Lemon Cheesecake Bars

Lemon is one of my favorite flavors! So when our family reunion came around again last week, I decided to revisit a favorite dessert from my childhood ~ Lemon Cheesecake Bars!

Whenever I am attending a family reunion, potluck, or the like, I always make sure to take something that I absolutely love! That way, if all the other food is nasty, at least I'll have something good to eat! I may or may not have been known to eat all of my own food! And I almost always make a dessert!

These Lemon Cheesecake Bars are delicious and I most definitely could eat them all in one sitting. The lemon flavor is very light, so don't expect to get a major burst of lemon. If you want to pump up the lemon factor, just add a little bit more lemon juice! But, I think they are perfect the way they are! I was always so excited whenever my mom would make them for us! They are truly one of my favorites!

Here are the Ingredients:

1 box yellow cake mix
1 8oz package of cream cheese
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil


And here's what to do: 

First off, combine the cake mix, 1 egg, and 1/3 cup oil in a bowl and mix until crumbly.
 

Reserve about one cup (I always save back a little more) of the crumbled mix for the topping.
 

Lightly pat the remaining mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 13x9 pan. It's okay if there is a little space in between, it'll all come together when you bake it! 

Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes, or until the edges just begin to brown.

Next, beat together your softened cream cheese, 1/3 cup sugar, 1 egg, and 1 tsp lemon juice. It may be lumpy or look like it's curdled, but that's because the cream cheese wasn't softened enough. It'll still taste okay!
 

 
Spread the cream cheese mixture onto the baked layer.
 

Top with the reserved crumbled topping. Then bake for approximately another 15 minutes until lightly browned!

Cool completely and cut into squares!

Yum!!!

Enjoy!!!

My New Window Box Garden!

 
For our anniversary this year, my husband got me a window box! I had been wanting one for quite a while, so it was the perfect present!

 We decided to hang the window box outside of my kitchen window since that seems to be the one we gaze out of the most. That way, when we look out at the bird feeders, we can also see all of my gorgeous flowers! That area of the house just really needed a pop of color too!

Speaking of bird feeders, I found a small hummingbird feeder to put in the window box garden too! It just adds a little extra whimsy and hopefully my hummingbirds will find it soon!

Although I generally advocate the thriller, filler, and spiller philosophy in container gardening, I had a few different flowers on hand already and I just decided to use those in the window box. They looked great together and I didn't have to spend any more money! Win, win!

This window box gets full on sun most of the day, so it was necessary to use flowers that can take a lot of sun. I also make sure to water it at least once a day, sometimes twice on super hot days!

I used a mix of white sunpatiens, and pink and purple dianthus.

View from the top! They are really starting to fill in.

It's almost like having fresh flowers on hand at all times!

I love looking out the window and seeing the flowers peeking over the window sill! Now if only I could get my hummingbirds to start drinking out of this feeder too! They love feeding at the other one, and fight each other off constantly.

I feel the need to add one to every window on my house now!

Don't forget to follow me on Pinterest and Instagram @ sweethome.indiana for more ideas! 

The New Flower Garden, Part 2

 Yikes! Has it really been almost a month since I last posted? Please excuse my blogging absence as I have been hard at work actually doing things to blog about! Well...mostly! It is summer after all, and we have been super busy lately with all kinds of fun outdoor activities such as yard work, grad parties, and of course, lounging by the lake!

My Fourth of July was spent completing the border on my new flower garden on the side of my garage. Although I was planning on waiting to finish the border of the garden until Fall or maybe even next year, Menards had the landscaping blocks I wanted on sale/rebate for almost half off! I couldn't pass that up!

As usual, the laying/straightening/leveling of the retaining blocks ended up being a lot more work that I had originally planned. Isn't that always the way? But, my husband and I finished the job in a few hours and amazingly, the garden now looks exactly how I pictured it would in my head! I love it when that happens!

I still have a lot of flowers to add to the garden, and that will come bit by bit. I can't afford to buy all the plants at once, they are super expensive! Plus, shopping for plants is my fave and I just love coming across new flowers! I am still debating exactly what I want to do with it, but I am really leaning towards more of a cottage garden vibe.

We laid out the retaining blocks in a vague border before leveling and setting them. I'll spare you the boring pictures of us actually laying the blocks out, plus I didn't take any. :)

An almost perfect (half) circle! Next up, getting a load of dirt to fill in the garden area! The ground in this new garden is so rocky! It was almost impossible to dig a decent hole.

Here's the garden so far. I can't wait to fill it up! I've been eyeing some Echinacea and Black Eyed Susans to put in here to make it more cottage garden-y.

I've been dying to grow Sweet Peas ever since I fell in love with them on my favorite blog, The Bon Savant. I finally had a spot for them this year and am trying to train them to grow on this upside down tomato cage. It's a cheap alternative to a trellis!

Plenty of room for more plants!

My favorite of the new flowers all planted. The blue are Delphinium and the pink are Phlox. They are perennials that will (hopefully) come back year after year. They should get a lot taller too.

I've already got some tulips planted in the back end

Now, what to plant here? I guess we'll see!

Follow me on Instagram @ sweethome.indiana for more daily photos, updates, and shenanigans!