Luscious lemon bars

I like to store ideas for lemon-related recipes in the back of my head until January of every year. My mother-in-law loves lemon desserts and since January is her birth month, it has also become lemon month. It is nice having a little taste of summer in the dead of winter!

My first 2013 lemon experiment was edible, but not blog-worthy. My second, this delicious little bar, was fabulous! If you, too, have a loved-one who swoons over lemon desserts, you must give these a try.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine:

2 cups flour

1 cup confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 sticks butter, softened

Mix until crumbly.

Using your fingers, press the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine:

4 eggs

2 cups granulated sugar

Zest from one lemon

1/2 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup flour

Whisk until lumps are gone. Pour over the partially-baked crust and bake for an additional 25 minutes.

Once the bars have cooled, dust with confectioners' sugar and cut into squares. Store covered in the refrigerator or at room temperature.

Printable recipe: Luscious lemon bars

Fresh lemony pasta salad

The little boys are at daycare for the day, Dan is working hard in the sky and I have the entire day to get things accomplished. Chris Martin is serenading me as I edit photos and write up recipes and take pictures of ice cream. I can't wait to share my very first ice cream recipe with you! That will have to wait till early next week, though. I have a "few" things above that on my to-do list. 

Monday is my birthday. Having a birthday on a Monday would normally be a bummer, but not this year. Dan has Mondays off, and with my schedule being flexible, it is music to my ears! Dan has a fun day planned for us, and I am very much looking forward to spending time with him. Elijah keeps loudly whispering that he has a secret he needs to tell me about. Then he mouths something that he desperately wants me to hear but that I can't actually hear. Secrets are hard to keep!

As a very kind birthday gift, a friend of mine has offered to drive out to the dropzone and watch the boys tomorrow while I make a few skydives! That will make two weekends in a row! 

It's gonna be paraaa-paraaa-paradise! Paraaa-paraaa-paradise! Paraaa-paraaa-paradise! Whoa-ohh-ohh-oh-ohh-ohhh-ohh-ohh..

Sorry, Chris was distracting me. :)

What was I talking about?! Uhhm, how about the weather? It has continued to be hot, which I still refuse to complain about. The heat makes me want to be in or near water constantly and also eat nothing but salads. I LOVE this delicious little salad I threw together last week. The only downfall was that the avocados didn't last long, so I had to eat it quickly. Darn.

Start by grilling a few ears of corn. Coat them with butter, salt and pepper and wrap them up in foil.

Grill over medium heat for about 20 minutes. Rotate them every 5 minutes or so.

Once they have cooled, cut the corn off the cobs with a sharp knife. This always makes me think of my dad because it is the only way he has ever eaten corn on the cob. 

In a large bowl, combine:

2 ears of corn, grilled and cut from cobs

8-oz. package fresh mozzarella pearls

10.5-oz. package cherry tomatoes, halved

2 avocados, peeled, pitted and chopped

16-oz. package farfalle pasta, cooked to al dente

3 tablespoons fresh basil, finely chopped

Carefully mix the ingredients together with a large spoon. Do your best not to smoosh the fragile avocados and pasta.

In a small bowl, combine:

1/4 cup olive oil

1/8 cup white wine vinegar

Juice from 1 lemon (I loved how lemony the end product tasted, but if you don't like super lemony foods just use juice from 1/2 of a lemon instead)

Salt and pepper, to taste 

Whisk the dressing and pour it over the pasta salad.

Mix well (and carefully).

Refrigerate for a bit to chill, and serve!

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

Printable recipe: Fresh lemony pasta salad

Lemon blueberry cheesecake bars

If everything falls into place this weekend, it will be a momentus one. I will wait until it is over to share! I have butterflies in my tummy about every part of it. It has been a long time since I have felt like this!

I haven't been thinking about food too much this week, but I did manage to pull these tasty little treats together (inspired by Epicurean Mom). I loved them. They were summery and fresh, which are two of my favorite words to describe food lately with all of this warm (and wonderful) weather.

Blueberries + lemons = summery and fresh!

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Coat an 8x8-inch baking dish with cooking spray.

In a food processor, combine:

10 graham crackers, broken into pieces

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

Pulse until fine crumbs form.

Add 5 tablespoons of melted butter and pulse until crumbs are moistened.

Press crumbs into the bottom of the prepared baking dish and bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine:

Two 8-oz. packages cream cheese, softened

2 tablespoons milk

2 large eggs

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Using a hand-held mixer, mix on medium speed until smooth.

While you are doing that, have a cute kitchen helper start juicing a few lemons for you. :)

Add to the bowl:

Zest from 2 lemons

Juice from 2 lemons

Mix with hand-held mixer until combined.

Remove a handful of blueberries from a 1-pint package and set aside. Pour the rest of them into the bowl.

Gently stir with a spoon until combined.

Pour the cream-cheese-blueberry mixture over the crust. 

Drop the reserved blueberries evenly over the top.

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes. Let cool completely. Cover and refrigerate for a minimum of 4 hours before serving.

Here's to summery, fresh, butterflies-in-tummy days ahead! Enjoy your weekend!

Printable recipe: Lemon blueberry cheesecake bars

Strawberry lemonade

Reading all of your comments on my candles giveaway post has been SO MUCH FUN! Summer is wonderful, isn't it? We have had many high points ourselves so far this summer, and I love reading all about your high points, too. Thank you so much for sharing. Keep the comments coming!

My boys and I spent two nights at the dropzone this weekend. There are so many things we love about getting out of the city. Here is one of my personal favorite things..

Pure sunset peace!

Another item on my list of Favorite Summer Things is spending time outdoors with my boys. Being Minnesotans, we especially love the heat. We eat outside, we play outside and we drink delicious summery drinks outside.

Within 60 seconds of pulling this strawberry lemonade out of the refrigerator, my boys were begging for as much as I would offer them. Slurrrpppppp. 

Pour 4 cups of warm water into a large serving pitcher. Add 1 cup of granulated sugar and stir until it is dissolved.

Hull and slice 1 1/2 pints of strawberries. 

Put them through a juicer. If you don't own a juicer, throw them into a food processor or blender and strain. It will be a bit frothy.

Juice (and strain) 8 lemons.

Pour the strawberry and lemon juices into the pitcher and mix well.

Add a few lemon slices and refrigerate until chilled, at least 1 hour. Serve over ice!

Woooo SUMMER! Enjoy it! Pretty soon we will be shivering and slipping on the ice. :)

Printable recipe: Strawberry lemonade

Lemon cream bars

I have a funny story about lemon bars. The first lemon bars I ever made were from a box. I was newly out of college, and I had my own kitchen for the very first time. I misread the directions and added double the amount of butter, so I think I added like 4 sticks total. The end product was greasy and oily-lemony, but strangely delicious. I called them my Artery Cloggers. Being just out of college, money was tight so I refused to let them go to waste. I clogged up my arteries properly by finishing the entire pan! Mmm! 

And these lemon bars are so much better, even sans tons of butter. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat an 8x8-inch square baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine:

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup light brown sugar

Using a hand-held mixer, mix until combined. Gradually add the flour mixture, mixing until incorporated.

Press half of the crumb mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan.

Add 1/2 cup oats to the remainer of the crumb mixture in the bowl. Mix together and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine:

One 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup freshly-squeezed lemon juice

Zest from 1 lemon

Whisk until creamy. Spread over top of the pressed crumb mixture in the pan.

Top with the other half of the crumb mixture.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool for 30 minutes before serving. Cut into squares and store in the refrigerator.

See? Way better than Artery Cloggers!

Printable recipe: Lemon cream bars