There are some things in life I can’t take any credit for. I can’t take any credit for my freckles. I can’t take any credit for my Shirley Temple curls or my adorable dog or the awesome custom rims on my car.

I can’t take any credit for these lemon bars.

See, Andy keeps a book of recipes passed down from her mom and various other women in her family. And since she’s from Georgia, you can probably imagine what kind of recipes these are.

Answer: good ones.

So when we threw our somewhat belated housewarming party on Sunday in celebration of the arrival of our couch, even though I was crestfallen after being unable to find the ingredients for the treats I had planned, Andy knew just what to make.

I’m not sure which matriarch of her family came up with this recipe (or who first clipped it from Better Homes & Gardens, as the case may be) but hallel to them. It’s simple, no-fuss, and mind-bogglingly hard to screw up. It also probably saved our party in the wake of my goodie-less nervous breakdown.

So did Trivial Pursuit: Lord of the Rings edition. We’re simple folk.

So if you ever find yourself throwing a belated housewarming party, a preemptive housewarming party, or even a perfectly timed housewarming party, you might want to log this recipe away. It will make your house smell like heaven and your friends think you’re a bona fide Betty Crocker.

Now that’s something you can take credit for.

ingredients

1 box yellow cake mix with pudding in the mix (I used Pillsbury)
1 8oz pkg cream cheese
1/3 c sugar
1/3 c oil
2 eggs
2 1/4 tsp lemon juice

directions

1. In a medium bowl, combine cake mix, oil, 1/4 tsp of the lemon juice, and 1 of the eggs until crumbly.
2. Reserve 1 cup of crumble for your topping, and pat the rest into an ungreased 13×9 pan. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes.
3. While that’s baking, beat together cream cheese, sugar, and your remaining egg and lemon juice until smooth.
4. Spread cream cheese mixture over the baked layer, top with remaining crumble, and bake for another 15-20 minutes. Let cool completely before serving — Andy likes hers at room temperature, but I prefer mine chilled. It’s probably the only topic in the world, besides the ethics of declawing cats, that you could actually get us to argue about!

So what do you think of our new red table?