Lemon Bars

Last week, I was offered fresh lemons from a co-worker's tree. Shoot...they're like 89 cents a piece at some grocery stores, so of course I gathered them up eagerly.




Not having any sort of yard with potential to yield anything edible (save a sad tomato plant that's somewhat reminiscent of Charlie Brown's Christmas tree), I'll take whatever I can get.

Coincidentally on that same morning, I received a slew of recipe e-mails geared towards lemony desserts. Thank you summer.

I had some eggs that were threatening to go bad if I didn't use them soon (did the water test )so I hurriedly scoured my recipe collection and decided to make lemon bars. Simple. Buttery. Tart. Let's go.


Recipe courtesey "Best Lemon Bars" from Allrecipes.com by Patty Schneck

::gathering my raw materials::


Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour

3 eggs
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 lemons, juiced

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, blend together softened butter, 2 cups flour and 1/2 cup sugar. Press into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 inch pan. I find the best way to do this is to use a flat bottomed glass.





3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until firm and golden.



In another bowl, whisk together the remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar and 1/4 cup flour. Whisk in the eggs and lemon juice.




Pour over the baked crust.



4. Bake for an additional 20 minutes in the preheated oven. The bars will firm up as they cool.



5. After the pan has cooled, cut into uniform 2 inch squares garnish with powdered sugar if desired. Enjoy!

Banana Walnut Muffins

What to do with extremely ripe, almost yucky bananas? Make jumbo banana walnut muffins. = )


Living a few miles away from the water gives a slight advantage of not-so-hot temperatures (albeit icky humidity)...so having the oven on wasn't totally offensive.


Can't go wrong with chopped nuts, bananas, a bit of cinnamon, and orange zest. garnished with some cinnamon sugar, you've got yourself a decent breakfast or a filling snack.


::gathering my raw materials::

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
2 really ripe bananas, mashed
2 eggs
1 stick butter
1/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup sour cream
1 tsp orange zest (optional)
Cinnamon sugar (as a garnish)


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Put your chopped walnut on a baking sheet and toast for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.



In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon. Set aside.



In a larger bowl, beat butter and both sugars until fluffy. Add two eggs, mashed bananas, and sour cream, and orange zest.







Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, beating on low. Once the mixture comes together, switch to a wooden spoon and fold in the toasted walnuts.



I opted to use a 6-form jumbo muffin tin, but you can really use whatever you have—mini, regular, etc.


Line your tins with paper or foil liners and spoon in the mixture. Garnish with cinnamon sugar if desired.



Bake for approximately 20-30 minutes. I check on mine at the 20 minute point, and continue to bake in intervals of 5 minutes. It may be less if you use smaller sized tins.


Once done, remove from heat, do the toothpick test if you want, and allow to cool. Enjoy!

dinner!

Margherita pizza



home grown cherry tomatoes...


quick n dirty pizza dough


pesto-ish (basil, evoo, shaved asiago)


cheese layer (duh)


assembly



pizza peel, onto a pizza stone...oven set to 400...bake for 15 min or so...



enjoy.

Basic Sugar Cookies

I think this should be the mandated "gloomy day" cookie--super easy, somewhat overlooked, yet so yummy and available when you just need that sweet itch scratched. Plus, definitely fun to photograph. Too cloudy to hit the beach today, so why not stay inside and make the house smell pretty?

I assure you, these cookies pretty much make themselves. Wet ingredients. Dry ingredients. Roll. Bake. Eat. =) (recipe courtesy, allrecipes.com)


::gathering my raw materials::


Ingredients
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.


2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients.




Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and place onto ungreased cookie sheets.


3. Bake 12 to 14 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.



Or...take a risk, and grab while warm and enjoy! = )