Some pretty fantastic bars for the challenge

We've been making these bars for a little while now, but I don't think I've shared the recipe on the blog. If you came to Tamsyn's farewell, these were on the dessert table. I took a couple of pictures because it's a bit of a different process for making bar cookies. 

Bars Fantastic

From Lionhouse: Cookies and Sweets

Yield: 20 bars

Ingredients:

3 cups	flour
1/4 teaspoon	baking powder
1 teaspoon	baking soda
1/2 teaspoon	salt
1 cup	butter
3/4 cup	brown sugar
1/4 cup	sugar
2	eggs
1 teaspoon	vanilla extract
1/2 cup	white chocolate chips
1 cup	semisweet or milk chocolate chips
14	caramels, unwrapped, cut into pieces (or 1 cup butterscotch chips, our preference)
1 cup	heath bars chips
1/2 cup	nuts, optional

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking pan.
Combine dry ingredients. Cream together butter and sugars. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until fluffy. Add dry ingredients and mix well.
Divide dough in half. Spread one portion evenly into bottom of prepared pan. Place a piece of plastic wrap onto work surface. Place the second portion of dough onto the plastic wrap. Cover it with another piece and flatten it with your hands or a rolling pin to the size of the pan. Set aside. 

Sprinkle the various chips onto the dough in the pan. 

Remove the plastic wrap from the top of the dough and place it on top of the chips in the pan. Press down slightly. . 

 If desired, sprinkle nuts on top. Bake 20-25 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cool. 

Now, take a bite. Yum. They're Megyn's favorite bar cookie. 

You could switch up the combination of chips, to suit your own taste. We've tried mini M & M's and caramels, but we like butterscotch chips the best. 

Memorial Day Breakfast: The Additions and the Insanity

Probably our biggest year yet. We figure we fed about 130-150. After we had to go borrow plates from a neighbor, we lost track of the count. I mixed up several batches of batter, totaling 22 cups of flour. Had to use sour milk for the last batch. We added some new topping to our pancake bar. Uncle John is possibly spinning in his grave, but along with additions of peanut butter and Nutella from years past we had coconut syrup, to which I also added 1 teaspoon coconut extract, and blueberry syrup. I've included links to the syrups for your enjoyment. This is how I stacked mine: pancake, whipped cream, strawberries and blueberries, a drizzle of coconut syrup. I also did one like that with blueberry. Heaven on a pancake.

Bunny Blondies from Family Fun Magazine

I got a new software program for organizing my recipes. I'm now in the process of going through my file and trying to decide which ones are worthy of being typed up. I tried this one and decided it belonged in my permanent collection. It's good and I also feel like I'm eating something sort of healthy with all the carrots in it. I made it with whole wheat flour, too. If you don't like butterscotch chips, I'm pretty sure chocolate would work.

Bunny Blondies

Servings 24

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30-35 minutes

From Family Fun Magazine

8 medium carrots

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 sticks butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup butterscotch chips

1 cup chopped nuts optional

---

Yield: 24 bars

Preheat oven to 350 degress. Spray 9 x 13-inch pan with cooking spray. Grate carrots, should have 3 cups. Whisk together dry ingredients. Set aside. Beat butter, eggs, and both sugars until pale and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat until well blended. Mix in carrots and the butterscotch chips. Stir in the flour mixture. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Do not overbake.

Chicken Tortilla Casserole

Christi asked me for this recipe a while back but I had to make it first so I could write it down. I made it last Sunday and the Lowe brothers enjoyed it too. It's sort of a cross between the Chicken Enchiladas we all enjoy and El Dorado Casserole.

Chicken Tortilla Casserole
3 cups chicken, cooked and cubed
2 cans cream of chicken soup (or homemade equivalent)
1 can green chilies, pureed
1 cup sour cream
1-1/2 cups shredded cheese, cheddar or colby jack
Approx. 10 oz tortilla chips

Preheat oven to 350. In a saucepan, combine soups, green chilies and sour cream. Heat through. Add chicken chunks. Lightly spray a 9 x 13 inch casserole dish with nonstick spray and place 1/2 the chips in the bottom. Crush lightly with hand and pour half of chicken mixture over chips. Sprinkle with 3/4 cup cheese. Repeat with remaining ingredients. Bake for 25 minutes or until bubbly.

