Lemon Squares

Ingredients
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup butter or margarine
• ¼ cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ½ tsp. baking powder
• ¼ tsp. salt
• from 3 to 4 lemons:
```• 2 tsp lemon juice
```• thin round lemon slices
```• zest (peel grated)

Preparation
• Heat oven to 350°.
• Measure flour by sifting. Blend flour, butter, and confectioners' sugar thoroughly.
• Press evenly in square pan, 8x8x12". Bake 20 minutes.
• Beat eggs, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, lemon juice, and zest together.
• Pour over crust and add slices on top.
• Bake 20 to 25 minutes more. Do not overbake.
• Cool and sprinkle lightly with confectioners' sugar before serving.

Makes 16 squares.

Christmas 2008 (a short summary)

On Christmas Eve I went up to San Jose and went to Melita's church, St. Andrew's Episcopal in Saratoga, for the Christmas Eve service, featuring hymns done by the talented choir and instrumental ensemble such as O Come, All Ye Faithful and Silent Night. Christmas Day I opened presents with my dad and Melita. I got my dad a pair of walnut salt/pepper shakers from Brinton's and Melita a green enamel frog pin. Then we went to Melita's daughter Zita's house, where we had lunch, opened more presents, watched Mamma Mia!, and had dinner. The next day I celebrated Christmas with my mom and Brian. I got my mom a pair of books and Brian a jumbo level and stud sensor. We made a "scrünchi mouse" mouse cat toy for Checkers out of a hair scrunchy with felt ears, a puff nose, and a shoelace tail (I took a video which I will post on YouTube). Some of my presents included some really nice photography books, some money (to put toward a dSLR), and an 8GB thumb drive.

Cinnamon Crêpes

These cinnamon crêpes were an extremely tasty dessert. We used vanilla soy ice cream (Trader Joe's Soy Creamy) instead of the frozen yogurt. Using just the batter without the filling makes a great breakfast as well.

Ingredients
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tbsp. light brown sugar
• 3 tbsp. ground cinnamon
• 1½ cups low fat milk
• 2 tbsp. canola oil
• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup whole wheat flour
• Cooking spray
• 1 cup low fat vanilla frozen yogurt
• 1½ cups frozen unsweetened berries, thawed
• Powdered Sugar (optional)

Preparation
• Blend eggs, brown sugar, cinnamon, milk, and oil on low.
• Slowly add flours ½ cup at a time.
• When the batter is the consistency of heavy cream, pour into a bowl.
• Refrigerate for at least 45 minutes.
• Coat an 8-inch nonstick skillet with cooking spray. Place over medium heat.
• Pour ¼ cup batter in the pan and spread with a spatula into a 6-inch circle.
• Cook crêpe until lightly browned and crispy on the edges (about 30 sec.)
• Flip with spatula and cook until second side is light brown (about 30 sec.)
• Repeat with the remaining batter, respraying between each crêpe.
• Spread 2 tablespoons frozen yogurt on each crêpe.
• Add about 3 tablespoons of berries.
• Roll up and serve with powdered sugar if desired.

Makes about 4 servings.

Baked Shrimp Scampi with Rice

Our Thanksgiving main course was this baked shrimp casserole with white rice.

Ingredients
• 3 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 cups rice
• 4 tbsp. unsalted butter
• 3½ to 4 cups vegetable broth
• ¾ tsp. salt
• ¾ tsp. pepper
• 1¼ pounds large shrimp, shelled
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ cup dry white wine
• 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 3 tbsp. chopped parsley
• 3 tbsp. fine unseasoned dry bread crumbs
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• Cooking spray

Preparation
• In a large saucepan, warm 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and sauté until golden, about 5 minutes.
• Stir in the rice, 2 tablespoons of the butter, 3½ cups of the broth, and ½ teaspoon each of the salt and pepper.
• Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.
• Uncover the rice and allow any excess broth to boil off, and add some water if the rice seems dry.
• Cover and cook until the rice is tender and all the liquid is absorbed, 5 to 10 minutes.
• Remove the pan from the heat and keep covered.
• In a large nonstick skilled, warm the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and sauté, stirring, until golden, about 3 minutes.
• Add the remaining 2 tablespoons butter, the wine, lemon juice, and remaining ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Cook until the shrimp are just opaque, about 5 minutes.
• Sprinkle the shrimp with the parsley and bread crumbs, and cook for 1 minute.
• Pour mixture into a casserole dish and top with Parmesan and bread crumbs. Spray top lightly with cooking spray to prevent burning.
• Cook at 450º until lightly browned on top, for about 6 to 8 minutes. Serve hot.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Tomato and Eggplant Bulgur Wheat Salad

This was our appetizer for our Thanksgiving dinner this year.

Ingredients
• 1 cup bulgur wheat
• 1 eggplant, thinly sliced
• 5 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 pound cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• 1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
• Salt and Pepper
• ½ cup basil leaves, torn

Preparation
• Heat broiler.
• Cook the bulgur according to package directions.
• Arrange eggplant slices on 2 baking sheets. Brush both sides with a total of 3 tablespoons of the oil.
• Broil the eggplant 1 pan at a time until brown, 2-3 min. per side.
• Transfer into a large bowl. Stir in tomatoes, vinegar, remaining oil, ½ tsp. salt, and ¼ tsp. pepper. Fold in the basil.
• Transfer the bulgur into a large bowl and top with the mixture.

Makes about 4 servings.

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving I went on the Turkey Trot in cross country with Alex Schramm, Alec Guertin, Peter Sujan, and Leif Swenson, as well as my mom and stepdad Brian. I ran/walked from the school to the aquarium and back, which turned out to be about 8 miles. When we got back we began work on the Thanksgiving dinner. Rather than the usual Thanksgiving menu, we had a shrimp scampi casserole (▶), a tomato eggplant salad (▶), and cinnamon crêpes for dessert (▶). After dinner, we watched House and Survivor.

Speed Bump by Dave Coverly