I Apologize in Advance

But these had to be shared.

The name i have seen given to them is 'better than crack brownies', but with kids i really don't want to explain what crack is and why that is so true!!! SO i think i am going to call them Regret Bars. I think that sums them up pretty well and if you make them yourself you will know why it is so fitting

but you should make them because they are insane and really are that good! I had to make a second batch because i forgot to take a picture the first time around. :o) Oops!

Regret Bars

1 package Brownie mix
1/2 c Dry roasted peanuts
1 bag mini PB cups(the already unwrapped ones)
1/2 jar creamy PB
2 T Butter
1 bag milk chocolate chips
1 1/2 c Rice Krispie cereal

1. Make the brownies according to the package. Bake for about 23 minutes in a 13x9 at 350.

2. Take out and sprinkle on peanuts and PB cups, evenly. Bake for 5 more minutes.

3. Throw PB, chocolate chips and butter in saucepan. Melt. Add in rice krispie cereal. Mix well.

4. Let cool on counter to room temp. Then place in fridge for about 2 hours before serving.

original recipe adapted from and found here

Leslie

Stacks of Wonderful Things

We have undertaken a change to our schedule....

homeschool.

Summer is over and our real life routines begin again. These routines have been keeping me from sharing all these lovely stacks of things that have come my way lately.

It was my birthday not that long ago, and it was a very booky birthday indeed! I was surprised and thrilled to find all of these wonderful books wrapped on the table waiting for me to open them...pour over them and love them!!!

I am excited to make my next quilt project with my neighbor and new quilter from the book Simplify. I have already ordered a jelly roll of Ruby fabric. I can not wait!!!

Then there was this stack of utter and total yumminess. Hubby asked what cake i wanted for my birthday and i said i wanted a pan of rice krispie treats. Apparently that seemed to simple so he took that simple idea and went big with it....ending with a multi layered neapolitan rice krispie tower complete with its own set of calculations to make sure that it would fit in all the pans he had chosen. I love it when he nerds it up!!!

Oh the chocolate ones were my favorite!!! I think i might make another pan of those very soon.

Last of all the stacks is this set(stack, only if you look at it just right) of domino rocks we made. Avery, Chris and I collected up lots of flat black rocks from the beach at our cottage in Maine and made them our own rock dominos!!! Fun right....do you think anyone has played this yet? Nope, but they were a fun idea and fun to make. Just used a paint sharpie and did some dots and lines. Couldn't have been easier. Maybe we will use them for school or something. Or they could be just another bag of rocks for us to move around with! :o)

She is no stack...unless you want to call her a little squishy stack of lovin!!!...but she is pretty cute!!! I was feeding her lunch and before long it all got to be too much and she just zoned out and then passed out sitting there. Like a good blog mom, i was sure to take this picture before i rescued her and got her settled into be for a real nap somewhere more comfortable than the highchair.

Leslie

Playing With our Food

Are these guys too cute or what? I was looking around on pinterest yesterday and came across this idea , from this genius woman right before lunch. Perfect timing!!! The best part was Mitchell's reaction....he was so excited. And i really think that this made eating that sandwich much more fun. They were so easy. Make sandwich. Cut wings. Add cucumber eyes and a cheese beak. Done!

Did you make anything fun this week?

Leslie

Late Baking

While i recognize that most of us are over the whole cookies and holiday thing....but, we did not have time really for making all the yummy cookies and treats we make every year(baby). So tonight the kids and i made one of our must have christmas cookies, Fudge Balls. I have been trying to find the time to make these for weeks now, and tonight with baby sleeping in sleepy wrap we had a minute so we went for it. They are so good i thought i would share.

Fudge Balls

1/2 c Butter
1 and 1/2 squares Bakers Chocolate, unsweetened
3/4 c. Sugar
1 Egg
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Vanilla
1 3/4 c. Flour
Confectioner's Sugar

Heat oven to 375. Melt butter and chocolate in saucepan. Remove from heat and cool. Add sugar, egg, salt and vanilla. Mix well. Stir in flour. Shape into balls, about a tsp. each. Place on ungreased cookie sheet, bake 7-9 minutes. Roll warm cookies in powder sugar and Enjoy!!!

