The Barefoot Contessa's Lemon Bars

Today's the first day of Spring, and in honor of that (despite the snow and horrible rain) I made some lemon bars.  Nothing screams Spring like lemon bars!  I tried this recipe, and of course it was amazing.  The key is fresh lemon.  They don't really set properly if there isn't fresh lemon.


Crust:
1/2 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 cups flour
1/8 teaspoon salt

Filling:
6 extra-large eggs at room temperature
3 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest (4 to 6 lemons)
1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (it took about 6 regular sized lemons)
1 cup flour
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting.

Preheat oven to 350*

For the crust, mix together the butter, sugar, and salt.  Add in the flour mixture.  Gently mix until combined.  Press the crust into the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan.  Bake the crust for 15 to 20 minutes, until very lightly browned.  Let cool on a wire rack.  Leave the oven on. 

For the filling, whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and flour.  Pour over the crust and bake for 30-35 minutes, until the filling is set.  Let cool to room temperature.

Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar and cut into triangles or squares.  

White Chocolate and Cranberry Cookies

I have had this recipe on my phone for over a month.  This is one that would be awesome to make around Valentine's Day, but really, anytime.  I have some still stashed in my freezer, and they are yummy!

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 375* and grease cookie sheets.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth.  Beat in the egg and the vanilla.  Combine the flour and baking soda; stir into the sugar mixture.  Mix in the white chocolate chips and cranberries.  Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven.  For best results, take them out while they are still doughy.  Allow cookies to cool for 1 minute on the cookie sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely. 

Homemade Pizza

Sometimes I am surprised that some of my favorite recipes aren't on this blog.  Today, I was searching for my homemade pizza recipe and was surprised it wasn't here.  So, I'm going to remedy that and post it. 

Pizza

Dough:

1 cup water

1 Tablespoon dry yeast

3 cups flour

1/3 cup oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon sugar

Sauce:

1 can tomato sauce (8 ounce)

1 Tablespoon sugar

¼ teaspoon oregano

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon marjoram

½ teaspoon rosemary (crushed)

Dash of cayenne pepper

 

Dough—Dissolve yeast in warm water.  Add other ingredients.  Mix well.  Knead.  Either let rise in warm place until doubled or put in refrigerator from 12 to 72 hours.  Roll dough like pie crust.  Place in pizza pan.  Prick with fork.  Add sauce.  Add toppings.  Bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes or until cheese bubbles or crust is golden brown.

Bates Sausage Dip

I can't believe I haven't posted this recipe.  It is making the rounds throughout my family currently, and I saw a similar recipe on thesistercafe.com  This recipe was given to me by my friend here in CDA, Felicia.  She said it's her husband's favorite, and everyone always wants the recipe, but she hesitates giving it out because the ingredients sound nasty.  I'm here to testify that it's delicious.  I wanted to have a hard copy, otherwise I wouldn't be so generous to share! ;)

2 hot jimmy dean sausages
2 bricks of cream cheese
1 large container (I'm guessing 16 oz) sour cream
2 cans heredez sasla (in the mexican section in small red and white cans)--I'm sure any salsa would work, but this is what I've used in it, too.
2 small cans chopped olives.

Place cream cheese, sour cream, salsa, and olives in your crockpot.  Turn crockpot on high and put the lid on.  In a frying pan, fry up the sausage.  Make sure the sausage is in small pieces otherwise it will be chunky in your dip.  Once the sausage is cooked, place over top of the crockpot mixture.  Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4.  Stir occassionally to blend together.  The longer it cooks, the better this tastes.  It can be frozen and re-warmed, and it still tastes great.  Serve over chips. 

Buffalo Chicken Casserole

I received this recipe from my sister Becky.  We had it on Superbowl Sunday last year, and then haven't had it since.  My husband requested it for Christmas dinner, and so that's what we had.  What can I say? It's easy and pretty good.  I have never made it with bleu cheese, but I'm sure that it's great. 

1-1/4 lb boneless chicken breast, cut into 1 inch strips
1/3 cup buffalo wing sauce (I used frank's)
6 cups (thawed) southern style hash brown potatoes (I didn't thaw these out, and I've used regular hash browns and southern style)
1 cup ranch or blue cheese dressing
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 10 oz can cream of celery soup (I used cream of chicken, tasted great)
1/2 cup corn flake crumbs (My sister used ritz crackers)
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
1/4 cup chopped green onions (3 to 4 medium onions)

For authentic flavor, go with red hot buffalo wing sauce.  Other flavors to try include teriyaki, sweet and sour, or bbq.
Preheat oven to 350*.  Spray a 9x13" baking dish with cooking spray.  In a medium bowl, stir together chicken strips and wing sauce.  In a large bowl, stir together potatoes, dressing, cheese, and soup.  Spoon into baking dish.  Place chicken strips in single layer over potato mixture.  In a small bowl, stir together crumbs and butter.  Sprinkle in baking dish.  Cover with foil.  Bake 30 minutes; uncover and bake 20-25 minutes or until potatoes are tender and jice of chicken is no longer pink when centers of thickest pieces are cut.  Sprinkle with green onions.  Serves 6

Sidenote:  I added a little bit more soup the second time I made this because it was just a little dry.  However, adding my soup makes it a little more rich.