Rice Krispie Treats

by penji1

This recipe is for my friend Tonianne who said that the recipes on my food blog were too intimidating; I know you can make this one Tonianne! Seems like anytime I want to make Rice Krispie treats, I  have to go online to www.ricekrispies.com to find the recipe so I can get the ingredients in the right amount so I decided to put it on my blog so that I can find it easily. Bob and I both teach Sunday School to the teenagers at church every Sunday so if I make treats for my class, I have to make treats for his too.  These were all I had time for yesterday.

3 tablespoons butter

1 (10 oz) package regular size marshmallows (about 40) or 4 cups mini marshmallows (can also use 1 7 oz jar of marshmallow creme instead of marshmallows)

6 cups Rice Krispies or Cocoa Krispies (I used Cocoa this time)

1  In large saucepan, melt butter over low heat.  Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted.  Remove from heat.  (You can also melt butter and marshmallows in microwave on high for 3 minutes, stirring after 2.)

2  Add cereal and stir until well coated.

3  Using buttered spatula or wax paper (I just spray my hands with Pam and use them) evenly press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2″ pan coated with cooking spray.  Cool and cut into squares. Did you know that you can freeze them for up to 6 weeks?  Me neither.

Garden Fresh Pasta Salad

by penji1

Darn this weather!  Blazing hot with the air conditioner on one day then rainy and freezing the next, making me wish my husband hadn’t taken the electric blanket off the bed!  Also messes with my menu planning!  Planned on this Kraft pasta salad, should have made soup!

1 (16 oz) package farfalle (bow tie pasta), uncooked  (I used the tri colored corkscrew pasta for the color it brings to the salad)

2 cups broccoli florets

1 small red onion, thinly sliced

1 medium red bell pepper, chopped

1 cup halved cherry tomatoes (I used grape tomatoes because I like the flavor better)

1 (8 oz) bottle sun dried tomato vinaigrette dressing (I used Italian because it was what I had in the fridge)

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions, adding broccoli for last 3 minutes.  Drain, rinse and place in large bowl.  Add onions, peppers and tomatoes and mix.  Add dressing and toss to coat.  Refrigerate 1 hour.  Stir before serving and top with cheese.

Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Bites

by penji1

Time for another Girls Camp Clinic.  I wanted to make the girls something fun and tasty so I chose these beauties because they looked so cute!  This recipe comes from the Pampered Chef cookbook, “Simply Sweet”.

2 squares (1 oz each) semisweet chocolate for baking, chopped

1 (8 oz) package miniature Oreos, divided

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

1  Preheat oven to 325.  Microwave chocolate on high, uncovered, 40 – 50 seconds or until melted, stirring after 40 seconds.  Set aside.  Place paper liners in cups of Mini Muffin Pan or spray with nonstick cooking spray.  Separate 60 cookies into halves.  Place one cookie half, imprinted side down, into bottom of each cup.  Line sides of each cup with four cookie halves, imprinted side against sides of cups.  Chop remaining cookies with Food Chopper, set aside.

2  Mix cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until well blended, add egg and mix well.  Stir in cooled chocolate and 1/4 cup cookie crumbs.  Using Small Scoop, fill each cookie lined cup with a rounded scoop of batter.  Sprinkle batter with remaining cookies.

3  Bake 18 – 20 minutes or until filling is almost set.  Let treats cool in pan 10 minutes then remove to cooling rack to cool completely.  Refrigerate 1 hour or until ready to serve.

Blond Brownies with Brown Sugar Frosting

by penji1

Weekly team meeting tomorrow so weekly team meeting treats!  This recipe comes from Betty Crocker.

Did you know that you can make powdered sugar?  This recipe calls for 2 cups but I only had one and didn’t want to call a neighbor at 10:00 at night to borrow one so I googled “substitution for powdered sugar” and all it said was take 1 cup granulated sugar and blend in blender on high until it looks like powdered sugar!  And it worked!  How cool is that?  Gotta love the internet!

brownies:

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup butter (do not use margarine), softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

frosting:

1/3 cup butter (do not use margarine)

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

3 tablespoons milk

2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1  Heat oven to 350.  Beat granulated sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla and eggs, until light and fluffy.  Mix in flour, baking powder and salt.  Spread batter evenly in ungreased 9 x 13″ pan.

