Lemon heaven

I can tell I'm new at blogging mostly because I get completely finished with projects, meals, etc., and THEN think to myself "awww shit. I should've taken photos." .... maybe someday it'll occur to me BEFORE hand so I can document the process, but alas. For now, you get website cache photos.

One of M and I's favorite meals is lemon cream pasta with....wait for it.... brussel sprouts. Brussel sprouts are one of those stereotypical veggies that land on lists of "food kids won't eat," which is quite unfortunate, actually. I had always liked the IDEA of brussel sprouts. I thought I'd feel very grown up if I could work them into a meal. I also thought this would help cement my ridiculous belief that I am somehow a "foodie".... SO when I stumbled across this (delightfully easy) recipe on pinterest I decided it was time to give it a go.

Lemon cream pasta with brussel sprouts:

(photo via)
I use penne noodles, because I keep them on hand.
I also couldn't locate "baby" brussel sprouts so I just got the regular sized ones, cut off the little stem "nubbin" and then halved them.
There's something endearing about brussel sprouts that makes me smile, and keeps me making this dish. I think it's the fact that they look like itty-bitty heads of lettuce. Miniature anything makes me giggle.

Part 2 of the leamon heaven occurred earlier this week in the form of lemon ricotta cookies with a lemon glaze (my girl crush on Giada persists....)

Lemon Ricotta Cookies (with a lemon glaze)

(photo via)

I didn't have any baking powder on hand, so I googled and found that baking powder and baking soda are interchangeable in a 2:1 proportion (I read somewhere else it was 3:1, but even numbers are easier for math :-) ). SO, you can half the amount of baking powder if that's what is called for, and use baking soda, OR double the amount of baking soda if that's what is called for and use baking powder. I halved the entire recipe (44 cookies is entirely unecessary for just M and myself, and my lack of self control), and then halved the amount of baking powder again, and wound up with 1/4 tsp baking soda.

Also, the recipe says to plop 2 tbsp of dough onto the sheet.. I started to get panicked when the cookies didn't spread out like a normal cookie.. so if you put it on the sheet in a ball, it'll bake in a ball.. I discovered you kind of have to pre-pat it into a "cookie" form (not TOO thin though) and then they come out looking like biscuits almost. The ricotta makes them SOOO fluffy. They actually reminded me a lot of scones, and I think I'd make them again even for a breakfast and call them that. SO good.

We (I) even gave TJ a nibble, he approved.

-Kelly