Banana Peanut Butter Coffee Cake

I posted this recipe on my personal blog, which I've lately resurrected, but decided I'd better do it here, too. I made this by combining a couple of different recipes from allrecipes.com and Better Homes and Garden Cookbook. Apologies to Kennedy for the peanut butter. The original recipe on allrecipes had pecans in the topping, which Megyn doesn't like, so I went with this instead.

Banana Peanut Butter Coffee Cake
1 8-oz package cream cheese
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1-1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
3 medium bananas, mashed
1 tsp vanilla extract
2-1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
TOPPING:
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup peanut butter
3 Tbsp butter or margarine, softened

Beat together the cream cheese, butter and sugar. Add the bananas, eggs and vanilla; beat until smooth. Combine dry ingredients; add to batter and mix. Smooth into a greased 13 x 9-inch pan. Sprinkle with topping. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
For topping, stir together brown sugar and flour. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut in butter and peanut butter until uniform.

Sharing a Few Recipes

I was talking to Alison last week about blogging. We thought it would be nice to label recipes on the blog so that if we are looking for one we could just pull up all the recipes instead of scrolling through all the archives. To do that, when you are finished writing your post, scroll to the bottom of the screen and you will see a window for "Labels for this post". Type in "Recipe" or click the "Show all" link and choose recipe. I think that will help us all.
I found this baked oatmeal recipe on Pinterest a few weeks ago. I made a half recipe just to try it and I really liked it. Last week I made the full 9x13 and ate it all week. I never got tired of it. You can eat it plain or mix in anything you like. I particularly liked a little diced pear. Kennedy really liked it with cut-up bananas and mini chocolate chips.
Also, we had the missionaries over last night. I tried this recipe for Pepperoncini Beef Sandwiches from Our Best Bites that I have been wanting to try since summer. I wasn't sure my family would eat it but the four of us who do eat (not Jack) really liked it. The missionaries had two sandwiches. Just thought I would pass along a few good recipes.

Irish Soda Bread

Whenever I think of Irish Soda Bread I also think of Marilee becaue she was the one to introduce me to it. I pulled this recipe out of my box and I'm not sure if it's Marilee's or not, but it's a good one. We had this for St. Patrick's day along with green eggs, green salad and pickles. Is there a theme here?

Irish Soda Bread

4 cups whole wheat flour

1-1/2 tsp salt

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp soda

1/4 cup brown sugar or honey

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup butter or margarine

2 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine dry ingredients. Cut in butter or margarine. Stir in buttermilk to make a stiff dough. Knead at least ten times. Form into an eight or nine-inch round and place on a greased cookie sheet or stone. Score almost through with a floured knife to mark quarters.

Bake for 35-40 minutes. While still hot, brush with melted butter, if desired.

Warm bread with homemade strawberry jam. Want a bite?

Monster Cookie Dough Dip Recipe

I had a meeting at my house last night and I made this yummy dip. It was so good I couldn't stop. . .try it!
http://www.skiptomylou.org/2012/02/21/monster-cookie-dough-dip/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+skiptomyloublog+%28Skip+To+My+Lou%29

Apple Muffins

These are yummy: http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/04/whole-wheat-apple-muffins/

Grandma's Christmas Cake

A few days ago, something got me thinking about a Christmas cake that Grandma used to make. Does anyone else remember the cake with orange slices (the gum drop kind) in it? I did a bit of digging and found this recipe of Grandma's. It doesn't have the orange slices listed in the original recipe, but I think this was the cake she put them in. I made it for Mom and Dad as part of their Christmas present and asked them to tell me if it was as good as I remembered. They liked it, and so I'm passing it on to the rest of you. I've added a few directions for the icing that Grandma didn't have.

Note: I substitued the same amount of orange slices snipped into pieces for the candied fruit.

Christmas Cake
1 8-oz pkg cream cheese
1 cup margarine (I suppose butter could also be used)
1-1/2 tsp vanilla
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1-1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2-1/4 cups flour
1 cup mixed candied fruit, ground (orange slices, snipped)
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
Blend cream cheese, margarine, sugar and vanilla. Beat in eggs one at a time. Sift dry ingredients and beat into creamed mixture. Add fruit and nuts and mix well. Bake in a well-greased tube or Bundt pan at 325 degrees for 1 hours. Let cool. Pipe on icing.

