recipe: lemon squares

I'm posting this with a disclaimer: making this recipe may ruin all other lemon squares for you. Ever. You know a recipe is going to be great when it comes from a Junior League cookbook. Okay, another disclaimer: this does not apply to anything molded out of jello that contains fruit or cottage cheese.  However, lemon squares? Those ladies have it perfected.

I grew up eating these lemon bars on special occasions. They are not overly time consuming but do require three steps and a long time chilling, so you cannot whip them up right before your luncheon. Luncheons being what I assume they originated for. The ladies of the Junior League of Cincinnati are still hawking cookbooks, but neither on sale is the one to originally contain these so I will share it with you. In fact, when I google searched "junior league of cincinnati cookbook lemon squares" they were sharing a recipe with no cream cheese icing! Cue pearl clutching. Enjoy the icing loaded version here.


 Frosted Lemon Squares
2 cups flour
1 cup butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar

4 whole eggs
Juice of two lemons
4 Tablespoons flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup butter
3 cups powdered sugar
3 Tablespoons whipping cream
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
4 ounces cream cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream together the flour, butter and powdered sugar, either with a mixer or food processor. It will be quite crumbly. Press into ungreased 13 x 9 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 17-20 minutes until a light golden color.

Beat the eggs. Add juice of two lemons, flour, sugar and salt. Mix together. Pour over baked crust. Bake for 22-25 minutes until golden brown. Let cool completely before icing, 2+ hours or overnight.

For the icing, cream together the butter and sugar in mixer or food processor. Add whipping cream and vanilla and mix. Add the cream cheese in pieces into this mixture. Spread icing on cooled lemon layer. Chill and then cut into small squares. Store in the refrigerator. Freezes well.

If nice presentation is desired, partially freeze before cutting as icing remains soft at room temperature. But if the Junior League ladies thought they looked fine, they look fine. And I can promise you, they taste great.

recipe: mom's roast chicken

Last weekend I decided I wanted to spend Sunday making food for the week, which I knew was going to be a busy one. I was well supplied with lunches and quick dinners, though still nded up still eating out more than planned. Dinner with a friend, lunch with coworkers when I had forgotten my lunch...




To prepare the chicken:
1 chicken, 1 lemon, 4-5 cloves garlic (smashed), kosher salt

Rub garlic over the chicken. Cut the lemon in half and rub over the chicken, squeezing out some of the lemon juice. Place both the garlic and lemon in the chicken. Rub generously with salt.




For the roasted vegetables:
I used shallots, potatoes and carrots. Wash the vegetables, peel the shallots and third the carrots. Toss in olive oil and place into pan. Put the chicken(s) on top.

Roast at 450 for an hour and twenty minutes.

[An early spring feast.]

With the leftover chicken, I experimented with making a quinoa salad. Prepare the quinoa according to the directions, but chop one preserved lemon rind into small pieces and place in the water about halfway through cooking. It gives a great flavor to the quinoa. I ate hot quinoa with chicken for dinner, then for lunch make a salad of quinoa, mixed greens, chicken and dried cranberries, with just a drizzle of olive oil for dressing.

[Office lunch eaten outside in the sun]

pasta with asparagus and sausage

Also found on my incredible vegetable buying extravaganza was a thick bunch of thin little asparagus. I came home from dance class last night craving comfort food but wanting to stay on the healthy side too. I decided to whip up an easy pasta dish. I've made something similar, from a recipe, so if this look familiar to you, please let me know what I first found the recipe. I've reconstructed below.

What I did:

Pasta with Asparagus and Sausage in a Lemon-Parmesan sauce
1 lb pasta
1 bundle of asparagus
4 sausages, cooked and chopped
1 lemon
3-4 tbs Parmesan cheese grated

Boil pasta. Add asparagus when you have ~3 minutes left to cook pasta and asparagus together. Drain, reserving 1 cup pasta water. Put pasta back in pot. Add cheese, squeeze lemon on top, add small amounts of pasta water until pasta is coated with lemony-cheesey goodness.

Simple? Yes. Delicious? Fairly.

I regret that I didn't start the sausages when I was boiling the water (instead I was doing yesterday's dishes.) So I just microwaved them, which really didn't do them justice. I loved it for dinner, the lemon made it so bright and fresh and that fact that there wasn't much sauce was refreshing. The next day for lunch, it was not so great. I should have added olive oil all over it, grated lemon peel on top and eaten it cold. I have some more leftovers and I hope that helps them. I could have added more cheese too but I was using up what I had.

Alternatives:
- Add spinach or other vegetables you love.
- Use chicken instead of sausage. Or try it meatless.