Easy Lemon Herb Butter

Easy Lemon Herb Butter

Ingredients:
1 stick unsalted butter (1/2 cup), softened
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 tsp. dried parsley flakes
1 tsp. Preserved Lemon Puree
Ground black pepper
Saran Wrap (small piece to wrap butter in)

Directions:
In a small bowl mash up the softened butter. Add in the herbs, Preserved Lemon Puree, and a few shakes of ground black pepper from your pepper container. Thoroughly mix together until well blended. Pour butter mixture in the middle of your plastic wrap. Careful roll and mold the butter up into a log shape. Twist the ends of plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator on a saucer/small plate to harden.

When ready to use just slice, as usual, to add to a meal or let soften up on the counter to spread on your bread/rolls.


Notes: I did not use salted butter in this since my Preserved Lemon Puree already has enough salt in it. For maximum flavor, it is best to make this a day ahead to let all the flavors come together. If I had some True Lemon crystals on hand, I would have used a packet in this as well to amp up the lemon flavor. We are eating this compound butter on some dinner rolls for our Easter dinner.


Do you like compound butters? Have you tried to make your own in different flavors? I have been making savory and sweet compound butter creations for the past few years. They really add some pizzazz to anything you are eating. One of our favorite sweet creations is to add some Nutella to a stick of softened salted butter. This is an easy way to make Chocolate Butter. It takes great on muffins, pancakes, sweet breads, bagels, ect.

 


© My Life 0utside The Box 2016-2018. All Rights Reserved. All photos, text, personal videos, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the blog author.

Preserved Lemons (Part 2)

It has been 30 days since I prepared my lemons. Over the weekend my jars of preserved lemons were moved to the refrigerator. Before I did that I opened one of the 3 jars to check out the end results. Everything looked good. There were no signs of mold or anything so we were good to go. The rind is the star of these beauties. That’s the part that is now edible due to the preserving process. It’s up to you whether or not you want to use the flesh. It’s mushy so depending on what meal you are needing the lemon for will be a factor it this. There are many ways to use to use preserved lemons that I will list below.


I cut a small piece of the rind from one of the lemons. Sure enough, it was thoroughly preserved because the rind was soft. What I tasted was a VERY SALTY but pleasant lemony taste. It was no longer bitter. It took in all that salt I put in the jar, so I can see why you need to rinse these off before using. Again you can decide if you want to use the flesh part or just discard it. As for the rind, when you are ready to use some in a meal, take out all the slices you will need out of the jar and rinse it off REALLY GOOD under cool water. You can thinly slice it or chop up however much you need. I decided to make one of those 3 jars into a puree (the one I had already opened).


I did not rinse the salt brine off of these lemons. I just carefully took out the seeds and blended the whole lemon slices in my food processor (rind and all). The result was a nice puree of salty lemon paste/pulp to use by little spoonfuls in different things. The reason I did not rinse these is that I plan to use it for meals that salt will be needed anyway. That means I won’t be putting salt in during the cooking because the salt in this is plenty enough. Since I did not add any other flavors to the lemons when preserving, I can use them in sweet or savory recipes. So far I have used the puree in some black bean hummus and lemon aioli. I make tilapia and asparagus foil packets with some of the preserved lemon slices. I did not add any salt, and my family agreed it was not needed.


Here are some different ideas and ways to use these lemons:

Individual Slices:
* Use when roasting a whole chicken (place under the skin or inside of chicken)
* Use when roasting veggies like Brussels Sprouts, asparagus, etc.
* Put with steamed veggies like broccoli, green peas, or green beans
* Make foil packet meals (put on top of meat and veggies while cooking)
* Eat with meats like fish, lamb, chicken
* Chop up to use in pasta, rice, risotto, couscous, quinoa, or a pilaf
* Chop and add to fruit salads
* Chop or slice thin to add to quick breads, cakes, cookies, muffins, or other sweet dishes.
* Add to salads
* Use in place of lemon zest in recipes

Puree:
* Use when making marinades
* Blend into salad dressings (like vinaigrette)
* Use in dips like guacamole, hummus, etc.
* Mix with garlic and butter for eating lobster or cooked artichokes
* Make lemon flavored yogurt
* Make homemade mayo
* Make compound butters (aka flavored butter)
* Use in a sauce for grilled fish/seafood and other grilled meats (like aioli or pesto)
* Stir into cooked veggies, broth soups, or stews
* Stir in grain (rice) bowls

These preserved lemons turned out so well I think I’ll preserve a bunch of limes too. I know those will be tasty in many things as well. If you happened to have any preserved liquid left after using up the lemons, the liquid should be thrown out or used as a liquid in something you are cooking. Be careful not to add any more salt than needed to the dish because there is already plenty there. I would not recommend preserved lemons being safe to use with people who have restricted diets and need to watch their sodium intake.

 

Update 10/31/18:
It has been 7.5 months later. As of today I have now used up all of my preserved lemons :( They tasted just as good down to the last drop as they did when first made. I will definitely make these again next year!


© My Life 0utside The Box 2016-2018. All Rights Reserved. All photos, text, personal videos, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the blog author.

