Lemons

I don't know about anyone else but I LOVE lemons and citrus.  There is so much that can be done with a lemon.  The only downside is they tend to go bad quickly- at least in our house.  We buy them at Costco in a bigger bag since it is more cost effective that way and we don't have a good lemon tree.   I have many recipes that use various parts of lemons and I'm always looking for ways to make prep easier.  I've learned that I can zest and freeze lemon zest and it works so well in recipes.  Plus I don't have to scramble to zest a lemon and end up with random things in the fridge.  I've found if I do some things ahead of time cooking or baking is much easier.  The only thing to be aware of is that as it is frozen it will lose some of it potency so you may have to up the amounts you use depending on your taste.

Love Lemons! 

I like to rinse/wash my lemons off- especially if I'm going to be zesting them.  I also do the zesting first and then the juicing.  I use a wide microplane over a piece of wax paper so its easier to clean and put the zest into the mason jar.  I use a small mason jar and I also use our brother p touch to put a label on so I know when I did that batch of lemon zest.

Mid zest- less mess with the wax paper

After you have zested the lemons its time to JUICE! Years ago we had an electric juicer.  We never really used it and it had some problems so we ended up getting rid of it.  I've used a manual juicer for a number of years and whatever works for you is great.  I've found that for me it costs a lot of energy and can hurt after a while.  Thankfully, mom and dad got me an electric one again just a month or so ago and its AMAZING.  I can literally juice 10-15 lemons in less than 10 minutes.  I try not to just get lots of appliances that take up space but I can honestly say this one is worth it.

Our amazing electric juicer

Once I've finished, I put the zest in the freezer.  I have a couple options for what I do with the juice.  I can keep it out and use it in a recipe like I did this last time or I put it into ice cube trays to freeze and then once frozen put them into a zip top bag thats labeled and keep in the freezer.  That way I can bring out what I need to defrost! 

Final products! 

So there you have it! I hope you find these tips useful in case you find yourself with a overabundance of lemons. =)