How Sweet It Is

"Will eating lemons make me a sour-puss?" you ask. Good question. There is a school of thought that says that restoring the proper pH balance in your body will promote good health."So, should I eat lemons or not?" you ask. Maybe this quote will help answer that question. "Note that a food's acid or alkaline-forming tendency in the body has nothing to do with the actual pH of the food itself. For example, lemons are very acidic, however the end-products they produce after digestion and assimilation are very alkaline so lemons are alkaline-forming in the body."

Regardless of what you believe about body pH, we all know that eating lemons make you pucker up. Today, with no apology, I add an abundance of sugar to my lemon recipes.

But I'm ahead of myself. How is my vegan day going? 

My standard breakfast, day in, day out, is one of two things. Hot buckwheat (my very first post, June 26, 2009) or a chia seed drink (a year later, June 16, 2010). (Two years ago, I had never eaten either.) Boring you say, eating the same breakfast everyday? Maybe, but it is very efficient. I don't want to think that hard first thing in the morning. And either choice carries me until noon.

Lunch today will be another standard. Brown rice noodles topped with chopped spinach, walnuts and tomatoes. A little pepper and a squeeze of lemon - delicious.

Drum roll please. For dessert, (two S's in dessert, because we always want more) Lemon Sorbet with candied Lemon Slices for garnish. Recipes compliments of the greats: Emeril and Martha, and my neighbor Susan. Susan brought me a shopping bag of Meyer lemons some months ago. I took out my juicer and juiced them all, poured the juice into ice cube trays, froze them and stored the cubes in zip lock bags in the freezer. It's a slick trick.

I suggest you make the lemon sorbet the night before if you don't have an ice cream maker. It takes awhile to freeze up. I like to make it the slower way, without the ice cream maker. It has a wonderful icy texture that seems very appropriate to the lemon tartness.

Lemon Sorbet - Emeril Lagasse

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

1 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon lemon zest

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to boil.

Boil for about a minute, until the sugar dissolves.

Transfer to a glass bowl and let it cool to room temperature before putting in the freezer.

Stir the lemon mixture every 20 to 40 minutes with a fork, until the consistency of a snow cone. This can take some time - for me it took about 4 hours.

Serve immediately or the next day, giving it one last fork stir before you scoop this sweet/tart treat into bowls.

Garnish with candied lemon slices and mint. (Especially if mint is your next week post). 

Candied Lemon Slices - Martha Stewart

1 large lemon, thinly sliced

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

1) Prepare an ice-water bath; set aside. cut lemon into 12 paper-thin slices; discard seeds and ends of rind. (My lemons were small, so I cut up a couple of lemons)

2) Bring a medium saucepan of water to a rolling boil. remove from heat and add lemon slices; stir until softened, about a minute. Drain and immediately plunge slices into ice-water bath. Drain. (Oops. I completely forgot to plunge the slices into the ice-water bath that was right there on the counter waiting it's turn, and immediately put them into the sugar water I had ready. I wonder what difference the ice-water bath makes t to the end product.)

3) Bring sugar and water to a boil in a medium skillet, swirling to dissolve sugar. When liquid is clear and bubbling, reduce heat to medium-low. Add lemon slices, arranging them in one layer with tongs. Simmer (do not let boil) until rinds are translucent, about 1 hour.

4) Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment. Cool.

Why would you make this lemon sorbet in the middle of winter? Why not? It's refreshing. It must be full of vitamin C. It's a wonderful sunny treat that will warm your soul.

Tonight I meet friends at a local Mexican restaurant that features the cuisine of the tropical Mexican region of Oaxaca . It's easy to eat vegan there. Until next week........

"Can this go on your blog?" my granddaughter asked (she finds no problem inventing a recipe or working on the floor). "Of course" So let this be a preview for next week's recipes featuring "Mint".