Celebrating spring: Lemon Coconut Bars

I love spring. There's no better feeling than the warm sun on your face and a cool breeze blowing through your hair after months of depressing, gray and cold days. And witnessing trees bud, bloom and turn green always gives me hope for the future.
I would say that by far it is the bright colors that can help make life seem better again. I always thought that a gorgeous bunch of daffodils was one of the most happiest sights in the world. What better way to celebrate the lemony yellow of the flower that signals that Spring has finally arrived than with a lemony dessert?
I've never been a huge fan of lemon bars or tarts. I find most recipes either too sour or too sweet. And then I happened on a recipe from Budget Bytes (this is becoming my favorite place to discover recipes) for lemon coconut bars. It seems Beth (the blog's author) has happened upon the best way to mellow out and balance the sour without overpowering it with sweet. A perfect compliment to the balance of warmth and coolness that is embodied in the ideal Spring day.

Lemon Coconut Bars
Don't forget Beth's helpful breakdown of cost. Her estimate puts the total at an amazing $2.38.

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup shredded coconut

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
   
2. In a medium bowl, combine the flower and powdered sugar. Mix until evenly combined.
   
3. Let the butter come to room temperature and then just work it into the flour mixture with your hands. Mixture will look like lumpy sand.
4. Lightly spray a 9x13 inch glass casserole dish with non-stick spray. Pour the flour/butter/sugar mixture evenly into the dish and press it down with your hands until it is compacted. Bake for 15 minutes.
5. While the crust is baking, combine the eggs, granulated sugar, lemon juice and baking powder in a bowl. Mix it well until the sugar is dissolved. The baking soda will react with the acidic lemon juice and begin to foam, don't worry.
6. When the crust is finished baking, quickly re-whisk the filling then pour it over the crust. Sprinkle the shredded coconut on top and bake the whole thing for 20 more minutes or until it is golden brown on top. Let cool for 10 minutes before slicing.
   

The squares were a hit with my future in-laws (it's been way too long since we got to see each other!). And they fit almost perfectly with the strawberry pie that was served as the other half of dessert. It was lovely to scoop up the leftover strawberry filling with the lemony squares.

Recipe: Spicy sausage and rice

There's something about a chilly day that makes me want to eat something likely to warm me up, like soup. Unfortunately there is such a thing as too much soup or even chili for that matter. Did you know that when you are cold, your appetite increases as you body yearns for more fuel to keep itself warm? When that happens, I find myself scrambling for something warm, comforting and filling. Today I glanced at my Reverse Grocery List (which I mentioned in a previous post about cutting down on our food waste) and realized I had the perfect spicy comfort meal just waiting to be made. I'm calling it Spicy Sausage and Rice, which is something close to the classic Louisiana "red beans and rice," but replaces the beans with smoked turkey sausage.

Before doing anything with this dish, get your rice cooking. That takes the longest.

Next, take about 1/4 cup of chopped onions and toss them in a pan with medium-hot olive oil. Add salt, pepper, cayenne pepper and cumin to coat. I was taught to spice each layer of food, so this is not where you add all the spice. Each time you add another component, you add more spice. Keep that in mind so it doesn't get too hot for you. When the onions are almost done, add a pat of butter and some minced garlic. Cook another couple of minutes.

As your onions and garlic are cooking, chop up some turkey sausage. I went with Johnsonville smoked turkey sausage cause that's what the fiance bought for brat-beer-and-Lord-of-the-Rings-marathon night, but you can go with pretty much anything you want. Add it to the onions with a little extra olive oil. Add some more cumin and, if you want it super spicy, cayenne pepper.

Open a can of diced tomatoes with green chiles. Or you can do plain tomatoes and season those up, but these are super cheap and easy. I use them as a base for everything from pasta sauce to chili. Pour a little of the juice into the sausage, then add some of the tomatoes without the juice. The key here is to get a lot of tomatoes but just enough juice to create a bit of sauce for the sausage.

If you've timed your rice just right, it will have finished just as you're ready to add it to the mix. I used 1/2 cup of brown rice, which I've gotten slightly obsessed with recently. It's not everyone's cup of tea though, since there's a lot of flavor where most people expect to just taste almost nothing. Scoop the rice into the pan with the sausage, onion and tomato mixture.

