Recipe from the June 2008 issue of Everyday Food. Sadly, I wasn’t too impressed with this one as Hubby and I thought that the bars were much too sweet. I actually cut them smaller than recommended (20 bars instead of 16 from an 8×8 baking dish) and I still couldn’t finish one small bar in the same sitting. These aren’t even much less work than my usual lemon bars, so I am definitely going back to those yummy ones!
A couple of weeks ago, Madeline posted about Rachel Ray’s Korean Flank Steak Recipe, and I bookmarked it immediately. I’m glad I did because it was very easy and super delicious (a perfect combo, in my book)! We followed Madeline’s modifications exactly, except that we cooked the meat for 8-9 minutes on the Foreman Grill because we prefer our meat well done.
For dessert, I made lemon bars using this recipe posted by Ruth. Hubby loved these lemon bars, so this recipe is definitely a keeper! I’ve posted the recipe below, which includes both Ruth’s modications to the original recipe along with my notes in brackets.
Crust:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 cups flour
In a large bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until creamy. Beat in flour, blending thoroughly. Spread mixture evenly over bottom of 13×9 pan (thoroughly greased or lined with parchment paper and greased). [I used parchment paper with cooking spray (Pam with Flour), but the Pam made a soggy mess. Next time I will try parchment paper only without greasing.] Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
Filling:
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. grated lemon zest [I used all the zest of 1 lemon, which was more like 2 tsp.]
6 Tbsp. lemon juice [3 lemons provided more than enough juice]
1 tsp. baking powder
1/3 cup flour
powdered sugar (for dusting)
Beat eggs until light. Add sugar a little at a time until mixture is lemon colored. Add lemon peel, lemon juice, baking powder, and flour. Beat until smooth and well combined. Pour lemon mixture over crust and return to oven. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until topping is pale golden. [I baked it for 20 minutes, and next time I might try a few more minutes.] Test for doneness. While warm, sift powdered sugar over the top. [Be careful not to sift too much powdered sugar on top like I did!]
I love using tried-and-true recipes from blog friends. Thanks for sharing, Madeline and Ruth!
This past weekend I enjoyed a much-needed time of relaxation. Friday was especially nice — Hubby and I took the day off from work and had a lovely afternoon going out to lunch and dinner with a solid block of shopping in between. It was like a spur-of-the-moment date day! Over the rest of the weekend, I whipped up the following treats. They aren’t exactly healthy or low fat, but I was pleased with the results and enjoyed them quite a bit.
Apple Almond Bars
I came across this recipe on Mary’s blog last week and was immediately drawn to it. The bars are quite rich (due to the cream cheese filling), but they are so delicious with a glass of milk. I particularly liked the flavor from the almond extract. I brought the bars to work today and they were a hit.
Meat Loaf
Hubby and I tried making meat loaf exactly once last year, and it turned out so horribly that I have been very hesitant to try another one. So I was rather surprised when he suggested that we make meat loaf for dinner this week. I found this Classic Meat Loaf recipe from Simple Recipes. Simply Recipes is one of my favorite sites. We have tried at least six or seven of Elise’s recipes, and they have all turned out wonderfully. The Classic Meat Loaf was no exception. The spicy Italian ground sausage gave it a great kick. We made two mods: (1) omitted the onion because Hubby forgot to buy it, and (2) substituted cilantro for parsley because we love cilantro. This recipe is definitely a keeper, and it’s nice that I am not traumatized by a bad meat loaf anymore.
Thai Iced Tea
This looks like orange juice, doesn’t it? But no, it’s Thai Iced Tea. I came across this recipe through Alicia’s blog a couple of months ago. This was my third time making it so I have been tweaking the recipe each time. I would have no idea whether this is “authentic,” but it tastes pretty good. Here are my notes, in case anyone wants to try making this.
–I had no problem finding the Thai Tea mix at my local large Asian supermarket. The package I bought looks like this.
–1 2/3 cups of water yields 1 1/3 cups of tea.
–1/4 cup of sugar is plenty — I recommend starting from there and adding more as needed.
–You definitely don’t need a whole 12oz can of evaporated milk. We used that 12oz can on two occasions and still had a few ounces of leftovers.
Hope you have a great week!
You know when you are totally excited about a knitting project and just can’t wait to get back to it? That’s how I feel about this:
I’m using Noro Silk Garden in colorway 224, and the photo above shows the whole first skein. I’ve been knitting like crazy because I love watching the colors change. Ironically, I realized that I don’t want a scarf in these colors after I started knitting it, so this one will be a gift. I want darker colors for myself and ordered colorway 217. This scarf is essentially a smaller version of a very popular stole (without the fringe). Many thanks to Allison of Freckles and Purls for posting the pattern!
Also, I would like to thank everyone for checking out my destashing blog last week. Wow, some of those emails came in fast! In case anyone is interested, I still have four skeins of Cashmerino and two skeins of Jade Sapphire 8-ply cashmere up for sale.
In cooking news, we’ve enjoyed a few successes this week. I baked Apple-Date Bars (Cooking Light, October 2006) on Friday and they came out really well. I substituted raisins for dates, walnuts for pecans, and cut the sugar down to 1.5 cups. Next time I would cut the raisins a bit too, but other than that the recipe is wonderful.
The cover recipe for the October Cooking Light is Classic Beef Pot Roast. I have a brand new Le Creuset dutch oven that I’ve been itching to test, and this seemed like the perfect recipe. Oh. my. goodness. This pot roast is very, very good. My photo doesn’t do it justice. The meat is super tender and flavorful and the potatoes and carrots are delicious too. While the cooking time is long (about 2.5 hours in the oven), the actual cooking process is really easy. I can definitely see us making this again in the winter. The mods I made were that I doubled the garlic (which I do for practically everything because we like garlic) and I used a 2.5 lb piece of pot roast because that I was the largest cut I could find at the supermarket.
Someone please tell me that the stains on the Le Creuset will come off!
Lastly, Hubby put together this yummy pizza for us. The sauce recipe is from this book. I seriously considered making the crust from scratch but ultimately decided it would be too time consuming.
Food-wise, I think we’re set for the week!
