I first discovered that we had a fruit-bearing tree in our yard the day I pulled up to my driveway to find a woman positioned on my front lawn, bracing a ladder. A man teetered on the top rung in an effort to reach small, red, not-quite-ripe-looking plums from the upper branches. “Can I help you with something?” was the best I could come up with at the time, I was so dumbfounded by the situation. The woman just smiled and commented, “There are lots up near the top!” I parked my car and just let them continue – I sure as heck wasn’t going to climb the tree to retrieve anything myself. Eventually the man came down from the ladder (as I was mentally reviewing our insurance policy), offered me some of the plums (so kind of him, right?) and they went off on their merry way.
I remembered this odd encounter last week on a much-needed day spa trip as I noticed a maintenance worker reach up and snip a ripe orange from a tree. We’ve been eating citrus like mad in our house for the past month, but the idea of plucking one straight from the tree just seemed so…lovely.
I’m nowhere near as brazen as the folks on my front lawn so I refrained from picking the oranges at the spa, but I did buy a big bag of clementines the next time I did my grocery shopping. I parlayed several of them into this incredible Orange Mango Nut Bread, the recipe for which I found inside a Challenge butter package. Like all the butter company recipes I’ve previously shared on this blog, there’s definitely some butter involved. It’s super-moist and citrusy and the little chunks of dried mango and pecans give it a really nice texture. You really don’t need the Ginger Honey Butter, but if you decide to spread some on you’ll appreciate the sweet-spiciness the ginger brings to the mix.
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From now on whenever I think of lemon bars I’ll be reminded of the time that I first met a group of cousins I never knew I had. We all convened at my parents’ house (it turns out they don’t live that far away) for dinner the day after Christmas, just ten days ago. Their great-great-great-grandfather was my great-great-grandfather. I did the calculation and determined that makes us 3rd cousins once removed. It’s a distant relation, but family is family.
One of my “new” cousins, about my same age, brought over lemon bars that day. I hadn’t had them in forever and hers were fantastic. I learned that both she and her sister love to cook and that her sister even has her own special occasion cake business. Even though we’re only 3rd cousins once removed I felt connected over this.
This little reunion prompted me to share a recipe for Creamy Lemon-Lime Bars today. The recipe, which I adapted from the side of a can of sweetened condensed milk, is more reminiscent of key lime pie than the traditional lemon bars my cousin made. They have a rich, creamy texture but are still very sweet, tart and refreshing. I brought limes into the mix to make things a little interesting (plus I love limes).
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When you enter a holiday potluck carrying a basket studded with savory lollipops, people pause their conversations to check out what you’ve got there. At least that’s what happened when I brought these Cheese Ball Pops.
The idea of converting the cheese log recipe I posted a few years ago into bite-sized lollipops came to mind after I saw a Goat Cheese Pops with Herbs, Pecans and Bacon appetizer on Mom It Forward. While I was at the grocery store, collecting all of the ingredients to make the goat cheese pops for the potluck, I realized that way you make the pops is remarkably similar to the old familiar cheese log…except it’s on a stick.
So I went back to that cheese log recipe. Instead of rolling the cheese and honey mixture into a log I just rolled them into little balls. I made them a little on the small side (think Dum Dums rather than Blow Pops) so they could neatly be consumed in a single sweet and savory bite. People really went for these – they thought it was a fun spin on the traditional appetizer. I’m sharing the recipe and rolling technique that I used but I’ll bet you could easily adapt almost any cheese log recipe into pops. Give it a try!
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