Lighter Lemon Bars, Middle Eastern Salad, and Sledding

On the plate:  Lighter lemon bars and Middle Eastern salad

Soundtrack to cook to:  Carole King's Her Greatest Hits (Songs of Long Ago).  I'm finally off of my 80's kick...and I'm sure everyone is much happier in this house. :)

"WEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!" I exclaimed into the wintry morning...yes, I said I exclaimed it...because I did.  Wow!  Now I know why people have children...it's so that you can have an excuse to enjoy all of your childhood pleasures all over again and have it not be inappropriate.  We woke up to a light and steady snowfall this morning and the weather was perfect for sledding - not too hot and not too cold.
In preparation for this weekend and the impending snow, I took Alexander on an excursion to get snow pants and a sled.  I held off on buying snow pants for Alexander because we hadn't gotten snow yet, and I wasn't sure how much use he would get out of them.  MISTAKE!  Do you know how difficult it is to find snow pants in mid-January in New England?  Nearly impossible!  I went to five different stores to find either snow pants or a snow suit!  I finally stopped by Old Navy and they had 1 pair left in a size 18-24 months...I said, "I'll take them!!"  I couldn't believe it.  I'll definitely remember this for next year.
After breakfast, Joseph went upstairs to study for his upcoming surgery exam, and I went downstairs and got Alexander bundled up to go sledding.

Alexander saying, "SMI!" (his version of smile)
and modeling his new snow pants and Purdue hat.

All bundled up and ready to go!!

Our cute little monkey all bundled up and ready
 to go sledding.  I pulled him in the sled all the way
to the park - this sledding adventure was quite a good
workout for me! 

Alexander walking around in the snow.

Alexander sledding for the first time!!  I almost had one 

of those "America's Funniest Home Videos" moments where

I was filming Alexander and he almost ran me over 

with the sled.  LOL!

Alexander had fun sledding - and so did I!  Alexander actually preferred it when I got in the sled with him, which I definitely wasn't too bummed about.  HA!  I was reminded of how much fun sledding actually is and can't wait to take the little guy out again after his nap this afternoon!

Since I made a big pot of vegetable soup at the beginning of the week, I really haven't had to cook all that much for dinner.  Thus, I've been on a quest to expand my repertoire of cooking sweet things.  The difficulty is trying to find "healthy" recipes that still taste good.  I finally found one and decided to try it out.  I absolutely LOVE lemon bars.  I was talking to Joseph and my father this week and told them both that if I ever went to a bake sale, the first thing that I would go for is a good lemon bar.  I don't know why I love lemon bars so much, but I do.  I found this really easy recipe that yields 16 bars that are about 120 calories per serving - which really isn't too bad for a dessert.  It tastes just as good as the original recipe and is the perfect combination of tart and sweet.

Press the crust ingredients into a foiled and greased pan and
bake it at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes.  While the crust is baking,
you should prepare your lemon mixture. 

I use whole wheat flour, which is why the lemon mixture isn't
as pretty and yellow as it should be, but trust me, it tastes
just the same.

After the crust has baked, reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F
and pour the lemon mixture over the crust and bake for 25 minutes.

The finished product!  The only hard thing about this is that
you are supposed to let it chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours or
overnight.  It took all of me not to dig into the entire tray as soon
as it got out.  Thankfully I made these at night, and just had
a bar in the morning with a cup of coffee.  They are absolutely
delicious and you really don't miss the original recipe that has
extra sugar and butter.

I was tired of sandwiches for lunch, so I found an awesome and easy recipe for a yummy looking Middle Eastern salad.  It's very easy to prepare because all that you do is chop everything up and throw them into a bowl; however, a warning is that it does take a long time to cut everything up.  It took me about 30 minutes from start to finish to prepare this recipe, but it is well worth the time and effort.  Plus, I made a few additions and exclusions to the recipe based on my taste and what I had in the refrigerator.  I didn't take a step by step picture, but I can tell you what I included in the salad:

Instead of mint and basil, I put cilantro (because I LOVE cilantro),
and instead of lemon juice, I used lime juice.  Other than that
I added 1 avocado and 2 raw golden beets.  The beets added a really
nice and sweet crunch to the whole salad.  Other than that, I followed
the recipe and it made enough for some delicious leftovers the next day.
Plus, the extra bonus is that the next day it tasted even better because
it marinated longer.  So crunchy and tasty!

I love snowy weekend days like these.  It really reminds me of my childhood, of waking up and getting bundled up so that we could play out in the snow all day.  I can't wait to take Alexander out again, and then after being in the snow, maybe we'll have a nice cup of hot chocolate when we get back home.  Mmmmm, sounds good!  Until next time...

Love and kisses,

Nikki