When Life Hands You Lemons...

... make lemon bars and lemon curd—and even lemonade!

We have citrus trees in the backyard, one each of lemon, orange and grapefruit. Every year around this time we're overwhelmed with fruit, especially lemons (that tree is prolific!). And since it's just the two of us, we really only use a dozen or so lemons. Really, who wants lemonade in January? So we end up giving a lot away.

This year I've had an itch to bake, so I tried my hand at making lemon bars. I found a really easy recipe in my Bisquick cookbook (what would I do without Bisquick?). They came out really good. I've made two batches so far, and I worked out a few kinks so the second one was better than the first.

I also made lemon curd using this recipe. It was surprisingly simple to make and, although I think it's runnier than it's supposed to be, quite tasty. I had some this morning drizzled over cheese blintzes.

Usually the orange tree is the laggard of the bunch, producing only two or three oranges. But this year we got dozens! They make wonderful juice, and I'm even thinking of trying to make some citrusy muffins (thanks again, Bisquick).