Make Healthy Meals

I love baking. It doesn’t always result in the healthiest of foods, but I do like to remember that I have more control over what goes into homemade cookies and pies than if I buy them from the store. So I don’t feel too bad about it, even though I like to eat healthy.

But my mixer can be a bit frustrating. Due to space limitations we just have a handheld mixer. I’m not even sure of the brand. But when I was asked to post about the Eclectrics® mixer all I could do was drool. That’s a nice looking mixer.

The Hamilton Beach® Mixer looks very nice. It looks like it could even replace my breadmaker, since it’s capable of mixing bread dough. I generally end up putting my bread in smaller loaf pans anyhow, since I don’t like the size my breadmaker makes.

My one challenge is the lack of space for a Hamilton Beach® Stand Mixer. My kitchen is a very nice size. But only one wall has cabinets above and below, one has under sink cabinets. A third wall is blank. No storage space, no appliances. We’ll be putting something there soon enough. And the fourth wall is nonexistent, just open to the dining area.

I’ve posted my favorite bread recipe here before, so I’m going to share an alternate recipe that just needs a little help from a mixer:

Lemon Meringue Pie

1 cup white sugar
2 tbsp flour
3 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1-1/2 cups water
2 lemons, juiced and zested (sometimes I add extra if I want a really tart pie)
2 tbsp butter
4 egg yolks
1 pie crust, baked in a 9 in pie pan
4 egg whites
6 tbsp white sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium pan combine 1 cup sugar with the flour, cornstarch and salt. Add water, lemon juice and lemon zest. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until mixture boils. Add butter.

Beat egg yolks in a separate bowl. Take 1/2 cup of lemon mixture and whisk into eggs. Pour back into the rest of the mixture. Return to a boil and cook until thick, stirring constantly. Pour into pie crust.

In a large bowl whip egg whites with your mixer until foamy. Start adding sugar slowly and whip until it can hold stiff peaks. Spread over the pie, making sure to seal at the edges of the crust.

Bake in oven for 10 minutes.

The trick to this one can be to get the meringue onto the pie quickly enough. It cooks best if the meringue goes onto the lemon mixture while it is still as hot as possible. This helps to cook the underside of the meringue.

Share your thoughts on this post, recipe ideas or anything else relevant.