Lemons Lemons Lemons, pickled and candied

This last couple of weeks I keep seeing lemon recipes... and I love lemons... so thought I would try a couple of them.  First I saw pickled lemons on Pinterest and just had to try it.  The link led me to The New York Times Dining and Wine section and an article called Capturing Morocco in Its Sunny Pickle 

It describes pickling lemons and even though it does not really give a recipe I just sort of went for it. I cut up two lemons.. added a little bit of salt and tiny bit of sugar... mixed it all up, put it in a jar and set it in the fridge.. every once in awhile I would give it a shake or two to stir it up and then for lunch the next day I gave it a try.

 I cut up a baked chicken breast and added a diced tomato, some lettuce and a bit of cheese with about a tablespoon of the pickled lemon and wrapped it up in a tortilla.  Heaven!  It is a bit tart.. I did not add very much sugar.. just a sprinkle really.  Really adds some flavor without being too over bearing.

The next thing I keep seeing is candied lemons...  I decided since I have this big bag of lemons I was going to make some of them too.  So I looked around on the web and checked out some recipes then went after it.  I cut up a couple of lemons..sliced them thin.. took out the seeds. I put some water on the stove with a bit of sugar in there.. about 2 cups of water and a cup of sugar... when it was boiling I added the sliced lemons and turned it on low..... cooked it slowly for about 20 to 30 minutes.. then scooped out the lemon slices to cool on a wire rack.  The lemon syrup I put in a jar to save for later.. I am thinking it may be good added to some sort of liqueur later on.  Could have used it in the lemon cake pops I made instead of water maybe.. I am not sure if that would work... would be awesome to dribble some over the top of a lemon cupcake instead of frosting. The candied lemons are amazing... I did not sprinkle them with sugar like some recipes said to do.. I figured they were sugared enough for me and they are. Still a tiny bit of tart. Will be wonderful to chop up and sprinkle on a cupcake. Could just eat like candy but that is totally not on my diet... so will figure out another way to use them.