I love anything lemon, from lemon bars and lemon pie to lemon curd,  I love them all.

So, when I saw a recipe in Martha Stewart’s Dinner at Home (which is a great cookbook) for lemon mousse, I knew that I had to try it.

I marked this recipe months ago, but just recently took the time to make it. This was so good and I will admit that I ate way too much of it. It is a perfect summer dessert.

If you love lemon like I do, you should give this one a try.

Lemon Mousse

• 4 large eggs
• 2/3 cup of sugar
• 2/3 cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 to 3 lemons)
• 1 cup heavy cream, well chilled

1. Mix together eggs, sugar, and lemon juice in a saucepan.
2. Cook on medium-low, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened. This will take about 2 minutes.
3. Turn up heat to medium and continue to cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon. This will take about five minutes.
4. Stain  mixture through a fine sieve.
5. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it onto the surface of the mixture ( this will prevent a film/skin from forming) refrigerate until well chilled, about 1 hour.
6. Whip cream until soft peaks form.
7. Gently fold cream into lemon mixture.
8. Cover tightly with a plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 30 minutes before spooning into dessert cups.
9. Enjoy!

This post linked to Foodie Friday and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.

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Grits are not something we ate when I was growing up. They were pretty much a foreign food to me.

However, my husband grew up eating lots of grits. I quickly learned how to make them, and over time have really started to enjoyed them.

Now, I still do not like just a bowl of plain grits like my husband does. Nor do I like the quick grits that so many people eat. I enjoy the old fashioned grits, the ones that are more like polenta. My favorite brand is Bob’s Red Mill

We still enjoy my crockpot grits especially for breakfast, but we like to eat them for dinner also. We eat my oven grits often, but they are more of a main dish, These grits today make a great side dish, but we like to eat them with a spaghetti or another red type sauce on top of them.

Cheese Grits

• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 cup old fashioned grits
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 tablespoons butter

In a medium to large saucepan combine broth and garlic. Bring to a boil and slowly stir in grits. Reduce heat to low, and cook until grits are tender, about 15 – 20 minutes, stirring often. You do have to be careful cooking grits, they tend to bubble up. So, watch for this. Using a big pan keeps this from happening as bad. Remove from heat and stir in cheese and butter.

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I love strawberries, but I have not always loved them.

Growing up I spent part of each summer working in the strawberry fields in Oregon. I got paid a whole $2 per flat of strawberries that I picked. By the end of strawberry season each year I did not care if I ever saw another strawberry again.

Now that I live in Oklahoma, which is not strawberry growing country, I miss fresh from the field strawberries. A berry that has been shipped half way across the country is just not as good.

Yes, I know you can grow berries in Oklahoma, but they are not as good, juicy, or large as the berries grown other places.

However, I will admit that I buy the California or Florida strawberries that are sold in my grocery store this time of year, because there is something about spring and early summer that just makes me want strawberries. So, in the end a strawberry is better than no strawberry.

This is a dessert that I just came up with last week when I had some extra strawberries that I needed to use up.

I wanted a dessert that I could use the strawberries in that was quick and easy. This is just that, quick, easy, and very good.

Strawberry Mousse Pudding

• 1 (3.9 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 3-4 cups sliced strawberries (you can also chop the strawberries if you want it a smoother texture)

In a large bowl, combine pudding mix, water, and sweetened condensed milk. Mix until smooth, then fold in whipped topping until no streaks remain. Carefully fold in the strawberries. Chill for at least 2 hours before serving.

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Life is a journey. It is a continual process of growing and changing.

When I started this blog just over two years ago, I had no idea how well the title would fit my cooking journey. The last few months have definitely been a cooking adventure for me.

I also had no idea when I started this site how much it would help me deal with the food issues that I would have to face.

I want to thank all of you that have followed my adventures over the last few years. I am so thankful for my readers and the time you take in visiting my site and trying my recipes.

You have stuck with me through the last few months of dealing with and posting about my gluten free issues and struggles, for that I am very grateful.

I love this site and what I do here. I enjoy sharing every day recipes. I like sharing how I fit my love of cooking into my busy life.  I want this site to stay what it is, but I also want to share my adventures in gluten free cooking.

I know though that the majority of my readers are not gluten free, you don’t come here for that, and I understand that. If I were not gluten free, I would not want to read posts dealing with gluten free subjects.