Easy Christmas Treat

You have to try this....i was blog reading the other day and came across this recipe for popcorn cake. It was so easy and it is so yummy. Avery and i took a little time together last night and threw this together in no time. Go check it out at Blissfully Content blog.

Happy Happy

Yesterday was my sweet hubby's birthday. He views a birthday as just any other day, but the kids and i feel obligated to do something special even if we are told we don't have to by said husband. There was no way his day was going to go by without a birthday cake. SO i made this so so yummy Apple Caramel Cake. It is perfect for dessert and honestly it has apples in it so by my criteria that make it breakfast food, right? Happy Birthday Babe, i love you so much!

Apple Caramel Cake

3 c. Flour
1 t. Baking Soda
1/2 t. Cinnamon
1/4 t. Allspice
1/4 t. Nutmeg
1 t. Salt
1 1/2 c. Sugar
1/2 c. Brown Sugar, packed
1 1/2 c. Vegetable Oil
3 large Eggs, room temp.
3 c. Granny Smith Apples, chopped(about 2 1/2 apples)

Caramel Glaze:

1/2 c. Brown Sugar, packed
1/4 c. Butter(1/2 stick)
1/4 c. Heavy Cream

Preheat oven to 325. Grease and flour 10 inch bundt pan

In med bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and salt. Set aside

In large bowl, preferable that of large stand mixer...beat together the sugars and oil until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing completely. On low add the flour mixture in three additions. Mix well. Now spoon in the chopped apples and mix those well.Spoon batter evenly into pan and smooth out top.

Bake for 65 to 70 minutes until tester comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes and remove from pan. Now cool cake completely.

To make the caramel glaze, in heavy saucepan combine brown sugar, butter and cream. Bring to boil stirring for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool about10 minutes so glaze can thicken but is still pourable.

Place cake on cake plate and drizzle glaze over the top with a spoon. Enjoy!!!

The Best Breakfast

I think Saturday breakfast just got a little better. I was gifted with a ebelskiver pan for my birthday and this weekend we finally had the chance to try it out....what filling will i use? powdered sugar or icing? So many decisions. These were so light and yummy.....i filled them with nutella, homemade jam and some yummy apple butter my sister made. The only downside, there were not enough. It is possible that we could have eaten these all morning long.

And for more breakfast yumminess go check out this blog, Kate's weekend breakfast looks amazing.

Surprise Breakfast (A Borrowed Blog)

Hi everybody, this is Chris, Leslie's husband. Since I don't have a blog of my own, I'm borrowing Leslie's. While Leslie does a great job taking care of us and making sure we've got dinner on the table, weekend breakfasts are my domain. I try to make breakfast for everybody at least once a weekend or on days that I don't have to be at work. Sometimes it's pancakes, sometimes it's waffles, sometimes it's cheesy eggs and breakfast sausage, but this time it's something much better.

You might ask yourself what could be better than bacon and pancakes. Well, it's bacon in pancakes. I saw a post over on GeekDad this week about the Great Bacon Odyssey, and I was inspired. How is it possible that I never thought of this on my own??

We have a magic word around this house, and it isn't please or thank you. It's bacon. Sometimes our kids can be fussy eaters, but include bacon and it's like magic. The consensus from the two short people??


Well, the plates were clear, and there weren't any bacon pancakes left at the end, so that should answer that. Will we make these again? Absolutely, but not often. I'm don't even want to know how bad these are for me.


I now return you to your regularly scheduled blogging...

I Made a Cake!!

i have not blogged in a while. I seem to be in some kind of a slump. Maybe it is the February Slump! It is not that i am not doing things with the kids or making projects...i am just lacking the motivation to share it. Blah!

But, tonight i made a cake. The parents came over for the afternoon and for dinner, and i thought, "why not make cake?"!I did not think i was longing for spring just yet but maybe i am. This is a awfully spring like cake.

