Strawberry Lemonade Bars

When I first saw these bars I was really excited to try them. I love strawberries in baked goods.

I'm not going to lie though - I was a little disappointed in these.

Don't get me wrong, they are tasty. And...they certainly look pretty.

I just had it in my head that they were going to taste strawberry-y.

They didn't.

They were very lemony. VERY.

So this was more like a delicious lemon bar than a delicious strawberry lemon bar.

Strawberry Lemonade Bars

(From K & K Test Kitchen )

Ingredients

Crust

1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt

Filling

1 cup fresh lemon juice
2-3 tsp lemon zest
1/2 cup pureed strawberries (about 3/4 cup berries)
1 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking pan.
Begin by making the crust. In a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter, until smooth and fluffy. Working at a low speed, gradually beat in flour and salt until mixture is crumbly. Pour into prepared pan and press into an even layer. Bake for about 15 minutes, until set at the edges.
While the crust bakes, prepare the filling. In the bowl of a food processor, combine lemon juice, lemon zest, strawberry puree, sugar, and eggs and process until smooth. Add in flour, baking powder, and salt, then pulse until smooth.
Gently pour the filling over the hot crust when it has finished baking. Return pan to oven and bake for 20-30 minutes, until the filling is set (There will be a light colored “crust” on top from the sugar in the custard – nothing to worry about).
Sprinkle the bars with some powdered sugar (if desired). Cool completely before slicing and use a damp knife to ensure clean slices.

Store bars in the refrigerator, especially on a hot day. 

If you try these I hope you let us know what you think. Maybe you will get a more strawberry taste out of them.

I definitely LOVE the idea of these bars. I am thinking maybe a little experimentation with the lemon - strawberry ratio will yield me a more strawberry flavor.

They are very pink though and were a hit at Valentine's Day.

Our Second Giveaway Winner

Just a quick blog today to announce our second giveaway winner.

Sue and I would like to thank all of those who entered. All in all we are very pleased with the response. We definitely gained a few more followers and for that we are grateful. We hope you continue to read us and Twitter about us and Pin us and Facebook us and all of those fun things.

For now though...the winner is....

*trumpets blaring*

Kerry D.

We will be getting a hold of Kerry to let her know she won a copy of the Irish Cooking cookbook  and a jar of Oh! So Garlic seasoning, plus a basket of St. Patrick's Day inspired treats. She will have 48 hours to respond otherwise we will be drawing another winner.

A great photo of our winner, Kerry, with her prize.

Congratulations!

Please continue to check back with us as we plan on having many more giveaways in the future.

Thanks again to those who support Sue and I and our blog. We enjoy posting about the dishes we create and sharing stories and recipes with you.

We would love to hear from you - any feedback is appreciated.

:)

Turkish Lemon Spinach Cake

Congratulations if you are still reading this blog.

You saw the words "lemon" and "spinach" in the same title and kept going. I probably would not have done that.

I probably would have thought....Eeew... lemon spinach cake...yuck.

That being said....I bet you are wondering how I happened to make this cake given my disposition to abandon recipes that contain the words spinach and lemon. 

One word.

Pinterest.

Yes...I saw this on Pinterest whilst searching out new St. Patrick's Day ideas. When I saw it the title was simply "St. Patrick's Day Cake" - thus I was fooled into checking it out.

Good thing I was.

This is a delicious cake. Very moist and, most importantly, non-spinach tasting. It just tastes like a lemon cake.

A moist, delicious, lemon cake.

I am happy I stepped outside my comfort zone and tried this. It is a keeper!

Turkish Lemon Spinach Cake

(Adapted from Mom! What's for dinner )

Ingredients

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla

 8 cups fresh spinach (you need about 1 cup puree)

1/2 cup olive oil

juice and zest from 1 lemon (about 1/4 cup lemon juice)

2 cups flour

3 tsp baking powder

pinch salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly spray a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray. Line with parchment paper and then spray parchment paper again with the cooking spray. (Fold the excess parchment paper over the sides to form handles)

Remove stems from spinach. Puree spinach in food processor until liquidy (consistency of baby food). This takes FOREVER so be patient! (I think it took me about 15 - 20 minutes)

In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar until light and creamy. Add vanilla, oil, lemon juice and rind, and pureed spinach until well blended.

