it was all delicious!

My original plan was to make a pavlova, a fruit pizza on a huge sugar cookie crust, an ice cream bombe and a tray of brownies. Then I got to thinking that I was really trying to spread myself – as well as my time – a little thin. And really…did we need all those things? So…I decided on the ice cream bombe. It’s something I’d never made before but had been wanting to try – then, the balance out the cold of the ice cream, I decided to make brownies. I adore my homemade stand-by, cocoa brownies but because they’re chocolate and the bombe would have ample chocolate, I made my first ever Blondies too. I don’t have pics of either…shoulda snapped one- but let me say that everyone LOVED the blondies – I made have with walnuts, have without and the whole pan had white chocolate chips. The brownies were classic, and folks liked them lot as well – and I did half walnuts with chocolate chips throughout.

So…onto the ice cream bombe! Making a bombe is easy and you can get as creative as you want or can keep it really simple. I used a large, stainless steel bowl, sprayed the inside with non-stick coking spray, then lined it with plastic wrap, leaving plenty to overhang the rim all the way around. You need your ice cream to be softened, but still super cold and not melted at all. So, put the ice cream you’re using first, I the fridge for about 15 minutes before using it while al the other ice cream flavors are still in the freezer.

Meringue Shell Crowns and Lemon Curd Recipes!

So – if you get the itch to make the meringue shells pictured yesterday – here’s all you have to do – super easy!

6 Individual Meringue Shell Crowns

Ingredients:
3 large room temp egg whites
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
¾ cup sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 275-degrees and line a baking sheet with either parchment paper or a silpat. Dust the surface with a little corn starch.

Begin beating egg whites until frothy then add cream of tartar and continue beating on high speed. Begin adding sugar by the tablespoon full allowing mixture to beat well between each addition until all sugar is added. Pour in vanilla extract and continue to beat until stiff peaks form. When whites appear to be stiff, stop mixer and feel a pinch of the mixture between your thumb and forefinger. If it’s still a little grainy, continue beating until whites are smooth. All that sugar need to be completely dissolved. Once whites are no longer grainy – it’s ready to pipe.

Load the egg whites into a pastry/piping bag fitted with a large star tip. Pipe crowns by piping swirled circles (begin in the center of the circle and swirl around itself working its way outward) to form a 4 to 5 inch circle. Pipe 6 crown/circle bases this way, then come back to each and pipe stars atop the outer edge of each. When done, place tray in oven and bake for 45 minutes. When timer goes off, turn the oven off and open the door, leaving it ajar for an additional 45 minutes allowing the crowns to cool completely and slowly in inside the oven. You may then move them to an airtight container or rack to set until ready to fill. See? EASY!

Ina Garten’s Lemon Curd
(this is Ina’s recipe but my own comments are noted with a * *)

Ingredients:
3 lemons
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 pound unsalted butter, room temperature 4 extra-large eggs
1/2 cup lemon juice (3 to 4 lemons)
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions:
Using a carrot peeler, remove the zest of 3 lemons, being careful to avoid the white pith. Put the zest in a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Add the sugar and pulse until the zest is very finely minced into the sugar. * * I used a microplane to zest my lemon, creating very fine shards of lemon peel – but I still combined the zest with the sugar in the food processor to blend it together well.
Cream the butter and beat in the sugar and lemon mixture. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and then add the lemon juice and salt. Mix until combined. (* * will be voluminous and light ‘whipped butter yellow’)
Pour the mixture into a 2 quart saucepan and cook over low heat until thickened (about 10 minutes), stirring constantly (* * It’ll take WAY longer than 10 minutes if you do this on low. I have my temp at a notch and a half below medium and stir the entire time – it takes a good 15 minutes or so. The mixture will go from that ‘creamy whipped butter appearance to a silky, more liquid form to finally a thicker form, say close to a pancake batter…never will it be like a super thick gel). The lemon curd will thicken at about 170 degrees F, or just below simmer. Remove from the heat and cool or refrigerate. Use as desired…..as in…EAT IT WITH A SPOON!!!!! YUM!!!!!