All you do it take a box angel food cake mix, and add one can of crushed pineapple(with the juice)...mix well and then back according to the box directions. I chose to serve it with some whipped cream(ok, i confess it was cool whip... it is not my favorite but i am trying to save myself some fat and calories so i thought it best to forgo the heavy cream whipped cream) and sliced strawberries on top.

It is very yummy....you should give it a try! this cake happens to be the favorite of the husband. Can you tell?

Tasting Nostalgia

When i was a little girl there was a market that my parents took us to called Adam's. Whenever we went my Dad, who definitely appreciates things that are not the norm as food goes, would always buy wasa crisp bread and strawberry cream cheese.

Today i was there at Adam's with my Dad and we were casually strolling through all the aisles when i looked over and saw the box of wasa. i mentioned this childhood memory to Dad and promptly placed the wasa in my cart. I now needed that cream cheese to make the memory complete. I was on a mission.

As soon as we got home i told the kids that this was a special moment...they had to be very quiet while i prepared a food memory. I took that first bite with lots of anticipation and it did not let me down. It took me right back in time to when i was little like Avery. I loved it then and i still love it now. And that food love was passed down to my kids today. Their faces look just as mine did when i ate it.

Isn't it interesting how memories and food are intertwined...or smells of foods? It is a single experience, it is only the first time you re-create it that it tastes like a different time. Has anyone else had one of these experiences?

Flavors of the Season

Pumpkin seems to be the flavor du jour, if you will, in our house right now. This time of year when the weather cools down and changes...gets a little dark and damp... i want to bake. Something. Anything. This day it was Amish Pumpkin Bread. This was a recipe given to me as part of a wedding gift. Yet, it was not until about a year or two ago that i re-discovered it and how amazing it really is.

I love the part where i add the spices...all the different colors together looks so pretty to me.

This is a very moist and tasty...spicy bread. I think everyone should give this a try!!!

Amish Pumpkin Bread

3 C. Sugar
1 c. Veg Oil
4 Eggs, beaten
1 can Pumpkin, 15 oz.
3 1/2 c. Flour
2 t. Baking Soda
2 t. Salt(scant)
1/2 t. ground Cloves
1 t. each, Cinnamon, Allspice and Nutmeg
2/3 c. Water

Mix sugar, oil and eggs together. Add pumpkin. Then add dry ingredients, then water. Stirring just until mixed. Pour batter into 2 greased and sugared(that is the secret) loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 1 hour...be sure to test in the end it might need a little more time.

adapted from recipe by Cathy Meyer

Fun Food

Yesterday my kitchen helper and i made some tasty treats for some of the students Chris sponsors. She was thrilled with how yummy the melted marshmallow looked.
She stirred like a champ...if you have made these before you know that is not easy to do without making a huge mess or wrestling with it.
And yes, theya re as yummy as they look. Thank you little kitchen helper.
Just melt a bag of marshmallows with half a stick of butter, then stir it into about 8 cups of cereal. Then there you have it...a sticky, yummy way to use up the cereal that nobody in your house is eating!!!

Dinner Treat

When daddy is away mommy and the kiddies will play!!! We don't make dinner if we don't have to, and last night Chris was not going to be here so we thought we would have a little fun instead. The kids were all for it. Of course i made them a cheezy bagel first, not just snack food!!!

My good friend makes this special popcorn for her kids and mine when they are at her house. I thought we would give it a try. Can you tell they enjoyed it? Mitchell had chocolate everywhere. All you do is pop some popcorn....melt some marshmallows with butter on the stove...and then pour it on the popcorn. While it is still hot stir in some chocolate chips. It melts and makes this wonderful sticky, chocolaty mess. Enjoy...it is well worth a try

Hello Fall

I decided we needed to usher fall in with an appropriately fallish dinner. After a long hard week, nearly my whole family was at my house for dinner Saturday night...my sister and her kids, my other sister and my parents as well as my own family. I try to make something special for company, not to say that it is always a success, but i try. Last night we had maple sausage baked apples and for dessert pumpkin crumble(it is like a cheat version of pumpkin pie, so easy). I wish you could have smelled my house...the smells combined with some falling leaves, family and the cool breezy day made it perfect. This meal is so warm and cozy. Total comfort food.