Add a little more of the tomato juice and stir to coat the rice in yummy goodness. Add more tomatoes, if you like, and whatever of the spices you want to make this taste awesome to your standards. Remember, rice soaks up the juice and spice pretty quickly, so taste it as you go along or you could end up with something bland.

Are you hungry? I am. Too bad I ate all of this last night at work.

Snow!

It's funny how the area where it never snows, it's snowed twice this year. So here are some pictures to give you an idea of our winter wonderland.

The view from our porch.

The postman really does make it through, no matter what.

Here's our parking lot. The road looks like snow over a thick layer of ice.

There's a lake behind my apartment that looks cool covered with snow.

This poor tree tried to bud even though it's covered in snow.

A few flowers to get over this silly wintertime

Oh, if only spring would arrive and snap us all out of this sadness.

Contemplating light

I enjoy my new apartment. I love how close I am to many of the stores I frequent. I love that we have a balcony (which we would use if it wasn't freezing outside). I love the wood floors, and the warm ambiance they give the basic white-wall look all apartments have. What I DON'T love, in fact, what I hate is the light. Basically, there's no way for sunlight to enter the apartment. We are on the wrong side of the building. Later in the year, when the sun travels to a better part of the sky, we will still get no light because there's another building in the way.

*Sigh* This wouldn't really bother me except I love plants. I currently have a kalanchoe (that I've nursed back to health numerous times), but I think this sunless prison will be the death of my faithful, green friend. So I will soon be bringing him in to work so he can survive.

While this saves my plant, it leaves me with little green at home. So how does one still have green, but no sun? One of the blogs I frequent, Design*Sponge by Brooklyn-based Grace Bonney, has the answer: Terrariums.


She offers a tutorial on how to make your own mini-terrariums, above. But, while I love the idea, I'm not sure if I could be that creative. I might just have to buy them already made, from an Etsy dealer preferably. I did buy one for my mom, and the thing is apparently growing like a maniac. I could go with either of these:

We all know why I like the one above (too bad it probably doesn't come with the typewriter). But I think this next one is really cool, too. One question: How would you water the dang thing?

The beauty of terrariums is that not only do they not really need sunlight (they generally are made up of moss) but they are self-sufficient, requiring little watering. I think they are the perfect way to get a little spring in the middle of winter.

What's that you see?

Why yes, that is snow you see. Snow on our back porch in Hampton Roads...the place where it NEVER snows...not for real anyway.
What's that you say?
Why yes: We were surprised, too. So surprised, that we didn't bother bringing our bikes or grill inside to spare them the cold:

Christmas has already arrived

As I was scanning my saved radio stations on my way to work a few days ago, I was shocked to hear christmas music blasting from a station that normally plays lite rock. Thinking it was just a one time deal (foolishly) I stuck around waiting for something worth listening too. That's when the DJ came on and announced the station was 'our' source of christmas hits for the remainder of the season. WHAT? It's not even Thanksgiving yet!
While I don't mind a month-long Christmas station, such things weren't supposed to happen until Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving). So to hear it this early just drives home the consumerism and obsession that this country has begun having with the holiday that was originially a harvest/winter solstice festival celebrated in the name of Saturn (Jesus' birth was not on Dec. 25, but is placed on that date to avoid rebellion by Romans who valued their holiday. The Roman Catholic church had a habit of doing so in order to attract converts...nothing wrong with it, I'm just saying that's what they did). But that's a whole other post...

...this one is about the meaninglessness that the so-called 'spirit of christmas' has taken as time has gone on. I for one, will not listen to that station until at earliest, a week before x-mas (if even then). And I am also feeling more stressed than ever about whether I wil get christmas shopping done this year.

Snowy days, freezing nights

I got to see snow today. I was worried because it never snows in Newport News. At least not enough to stick and now it has. It was beautiful but it made the roads sloppy. It also brought in the chill and temperatures have averaged around 19 as a low and 30 as a high. That is not what I would call a 'high' but that is pretty much all relative anyway.


It's kind of weird that even when it is snowing, it still manges to look rainy. Bah. Now I am enjoying some nice hot tea before I go visit Travis.