Icing
2 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbsp margarine, softened
1-2 Tbsp cream
1/2 tsp almond extract
Beat together until smooth. Fill a gallon ziplock bag with icing, cut off a bit of the corner, and pipe icing over cake. Sprinkle with colored sugar, if desired.

Pumpkin Pie Shakes and Blueberry Muffins

I don't know about all of you but here we are all getting fat on pumpkin pie! We made about three too many pies for Thanksgiving and I think we will be eating pie all week. What a shame, huh?

Speaking of pie, I found this pumpkin pie milkshake recipe on another blog. We tried it tonight with some leftover pie and it was really good--and I don't even like pumpkin pie!

We had Kennedy's baptism yesterday. It was such a nice service. We had two other kids from our get baptized the same day. That is a record for our ward! Anyway, the three of us moms planned the program, decorations, refreshments, etc. One of my jobs was to bring muffins. I started about two weeks before since I knew it was going to get busy. I put them in the freezer as I finished each batch. I made three different kinds: Pumpkin Apple, Banana Chocolate Chip and these Blueberry. I had the blueberry recipe for a long time but hadn't made them in a while. I remembered they were good but I didn't have any lemon extract on hand so I tried coconut and it was really good! I thought I would share if you are interested in a good blueberry muffin recipe.

Blueberry Muffins

2 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
12 TBS butter, melted
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 TBS vanilla
1 1/2 tsp lemon or coconut extract
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Topping
3/4 cup oatmeal
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
4 Tbs melted butter

Blend flour, sugars, soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Blend together butter, buttermilk, eggs and extracts. Add to flour mixture and mix together. Add blueberries. Do not over-mix. Mix topping ingredients. Fill lined or greased muffin tins with batter and top with topping mixture. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
*Batter can be frozen before or after being baked.

Dueling Rhubarb Strawberry Crunch

This is what I like to make when I have rhubarb. I have to buy mine here. I tried planting one but it never produced much then eventually died. Funny story about buying rhubarb. I went into my regular store one time to buy some rhubarb. I had seen it there before but didn't see any this time. I asked the guy stocking the produce section if they had any. He said scratching his head, "rhubarb, rhubarb". I could tell he had no idea what I was talking about. I told him it kind of looks like "red celery". He walked over to where it should be and started inspecting the shelves. "Nope! No red celery here." And that was all the answer I got. . .

I did make S/R Pie for dinner Friday night because we had guests and I think that's my favorite kind of pie.

Rhubarb Strawberry Crunch

3 cups diced rhubarb* 1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup sliced fresh strawberries 1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup white sugar 1 cup butter
3 Tbs flour 1 cup rolled oats

Mix together 1 cup white sugar and 3 Tbs flour. Mix in the strawberries and rhubarb until well mixed.
Mix together brown sugar, 1 1/2 cups flour, butter and oats until crumbly. You may want to use a pastry blender for this. Crumble on top or rhubarb/strawberry mixture.
Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 45 minutes.

*It's been awhile since I made this but I am pretty sure I have used 2 cups rhubarb and 2 cups strawberries.
Note: the "crisp" to fruit ratio is probably 3:1. It's a very crisp-heavy dessert and I like it!

The Quest Continues: Rhubarb Crumble

I've been on a continuous journey to find a rhubarb recipe that Tamsyn will not only eat, but like. Every Spring when the rhubarb arrives in abundance, I try at least two or three new dishes. So far, the quest has not been successful, but we've eaten some pretty yummy things along the way. Take this latest one for example: delicious! I thought so anyway. Try for yourself and see if you don't agree.

Rhubarb Crumble
(From Simply Recipes by way of Oprah)
Filling
2 lbs rhubarb, cut into 1-inch pieces (6 cups)
1-1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp ground cardamon

Crumble Topping
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, cut into cubes
1. Preheat oven to 375. In med bowl, mix together the filling ingredients. Spoon into a 9 X 13-inch baking dish.
2. Mix together the flour, salt and brown sugar. Cut in the butter until pieces are pea-sized. Spread topping over rhubarb mixture.
3. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until the filling is bubbly and the topping is lightly browned. Let cool for 1/2 hour before serving. Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
Serves 8.

