Peanut Butter, Chocolate & Bacon

While staying at Mom's, we tried this recipe that sounded like it had the fixins of something wonderful...

We found it on the Betty Crocker website.

Chocolate-Topped Peanut Butter-Bacon Bars

1 pouch Betty Crocker® peanut butter cookie mix
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons maple-flavored syrup
1 egg
10 slices bacon, crisply cooked, crumbled
1/2 cup chopped peanuts
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (6 oz)

• 1 Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly spray 9- or 8-inch square pan with cooking spray.
• 2 In large bowl, stir together cookie mix, oil, syrup and egg until soft dough forms. Reserve 1/4 cup bacon for garnish. Stir remaining bacon and peanuts into dough. Press evenly in pan.
• 3 Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven; sprinkle with chocolate chips. Return to oven; bake 1 minute. Immediately spread chocolate over bars. Sprinkle reserved 1/4 cup bacon over chocolate. Cool completely, about 1 hour or until chocolate is set.
• 4 For bars, cut into 4 rows by 4 rows. Store tightly covered in refrigerator. 

I'm sorry to say that this one gets a bad review.  Perhaps it was the high Ohio humidity, but the cookie was extremely soft - to the point it tasted stale.  Unfortunately, there wasn't much bacon taste, even though I actually used more than the recipe required.  This one had so much potential!

The Real Scoop
By Andrew
I jumped up and down when I saw all three of my favorite foods in one recipe, but YUCK. 

I'm done with recipes for a while.  I need to go do something more manly.

This one had me worried...

...because it had no REAL sugar and it coupled lemon with Heath.  Hmmm....

Butter Ball Chiffons

1 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1-3.4 oz. pkg. instant lemon pudding
2 tsp. water
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
2 chopped Heath bars

In a small bowl, cream butter and powdered sugar till light and fluffy.  (Issue #1 - it never got light &, but I kept going.)

Beat in the pudding, water and vanilla.  Gradually add flour.  Stir in nuts and candy bars.

Roll into balls.  Place 2" apart on ungreased cooky sheet.  Bake at 325 degrees for 12-15 minutes or till lightly browned.

Cool for 3 minutes before removing from pan.  (Issue #2 - they didn't get done on the inside.  I made the balls smaller and that seemed to work, but they weren't very big to begin with.  Tiny cookies....pfft!)

The Real Scoop
by Andrew
These were not sweet enough.  (Not that I need to be any sweeter!)
P.S. Lando didn't get any cookies, he just likes his picture taken.

Mmmmm...broccoli & cheese!

Cheesy Broccoli Casserole

What you'll need:
3 cups raw broccoli
2 cups shredded cheddar
1-6oz. pkg. stuffing mix
1 small chopped onion
1 egg
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 cup milk
1 cup chicken broth



What you'll need to do:
In large bowl, combine all ingredients, adding milk and broth slowly.
Transfer to 2-quart baking dish that has been coated with cooking spray.
Bake uncovered at 325 degrees for 50-55 minutes.

The Real Scoop
by Andrew

'Nuff said.

Marchocolate

I couldn't let this NW Ohio holiday pass us by.  For Marchocolate, we made Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake for the neighborhood kids.

Cake:
1 chocolate cake mix
ingredients on back of box
1/2 chunky peanut butter
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips





Frosting:
16 oz. container of chocolate icing
1/4 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/2 cup chopped peanuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Make batter according to directions. Add peanut butter & chocolate chips.
Bake 25-30 minutes in a 9x13 pan.

Mix frosting ingredients and top cooled cake.

The Real Scoop
by Andrew

Very yummy!  We had big pieces, then had a second helping!
Deryus (in the back) did the icing.

The New Philly

I have two secret food obsessions; the first one is Slim Jims, and the second is cream cheese.  Imagine my excitement when I saw this in the grocery store:

The recipe:
Container of Philly Cooking Cream
1 lb. of chicken, cooked
1/2 lb. of spaghetti, cooked
Small bag of carrots, broccoli & cauliflower
Fresh Parmesan cheese
Mix all together and serve.

It wasn't too bad!
It reminds me a bit of Alfredo.
Try this one if you need something quick.

The Real Scoop
by Andrew
This wasn't one of my favorites.
It was a little dry & didn't have much flavor.
I would have rather had one of Mom's Slim Jims.

Easy Cherry Pie

I almost forgot about Februcherry! 

I needed a quick cheery pie, so I simply used four ingredients:
Mini pie crusts
Cherry pie filling
Generic brand granola cereal
Cool Whip

I added a little more than a tablespoon of the filling into each shell, then baked the mini pies for about 15 minutes.

That's it!

The Real Scoop
By Andrew

These were great, but I'm already looking forward to Marchocolate.
Happy Februcherry!

Goin' to the Dogs

For Lando's birthday on Valentine's Day, he deserved a special treat.  Andrew and I made him some all-natural cookies and the neighborhood boys came over for Puppy Chow.  Both seemed to be a hit!

We all know how to make Puppy Chow, but here it is anyway:

Ingredients

• 9 cups crispy rice cereal squares
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. In a saucepan over low heat, melt the chocolate; add peanut butter and mix until smooth.
2. Remove from heat, add cereal and stir until coated.
3. Pour powdered sugar into large plastic bag, add coated cereal and shake until well coated. Store in airtight container.

As for the dog biscuits, this recipe made so many that I could share with the two neighbor dogs. 

Ingredients:
  2 cups whole wheat flour
  1 cup rolled oats
  1/3 cup peanut butter, chunky or smooth (I used smooth this time)
  1 1/4 cups hot water
  1 beaten egg (if you want shiny biscuits)
  Additional flour for rolling

Instructions:
 Preheat oven to 350° F.
 Mix dry ingredients together.
 Roll to 1/8" and cut into shapes.
 Brush with egg.
 Bake 40 minutes.

The Real Scoop
by Lando, age 5
"The treats were good.  Thanks for not making me wear a party hat."