Lemonlicious

I have a new crush.

Smitten Kitchen is my new favorite place to linger and lurk online. The recipes! And the pictures! OMG, the pictures are gorgeous. It’s total food p8rn.

My husband is a vegetarian, so most of the time I don’t cook meat at home. (I do eat it when we go out. It seems to confuse our waiters. They’re forever handing me Steve’s Caesar salad and trying to give him my cheeseburger!)  I grew up in a very meat & potatoes-focused central-Pennsylvania family, so I’m always interested in new veggie recipes. (I like most veggies. Except mushrooms. <shudder>)

I also love to bake–mostly because I love to eat cookies and muffins and cakes and…you get the idea. I think all my teeth are sweet teeth. But I’m 28 and I’ve never had a cavity yet, so take that.

Anyway, I haven’t been using our new kitchen much. It’s small and dishes tend to pile up. Steve’s been out at class or rehearsals a lot. And when I come home, turn on the computer, and start editing "just for a couple minutes," suddenly it’s 9 p.m. and I’m ravenous and don’t want to take the time to cook. Excuses, excuses. This needs to change, because we’ve been spending way too much money eating out.

I just tried this recipe for lemon bars.  I get a little nervous about making crusts because of some past mishaps, but this one was easy-peasy. It turned out moist and sweet and delicious. It’s the perfect counterpart to the tart lemon layer. Actually, I spilled most of the lemon layer onto the floor and all through my oven and had to make another. Oops. But it’s still yummy. They’re for a friend’s BBQ this afternoon, but I’ve already sampled…some. More than one, let’s say.

My kitchen is still a little sticky, but it smells heavenly. Totally worth it. 

Next up: Crisp Rosemary Flatbread seems like it’d be perfect with my go-to summer meal (couscous, garbanzos, diced tomatoes, goat cheese). And when I have a fellow meat-eater over? Kefta and Zucchini Kebabs.  And for…me? Sometime soon? These Key Lime Meltaways sound divine.