In a different bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients until just combined.

Ooooh, funky color!

Pour into prepared pan.

Place in oven and bake for about 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let cool on wire rack. Use parchment paper handles to lift cake out of pan.

Top with whipped cream or cream cheese frosting. (I used cream cheese frosting)

Easy Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

1 - 8 oz brick cream cheese, room temp

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 -3 cups icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Directions

Beat cream cheese and butter together in medium sized bowl. Add vanilla, mix well. Slowly beat in icing sugar until spreadable consistency.

Spread on cooled cake.

(For the above photos I kept the icing quite thin - more like a thick glaze than a frosting)

You can also make them into cupcakes if you prefer:

Or even teeny tiny cupcakes:

I hope you give this a try.

If you are looking for a great green recipe for St. Patrick's Day that doesn't involve food coloring - this is the one for you.

 

Be sure to visit Carole's Chatter for some fun links!

Cream Scones and Clotted Cream

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like scones. Even Sue will eat a scone. (Miracle, I know!)

Granted, I know people who don’t LOVE them (odd bunch they are)…but they will eat them if given the chance.

And, why wouldn’t they?

Scones are one of those magical creations that can be a million different things – sweet, savory, light, heavy, low calories, high calorie, etc…

This scone recipe is slightly adapted from A Little Zaftig and, let me tell you, they are delicious. Very, very light and fluffy.

I was excited to see the recipe for the homemade clotted cream as well.

I visited England several years back and fell in love with the tea time scones with jam and clotted cream. Unfortunately, you can’t buy clotted cream anywhere close to where Sue and I live here in Canada.

This was very easy to make and, from what I can remember, is very similar to what I had in England. I will most definitely be making this again.

I can’t even begin to tell you how many calories are in the scones and cream...and, of course, jam. (It would be uncivilized to leave out the jam).

This is one of those times you really don’t want to know. Just indulge and enjoy.

.

.

Clotted Cream

Ingredients

4 cups whipping cream

(Unpasteurized is better but, unfortunately, was unavailable to me. I used the pasteurized Dairyland brand whipping cream)

Directions

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Pour cream into an 8 X 8 or 9 X 9 pan. You want it to be 1 – 3 inches deep. Cover and place in oven for 8 to 12 hours. (I did 8 hours but really should have left it for at least 10. I will do 10 next time.) The cream should form a thick, yellow skin. (Mine didn’t. I thought it wasn’t working – which is why I took it out after 8 hours. BUT, it did form the skin AFTER it cooled.)

Let cool to room temperature and then refrigerate for 8 hours.

Skim the yellow clotted cream from the top and serve. (Mine wasn’t yellow – I suspect because I used pasteurized cream – but it was wonderful nonetheless.)

After skimming the clotted cream from the top I placed it in a bowl and whipped it for about 30 seconds, just to get it nice and smooth and creamy. This is not in the original recipe instructions but I liked the way it turned out – not as lumpy.

You can use the reserved liquid in the pan for baking – I used it to make the scones!

.

.

Cream Scones

Ingredients

2 cups flour

¼ cup sugar

1 Tbsp baking powder

Pinch salt

1 1/2 cups heavy cream (I used the leftover liquid cream from the clotted cream)

2 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 400. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, stir together dry ingredients. Pour in the cream and stir with a fork. (If it is too dry add a pinch more cream to get to workable consistency.)

Give the dough a few gentle kneads with your hand. (The less you can handle it, the better.)

Transfer dough to your cookie sheet and pat into an approx. 10” circle. Score the circle into 8 wedges OR slice the circle into 8 wedges and separate them on the pan. (Either way will work.)

Brush the tops of the scones with the melted butter and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for approx 17 minutes or until lightly golden brown.

.

.

