Lemon Squares

My family celebrates Easter like many other families do... with lots of food.  My favorite part of special meals is dessert.  I love baking, but I love eating baked goods even more.  In recent years, I have been assigned the task of bringing dessert for our family gatherings.

This year, I brought Caramel Banana Cheesecake and Lemon Squares.  My sister and I used our grandmother's recipe for Lemon Squares.  Grandma's recipes are often not very specific, so they never turn out just like Grandma used to make.  This recipe said to put the lemon squares into an oblong pan.  We used a 13 x 9 inch pan, and it seemed too large.  So the recipe here is doubling the amount of filling.  I'm not sure how that will affect the baking time / temperature.  The ones we made seemed slightly overdone.

We also made a batch of these using gluten free flour, and they turned out well too.

I'll try baking these again soon and let you know how they turned out.

LEMON SQUARES:

Shell-
1/2 cup butter, salt free
1 cup flour, sifted
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Mix above ingredients in a small bowl and press into 13 x 9 inch pan. 

Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Filling:
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon sodium free baking soda
4 eggs, slightly beaten
Juice of 2 large lemons or 1/4 cup lemon juice

Combine above ingredients in bowl. 

Pour over baked crust. 

Bake at 325 degrees for 25 minutes. 

Let cool.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar.  Cut into squares and serve.

Meatballs with Orzo & Zucchini

This is a quick, simple recipes for those days you need to throw together something for dinner.  The key is having frozen cooked meatballs.  You can use the store bought kind or you can use your own.  Meatballs are perfect to use in many recipes, including soups, stews, and skillet dishes. 

When you have more time, just prepare a big batch of meatballs.  Cook them and freeze them in Ziploc bags.  I would put about 1/2 pound of meatballs per bag. Then you're ready to pull them out of the freezer and use them in a quick recipe like this.

The recipe calls for orzo, tomatoes, and zucchini, but you can adapt the recipe to suit your taste.  I didn't have zucchini on hand the day I prepared it, but the dish was fine without it.  You might also want to add some seasonings if you like a little more flavor.

MEATBALLS WITH ZUCCHINI AND ORZO
Ingredients:
16 frozen cooked meatballs
14 ounces low sodium beef broth
1 can low sodium diced Italian tomatoes  (I just had a can of regular tomatoes, so I added Italian seasonings to the tomatoes)
1 medium zucchini, julienned

Preparation:
Place frozen meatballs and broth in skillet and boil.  Stir in pasta and reduce heat to low.  Cover and simmer 12 minutes.  Stir in tomatoes and zucchini.  Cook about 5 minutes, until zucchini is tender.

Italian Chicken Skillet

This chicken recipe is another one that's easy to make and it doesn't take too long to cook.  Those are my favorite kind of recipes.  You can save a little preparation time by chopping the vegetables the day before.  Leftovers keep well in the fridge for lunch the next day, or you can even freeze them for weeks.

I have a friend who is a busy working mom, and she prepares several main dishes on Sunday to serve her family for the coming week.  She simply freezes them and then will move the meal into the refrigerator the night before she plans to serve the meal.  It's thawed and ready to reheat and serve to her family when she comes home from work.  This recipe would work well for her.

ITALIAN CHICKEN SKILLET

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts
1/4 cup sliced celery
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 can (4 oz) low sodium sliced mushrooms
1 can (14 oz) low sodium diced tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
1 teaspoon vinegar
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Preparation:

In large skillet, saute chicken over medium heat until browned.  Remove and keep warm.  In same skillet, saute vegetables until tender and return chicken to skillet.  Combine tomatoes, vinegar, and seasonings and pour over chicken and vegetables.  Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.  Uncover and simmer for 10 minutes longer.  (I didn't simmer the last 10 minutes because the chicken was cooked through after 30 minutes.)

Bruscetta

Another dish that I prepared while I hosted my friends for bunco was Bruscetta.  They told me that it was delicious.  It was the first time that I had ever made bruscetta, so I was proud.  :-)

I had been craving bruscetta for awhile, and it seemed that no restaurants made bruscetta the way I like it.  So, I had to make my own.

I thought the bruscetta was really tasty.  I would, however, change one thing the next time I make it.  That would be to add capers... because I love capers!  If you don't love capers, then prepare the recipe as is.

BRUSCETTA
Ingredients:
6 plum tomatoes, diced
3 cloves minced garlic (I use the jarred, pre-minced kind)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup fresh basil (I rarely if ever have fresh basil, so I used 2 teaspoons of dried basil)
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Preparation:
In a medium bowl, combine ingredients.  Refrigerate overnight (minimum 2 hours).  Serve with toasted thick-sliced bread.  Top with grated Parmesan cheese if desired.