2  Bake 20 – 23 minutes or until golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool completely, about 45 minutes.

3  Melt 1/3 cup butter over low heat.  Stir in 2/3 cup brown sugar and cook over low heat 2 minutes, stirring constantly.  Stir in milk and cook until mixture comes to a roiling boil.  Remove from heat and gradually stir in powdered sugar and vanilla, mixing well until smooth and spreadable.  Add more milk if necessary.  Spread frosting over brownies and sprinkle with pecans.  (No pecans in case someone is allergic.)

Fudgey Peanut Butter Chip Muffins

by penji1

A brand new recipe from Hershey for my friend Melanie who is going on a mission and is having a yard/bake sale tomorrow to raise funds for the mission.  Hopefully these will earn her a few bucks!

1/2 cup applesauce

1/2 cup quick cooking rolled oats

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup flour

1/4 cup cocoa

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (I left this out as I’m not a big fan of cinnamon and chocolate together)

1 cup peanut butter chips

powdered sugar

1  Heat oven to 350.  Line muffin cups with paper liners.

2  Stir together applesauce and oats.  In a separate bowl, beat butter, sugars, egg and vanilla until well blended.  Add applesauce mixture and blend well.  Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda and cinnamon then add to butter mixture, blending well.  Stir in chips.  Fill muffin cups with scoop, about 3/4 full.

3  Bake 22 – 26 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out almost clean.  Cool slightly in pan on wire rack.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired.

“Your Choice” Pasta Salad

by penji1

This is my favorite pasta salad that I concocted myself one day.   The great thing about it is you can use any shape of pasta, any salad dressing you like and any vegetables that you like and/or have on hand.

I made this for the Father/Son’s Campout in a triple batch which is a whole lot of pasta salad!  They are also eating 28 pounds of my pulled pork recipe and a triple batch of the Picnic Perfect Tuna and Macaroni Salad.  I’m hoping for some leftovers!

1 pound pasta, any shape you like (I used the twirly elbow mac this time)

1/2 – 3/4 bottle salad dressing, any flavor you like (I usually use Kraft Zesty Italian)

any combo of chopped up veggies you like such as radishes, cucumbers, tomatoes, celery, carrots, broccoli, red or white or yellow or green onions, olives, whatever you like or have!  (this time I used celery, cucumbers and radishes)

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Drain, rinse and cool.  Chop veggies and add to pasta.  Pour dressing over pasta in desired quantity.  Remember that the pasta will absorb some of the dressing so put a little more than you think you need.  Refrigerate until ready to eat.

Triple Chocolate Bliss Cake

by penji1

A Kraft birthday cake for my friend Karin (and for those of you keeping score and paying attention yes, it’s the same Karin who won the green prize pack!)  Today is Karin’s birthday and we had book group scheduled for tonight and she said she wasn’t coming because it was her birthday so I bribed her with cake!  Happy Birthday Karin!

1 chocolate cake mix

1 cup sour cream

1 (4 serving size) box chocolate instant pudding and pie filling

4 eggs

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup water

3 cups thawed Cool Whip, divided

1 box (8 squares) semi sweet baking chocolate

1 1/2 cup raspberries

Heat oven to 350.  Lightly grease 12 cup fluted bundt or tube pan or 10″ tube pan.  Beat all ingredients except Cool Whip, baking chocolate and berries on low just until moistened and then on medium for 2 minutes.  Pour into pan.  Bake 50 – 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.  Cool 10 minutes then remove from pan and cool.  Reserve 2 tablespoons of Cool Whip.  Microwave remaining Cool Whip and baking chocolate on high 1 1/2 – 2 minutes or until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is well blended, stirring after every minute.  Drizzle over cake.  Immediately drop reserved topping by scant teaspoonfuls around top of cake and create stars by drawing a toothpick through middle several times.  Spoon raspberries in center.  Store cake in fridge.