These are best served the same day….warm……topped with jam (Strawberry is my favorite but blackberry works in a pinch!) and clotted cream. (They can be frozen and just popped into the microwave and are 99.9% as good)

I believe if you are a “proper lady” you just put a teaspoon of jam and cream on your scone as you enjoy it with tea.

.

.

Hmmm….. as you can see from the above photo…it would appear I am not quite so “proper”.

I did eat them with my pinky extended and spoke with a British accent….if that counts….

I also made teeny scones to take to work :)

Mmmm....Strawberry jam makes everything better!

Jolly good…pip pip…carry on…

Be sure to visit Carole's Chatter for some wonderful links!

Bailey's Ice Cream and Homemade Drumsticks for St. Patrick's Day

I am an ice cream-aholic. I admit it.

If you can make it into ice cream, I can almost guarantee I will love it.

I don't want to say 100% guarantee because I have heard of such crazy ice cream flavors as garlic ice cream...and bacon ice cream.

Umm....no...thank you.

I'll take my ice cream in non-crazy flavors please.

Like...say.....Bailey's Ice Cream.

Yes...it's phenomenal.

So phenomenal, in fact, I decided to take the already indulgent Bailey's Ice Cream and make my own drumsticks for St. Patrick's Day.

I Frankensteined this recipe from a few different versions I found. I was really happy with the results.

Bailey's Ice Cream

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups Bailey's Irish Cream

1/2 cup sugar

3 large egg yolks

1 cup half and half cream

1 cup whipping cream (heavy cream)

1 tsp vanilla

Directions

Place a large clean bowl into another bowl full of ice water. Place a strainer over the large, clean bowl. Set aside.

Bring the Bailey's to a simmer in a small but heavy saucepan. Simmer over medium heat until the liqueur is reduced to about half a cup. It should be thick and syrupy. This could take anywhere from 15 minutes to 30 minutes. (It took me at least 30 minutes) Set aside. (This can be done the day before and placed in fridge.)

Mmmm....Bailey's syrup!

In a medium bowl, beat the sugar into the egg yolks until thick and pale yellow.

Bring the half and half to a simmer in a medium saucepan.

Very slowly beat the hot cream into the egg yolks. (Do not do this too fast or you will cook your eggs!) Pour the entire mixture back into the pan and place over low heat.

Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the custard thickens slightly. It should start to coat the back of the spoon when it is done.

Remove from heat and pour hot custard through a strainer into the large, clean bowl in the ice bath. Stir to cool slightly.

Add the cup of whipping cream, vanilla, and Bailey's syrup. Let sit in ice bath until cool. Cover and refrigerate until very well chilled. (At least a few hours - up to overnight.)

Stir the chilled mixture and place into the canister of your ice cream machine. Process according to manufacturer's instructions.

Looks amazingly smooth, no? It is. Sooooooo smooth.

Now, if that isn't enough of a St.Patrick's Day-y treat for you then you can take it a few steps further.

Homemade St.Patrick's Day Drumsticks With Bailey's Ice Cream.

Yes...I know I capitalized all those letters.

They deserved to be capitalized.

I saw how to make homemade drumsticks on Pinterest and that lead me to Cupcakes and Cashmere for some instructions. (If you are interested in clear photo instructions then check out their link!)

I wanted to use green candy melts to make them more St. Patrick's Day-y.

FYI - dipping ice cream in melted candy melts is tricky. Sue and I got it to work but it was very drippy and messy to work with.

All you have to do is get some chocolate sauce - the kind that forms a shell works better - and drizzle it into a pointy cone. Turn the cone upside down in a glass - so the cone is not resting on the bottom - and let the excess chocolate run out.

When the chocolate is set, fill the cone with ice cream. Leave it about an inch above the rim of the cone. This is what will be dipped in chocolate.

Freeze until firm. (If desired, dip finger in warm water and gently smooth the edges of the ice cream to get it to the shape you want. Then place back in freezer until firm)

In a deep mug, melt candy melts (or chocolate) in microwave. Heat in 20 second increments, stirring well in between until smooth.