Over the last few months I have been trying to figure out how I could keep this site what it is, yet include more gluten free baking into it. As I was figuring all of this out, my oldest daughter started to have some major food allergies. I have not posted on this because I did not want this site to be overwhelmed with gluten free and food allergy type posts.

I was sharing my struggles about this with Joy and Alyssa when I visited Dallas a few weeks ago. They had the great idea of creating a new section of my site just for those that are interested in the gluten free baked goods and other food allergy type posts. I loved this idea and realized it was exactly what I needed.

So, I now have two sections on my site. I have this section, my main one, that will stay the same. I will continue to do what I have been doing on this site, but for those that are interested in my gluten free baked goods, and other gluten free, food allergy type posts, you can now read and subscribe to the new section of my site, called Lynn’s Recipe Adventures.

I will now have different feeds that you can subscribe to, so that only those that are interested will receive the gluten free and food allergy posts.

If you are a current subscriber nothing will change and you don’t have to do anything. You will continue to get get free updates to my main site either through RSS or email.

If you are gluten free, I suggest you continue to read and subscribe to my main site, but also read and subscribe to the new section of my site. This way you will get free updates on all my gluten free baked goods and tips. I also have some other ideas planned for the new section of my site.

I am really excited to be able to do this and I hope my readers enjoy it as well.

Thank you all for reading and following my adventures. You help make this site what it is.

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Rice pudding is an old fashioned classic dessert. People have been making it for a long time, and there are a lot of different versions.

I have tried many versions of rice pudding, but this one is my current favorite. I love it.

I made this rice pudding a little bit more special by using sweetened condensed milk and chocolate chips. What isn’t good with those two ingredients in it?

Chocolate Tres Leches Rice Pudding

• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 cup uncooked long grain white rice
• 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 2/3 cup chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract

Combine rice, milk, and water in a pan and bring to a boil. Turn to low and cover and cook until the rice is tender which takes 18-20 minutes.

Stir in the sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, and heavy cream. Cook on low for 3-4  minutes or until the pudding thickens slightly and chocolate is melted. Stirring frequently.

Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Spoon pudding into individual bowls. Serve warm or cold. I liked this warm, but my husband prefers it cold.

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I am fairly new to gluten free cooking. I have only been gluten free for about five months.  I have had a lot of disasters when it comes to baking. Everything is so different when you are dealing with gluten free flours.

This has been hard on my family. I used to bake all the time. I would make cookies, muffins, cakes, etc. Since going gluten free, I have really reduced the amount that I bake. It is just not the same gluten free. Not only is it frustrating to have disasters, it is much more expensive to bake using gluten free flours.

However, I have had great success using Betty Crocker’s gluten free cake mixes. I will be honest, I am not normally a big fan of cake mixes. I rarely used them before going gluten free. However, since going gluten free, I have been using them quite often. Yes, they are a bit expensive, but I have found the to be a no fail way to get good gluten free desserts.

I will admit though that I have not used them to make a regular cake yet. So, I don’t know how they work or taste for that. What I have been doing is taking the cake mix, doctoring it up, and using it in different ways.

I did this with one of my favorite peach desserts. I easily adapted a recipe that my mom has been making for years and made it gluten free.

Today’s recipe is another one that I adapted to be gluten free, by just using a gluten free cake mix. My family loved a sandwich cookie recipe that came from a friend of mine. I was sure I could easily adapt this to be gluten free.

I just replaced the regular cake mixes with gluten free cake mixes and it worked perfectly. My family loved these. My husband did not even know they were gluten free until I told him.

I am so glad I have found a few easy and no fail gluten free recipes like this.

Do any of you that cook gluten free use the gluten free cake mixes? What do you think of them? Do you use them often?

Gluten Free Sandwich Cookies

• 2 chocolate gluten free cakes mixes
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil

Frosting

• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3 to 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a bowl, beat cake mixes, eggs and oil (batter will be very stiff). Roll into 1-in. balls. (I used a small cookie scoop/melon baller so they were all uniform) Place on ungreased baking sheets and flatten slightly. Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes or until a slight indentation remains when lightly touched. Do not over cook. You want these to be chewy not hard. Cool.

In another bowl, beat cream cheese and butter. Add sugar and vanilla and mix until smooth. Spread on bottom of half of the cookies. Top with remaining cookies.

This post linked to Slightly Indulgent Tuesday and Gluten Free Wednesday.