Ideas for leftover Corned Beef

My family and I are not big on celebrating St. Patrick’s Day like a lot of people do. I do love getting to see people walking around wearing one of my favorite colors (green) though :) We homeschool our son and he has learned so much about the history of this day through online research, books, educational videos, lapbooks, ect. During the week of St. Patties Day I love  having a good excuse to buy us some corned beef. Do you like corned beef? Have you ever had it? I didn’t know what I was missing until I cooked Corned Beef and Cabbage for us the first time. I even have a crockpot recipe for it here on the blog.

This time around I got to use my Instant Pot. My oh my! It was all that and a bag of chips. Something about that Instant Pot and what it does to the flavor of meat; WOW!!! I can’t explain it but the meat comes out perfect every time. Now let me tell you, corned beef only lasts a couple of days around here. Through some searching I found there are many delicious ways you can enjoy the leftover meat. The best way to store your leftovers in the fridge is in an airtight sealed container. Pour just a little of that good ole broth (it cooked in) on top as well to keep it moist. Here are some ways to enjoy those leftovers:

Sliced Meat Pieces:
* Reuben Sandwiches/slidders
* Reuben Sandwich Melt
* Reuben Quesidillas with Thousand Island dressing
* Reuben Crescents
* Grilled Cheese sandwich with caramelized onions and corned beef
* Corned Beef hash and egg sandwich

Chopped, Strips, or Cubed Meat Pieces:
* Corned Beef and Cabbage Casserole
* Reuben Noodle Casserole
* Corned Beef and Cabbage Soup
* Corned Beef and Cabbage Chowder
* Corned Beef and Cabbage Stir-fry
* Corned Beef and Cabbage Rolls (made like cabbage rolls)
* Corned Beef and Cabbage hash (can also put fried egg on top)
* Corned Beef eggs Benedict
* Corned Beef muffins (savory)
* Reuben Pasta Salad
* Reuben Dip (serve with crackers, rye bread pieces, ect.)

These tasty ideas to stretch or use up any leftover corned beef makes me want to buy it more often. Are there any other ideas that I didn’t list? Feel free to tell me about them.

 


© My Life 0utside The Box 2016-2018. All Rights Reserved. All photos, text, personal videos, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the blog author.

My 1st Walmart Beauty Box

Last month I ordered the Walmart Beauty Box that is offered online for $5. It comes from beautybox.walmart.com Their beauty boxes are seasonal rather than monthly. From what I could see it does not look like this is a recurring charge. I think I’ll have to go to the website to order again if I want the next box. Let me show you how it looked when I got it.


My box arrived by USPS within a few weeks of purchase. After opening the outer cardboard box this is the box that was inside. It measures 5 3/4” x 8 3/4” long. I opened it up and this is what you see next:


First (pic on the left) is a card that says “celebrate you beauty” on it. It sits on top of a decorative paper. Next when you open that (pic on the right) you can see all the contents inside. Now let me walk you through what’s inside this box.


Here is the list of contents:

* A sample of Shea Moisture Curl & Shine Shampoo and Curl Enhancing Smoothie
* 0.35 oz. Purifying Brightening Peeling Gel
* 0.75 oz Gold Bond radiance renewal hydrating cream
* 2.3 oz Soft & Dry Sparkling Citrus deodorant (aluminum free)
* 0.86 oz. Aquaphor Ointment Body Spray (with an ad showing it in use)
* 2 oz. Village Naturals Therapy Aches + Pains Muscle Relief (mineral bath soak)

I have seen most of the products at Walmart on recent shopping trips so I know they can be purchased in full sizes. I have use the Shea Moisture products on my hair in the past so I already knew I would use the sample packs. These come from the Coconut & Hibiscus line. If you don’t enjoy the smell of coconut be warned. It has a strong coconutty smell in which I nor my hubby don’t mind :)

The Aquaphor Ointment Body Spray is one I have not used. I have used the ointment in the jar several times but the spray is taking me time to get used to. It is COLD when sprayed on the body. I have to be sure I’m not in a cold room when I use it :(

I like the smell of the deodorant and the fact it goes on clear. This and the Brightening Peeling Gel was the only full size products I saw in the box. I may buy the next box just to see what they have to offer. I hope that by sharing this it will help anyone who may be wondering if it is worth the $5. Thank you for reading. Until next time have a blessed day.


© My Life 0utside The Box 2016-2018. All Rights Reserved. All photos, text, personal videos, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the blog author.

Easy Taco Stuffed Shells

Recently I had a really busy day and no dinner already prepared for us in my trusty friend (my crockpot). It was getting too late in the day to prepare anything in it, and I needed to think of something quick. I mean we were all getting pretty hungry and I did have some cooked taco meat and Jumbo shells (previously cooked al dente and frozen) already taken out of the freezer the night before. Soooo I decided to try something new. We love eating stuffed shells but I needed to work with the ingredients I had on hand. After I did a search or two on Pinterest I settled on throwing this yummy goodness together:

Note: I forgot to put in the directions that you need to add a packet of taco seasoning to your cooked ground beef if you are just using unseasoned ground beef. Mine was already seasoned before I froze it so there was no need for me to add it to mine at the time.

 


© My Life 0utside The Box 2016-2018. All Rights Reserved. All photos, text, personal videos, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the blog author.