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.

Lemon Mushroom Soup with Orzo

I believe that I have mentioned before that my favorite local restaurant is Popolano's.  Take a look at their website: http://popolanosrestaurant.com/ and drop by for a visit if you're nearby.  They have delicious American food with daily specials always worth a try.

While I was dining at Popolano's recently, one of the daily specials was Lemon Mushroom Orzo Soup.  I was intrigued because it sounded both good and gross at the same time.  I was feeling slightly adventuresome that day so I ordered the soup.  I have to say that it was one of the best soups that I've ever eaten.

Needless to say, I had to attempt my own low sodium version at home.  It's slightly different, of course, but delicious nonetheless.

My motto for food: Try it because it just might be the best thing you've ever eaten.  I keep telling my niece and nephews that when they refuse to try new dishes.  They begrudgingly try the food and insist they don't like it.  My favorite part is later, when I discover that they've eaten all the yucky food they didn't like.

LEMON MUSHROOM SOUP WITH ORZO

Ingredients:
2 cans (8 oz) low sodium sliced mushrooms (You can use fresh too, I'm lazy)
4 cups low sodium chicken stock
1/4 cup finely chopped onions
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup uncooked orzo

Preparation:
In large saucepan, combine all ingredients.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat a simmer 20 minutes.