Extra Tangy Lemon Bars

The table counterpart loves lemon sweets. More than chocolate, ice cream, or cookies (unless they are lemon cookies). The desert most loved is a lemon curd braided sweet bread. While I agree it's oh so good, our current living conditions do not warrant the space to make lemon braided bread or cook it. Regulated to a 9x9 pan and after months and months of looking, I found Ina Garten's Lemon Bars and the reviews stated it wasn't too sweet and it was adaptable to 9x9 pan. Perfect!

Modifications Made:
Powder sugar was only added when plated to keep the sugar from becoming sticky when stored in the fridge overnight.

Scaled for Likability: Good

This crust was dense and held together well with the lemon, however, the butter overpowered the bar. Neither the bar nor the curd was overwhelming sweet even with three cups of sugar in the curd itself! My favorite part was the layer form on the curd when cooking. Don't know if this was supposed to happen but it added a lovely color and texture element.

Edit July 19, 2020:

A week later Lemon Bars with Shortbread Crust was tried.

Modifications Made:

Zest was only used from the lemons it would take to make half cup of fresh juice. Powder sugar was omitted.

Scaled for Likability: Good

This was a great recipe and was super to easy to scale down to a 9x9 pan. It was tangy and not overly sweet, has a nice hard base to offset the soft curd filling. What a great combination. Addition of the vanilla and the extra flour really changed the way the crust cooked and tasted. Great served slightly warm or cold straight from the fridge.

Both lemon bars were good but they are still not what is envisioned. Next time, this shortbread recipe will act as the base to Ina Garten's curd. Lemon bars are sweet and tangy and everything summer. In fact, the only part I struggle with in wanting to make them again (all lemon bars really) is having to wait for the crust to cool before the filling is added and baked.

Better Than Campbell's Old Fashion Vegetable Soup

Went to the store with the hopes of gathering fresh produce for soup. With more than 45 people in line for two packages of any meat product and the produce section containing only avocado, orange, and most randomly, strawberries, I settled upon canned soup. Well not canned soup since that section was still void of food, too. Instead soup made from canned goods as the canned vegetable section had been mostly restocked. Soups like this 15 Minute Vegetable Soup are ideal in dire food situations such as current times. Modifications Made: Plain petite diced tomatoes for flavored tomatoes, frozen carrots instead of canned, green beans and corn undrained, peas omitted (gross, nasty little pods), one can tomato sauce, two low sodium chicken and two pollo de tomate bouillon cubes, six cups water. Once onions were softened, carrots, juice of green beans and corn, sauce, bouillon cubes, water were added and allowed to simmer until carrots almost tender. Green beans and corn tossed in, heat t

Way Too Rich, Extra Heavy Cheesecake

Pictures are deceptive. What this picture of this recipe does not show is how old and faded the print out paper is, how many stains are smudged across various spots, and the numerous notes written in the top right corner with the first one dating back to college days in 2001. Yikes, twenty years ago makes this paper print out old, no wait, that makes me old. Eek. Sadly, my current living quarters do not allow for cooking of this cheesecake. In fact the last time this recipe has been made have been close to six or seven years. That is just too long. Too long. Luckily, we are spending Spring Break at family with a real oven. A family who will help eat this oh so rich, very decadent, supremely yummy cheesecake. Modifications Made: There are four keys to a successful cheesecake. ONE: all ingredients must be room temperature. If your house is ice chest cold, then warm the ingredients on the stovetop. TWO: do not over mix. Excessive mixing creates air pockets resulting in split mi

The Great Freeze 2021 Vegetable Broth

Good grief, this cold snap. Every year I wish and wish for cold weather so this table can eat soups without melting. Well this year winter came and came with a vengeance. Two days below freezing with no water, no power, no internet/cell service. It's the dark ages. If you need more info just search for Texas Grid Failure 2021 . Yes, this tragic affair has its own wiki page. Good grief. Did you know that if temperatures drop below freezing for too long, refrigerators will not keep your cold stuff from freezing? Well, they don't. And with 17℉ temps, this tables fridge contents froze. What to do with a fridge full of frozen fresh veggies? Veggie stock. No recipe was used, it was just all the veggies in the fridge (white and yellow onions, garlic, jalapeno, green onions, three roma tomatoes, celery, two russet potatoes, seven carrots, and a red and green bell pepper) salt and pepper, and enough water to just touch the top layer of veggies. I did not want the veggies floa

Eating Waffles

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