Lemon Bars

Obviously after the red velvet cake fiasco, I've been feeling a little glum about my baking skills. So I signed up for a series of free baking classes at Williams-Sonoma and plan to combat this insecurity by increasing my baking frequency. Good for my coworkers, bad for my waistline. Heading to the gym when this post is finished, in fact.

I was skimming my Southern Living yesterday morning and saw this recipe. I thought that was a good place to get back on the horse, so to speak, and since we were having salmon with steamed green beans and white wine for dinner--lemon bars sounded like the perfect dessert. I was thrilled these turned out so well! I used Sugar in the Raw, which is kind of brownish instead of white, so they aren't as yellow as they may have been otherwise. But taste delicious. Bobby said he'd never had lemon bars that didn't come out of a box before. I didn't know they came in a box...? But I thought it was pretty funny when he was like "They're good! how do you get them to taste like lemons?" to which my response was "Umm...I used lemons?"

Lemon Bars

2 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup cold butter, cut into pieces
4 eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp lemon zest
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (I just squeezed the whole lemon, not sure how much that amounted to)
1/2 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350. Line the bottom of a 9 x 13 Pyrex with heavy duty foil or parchment paper and PAM it. Mom, is parchment paper like wax paper? They talked a lot about it at Williams Sonoma this morning, but I was afraid to ask questions. Make sure the foil extends over the ends of the dish to lift it out later.

Stir together 2 cups of flour and 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Cut in the butter using a pastry blender or fork. I didn't have the former, so I tried using a dinner fork, but that sucked. So I just used a whisk from my old stand mixer (pre-KitchenAid), and that got the job done. Once it's crumbly, press firmly into the bottom of the dish and bake for 25 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs until they're smooth, and then whisk in the sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Lastly, add the additional 4th of a cup of flour and the baking powder. When the crust is brown, pour mixture evenly over the top, and then bake another 25 minutes.

Let it cool in the pan for 30 minutes, and then use the sides of the foil to lift. Gently pull the foil away from the sides of the bars. Sprinkle the tops with additional powdered sugar and cut evenly.

SO good! Between these and my cookie class I'm feeling a little better. Bring on Naynie's cake at the end of the week!

Also--had a really good panini this week: Sourdough bread with bacon, white cheddar cheese, and Granny Smith apple slices. Very tasty.

Layered Enchilada Bake

Let's be honest...if it's covered in cheese, it gets two thumbs up from me. I've been using this particular recipe for probably about a year, and it will be one I continue to swear by. Originally emailed to me from KraftFoods.com, it's definitely a weeknight keeper! It calls for ground beef, but you can probably tell in the picture that I usually use ground turkey for this. Again, if you cover it in cheese, you may just want to cut some calories where you can, right?


Layered Enchilada Bake

1lb ground beef or turkey
1 large onion, chopped
2 cups of your favorite salsa
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/4cup Italian Dressing
2 Tbs taco seasoning (I just use the whole package...)
6 flour tortillas, 8"
1 cup sour cream
1-2 cups shredded cheddar

In a large skillet brown the meat with the onion. Once browned, add the two cups of salsa, black beans, dressing, and taco seasoning. Line the inside of your 9x13 Pyrex with foil and PAM it. Place three tortillas in a row (will be overlap) on the bottom of the dish, and top with half of the meat/bean mixture. Place a "dollop" of sour cream in the middle of each tortilla. I'm going to use this platform to speak out against fat free sour cream. Do NOT ever try to cook with it. I cannot stress this enough. It's not even really sour cream. Just don't use it. Anyway... spread the sour cream out with a butter knife or small spatula, and cover with half of the shredded cheese. Repeat layers and cover with foil. Bake on 400 for 30 minutes and then remove top foil. Bake an additional 10 minutes. If you're feeling fancy you can top it with shredded lettuce or diced tomatoes. But usually by the time it's done Bobby's already hovering with his fork. You can also make ahead and refrigerate overnight or freeze it. Great for leftovers or lunch the next day!

Also, if you want to see a video-demo, go to http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/layered-enchilada-bake-107317.aspx.

Anne's Breakfast Casserole

I don't make up a lot of recipes. I may fudge things from time to time, but there's very few instances where I just kind of wing the whole thing and say a little prayer. Luckily, something wonderful happened this time! So I'm claiming this recipe as mine, all mine. And I must say, it turned out beautifully! Bobby ate two platefuls and I had leftovers the next day and even my cube-mate thought it looked and smelled delicious :-) But since Bobby's schedule is a little odd, I figured what a good thing to have on hand, because you can eat it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner just depending on when he's home. You could also make this a quiche of sorts, but I don't have a pie plate, so it's a casserole.
Anne's Breakfast Casserole

1 package Simply Potatoes Southwest-style shredded hash-browns
1/3 cup butter, melted
1.5-2 cups diced ham
1 cup shredded jack cheese
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
5 eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream
lots of pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 425. PAM the bottom of your pyrex or casserole dish, and melt the butter in the mircowave. Blend the whole package of potatoes with the melted butter either in a mixing bowl or carefully in your casserole dish. Use a spatula to press potatoes firmly into the dish to create a solid bottom layer. Top potatoes evenly with shredded jack and cheddar cheeses, and then top evenly with diced ham. In a small mixing bowl, beat 5 eggs with cream and add pepper. Pour evenly over the ham. Bake at 425 for 30 minutes. Cool for just a minute or two and then serve.

