Lemon Bars

One of my favorite summer sweets is lemon bars and I happened to make these tonight and they turned out great! They're super easy to make and only take a few simple ingredients and everyone will rave about them.

Lemon Bars:

Crust:

1 cup butter (2 sticks)

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

2/3 cup powdered sugar (plus another 1/4 cup for dusting)

Topping:

1 1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

4 eggs, slightly beaten

1/2 cup lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease and flour a 9x13 pan

Directions for Crust:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and powdered sugar

2. Cut in butter until combined and crumbly

3. Press mixture into bottom of pan

4. Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden

5. While crust is baking, prepare the topping.

Directions for Lemon:

1. In a large bowl, add sugar, flour, and baking powder

2. Add slightly beaten eggs and lemon juice

3. Mix well and pour on top of warm baked crust (If crust is fresh out of the oven, let it cool for 5-10 minutes before pouring mix on)

4. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

5. Dust with powdered sugar.

6. Cool bars, cut, remove excess sugar and enjoy them cold.

I hope you all take a chance to make and enjoy these. Here's how mine came out!

Pretty yummy looking, huh?!

Breakfast for Dinner

I love breakfast. I love it more when I can have it for dinner. So, tonight, I went out, bought a cheap waffle maker ($7 from Target) and made waffles. They were fantastic and oh so filling! So, here's how you make them.

Waffles:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
3 whole eggs, beaten
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
16 ounces buttermilk, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Vegetable spray, for waffle iron

1. Preheat waffle iron according to manufacturers directions.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, soda, baking powder, salt and sugar. In another bowl, beat together eggs and melted butter, and then add the buttermilk and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until combined. Allow to rest for 5 minutes.
3. Lade the recommended amount of waffle batter onto the iron according to the manufacturer's recommendations. Close irop top and cook until the waffle is golden on both sides and is easily removed from the iron. Serve immediately or keep warm in a heated oven until ready to serve.

I chose to layer mine with bananas, powdered sugar and syrup.

Leftovers and Temporary Jobs

So, the job hunt continues. I broke down and went to LeadingEdge Personnel so I can at least get some money doing temporary office work. It's money and I'm quite broke.

On the other hand, these jobs are temporary, so, I can still look for greener pastures in fields that I actually want to be in. Last night I applied for a reporter job at KENS-5. It's a local broadcast news station, and I hope I hear something back soon, but if not, there are more jobs out there. I just have to dig them up!

Now, on with the food! Today I made a salad with left over brisket from our 5th of July party.

Salad:
2 cups hearts of romaine
1/2 small avocado
1/4 cup cheese
1/2 cup brisket

Salad dressing:
1/8 cup plain greek yogurt
1/4 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp parsley flakes

Throw everything in a bowl and have a good time mixing! The lemon and parsley give it a great fresh summer flavor and the meat and avocado give you some substance. The lettuce is really there for bulk, but all combined it's amazing. Have with a nice refresing glass of mint iced tea, and you'll be set for a summer lunch!

And, without further ado, here's a lovely photo.

Summer Citrus

I LOVE SUMMER! I love the bright sunshine and the warmth that comes through my new pink curtain. I also love the fruits of summer. Oranges, lemons, strawberries and peaches are some of my favorites and for my family's "Happy Belated Birthday, America!" party I made lemonade cupcakes, and they were a hit!

Lemonade Cupcakes:

1 box Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Lemon Supreme Cake Mix

1 can Creamy Lemon Frosting

24 lemon drops

24 drink umbrellas

Lemon Curd (recipe to follow)

1. Preheat oven to 350℉. Line 24 muffin cups with 2 paper liners in each cup. Prepare the cake mix according to package directions. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake until cupcakes are lightly golden and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 18 to 21 minutes. Transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack and cool completely.
2. Cut out cone shaped holes from each cake. Fill with 1/2 tablespoon lemon curd. Shave off the cone from the cone shape and place back on cupcake. Repeat for all cupcakes and let sit.
3. Stir frosting. Spread the frosting on top of all of the cupcakes and make smooth, making sure to keep the double paper liners in place.
4. Dip lemon drops into lemon curd and set in center of iced cupcake. Place umbrella accordingly.

Lemon Curd:

3 large eggs

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon finely shredded lemon zest

3/4 cup granulated white sugar

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1. In a stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of summering water, whisk together the eggs, sugar and lemon juice until blended. Cook, stirring constantly, to prevent curdling, until the mixture becomes thick like sour cream or a hollandaise sauce. This will take approximately 10 minutes.
2. Remove from heat and immediately pour through a fine strainer to remove any lumps.
3. Cut the butter into small pieces and whisk into the mixture until the butter has melted. Add the lemon zest and let cool. The lemon curd will continue to thicken as it cools. Cover immediately, so a skin will not form, and refrigerate for up to a week.

They were really quite great, and even though they took some work, they were totally worth it! So, here's a picture of them, well after they were almost all gone!

Hope you all had a great 4th of July weekend!