Love that Grill

We've been enjoying our panini grill ever since Christmas. It's great for grilling a couple of chicken breasts for a Chicken Caesar or Cobb salad and we've made all sorts of sandwiches with it. Here's a recipe for one I tried last night. I'm a sucker for a good Monte Cristo sandwich so when I saw this recipe I cut it out and promptly forgot about it. I ran across it again the other day and decided to try it. Although it doesn't say to use a panini grill, I thought it would work well, and I was right.

Monte Cristo Sandwich
Blend together 1 beaten egg, 1 Tbsp milk, dashes of pepper and salt. (For four sandwiches, 2 eggs was just sufficient).
Mix 1 Tbsp soft butter and 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard (I didn't use quite that much mustard). Spread mixture on one side of 2 slices of 1" thick French bread.
Arrange on buttered side of one bread slice: 2 thin slices of smoked turkey, 1 Tbsp thinly sliced shallot or red onion (we skipped this), 2 thin slices Swiss cheese, and 2 thin slices smoked ham.
Cover with second bread slice, buttered side down.
Dip sandwich in egg mixture, covering completely. Fry in 1 Tbsp butter on both sides until brown. Place in 350 degree oven for 3 minutes. Remove. cut diagonally. Serve with sour cream and jam, on the side.
This is what I did: I brushed my grill with olive oil, put four sandwiches in and put the lid down. In three or four minutes they were done and delicious. No need to use the oven.

Corn Bread

We had a stake relief society activity last week that was really fun. Some of you may have heard of The Food Nanny . She has a program on BYU TV. She is a cute little lady. I was really excited to see her in action on Saturday. I had my friend who's in the stake RS presidency save me a front row seat. When I got to the church my friend was on the stage helping her set up. I asked my friend where my seat was then I was able to talk to the Food Nanny. I told her I had made her cornbread for dinner and that I liked it better than the recipe I have been using for years. She got really excited about that. She asked me where I was from and I told her Beaver. She then said that she was born in Cedar City. Then she asked me if I had known April Yardley. I told her yes that April was my drill team advisor. It was really fun to make that connection. I didn't get much more time to talk to her.
I know you have all had my cornbread and have the recipe. Here is Food Nanny's recipe. I liked it better because it made a smaller batch for my smaller family and it uses some canola oil instead of so much butter. I thought it was similar but maybe a bit more moist.

Northern-Style Cornbread
9 Servings

1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour 1 1/4 cups milk
2/3 cup sugar 2 eggs
1/2 cup cornmeal 1/3 cup canola oil
1 Tbs baking powder 3 1/2 Tbs butter, melted
1/2 tsp salt

Butter and Honey

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8x8-inch baking pan.
2. Combine the flour, sugar, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl
3. In a small bowl, combine the milk, eggs, oil and butter and mix well. Add to the flour mixture and stir just until blended. Do not over mix.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 35 minutes. The corn bread is done when the edges are lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Serve with honey butter.

A Couple of Recipes

Christi and I were just discussing recipes. She promises to share a cornbread recipe that's even better than her other one. Hard to imagine, I know. I served it at a teacher dinner, along with the following reicpe for honey butter, and received raves. So here's the honey butter, or, as the neighbor who gave me the recipe called it,

Flutter Butter
1 lb honey
1 lb butter or margarine
8 oz marshmallow creme (my neighbor uses the bigger bottle)
whip all together.

I attended a class at Thanksgiving Point last week by Lori Bennett on Soups and Easy Breads. Here are a couple of my favorites from the class.

Creamy Italian Basil Pesto Soup
1-2 jars good spaghetti sauce
2-4 T prepared pesto
1-2 cups half and half (fat free might work)
1/2 -1 tsp worcestershire sauce
1-2 Tbsp brown sugar
Mix ingredients all together and warm through.

