Jinja and Shoga: Life in the Land of the Rising Sun

   Indiana.
   Day 16.
  Weather: MORE. SNOW.
  Tomorrow's forecast: YET. MORE. SNOWWWWW!
  Mood: Hating snow!

  I had planned to go for a nice long walk this morning despite the **lovely** winter wonderland outside, but a call to Time and Temperature was enough to convince me that it just wasn't worth dealing with 19 degree temps before factoring in wind chill. Plus, Memoirs of a Geisha was calling me to finish it, so I did step aerobics in front of the tv instead. I still had every intention of leaving the house at some point during the day, but it wasn't until about 5 pm that I actually did so! And only because I talked to my dad on the phone and he mentioned my Nana's lemon bars. My Nana used to make these wonderful lemon bars (in addition to her butter cookies, see a few posts back), and I'd said pre-swine flu that I was going to bake some while I was back.
  I probably would've stayed in the house all night too if it hadn't turned out that my mom had the real recipe for the lemon bars (judging by my Nana's recipe file, she was quite fond of keeping different varying copies of the same recipe, so nobody knows which one she used ever). Luckily, my mom had acquired the real thing in this case, since the one I'd been about to use was completely different.
  Anyway, the 'real' recipe called for ingredients that we didn't have in the house. Namely, a lemon cake mix, a tub of lemon frosting, and cream cheese. I guess I'd assumed that the other recipe was the correct one since it didn't call for anything pre-packaged. Silly me. Nana didn't know about evil trans fats, apparently. And can I just admit that I was seriously embarrassed to be seen purchasing a lemon cake mix and pre-made lemon frosting? It was kind of hard not to tell the cashier "I usually bake from scratch! Honestly!" She didn't really look like the type to care, but still. It was hard not to!
  Ok, so here's the famous recipe. Let's hope that they taste just like Nana's did.

   Nana's Lemon Bars
   
    Base
     1 package lemon cake mix
     1/3 cup (about 6 Tb) butter, softened
     1 egg
     Mix all and press lightly into a greased 9X13 pan

   Filling
   1 tub of ready-to-spread lemon frosting
   1 8 oz package of cream cheese (I used light cream cheese)
   1 egg
   Combine all and beat on high speed until well blended. Spread over the base and bake at 350 F for 40-50 minutes, or until firm and golden brown. Cool and then chill at least 2 hours. Makes 36 bars.
 
  Nutritional stats (using light cream cheese)
  Calories per bar--based on 36 bars per recipe---147 kcal
  Fat per bar  6.77 grams
  Saturated/trans fat per bar  3.93 grams
  Obviously not the healthiest treats, but the stats were milder than I was expected based on just looking at the ingredients alone. Of course, the key is to only have just one or two of these and not devour half the pan in one sitting!

   ** I have no idea why the full pics aren't posting, but if you click on the photo then you can see the entire thing**

              Lemon bars just before going in the oven