Take well frozen ice cream cone and quickly dip into melted chocolate just to cover ice cream. Carefully shake off excess chocolate and quickly sprinkle with nuts. You will only have a few seconds as the chocolate will set quickly.

Place back in freezer until ready to eat.

I love the Bailey's ice cream with the green candy melts. It may be my new favorite.

Just a reminder - joandsue.blogspot.com is hosting our second blog giveaway. There are lots of ways to get entries for a chance to win a fantastic cookbook (Irish Cooking) AND a jar of Oh!So Garlic to try for yourself AND a lovely collection of St. Patrick's Day inspired prizes.

Approximate $50 value!

Click HERE for more information on how to enter!

Winner will be announced on Thursday, March 9th.

Draw is now over. Thank you for your support :)

Don't forget to stop by My Turn (for us) for some fabulous links!

Strawberry Shortcake Popsicles and a Giveaway

Here is a quick, easy, tasty, and healthy snack for you and the kids...or, just for you.

I know it's a little odd to be having frozen treats in the middle of all this chilly weather but, what can I say, I saw a photo of them on Pinterest and had to try them.

They are soooo yummy.

And, only 3 ingredients.

And, only 80 calories. (Yes....80.... pretty sweet, right?)

Strawberry Shortcake Popsicles

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups (one 650 gr container) Fat Free French Vanilla Yogurt

1/2 cup crushed Golden Oreos (5 - 6 cookies)

2 cups pureed strawberries

Directions

Puree strawberries. Set aside.

Place oreos in a food processor and process until cookies become fine crumbs. (You can also place them in a plastic bag and use a rolling pin to crush) Add crushed oreos to the vanilla yogurt and stir to combine.

To assemble: Layer the yogurt portion first and let freeze for 30 minutes. Then add a layer of the pureed strawberries. Freeze for another 30 minutes. End with another layer of yogurt mixture.

Place popsicle handle into layers and freeze until solid.

I got 10 popsicles out of the above recipe. I used Fitday to calculate the calories. Only 80 calories per popsicle but they really don't taste low cal. I felt like I was really indulging while eating these.

And now.... on to the giveaway part of this blog.

We are hosting our second giveaway here at joandsue.blogspot.com.

Sue and I have sponsored this giveaway ourselves. We will be looking for sponsors for some of our future giveaways and contests but, for now, we are putting up the prize ourselves.

We have decided to give away a cookbook and a bottle of Oh! So Garlic seasoning with a few "surprise" St. Patrick's treats as well. The cookbook is a fantastic book - "Irish Cooking" by Biddy White Lennon and Georgina Campbell. Just in time for St. Patrick's Day!  (Draw is now over, thank you for participating!)

 The rules on how to enter:

1. This giveaway is open to everyone.

2. There will be one winner chosen by random drawing.

3. The winner's name will be posted on our blog on Thursday, March 9th and they will have 48 hours in which to respond. If the winner does not respond, a new winner will be chosen.

Ways to get entries:

1. Become a follower of the blog.

2. "Like" joandsue.blogspot.com on Facebook. (And, while it won't gain you anymore entries, we would love it if you posted this contest on your wall)

3. Follow @joandsue on Twitter and tweet this contest.

4. Blog about this giveaway and leave a link to your post on our blog giveaway post in a comment.

5. Get 1 additional entry for each one of our blogs that you pin on Pinterest.

(Leave a comment on this giveaway blog to let us know what you pinned.)

6. Get 1 additional entry for each comment you leave on any one of our blog posts. (Of course we encourage you to actually read the blogs you comment on and not just comment for an entry.)

There you have it. There are tons of ways to get a lot of entries.

The Oh! So Garlic is an amazing seasoning that I have used often in our blogs. As for the cookbook - Irish Cooking - it is full of really great and delicious looking recipes. And, the St.Patrick's Day surprises are pretty cute!

If I had to estimate the value of the prize, I would say approximately $50.00.

This is our second giveaway and we hope everything will, once again, go smoothly.

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns about the giveaway.