Butter Pull-a-parts
4 tsp yeast (2 pkgs)
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 cubes butter, divided
1-1/2 tsp salt
1 cup boiling water
6 cups flour
Add yeast to 1 cup warm water and let rest for 10 minutes. Set aside. Put sugar, salt, and 1 cube butter (cut into slices) into a large bowl. Pour the cup of boiling water into the bowl and let cool until all the butter is melted and liquid is luke warm. (Lori suggested just melting the butter in the microwave if you're in a hurry). Add yeast to mixture as well as the two beaten eggs. Stir in flour. Don't knead. Dough will be sticky). Cover tightly and refrigerate dough at least four hours or overnight. When ready, set out 2 bundt pans and melt one cube of butter per pan. On a floured surface roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut with a 2" cookie cutter. Arrange cut pieces of dough standing upright in a ring. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Invert onto a serving plate immediately. (If dough seems to stick, spray pans with cooking spray before adding butter.)
Variations: Before putting dough in pan, put cinnamon and sugar in melted butter or add raisins, cheese, herbs, or orange sugar (3/4 cup sugar + 1 orange rind + 1/2 tsp almond extract).

Breakfast Enchiladas

Here's what we are having for Christmas brunch (and it's so yummy!):

Ingredients
1 (1-pound) package hot ground pork sausage
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
4 green onions, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
14 large eggs, beaten
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Cheese Sauce*
8 (8-inch) flour tortillas
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese with jalapeños
Toppings: halved grape tomatoes, sliced green onions, chopped fresh cilantro
Preparation
Cook sausage in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, stirring until sausage crumbles and is no longer pink. Remove from pan; drain well, pressing between paper towels.

Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add green onions and cilantro, and sauté 1 minute. Add eggs, salt, and pepper, and cook, without stirring, until eggs begin to set on bottom. Draw a spatula across bottom of pan to form large curds. Continue to cook until eggs are thickened but still moist; do not stir constantly. Remove from heat, and gently fold in 1 1/2 cups Cheese Sauce and sausage.

Spoon about 1/3 cup egg mixture down the center of each flour tortilla; roll up. Place, seam side down, in a lightly greased 13- x- 9-inch baking dish. Pour remaining Cheese Sauce evenly over tortillas; sprinkle evenly with Monterey Jack cheese.

Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until sauce is bubbly. Serve with desired toppings.

*Cheese Sauce:

Ingredients
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup flour
3 cups milk
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Cheddar cheese
1 (4.5-ounce) can chopped green chiles, undrained
3/4 teaspoon salt
Preparation
Melt butter in a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat; whisk in flour until smooth. Cook, whisking constantly, 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk; cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, 5 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat, and whisk in remaining ingredients.

Pumpkin Crumb Coffee Cake

In case you are looking for some new brunch recipes here are my two latest favorites.

Topping:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces
Cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 15-oz. can pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
Preparation
1. Make topping: In a bowl, stir together flour, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon. Add butter and combine with fingertips until mixture is crumbly. Refrigerate while making batter.

2. Make cake: Preheat oven to 350ºF. Butter and flour a 9-by-13-inch cake pan. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. In a large bowl, whisk together oil, applesauce, pumpkin, vanilla and both sugars until well mixed. Whisk in eggs. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and stir until just combined; do not overmix. Pour batter into cake pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle with reserved topping.

3. Bake cake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Allow to cool in pan on a wire rack at least 20 minutes.

Baked Mexican Quiche

1 lb. breakfast sausage, browned
1/2 cup melted butter (use a little to butter the dish)
1/2 cup flour
dash salt
2 cups cottage cheese
12 eggs
1 tsp. baking powder
8 ounces chopped mild green chiles
4 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese

**Butter a 9 x 13 baking pan. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs and add flour, baking powder, and salt, and mix well. Add melted butter, leaving the pan buttered. Add chiles, sausage, and cheeses. Mix together and pour into baking pan. Back uncovered at 350 for 45-60 minutes. Test for doneness with a knife.

Rock Salad

I made this salad for Sunday dinner & invited Joyce and Alan to come. Alan kept asking for "more of that salad with the rocks in it". It has therefore become known as "Rock Salad" It's pretty good.

ROCK SALAD

8 oz. Cream Cheese
12 oz. Cool Whip
1/2 cup sugar
Add:
1 small can crushed pineapple (drain)
1 pkg. frozen raspberries or strawberries (drain)

1 cup broken Pretzels
1/2 cup butter (melted)
1/2 cup sugar
Mix and press in pan and bake at 350 degrees for 7 minutes. When cool break into little pieces. Add to Cool Whip mixture just before serving.