Friday, April 29

Friday Farm Photo: Have a Peaceful Weekend.

Any plans this weekend? Joe is finishing up replacing the ratty pine construction stairs we've been living with for nearly five (!) years in our "new" house with the locally made oak boards that have been beautifully finished and sitting around for nearly five (!) years. What an upgrade.

I'm hoping to transplant about 40 heirloom tomato seedlings into larger containers since I don't have space for them in the kitchen garden yet. I also need to figure out where to put several pounds of seed potatoes and at least a couple of rows of haricots verts. All that fall/winter bed prep I'd planned to do never happened!

Meanwhile I'm listening to far off thunder rumble and waiting for some much needed rain to start falling any minute (this photo was taken yesterday) while planning meals of eggs, eggs, eggs, and salad greens, salad greens, salad greens (spinach, Swiss chard, beet greens, three kinds of kale, six kinds of lettuce, and some very happy arugula that I'm pretty sure is getting bigger by the hour). I've been craving yellow cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting, and it's time to bake some more hearty loaves of sourdough sprouted rye.

The still very woolly sheep and the donkeys will (finally) be eating grass, grass, and grass. More decluttering and spring cleaning (two year round pursuits) are on the agenda as well; not my favorite things, but it always feels so good once you're done. I'm hoping for a quiet, cozy, and productive weekend at home on the farm, which is just the kind I like.

Thursday, April 7

Easy Recipe: Really Lemony Lemon Bars (Low Sugar)

These easy, creamy dessert bars are made with less sugar and more lemon flavor. Delicious with either regular lemons or Meyer lemons! (recipe here)

I always try to keep a good supply of organic lemons on hand because their fresh juice and zest are such a great addition to so many recipes. We also use lemon juice in homemade cleaning products and have been drinking lemon water every day as an easy, natural way to help alkalize our bodies (I drink mine through a glass straw to save the enamel on my teeth). But our favorite way to use lemons is in these simple yet scrumptious Really Lemony Lemon Bars.

Rather than calling for several cups of sugar like many lemon bar recipes do, this lemon filling (which contains just four ingredients) is made with a can of sweetened condensed milk, which adds creaminess and sweetness while allowing the lemon flavor to really shine through. A generous helping of finely chopped lemon zest bumps up the lemon factor even more.

I like to tell people they're called Pucker Up Lemon Bars and are for serious lemon lovers only. Real farm eggs from happy, free-ranging hens will give your lemon bars a beautiful deep yellow color, and this is the time of year when egg laying is at its peak. Look for fresh eggs at farmers' markets or search on LocalHarvest for an egg farmer near you. 

Wondering what it's like to have your own hens? Check out my Chicken and Egg Farm Tale here. And you can see the Lemony Lemon Bar Whole Photo Shoot here.

We still have several pounds of lemons left from the 25+ pound case we bought a while back (I somehow forgot that I usually only order half a case each winter), so I treated us to a pan of these cheerful bars last week. And when Joe polished off the last one a few days later, I turned around and made a second batch. Enjoy!

More Farmgirl Fare recipes for lemon lovers:
Lemon Coconut Quick Bread (made with unsweetened coconut)

Still hungry? You'll find links to all my sweet and savory Less Fuss, More Flavor recipes in the Farmgirl Fare Recipe Index.

© FarmgirlFare.com, the constantly clucking foodie farm blog where our 21 hens (including some who are so old they shouldn't still be laying, and some really old girls who aren't laying) are currently giving us nearly six dozen eggs a week. Now if we only had a lemon tree.