~Lime Bars With Macadamia Nut Crust~

For the Fourth of July, I wanted to make something light and refreshing...as in taste, not in calories because, we all know, dessert dishes for the holidays do not have calories.  Well, at least not very many of them.  Not very many that we want to acknowledge anyway.

I thought about my Lemon Bar recipe, but wanted something a bit different and found this dish on Tasty Kitchen's website and, boy, did it make my mouth water!  Preparing the dish is so ridiculously easy but tastes so, so good!  Be prepared for rave reviews...my family loved it and I hope you love it, too.!

 
Ingredients:

For the Crust:                                                       For the Filling:                       
2 cups all-purpose flour                                        4 whole eggs
1-1/2 cups macadamia nuts (chopped)                  2 cups white sugar
1 cup powdered sugar                                          1/3 cup flour
1 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces                  1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp. salt                                                               (about 3 large limes)
Green food coloring, if desired

                                                                                

NOTE:  I couldn't find a large enough bag of macadamia nuts, so I got a can of salted macadamia nuts and omitted the salt from the recipe.  Turned out just fine.
I started chopping the nuts in my handy, dandy little food chopper when I realized that I got a handy, dandy food processor for Christmas and opted to use that instead of doing it in the mixing bowl.

TIP:  Put your dry ingredients in the food processor first and then put your nuts on top.  By doing this, you don't run the risk of everything sticking to your chopping blade.  Pulse until it is all combined and almost to the fine crumb stage...just about the time it starts to come together like a pie crust.  Yes, I'm messy in the kitchen when I'm cooking.  Why do you ask?

If you go the mixing bowl route, be sure to chop your nuts fairly fine before mixing your ingredients but not too fine or the oil from the nuts will turn your crunchy nuts into pasty nuts!

Pour your crust mixture into the 9 x 13-inch baking pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray.  Using a spatula, press the dough into a really firm crust.  Poke a few holes across the crust to release steam while par baking the crust (this was something I never knew...learn something new every day.  Well, almost every day.)

Place into a preheated 350-degree oven.  Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes until just starting to turn a light golden color.  When you take it out of the oven, press the crust down with a spatula to release any steam bubbles that have formed and to make a more compact crust.  In other words, to keep your crust from being crumbly when eating.   (Learned something else new!)

While the crust is baking, make the filling.  Squeeze the livin' daylights out of your limes to get your half cup of juice.  If you don't have quite enough, you could add some of the refrigerated kind.  I don't think anyone will notice a little dab of that stuff and I won't tell if you won't!  I bought a couple of extra just in case and then used the "unsqueezed" ones (??) to grate some of the peel on top of the finished product for extra color.

In a medium-size bowl, beat the eggs until fluffy.  Add the sugar.  When the eggs and sugar are well combined, add the flour and mix well.  Finally, add the lime juice and whisk to combine.  If you want your filling to be a beautiful green color, add a few drops of food coloring.  I opted not to add the food coloring and, as you can see, the filling is an extremely light color.

Pour the filling over the hot crust when it comes out of the oven.  Return to the oven to bake for an additional 30 to 35 minutes.  When done, the filling should just be set...not jiggly...and the top should have a bit of golden color to it.

I like for my filling to be slightly brown around the edges.  That way I know that it is nice and done....I hate jiggly surprises in the middle!  Let the lime bars cool completely before sprinkling with additional powdered sugar.  A sifter or or shaker works best in getting a nice soft, even sprinkling over the crust.

Grate some of the lime peel over the top to give a little bit more color.  See those little green specks?
Tip:  Did you know that the rougher the peel on your citrus fruit, the better it will grate?  Smooth-textured peels just don't grab the teeth of your grater well enough. Cut into bars and enjoy!

I cut some fresh mint from my itty, bitty herb garden to give this plate of heavenly goodness even more color.

Oh my...doesn't this just make your mouth water?

Have a great day ~

 

Update:  It is now possible for you to print out the recipe instead of having to copy my instructions...yay!!

Just an idea....print the recipe on cardstock type paper, cut in half, put the half sheets back to back and adhere with double-sided tape and...voila!!! You now have a cute little recipe card to add to your stash recipe collection.

To access the recipe, click on the recipe title....Lime Bars with Macadamia Nut Crust

~In My Garden ~

 In my garden filled with flowers, 

I sit in quiet prayer

And, as I look around me,

I see God everywhere.

He's in the fragrant roses,

In glorious array.

Their perfume lingers in the air

and takes my breath away.

A gentle breeze is blowing.

Sunshine warms my face.

How near to God I feel,

In this enchanting place.

I see His hand in everything,

Sweet gifts sent from above.

My soul  knows only peace,

As I rest here in His love.

 by Marian Jones

~Lagerstroemia...Say What ?!?!? ~

OR better known as Crepe Myrtle.  This is probably my most very favorite flower of all time for several reasons.  One:  They are extremely easy to grow.  Two:  They tolerate our hot Oklahoma summers very well.  Three:  They produce an abundance of beautiful blooms.  Four:  They are so extremely beautiful and, well, crepey!  Not creepy...crepey.  As in having a crepe-like appearance and texture.

To me, they are such an old-fashioned type flower.  They come in a variety of colors...from deep purple to lavender, from red to pink and even white.

In this neck of the woods, it seems that the pink and lavender colors are the most popular for garden centers to sell.  I have seen white ones but have yet to find one to purchase.

I would like to have either a deep red or purple one.  Right now, I have four plants in the flower beds around my house and they are all in the pink family.  These beautiful little buds will open up into the most delicate looking flowers..thus the name "crepe".