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I love cooking magazines. I love to look through them for tips and ideas like I do cookbooks. I often go to a used book sale in my area that is several times a year. Last year I came across quite a find at the sale. They had a whole stack of past issues of Paula Deen’s Magazine, for only 10 cents each.

Well, I bought the whole stack and it was well worth the couple of dollars that I spent. I am still finding and using recipes from the magazines that I bought.

I was recently looking through the magazines again and found a recipe for lemon coconut macaroons. Well, I love cookies and I love lemon, so I knew this was a recipe that I wanted to try.

This recipe is really easy and we loved them. Ok, well two of my kids do not like coconut, so they did not like these, but they don’t like anything with coconut in it. But if you like coconut give these a try.

Lemon Coconut Macaroons

• 1 egg white
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1   14 ounce bag of shredded coconut

In a bowl mix whisk together egg white and salt until frothy. This takes about 2 minutes. Stir in sweetened condensed milk and extracts. Then fold in coconut until well combined. Shape mixture into 1  1/2 inch mounds. I use a cookie scoop for this. Place 1 inch apart on baking sheets at bake at 300 for about 20 minutes or until very lightly browned. Serve and enjoy!

This post linked to Frugal Fridays.

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I hope you aren’t tired of quiches yet, because I love them. But if you are a regular reader you already know that. I have quite a few recipes for quiche, a pepperoni quiche, a salmon, and a few others.

Last time I posted on quiche, several readers said that they had never made one. Well, if you have never made a quiche, you really should give it a try. They are so versatile and easy.

What I love about quiches is that they make a great dish for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. They are a frugal and easy meal to put on the table at any time. However, quiches can be boring. Many quiches are basically the same thing eggs, meat, milk, and cheese, so I am always trying to find ways to change quiches and make them different.

Since going gluten free I have also had to rethink quiches. I have made several crustless quiches, that  have turned out well, but I have been wanting to experiment even more. When I saw a recipe in a Taste of Home Cookbook, for a rice quiche, it got me thinking about how I could adapt it for my family.

I made a few changes and came up with a version that my family really enjoyed. This quiche was easy to make, but not only that it was a great way to use up leftover rice. Using rice as the crust also makes this a little healthier than a quiche with a regular pie crust. Healthier and lower fat is always a good thing.

You can change up the flavors of this by using different meats and cheeses. By doing this you can use the same basic recipe over and over again without serving the exact same meal. I love it when I can do that.

Rice Crusted Quiche

• 2 cups cooked rice
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1-1/2 cups cooked bacon, sausage, or ham
• 1 cup  shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup shredded jack or Swiss cheese, both work fine
• Several drops of hot pepper sauce
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/8 teaspoon onion powder

Press the rice into a greased 9-in. pie plate to form a crust. Drizzle with butter. Combine sausage (or the meat you are using), cheeses, and hot pepper sauce and spread over rice. Beat eggs, milk, garlic powder and onion powder over  pour over sausage over mixture. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

This post linked to $5 Dinners and Tasty Tuesday.

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It took four months, but I finally have a gluten free pancake that my whole family enjoys.  The texture and taste were very close to what I used to make. I was determined not to give up. I knew I could come up with something that we would enjoy if I kept trying. After failing week after week, it finally worked!

I am so happy because pancakes have been one of the things my family misses most since going gluten free. This morning we finally all enjoyed a gluten free pancake breakfast together.

Recipe coming soon…..

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I love mousse. It is such a rich and creamy dessert that you can use so many different ways.  You can serve it on it’s own, but you can also serve it as a topping to brownie. It works great as a layer in a trifle, in a pie, or even as a frosting on a cake.

Some mousse recipes are hard and complicated. This recipe is neither of those things. This is easy and always turns out. The marshmallows in it give it it’s unique, but perfect texture.

Chocolate Marshmallow Mousse

• 3/4 cup milk
• 4 cups mini-marshmallows
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Combine milk, marshmallows, and chocolate in medium saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until marshmallows and chocolate are melted then add vanilla.

2.Pour into medium bowl and set bowl over larger bowl of ice water. Let stand, whisking often, until mixture is cool and thickened, 10-15 minutes. This is an important step, don’t try to leave it out. It is easy to do and helps give this the texture that it has.

3. In a separate bowl, beat cream until cream just holds stiff peaks.

4. Fold chocolate mixture into whipped cream. Spoon into dessert cups and refrigerate for about 2 hours or up to 2 days.

This post linked to Tasty Tuesday.

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