Maple Sausage Baked Apples

4 lg firm Apples, use what you like
1 lb breakfast sausage...i like chicken or turkey best
1/3 c. chopped Parsley
2 T. Maple Syrup
Olive Oil

Pre-heat the oven to 375. Cut your apples in half crosswise and core with a melon baller if handy. Place cut side up in a sprayed 13x9 pan.

In a bowl combine the sausage, taken out of casings, parsley and syrup. Mix well and then scoop into apples so it mounds out of the top. Drizzle with Olive oil and then bake for 40-50 minutes. Until the apples are tender and the sausage is cooked through.

adapted from Rachael Ray everyday

Rising Again

Cool weather always makes me want to bake!! The feeling struck me today and i started pulling out ingredients to make bread. I was going to go with my regular honey whole wheat recipe but then i thought i should branch out, do something different....be wild...if that can even be said about bread making.

I went hunting and found a recipe in my army wife cookbook....which i never use, by the way. But, it looked good and i thought i would just go for it. I always seem to forget before i start that homemade bread making is not a short process. Always well worth it in the end but there is the hours of rising...again and again to wait for.

When isn't Nutella a perfect accompaniment for warm bread right from the oven?!?! I will make this recipe again and again. It was so much softer and lighter than my usual recipe and so so yummy! The kids loved it and had no idea that it was good for them.

Honey Oatmeal Bread

2 c. Boiling Water
1/2 c. Honey
2 T. Butter
2 t. Salt
1 c. Rolled Oats
1 pkg. dry Yeast
1/4 c. lukewarm Water
4 1/2-5 c. Wheat or White Flour( I did half and half)

In a large bowl, stir together the boiling water, honey, butter, salt and oats. Let mixture stand for 1 hour. In a small bowl dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm water. Add the yeast to the oat mixture after one hour passes. Begin stirring the flour in one cup at a time. Mix well. i started with 4 cups and added the last half in while i was kneading. Knead on a floured surface for about 5-10 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Add the flour as you work to keep it from being too sticky...up to 5 cups total. Place in a greased bowl, turn to coat the dough and cover bowl with towel. Place in warm spot until doubled(about 1 1/2 hours). Split into to balls of dough, knead again for a minute, then place in well greased loaf pans. Allow to stand until doubled(45 minutes). Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes. For a tasty glaze, brush top with honey and sprinkle with oats.

Look at this Face

Couldn't you just eat her up? She was so proud of herself. As a very special birthday present for me she cleaned and dusted her bedroom. I of course was thrilled. What mom does not love unprompted cleaning? I know i certainly do!

And this had to be shared...well shared in spirit! My friend and now neighbor was wonderful and made me a birthday cake...i am sure Chris was especially greateful. Ready for this, it was a chocolate carrot cake with chocolate buttercream frosting and topped with cream cheese icing. I know, and it was as decadent and rich as it looks. She was very sweet to do this. thanks friend, even though i know you are not reading this.

Pasta 101

My very sweet and thoughtful husband was paying attention. When the last williams sonoma catalog came he heard me comment on this new kitchenaid pasta maker attachment...he remembered this and then sent my good friend on a mission to find one for my birthday.

Now let this be my disclaimer...if you are a pasta maker already and are looking at these pictures and this is not what it is supposed to look like, bear in mind that i/we have never done this before...and I think this is the first time i have ever let Chris use my cuisinart or my kitchenaid. And in our happy oblivion we loved it and had fun making it together.

We were both very amused by the pile of spaghetti that was growing before our very eyes. How fun! We made this ourselves!!

It was a team effort and in the end it was so tasty....the kids loved it, we loved it....it was just yummy!! I have never had fresh pasta before...but i am pretty sure we will be having it again...possibly not every time, but again for sure!