Dinner on the Fly

I have been craving some really good pizza lately, but living in the boonies now, the closest pizza place to here is a Domino's or something equally disappointing. What's a girl to do? Make her own pizza of course!

And here's tonight's pizza margherita recipe.

16oz fresh mozzerella (cut into 16 pieces)
2 Pilsbury pizza crusts, classic
4 roma tomatoes
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
Fresh Basil, chopped
14oz can of tomato sauce

Grease two pans for the pizza crusts.
Place the dough and make into desired thickness.
Ladle on half of the tomato sauce on each pizza crust and spread around evenly.
Place half of the mozzerella cheese on each pizza followed by the tomatoes.
Sprinkle basil around and finish with half of the parmesan cheese sprinkled on each pizza.
Put in the oven at 425 and cook for 20-30 minutes, making sure the center is cooked in the dough.

Enjoy!

The family really enjoyed this pizza with a nice cesar salad on the side!

Hope you enjoy it too :)

The Yuppie Grilled Cheese

I LOVE cheese. I love all kinds of cheese, Swiss, American, Gouda, Guyere, Cheddar, it doesn't matter. Any kind of cheese is good in my book. And what comes to mind when I think of cheese, a grilled cheese sandwich. It's such a comfort food and I absolutely love it! Without further ado, here are some of my favorite grilled cheese recipes that I've made recently.


On Tuesday, I was craving something rich and creamy for dinner. I stumbled upon a can of tomato soup and we had some cheese. Tomato soup and grilled cheese it was!


Grilled Cheese on Sourdough
Two slices of Sourdough bread
Two slices of Kraft American Singles
One Baby Minibel Gouda cheese, sliced
Place cheese on bread and grill in a nonstick pan with Pam (butter flavor is the best!) until golden brown, flipping once.


And yesterday, I went to the store and spent a good 20 minutes in the cheese section. I found Gouda slices and sharp cheddar slices! I picked out a nice ripe Roma tomato to go with and some pumpernickel bread.


Grilled Cheese on Pumpernickel
One slice of Gouda Cheese
One slice of Sharp Cheddar
Medium Roma tomato
Two slices of pumpernickel bread


Cut 1/3 of Roma tomato into slices and set aside.
Place one slice of cheese on bread.
Carefully put tomato slices to cover the cheese.
Put the other slice of cheese on the bread and cover with the final slice of bread.
Place sandwich in a nonstick pan heated and coated with Pam (butter flavor is the best!) until darker brown on both sides, flipping once.


I hope you enjoy these recipes! There's no end to what you can put on your grilled cheese sandwich. Get creative!


Until next time, bon apetit! 

Cooking

I have always loved cooking. Something about it just makes me happy. The fact that I can make people smile by taking the time to make wholesome delicious meals, is amazing. So tonight for dinner, I made a chicken pasta primavera and crepes.

The journey to dinner was a long and rather interesting one. I couldn't sleep last night so I ended up looking at hundreds of recipes for what I wanted to make tonight and I figured I'd make a pasta dish and I was hoping to make flan, but I couldn't find the appropriate dishes for it in time, so I settled on crepes.

I walked to the grocery store, got the necessary ingredients, walked back home and crashed. By that point I had been up for 23 hours straight and I needed sleep before I could possibly take on cooking. I started the dinner and it turned out amazing! Without futher ado, here are the recipes I used.




Chicken Pasta Primavera

4 Tbs olive oil
2 cups fresh broccoli florets
½ cup chopped onions
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 medium carrot, peeled and julienned
2 cups cooked chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
salt to taste
3 medium tomatoes, diced
1 lb pasta, cooked to package directions (whole wheat angel hair pasta works amazingly!)
½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
2 Tbs fresh parsley, chopped

1. Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add broccoli, onion, garlic and carrot. Stir frequently, until broccoli is crisp and tender (about 10 min.)

2. Stir in chicken, salt and tomatoes. Heat for 3 minutes or until chicken is heated.

3. Spoon chicken mixture over drained pasta. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and parsley. Serve hot.

Crepes

2 large eggs 
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 cup flour
3 tablespoons melted butter
Butter, for coating the pan (optional - I just use a non-stick pan and they come out fine)

1. In a blender, combine all of the ingredients and pulse for 10 seconds. Place the
crepe batter in the refrigerator for 1 hour. This allows the bubbles to subside so the crepes will be less likely to tear during cooking. The batter will keep for up to 48 hours.
2. Heat a small non-stick pan. Add butter to coat. Pour 1 ounce of batter into the center of the pan and swirl to spread evenly. Cook for 30 seconds and flip. Cook for another 10 seconds and remove to the cutting board. Lay them out flat so they can cool. Continue until all batter is gone. After they have cooled you can stack them and store in sealable plastic bags in the refrigerator for several days or in the freezer for up to two months. When using frozen crepes, thaw on a rack before gently peeling apart.

3. Cut up whatever fruit is in season, use whip cream, nutella, or whatever else sounds good and place inside then fold over and enjoy!

I hope you all try out these recipes and truly enjoy them :)