Lemon Zest

For the longest time I didn’t know what lemon zest was or that lemon juice didn’t have to come from a bottle in the refrigerator.

I didn’t grow up in a lemon zest world.  (Click here for what lemon zest is.  No one will know.)

My midwestern-born Mom made meat/potato/vegetable meals.  Bottled salad dressing and canned French cut green beans made into a casserole with cream of mushroom soup were fancy stuff at our table.

I’d like to be a lemon zest type of cook.

I don’t buy bottled lemon juice anymore.  (My favorite is the bright yellow plastic one with a green top that looks like a lemon.)

I have a grater and I’ve watched TV chefs zest and juice.  I’ve cut out recipes that require lemon zest.

I read one time that a squirt of lemon juice will brighten the taste of anything. I don’t know what that means.  Maybe my food needs some brightening.

I forget to buy lemons.  How will I add zest to my life?

Lemons I do buy sit around for days.  I feel them wondering, as they begin to shrink, what I will create with them.  I usually end up slicing them for iced tea or diet Coke.  I don’t want to waste the lemons.

I have 2 lemons downstairs.  Any suggestions?

Can I squeeze lemon juice on a baked sweet potato?