They grow as shrubs or even trees.  I've seen some that are at least 10 to 12 feet tall and they are absolutely breathtaking with thousands of blossoms all over.  Even the miniature varieties have tons of flowers...like this little baby.  It should only grow to about 3 to 4 feet tall.  I've got it growing on the north side of the house as I do one of the taller varieties .  Then I have two on the south side of the house.




Having them on either the north or south side doesn't seem to affect their productivity in the summer but we had a really hard cold snap this last winter and the one on the north side took quite a hit.  It's slow in recovering.  Even though it's almost back to its full height from last year (about five feet) it has yet to produce any buds.

This is my poor little bunny hiding under the crepe myrtle.  Yes, he's been broken.  My granddaughter, Monkey, was fascinated by him when she was about three years old thinking, at first, that he was real.  In her excitement to show her daddy, she accidentally dropped him and he broke.  She felt so bad about it.  She sent me a new one (she lives in Omaha) and, unfortunately, he got broken in transit.  I didn't have the heart to tell her and just glued him back together.  He's holding together pretty well, don't you think?

I am always in such fascination and awe about this beautiful plant that God created.  Hardy yet delicate looking.  Old-fashioned but still so popular.  Easy to grow with long-lasting blooms.  I always look forward to their show every summer.  Yes, I'd say it is my most favorite flower.  So, what is your favorite flower?

~Sweet Land of Liberty~

 My country, 'tis of Thee,

Sweet land of liberty

Of thee I sing;

Land where my fathers died,

Land of the pilgrims' pride,

 

From every mountainside

Let freedom ring!

My native country thee,

Land of the noble free,

Thy name I love;

 

I love thy rocks and rills,

Thy woods and templed hills;

 

My heart with rapture thrills

Like that above.

Let music swell the breeze,

And ring from all the trees

Sweet Freedom's song;

 

Let mortal tongues awake;

Let all that breathe partake;

Let rocks their silence break,

The sound prolong.

Our fathers' God to thee,

Author of liberty,

To thee we sing;

 Long may our land be bright

With Freedom's holy light;

Protect us by thy might

Great God, our King.

~Fourth of July Craft Idea - Part Two~

Yesterday, I showed you how to make these festive centerpieces for the 4th of July holiday but I couldn't decide if I really liked using the bright red paper and fireburst decoration and so I thought I'd sleep on it.  Well, I couldn't wait that long.. .it was really eating at me that I could do better.  Of course, it may work for some but it wasn't the look I was wanting..so, I took off the fireburst display.  I'll save that for something else.  I took off the red wrappers that were supposed to be whipped topping since everybody knows there ain't no such thing as red whipped topping...unless you use loads and LOADS of red food coloring, but let's not go there.  Just agree with me, okay?

New cast of characters:
*White tissue paper cut into about 4- to 5-inch squares
*Several red and blue plastic straws
*Red candy for "cherries"

I thought maybe I could use just two squares of paper but decided that wasn't enough so I am using four squares of tissue paper.  Layer them kind of like I have shown above.

Cut two straws...I am using one red and one blue...and cut into about 5-inch lengths.  You can make yours longer if you want to.  Oh, I decided to change the straw colors.  The white ones just didn't have enough 'umph'.  That's the beauty of making these types of crafts.  There's nothing written in stone about how they should be done.  You can even use different colored straws if you want! Diversity is a good thing. Isn't that great???

Now take your two trimmed straws, overlap them slightly - they don't have to be exactly centered.  In fact, I like it better if they are just offset a bit.  Anyway....take a T-pin and secure the straws together.

I didn't take a picture of this step, but take your four or so layers of tissue...kinda scrunch them in the middle making a point (just like we did the red paper in yesterday's post).  Using a T-pin on the outside, secure it on the bald spot of your "sundae".  Then put your straws down in the middle of your new "whipped topping", which is white and looks more like whipped topping is supposed to look. :)  Push them in as far as they will go...you might want to use something a little more narrow than your thumb so that you don't flatten your design.

I didn't bother taking out my other decorations but I did reposition them just a bit.  I found some red Blow Pops that I could use for cherries even though they are a mite larger than what a cherry would be.  I unwrapped the candy just a bit so that I could cut off the stick, rewrapped it and secured the bottom of the wrapper with a T-pin.  I think red sour balls would look better though but I didn't have any and I wasn't going to go all the way into our small town...about a 20-minute drive to Wally World... just for a few red sour balls!
Tip:  Are your straws kinda lying down flat and not standing up like you want?  Take a T-pin and stick it in partway in under your straw for support.  Make sure you do it under the tissue paper so it doesn't show.  No one will know the better for it.

I changed out the white star for a red one.  I thought it showed up better.  Tada...and there you have it....two beautiful patriotic "sundaes" for your holiday setting!!!  So tell me, do you think the white tissue paper looks better or not?

I just bought the stacked American boxes at HL and found the other two in storage...quite by accident.  I forgot that I had them!  Guess I had better find me a better storage box for this stuff and LABEL it!  Ha!
I wanted to make a little vignette with my new patriotic "sundaes".

I could have put them on my beautiful table in the dining room, but we're not in there much.  So, I decided to put them on the island in the kitchen where we can enjoy them everyday.

Now back to the subject of diversity on this craft idea.  You could put some more of the candies in your sundae glasses if you wanted instead of the shredded paper.   Use whatever decorations you have...more or less...whatever floats your boat.  Put your own twist on the design just like I did when I "borrowed" this craft idea from Between Naps on the Porch.  By the way, if you haven't done it yet, you might want to meander over to her site to see how she made her beautiful "sundae".

This craft idea also works for other holidays and seasons...Easter, Halloween, a birthday, Christmas, a summer cookout...the ideas are endless!  And this would also make a great little gift for someone who is under the weather or returning home from the hospital...  Use your imagination and share your ideas with me, won't you?  I would love to post your pictures on my blog!  Enjoy.