(Or here is what I did – I made the drizzle and then dipped about 10 – 12 strawberries in it.  I drizzled the frosting over the cake then placed the dipped strawberries around the perimeter.  I sliced more strawberries with my Pampered Chef Egg Slicer Plus (I don’t think I’ve ever used it to slice an egg!) and filled the hole in the middle of the cake with the sliced strawberries.

Black and White Brownies

by penji1

A brand new recipe for the weekly team meeting at work.  I told them they’re my guinea pigs to try new recipes out on and they don’t seem to mind.  This is another recipe that I pulled out of a magazine somewhere along the way and now can’t remember where.

1 (19 – 21 oz) package fudge brownie mix

1 (10 – 12 oz) package white baking pieces

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup pecan pieces (I used walnuts)

1/4 cup butter, melted

3 tablespoons hot water

2 cups sifted powdered sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup pecan pieces (or walnuts)

1  Preheat oven to 350.  Grease bottom only of 13 x 9 x 2″ baking pan.  Prepare brownie mix according to package directions.  Stir in half of the white chocolate chips, all of the semisweet chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of the pecans.  Spread batter in pan.

2  Bake about 30 minutes or until center is set.  Sprinkle with remaining white chocolate chips and bake for 1 minute more.  Cool in pan.

3  For frosting, combine melted butter and hot water then stir in powdered sugar, cocoa powder and vanilla.  Beat by hand until smooth.  Drizzle over top of brownies.  Sprinkle with 3/4 cup nuts.  Cool about 1 1/2 hours or until frosting is

Chocolate Sheet Cake

by penji1

I think this recipe comes from the Johnson family, my sister in laws can confirm or deny as they wish.  Courtney graduated on Friday and today we are celebrating with both sets of grandparents and a steak and chicken barbeque after church.  The menu also includes Cheesy Potatoes (recipe already on the blog under Barbeque) and watermelon and rolls and this cake for dessert.

Cake:

2 cups sugar

2 cups flour

1/3 cup cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup water

1 cup butter

2 eggs

1/2 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt (I don’t know about you but I never have buttermilk in the fridge so you can make your own by taking 1 cup

milk and adding either 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar and letting it sit for 5 minutes before adding to recipe, so for this recipe 1/2 cup milk with 1/2 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice)

1 teaspoon vanilla

Frosting:

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup cocoa

1 cup chopped nuts

6 tablespoons milk

4 cups powdered sugar

To make cake, combine dry ingredients and mix well.  Bring water and butter to a boil then pour over dry ingredients and mix well.  Beat in buttermilk, eggs and vanilla.  Pour batter (it will be thin) into a greased and floured 15 x 10″ pan.  Bake at 400 for 20 minutes.

To make frosting, bring butter, cocoa and milk to a boil.  Place nuts and sugar in a large bowl.  Pour cocoa mixture over sugar and blend well.  Spread over hot cake.

Chocolate Lover’s Dream Cake

by penji1

A Betty Crocker birthday cake for my daughter Courtney’s best friend Kenzie who turns 18 tomorrow, Happy Birthday Kenzie!

cake:

1 butter recipe chocolate cake mix (I used a chocolate fudge cake mix because it was what I had)

1/2 cup chocolate milk

1/3 cup butter, melted

3 eggs

16 oz sour cream

1 (4 serving size) box chocolate fudge instant pudding and pie filling mix (I used a chocolate pudding mix since I didn’t have a chocolate fudge one)

2 cups chocolate chips

Rich Chocolate Glaze:

3/4 cup chocolate chips

3 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons light corn syrup

1 1/2 teaspoons water

For cake, heat oven to 350.  Grease bundt pan.  Mix cake mix, milk, butter, eggs, sour cream and pudding mix with spoon until well blended, batter will be thick.  (I used my mixer.)  Stir chips in by hand and spoon into pan.  Bake 55 – 65 minutes or until top springs back when lightly touched in center.  Cool in pan 10 minutes then remove to serving plate.  Cool completely, about 2 hours

For glaze, heat all ingredients over low heat, stirring frequently, until chips and butter are melted and mixture is smooth.  Drizzle over cake.

Store cake loosely covered at room temperature.