Lemon-Coconut Bars for LiveStrong Day

When I read about Barbara's A Taste of Yellow event, I couldn't not want to participate.

LIVESTRONG Day is the Lance Armstrong Foundation's (LAF) grassroots advocacy initiative to unify people affected by cancer and to raise awareness about cancer survivorship issues on a national level and in local communities across the country. LIVESTRONG Day 2007 will occur on Wednesday, May 16.

It takes remarkable strength to fight such an awful disease, and every little bit we can do to help is needed. We all know someone that has fought or is currently battling the disease, which is why its so important to show your support.

Sure, lemon bars won't fight cancer. But maybe they'll get you thinking about donating, volunteering, participating in an event, or just talking to people about what they can to to help. Fighting cancer isn't just about wearing bracelets (though that helps), its about taking care of the people you love, its about looking forward, not back.

Lemon Coconut Bars
Bon Appetit, April 2004
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/109406

Crust
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut, toasted, cooled
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Filling
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon (packed) finely grated lemon peel
1 teaspoon all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup powdered sugar

For crust:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 8x8x2-inch metal baking pan with foil, leaving overhang. Butter foil. Combine flour, sugar, and salt in processor; blend 5 seconds. Add coconut and butter; process until mixture resembles fine meal and begins to clump together. Gather dough into ball. Press dough evenly over bottom of prepared pan. Bake crust until golden at edges, about 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare filling:
Combine 3/4 cup sugar, eggs, lemon juice, lemon peel, flour, baking powder, and salt in processor. Blend filling until smooth.

Remove crust from oven. Pour filling evenly over hot crust. Return to oven and bake until filling begins to brown at edges and is just set and springy to touch in center, about 30 minutes. Transfer pan to rack; cool lemon bars completely.

Using foil as aid, transfer lemon bars to work surface. Flatten foil edges. Cut into 16 bars. Sift powdered sugar over. (Can be made 5 days ahead. Store airtight in single layer in refrigerator.)

Makes 16.

Bon Appétit
April 2004

See the recipe...

Hay Hay its Donna Day 12: Caesar Salad

All craziness of this past week aside, I still have to pinch myself about this. I could barely contain myself when I got the email from Helen on Tuesday, sharing my win with me. Anyone I work with will tell you, I squealed (seriously) and bounced up and down the halls. I called my husband and squealed at him. Called my mom and squealed at her. I think all the nearby dogs heard me squeal in pitches unheard by man.

Why all the giddiness? Because I've only been blogging a month. Rookie luck? Probably. But I'll take it! I'll take it and I'll tell you why. I've always felt awkward: I never know what to say, strangers freak me out, yadda yadda... but talking about food? With other people that love food? Totally my element. And winning this event, to me, is kinda like not being picked last in gym class. My heart is all filled up and I thank you for that. (Could I be ANY lamer??) :)

Once the bouncing passed, I got to wondering what my theme would be for HHDD #12. I quizzed Barbara, creator of these lovely HHDD events, on how this process works. Without her, I think I'd still be brainstorming and pouring over recipes.

Then it came to me, with the last two months of fantastic, mouth-watering sweets, that I could really really use a salad. You know that feeling? You glut your way through a weekend, and you really just want some nice crunchy lettuce? Mind you, this caesar has bacon... but its crunchy, too, so... yah. :)

So, ladies and gentlemen, send me your salads, your wraps, your pizzas and your stuffed things. Anything with the main elements of caesar, and I want to see it. You all are a crafty bunch and I can't wait to see what you come up with.

Fine print:
Please post your caesar salad recipe by May 27th. Once posted, please email it to me at otherpeoplesfood AT gmail DOT com, including your name, name of your blog and its URL, title of your recipe and the URL to your post, and a picture of your caesar. (Whew!) I will post the round-up on June 3rd, winner declared June 10th. To the winner goes a copy of one of my favorite cookbooks and the hosting duties of HHDD #13 (lucky!)

To get you started, I picked Donna Hay's Caesar Salad from her Modern Classics Book 1, posted after the jump.

Good luck, and happy caesaring! :)


Caesar Salad
From “Modern Classics Book 1” by Donna Hay

6 rashers bacon
1 large cos (romaine) lettuce
sea salt and cracked black pepper
¼ cup shaved parmesan cheese
croutons
1 thin baguette, sliced (32 slices)
olive oil
1 clove garlic, halved
dressing
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 anchovy fillets
¼ finely grated parmesan cheese
½ cup (4 fl oz.) vegetable oil

To make the croutons, preheat the oven to 180° C (350° F). Place the baguette slices on a baking tray, brush with the olive oil and bake for 10 minutes or until crisp and golden. Rub each slice with the cut garlic and set aside.

Place the bacon on a baking tray and cook under a hot grill (broiler) until crisp. When cooled, tear into large pieces. Trim the lettuce leaves, reserving the smaller inner leaves and roughly chopping the larger ones.

To make the dressing, process the egg yolk, mustard, garlic, lemon juice, anchovies and parmesan in a food processor until combined. With the motor running, gradually add the oil and process until smooth and creamy. To serve, toss together the lettuce, two-thirds of the dressing, the bacon, croutons, salt and pepper. Spoon over the remaining dressing and top with the shaved parmesan.

Serves 4.

See the recipe...

