Day 57: Lemons, lemons, lemons!

Today was a lemon kind of day. Now I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "But Robynne, it's Friday! It has to be a good day!" Well, I actually find Friday to be the worst day of the week. It means that I've done five straight days of my job, and my brain is just done. 4:45 on a Friday is the worst time of the week. Because to me, it doesn't mean I have 15 minutes left before the weekend, it means I've worked almost 40 hours in five days. I really hate my job.

But that's not what I meant at all! Today actually was a fine day, despite being Friday. Yesterday, I bought four lemons. Today, I used all four of them. That's what I meant by it was a lemon kind of day.

For dinner, I made lemon butter shrimp. It was stellar.

Then I made lemon loaf, because hubby has been asking for some for weeks.

While that was baking, I made lemon pudding again.

Now, you've already heard about the lemon pudding, but I've added pictures for you now.

I'll save writing about the shrimp for one of those highly unproductive days that I just want to lay on the couch and watch Mad Men.

So! The loaf! I was slightly disappointed by it, honestly. It was a little dry and crumbly (classic gluten-free texture), and it didn't taste all that lemony. I don't know what I was expecting. Maybe Starbucks' lemon loaf? Well, this didn't come close.

But it has flax, and egg whites, and lemon.. Okay, it's not healthy bread by any shot, but it's probably a bit better for you than Starbucks' version. Also, it's still really yummy.

I found the recipe here, but of course I didn't have that combination of flours, so I just used my own.

2 lemons - zested and juiced
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup white rice flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup tapioca flour
2 tablespoons ground flax
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 stick butter - softened
1/2 cup egg whites (this was four eggs for me)
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350F, and spray a loaf pan. I use a piece of paper towel and olive oil, because it doesn't have nasty things like petroleum, and everytime I use it everything pops right out.

Whisk together the flours, starches, flax, salt, baking soda and baking powder thoroughly in a separate bowl. Set aside.

Cream together sugar, egg whites, soft butter, milk, the zest from both lemons and vanilla thouroughly. It will be a bit soupy looking.

Add in the bowl of flours, and mix well. It becomes thicker the longer you mix. I started doing something else while my mixer was going, and I think mine got a little too thick. Turned out well, but maybe stop it before it looks like this.

Pour (or scoop) the batter into your prepared loaf pan.

Bake for an hour. Mine took 50 minutes before a toothpick was coming out clean everywhere. Let it cool in the pan for a few minutes, and then run a knife around the edges and pop out onto a platter.

While it's cooling in the pan, put your icing sugar in a large bowl and juice your lemons into it, making sure not to get any seeds. Whisk until smooth, and then drizzle over loaf. And apparently, the entire plate too.

Mmm! And if you just so happened to finish making lemon pudding, pour some of that on top of a slice. Lemon. Heaven. I'm telling you.