LOVE, of lemon bars and le creuset

Since I neglected to have a "LOVE" last week, I thought I'd combine last week's LOVE and this week's in one... because I'd really like to have 52 loves by the end of the year!

First up, one of my favorite sweets... Lemon Bars.  And not just ANY Lemon Bars but the Barefoot Contessa Lemon Bars.  If you could see my cookbook up close, you'd notice the well worness (is that a word?) of the page.  But I must admit, I've been changing this recipe up a bit for years and making them with key lime juice instead of lemon.

You can see by all my little bits of paper marking pages that there are a lot of Ina Garten's recipes that I like... I mean who could resist a woman that isn't afraid to cook with butter and cream!

The first step is a bit messy... this crust is just butter, sugar, flour and a bit of salt.  Pressing it into the pan for baking is a sticky mess, but oh so worth it.

The next step isn't so photographic... but THIS is the key lime juice I always have in my refrigerator.  Mixed with lots of eggs, sugar and more flour and the magic is almost ready.

Oh, and the part two of this post?  I'll fill you in on that while those Lemon Key Lime Bars are baking...

It's my growing Le Creuset collection.  I started out small with some of the stoneware baking/casserole pans.  Believe it or not, you can make just about anything in these pans and the baked on mess?  Well it comes right off!  These pans are soooo easy to clean!  My collection of baking pans has grown from the original 9x13 green pan to include 2 bread pans, a 9x9 covered casserole and a large oval casserole as well.  Definitely worth the investment!

But my first piece of Le Creuset would be my green teakettle... it lives on my stove top.  My kids bought it for me the Christmas we moved to Red Gate Farm.  It was the only pretty thing in my kitchen when we moved here over 9 years ago.

My one and only enameled cast iron piece is my 3 1/2 quart pan... it too lives on my stove top when not in use... the heavy weight of this pan alone helped make this decision.

I typically use this pan every weekend for soup or stews.  The smaller size makes it super versatile, especially for just the two of us.

See?  There they are, both of them waiting for their next round of cooking and tea making.

Oops, speaking of the stove, those Key Lime Bars are out of the oven and ready for their powdered sugar dusting...

Since they are going with me to work, I can't cut into them for a glamour shot on a pretty plate... but believe me, they are tasty and they will disappear quickly... and the pan will wash up without a soaking!

Don't forget to check out my little valentine giveaway... you have a couple of hours still to enter!  (9:00 pm today, Thursday, February 13th)