Grandpa Dinner

Today would have been my Grandpa's birthday. On nights he wanted some peace and quiet (two of his favorite things) he would send my Grandma, Mom, and me out for dinner on him. He would stay home and have a great big bowl of cereal for dinner - he'd mix them all up into one bowl, too. Otherwise, one of his favorite dinners, even on special occasions, would be beans and franks with a side of sauteed sliced white potatoes. (He was a pretty easy man to please, in that regard.)

So, on his birthday and on the day of his passing, Dave and I have Grandpa Dinner. Its nothing fancy, which is just how he'd want it.

See the recipe...

Saturday Update

All - I had a bit of an oogy week. Wanted to let you all know that the HHDD post will be tonight! Sorry to keep you waiting!

See the recipe...

Weekend Cookbook Challenge 16 - Something New

Sara at I Like to Cook's Weekend Cookbook Challenge 16 is all about Something New. Sara and her sites are new to me, blogging is still mostly new, and I have a couple of new cookbooks, so I thought, why not?

This dinner itself added up to a couple of new things, actually. Lentils and individual pies. And considering I didn't have individual pie dishes and therefore used an over-sized muffin tin, I think it only gets me half credit.

I wouldn't suggest deviating from the pie dishes. Once these babies were done, it made more sense. Couldn't get them out of the muffin pan without breaking them, so we ate them directly from the tin. I'd hoped for a nice pretty picture with the wee cute pie on the plate with the pretty salad... no dice. Dave and I both found them really tasty, though, so even if you don't mind sharing eating from the tin, go forth.

Lentils are nice. They boiled away happily as I fought with the phyllo dough. Let me tell you... don't get phyllo from Wegmans, get it from Whole Foods. (I can't vouch for anywhere else.) I thank the cooking spirits that my first phyllo experience was flawless, because tonight... omg... If tonight had been my first night, I'd've never gone back. The sheets were all stuck together... which just lead to more tearing... bleh. Nightmare.

I even want to liken tonight to sports. When the super kick-ass team is playing the crappiest... and they walk in all puffed up, like its in the bag.... and then they lose. I thought I had this. Goat cheese, awesome. New lentil experience, check. Phyllo, rockin... 'cept... not so much. In the end, I just buttered and stuck broken sheets together... cause, really, what CAN'T butter fix?


Lentil and Goats Cheese Tarts
From “Off the Shelf: Cooking from the Pantry” by Donna Hay

150 g (5 oz) du puy lentils
6 sheets phyllo pastry
50 g (1 ½ oz) butter, melted
500 g (1 lb) ricotta cheese
4 eggs
1 ½ cups (12 fl oz) milk
¼ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 cup cooked chicken, shredded
cracked black pepper and sea salt
180 g (6 oz) goat’s cheese, sliced ▪

Place the lentils in a saucepan of boiling water and cook for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain and set aside. Preheat the oven to 160° C (325° F). Cut the pastry sheets in half to make squares. Lightly brush the pastry squares with the butter and make piles of 3 sheets each. Line 6 greased 1 cup (8 fl oz) capacity dishes (or large muffin tin) with the pastry, folding to fit the edges in the dishes.

To make the filling, mix the ricotta, eggs and milk in a food processor until smooth. Place in a bowl and stir through the cooked lentils, parsley, pepper and salt.

Pour the mixture into the pastry shells and top with the goat’s cheese. Bake for 30 minutes or until the filling is set. Serve warm.

Serves 4.

▪ You can also use blue cheese or aged cheddar.

See the recipe...

We Love Polenta!

I also love our Supper Club. We all get together and eat each other's food (ha!) and then we email bomb each other with recipes so we can make the dishes ourselves.

This is where tonight's dinner came from. I brought home the leftovers, and Dave said, "I really liked the yellow things." I did as well, and considering I've never made polenta before, I very much wanted to try it out. So, Stephanie, we loved your Polenta Bites last week, and we love them again this week!

She made them in mini-muffin tins, I think for ease of travel and because it was darn cute. I'd planned to do the same thing, but rationalized that it would taste the same, and I wouldn't have to clean the muffin tin, if we just had it in a bowl. I also cooked up some chorizo I had in the freezer, but I didn't really like the two together. (But I also think I don't really like chorizo.)

I don't have the recipe in this post, but you can find it here.

See the recipe...

A Great Big Thank You!!!

I'm speechless. (If you don't count the bouncing and squealing part) I've only had this blog a few weeks and this happens. Like I said to Helen, you sure know how to make a girl feel welcome! :)

Thanks to all that voted and all that entered, and thanks to Helen for managing the whole thing!

Stay tuned while I learn the mechanics from creator, Barbara, and I'll try to come up with something fun for HHDD #12 for May!

I know I have big shoes to fill!

See the recipe...

If you like to read cookbooks page by page...

Then go get this book.

I need to start taking notes when I add cookbooks to my amazon.com shopping cart, because I don't know from whose blog I learned of this book, but I thank you (if you know who you are, let me know!)

I spent most of my free time this past weekend with my nose in this book, and I'm smitten. The weather outside was fantastic, but I didn't care. You'd think I could actually smell the wonderful baked goods! I enjoyed the stories behind each recipe, Leslie really pulls you in and leaves you feeling like you could make her lovely breads at home. I'm only half-way through it, so I should be able to spend the next few days finishing it up.

I love to bake, but I don't have a whole lot of practice with breads, even more daunting to me are yeasty breads. I think I'll start on the easier of the breads and work my way up to the ones requiring starter (even though I want to go the starter-route first, as I like the idea of having a new pet!)

If you have this book, let me know what you think!

See the recipe...