Happy New Year, All! I spent this January 1st cooking for the most part, and it's been a great day. The wind is ferocious and blustery - which made today seem even more like the most perfect day for barricading ourselves inside while baking and cooking.
I brought out a well-established and oft-tested favorite dish for dinner tonight: chicken and dumplings! This dish is truly one of my most favorite things to make. One of my most favorite ever! It's a rather laborious set of tasks, but ultimately more worth the time than just about anything else I could put 3 hours into. There was a time when I tried to make smaller batches since there are only two of us for dinner, but I've given that up. We like this dish so much, it's one thing that never goes to waste as a leftover.
I also made up a batch of key lime bars today. This is a recipe I use from Cook's Illustrated. This one also takes a bit of work, but again - totally worth the time! This is kind of a hybrid of the standard citrus bar (think lemon bars), and a key lime pie. It's a pretty simple recipe, but juicing key limes is no small feat. It takes a lot of hand muscle strength, and for a single batch (8x8" pan), you have to juice about 20 limes plus zesting about 12 or 14 of those.
I have thankfully discovered the single best tool for juicing key limes. This cheery looking manual juicer does the job perfectly and pretty efficiently.
I hope the start of this new year finds everyone happy and well. I'm looking forward to the year ahead, and to more cooking in these colder winter months!
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