In other interesting life news the SUN has come out! Spring is actually going to happen and it's very exciting. All members of the Gibbons household are extremely pleased (although Bobby doesn't see a lot of daylight these days, so he may not know yet...) I also made Ghiradelli Double Chocolate brownies this weekend, and would like to stress their superiority over all other brownie mixes. HANDS DOWN. I also made a yummy little appetizer (thanks Cooking Light Cookbook) of small cheese tortellini, cucumber chuncks, and red bell peppers cut into bite-sized squares tossed with a little bit of Italian Vinaigrette dressing (to prevent the cheap taste that some Italian dressings, particularly Kraft's, can have). Put one of each on a toothpick and served chilled. Could also supersize this appetizer by adding a square of hard salami, grape tomato, kalamata olive, and/or square of feta on a kebab skewer. But I was short on time and couldn't find skewers.

Sticky Slow-cooker Drumsticks

So I may have forgotten to take a picture of this one, but it's really good! Now the recipe specifically said drumsticks, and I did some drumsticks and some breasts...and the drumsticks were by far better. The breast meat got very dry in the slowcooker--but maybe if you wanted to try bone-in breasts instead of boneless? That might be better. Otherwise I'd stick with drumsticks and maybe some wings if you wanted to branch out. But really, this took me about 20 minutes in the morning and it was delicious! Pair it with some sticky rice and sauteed bell peppers, and you're good to go! Maybe snow peas... Anyway, thank you AllRecipes.com Dinner Spinner iPhone App! Because yes, there's an app for that.

Sticky Slow-cooker Drumsticks

2-4 lbs chicken drumsticks, skin removed (use really good kitchen scissors)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced (my garlic actually went bad so I substituted for ~2tsp of garlic powder)
8oz can of tomato sauce

This is a recipe you will definitely want to use slow-cooker liners for. Again, these are made by Reynolds, and they're with the Reynolds wrap and Ziploc bags. So PAM the crock pot, place the liner in, and PAM the liner. Otherwise the brown sugar will make your crock pot a mess that will need to soak--and who has sink space for that? Place all drumsticks into the slow cooker, spread them around. Then in a medium mixing bowl, mix soy sauce, brown sugar, tomato sauce, and garlic. Pour the sauce evenly over your drumsticks and cook on LOW for 8 hours.

The soy sauce makes it a little salty, so you may want to add more sugar for balance. But it's really good, and the meat falls right off the bone. I'm expanding my chicken horizons...

Smoked Salmon Fettuccine

OK so by now you should all know that we can officially file Bobby's red velvet birthday cake under "Things That Didn't Work." I leave out one little thing because I'm being NICE, and it turns to a brick. Not to mention the frosting was like painting a red brick with straight butter. Mmmm Mmmm Good, right? Bobby ate the obligatory "I love it honey!" piece and we tossed the rest. And to think, I got my beautiful cake plate dirty for nothing!

But the evening was redeemed with my (mother's) smoked salmon fettuccine. So simple, and so reliable! And I may have grown up eating my dad's freshly smoked salmon, but you really can get some good pieces at the grocery store--especially for pasta! If you're not a smoked salmon aficionado, make sure you go to the seafood section and usually under the fresh fish display they will have packaged smoked salmon fillets. Make sure you get a fillet, and not thin slices--because those are called lox and they go on your bagel, not in your pasta. Bobby has brought them to me many-a-time only to be sent away.

Bobby's Birthday Smoked Salmon Fettuccine

2-3 smoked salmon fillets
1 box of bow-tie pasta (it has a great way of holding bits of salmon)
1/2 cup diced onions
4 oz cream cheese, cubed
1/4th cup butter
2 cups heavy cream1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
Tabasco, salt & pepper to taste

Flake the smoked salmon into bite-sized chunks with your fingers or a fork. In a large skillet, saute the onion in butter for about 3 minutes. Add the cream cheese cubes and stir into the onions until melted. Add cream and a few dashes of Tabasco to the skillet and keep warm over medium-low heat. Meanwhile, boil pasta and drain once cooked.

My mother heats a large pasta bowl in the oven and then moves the pasta over and prepares the rest in the bowl. I'm not too sure my pasta bowl can go in the oven, so I pour the pasta into the skillet with the cream sauce to finish the prep. Combine pasta and sauce, add smoked salmon and stir well. Serve immediately and top each bowl with a few pinches of Parmesan cheese, and add salt/pepper (esp. pepper) to taste.


It's a pretty quick and easy dish, but smoked salmon isn't in the budget every week--and neither is cream sauce! Different kind of budget though haha :-) So it's great for special occasions. We also rounded out Bobby's birthday with the conclusion of Bobby's OBGYN rotation and a *successful* final exam for him, followed by the BEST meal ever at Palermo Viejo on Bardstown. There was provaleta, empanadas, steak, more pasta, pancakes de dulce de leche, homemade banana icecream, and of course a great bottle of Cabernet. He is officially over the 20-something hill and older than me for 4 whole weeks! See you at the other end of Pisces my love...