No matter how homesick I may get for the east coast from time to time, there’s absolutely nothing I love more than walking into my backyard on a sunny afternoon and picking a bunch of lemons from our tree. I usually slice them up to pop into ice water or hot tea or the occasional Diet Coke, but I’ve always wanted to try out an actual lemon “recipe” with our abundance of citrus.

Last year I made some super salty preserved lemons, but this time I thought it’d be fun to try my hand at a big fresh lemon tart to celebrate that spring is only a week away. I originally wanted to make this a low-carb or at least Paleo dessert, but I ended up using regular sugar for the lemon curd because it’s what I had and honestly, it’s what I wanted. If you use low-carb sugar alternatives, I’m sure you could substitute the sugar for something else, but I did make the crust grain-free, sugar-free, and with only a few ingredients!

Grain-Free, No-Bake Lemon Tart

Ingredients:

For the crust:

• 3 cups of nuts (I used almonds and a bit of pecans)

• 1 cup of melted coconut oil

• A pinch of salt

• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the filling (from Ina Garten’s lemon curd recipe):

• 3 large lemons

• 1 1/2 cups of sugar

• 4 eggs

• 4 ounces of butter, room temperature

Instructions:

1. To make the crust, pulse nuts in a food processor until finely crushed (stop before you turn it into nut butter—you want it to be the texture of rough sand). Transfer from food processor into a bowl.

2. Pour melted coconut oil over nut mixture and stir well to incorporate. Add salt and vanilla and mix together. Transfer to a pie dish and press gently with your fingers to create a crust. Refrigerate until ready to use.

3. Use a vegetable peeler to remove the zest of the lemons. Transfer zest to food processor and pulse together with sugar until well combined. Cream butter in a separate bowl and add the sugar and lemon mixture to it. Mix well to combine and add eggs one at a time as you continue to stir. Slowly add lemon juice and mix until smooth.

4. Transfer everything to a pot on the stove and cook over medium-low heat until curd begins to thicken—about 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely (you can make the curd a day or two ahead of time if you want).

5. Pour the filling into the pie and transfer to freezer. Remove from freezer 10-15 minutes before serving.

Happy belated pi day and early spring wishes! Is there anything more cheerful than a bright yellow lemon pie?

Let’s get one thing straight right away: this dish is not cute. It doesn’t photograph well, it’s not pretty, it almost looks unappetizing. But it is 100% delicious, so I had to post it anyway. (Also sometimes you only get one shot while the baby is napping and this is what I got.)

This is one of those recipes that you throw together with whatever you have in the fridge (or even freezer—if you aren’t keeping emergency cream cheese frozen for whatever reason you might want to consider it), hoping it might end up being a mediocre dinner but then it ends up blowing your mind and you quickly write down the ingredients so you can add it to your weekly recipe rotation.

If you’re cutting carbs, this is perfect with a salad or a side of veggies; but if you aren’t, I think rice or even some nice toasty sourdough would be great. This recipe produces a whole lot of tasty saucy juices that would be delicious sopped up with a bit of fresh bread.

Ingredients:

• About a pound of chicken thighs

• 2 tablespoons butter

• 1/2 of an onion, diced

• 3-4 cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped

• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

• 8 ounces of cream cheese

• 1/4 cup of milk (or chicken broth or even water)

• 2 heaping cups of fresh spinach

• About 1 cup of shredded cheese (I used cheddar but you could use whatever you like best)

• Lemon wedges, for serving

• Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. In a large pan, melt half of the butter over medium heat and add the onion. Sauté for 5-7 minutes or until golden-brown. Add the garlic and crushed red pepper and continue to cook for another 2-3 minutes. Remove garlic and onion from pan and set aside.

2. In the same pan, add the rest of the butter and brown chicken thighs for 2-3 minutes per side. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a large baking dish.

3. Return the onion and garlic to the pan and add the cream cheese. Reduce heat to medium-low and allow cream cheese to melt. Pour milk in little by little to loosen. Add the spinach and stir gently until combined and spinach begins to wilt/reduce. Transfer to baking dish and use a spatula to spread the spinach and cream cheese mixture evenly over chicken thighs.

4. Transfer to oven and bake at 350 for about 40 minutes, adding shredded cheese on top with about 10-15 minutes of cook time left.

5. To serve, top with more shredded cheese if desired and serve with a lemon wedge.

I originally published this recipe in 2015 when I was way more strict about eating a Paleo diet, but I wanted to reshoot it and tweak the ingredients a little bit—I omitted the honey (1/4 cup), and instead of crushed nuts (1/2 cup) I used peanut butter. You can use unsweetened peanut butter if you want, but I used some with sugar in it because I figure you need some sweetness in fudge (otherwise what’s the point, right?), and honestly I’d rather have sweetened peanut butter than honey in my dessert—I also like the smooth texture more than my original recipe which included chopped almonds.

It used to be called “Six-Ingredient Paleo Fudge” but now it’s “Three-Ingredient Fudge” because who the heck wants to use six ingredients when you can do it with three?

Ingredients:

• 3 heaping tablespoons of coconut oil (about 1/3 cup)

• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

• 1/2 cup peanut butter (or almond butter—really whatever nut butter you prefer!)

• A pinch of salt for serving (optional)

Instructions:

1. In a saucepan or microwaveable bowl, melt the coconut oil.

2. Once it's liquid, add the peanut butter and stir until combined. Sift the cocoa powder in and mix well with a whisk. Pour the mixture into a square or rectangular container lined with parchment paper.

3. Place the fudge into the refrigerator or freezer for several hours to set. When it's firm, remove and cut into squares. Enjoy with a cold glass of milk (or some hot tea or coffee)!