Caramel Crunch Bars

                   

I'll post the recipe here for those who might not want to go to the site itself but this was exactly the one I followed: Kraft Caramel Crunch Bars. As you can see, mine don't look as pretty. I think I used too many toppings because some of them are loose but it still tastes yummy.

What You Need

4-1/2 HONEY MAID Honey Grahams

1 pkg.  (11 oz.) KRAFT Caramel Bits

2 Tbsp. milk

1/2 cup  PLANTERS COCKTAIL Peanuts

1/2 cup JET-PUFFED Miniature Marshmallows

1/2 cup  coarsely crushed pretzels

4 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, melted

Make It

LINE 8-inch square pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides of pan. Grease foil generously with shortening. Place grahams on bottom of pan, cutting to fit if necessary.
MICROWAVE caramel bits and milk in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 2 min. or until caramel bits are completely melted and mixture is well blended, stirring every 30 sec. Pour over grahams; top with next 3 ingredients. Drizzle with chocolate.
REFRIGERATE at least 1 hour. Use foil handles to remove dessert from pan before cutting into bars to serve.

Texas Caviar

From my dear frien Donna Camp

Ingredients:

• 1 can (14 oz) black eyed peas, drained
• 1 can (15 1/2 oz) white hominy, drained
• 2 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 medium green pepper, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 - 1/3 cup cilantro, chopped fresh
• 1 cup picante sauce

Combine all ingredients
Mix and chill at least 2 hours
Serve with tortilla chips

Pina colada cupcakes

Finally, a recipe from scratch that I like:

Ingredients:

1 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. baking soda
pinch salt
1/2 c. granulated sugar I used 3/4 c. sugar but they came out way too sweet
1/4 c. canola oil
1 egg
1/3 c. coconut milk Original recipe asked for buttermilk but I wanted more coconut flavor
1/2 c. crushed pineapple, undrained
1/2 t. coconut extract or coconut rum I used the rum, couldn't tell the difference really
1/2 c. sweetened coconut Could probably use more if you like the crunchiness

Preheat oven to 350.

In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl whisk together sugar, oil, coconut extract or coconut rum and egg until smooth.

Beginning and ending with dry ingredients, alternately whisk in flour mixture and coconut milk, beating until smooth. Stir in pineapple and sweetened coconut.

Fill muffin tins 2/3 full. Bake 22 minutes, or until the tops spring back lightly when touched. Allow cupcakes to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove to wire rack to cool completely. Frost & enjoy! I didn't really wait the 10 minutes, the cupcakes were eaten within 45 seconds, I believe.

I made 24 mini cupcakes

Peanut butter caramel surprise cookies

I finally have a recipe for peanut butter cookies from scratch that I love and they were perfect. I would not change a single thing. I got this recipe from somebody else's blog and I wish I could remember but it's been sitting in my email box since last year. Here's the proof of that:

Here's the recipe:

• 2-¼ cups All Purpose Flour
• ½ teaspoons Baking Soda
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 1-¼ cup Packed Brown Sugar
• 1-¼ cup Sugar
• 1 cup Butter, Softened
• 1-½ cup Creamy Peanut Butter
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla
• 3 Eggs

Preheat oven to 350 F. 
Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
In a large mixing bowl, mix sugars on medium with your stand or hand mixer.
Add butter and mix until incorporated.
Add peanut butter and vanilla and mix until incorporated.
Beat in eggs ONE AT A TIME. Once all eggs are incorporated, mix till fluffy.
Add flour mixture on low speed till just mixed. Don’t over mix or you’ll make gluten and hard cookies!
Chill for half an hour in the fridge. Yes, this really does make a difference.
Drop onto an ungreased cookie sheet. With a wet fork, make a crisscross pattern on each cookie.
Bake for 15 minutes (my oven cooks low, so I have to cook for closer to 20 minutes) or until SLIGHT browning occurs on the edges. DO NOT OVER BAKE or chewiness will be gone.

If you do this, you'll get a chewy yummy cookie that looks like this: 

 

But, maybe you'd like a cookie that surprises you, that when you break in half, gives you a gooey, chocolatey center, like this:

You'll need a bag of Rolos. Grab a good tablespoon full of cookie dough and form it into a ball around the Rolo. The Rolo should be completely encased inside the cookie dough. Drop it on the cookie sheet and bake for 17 minutes. Take the cookies out when they are just slightly browned on top. Cool for a couple minutes, then ENJOY!

Homemade donuts

Ever since I tried a glazed donut from Dunkin Donuts, warmed, I wanted to make them at home. So, I got a mini donut pan from Amazon.

And, I made some mini glazed donuts tonight. The recipe that came with the pan was for cake donuts. They are yummy. This weekend, I'll try some regular donut recipes.





I'll post recipes used after I try another one.

Recipes for the future

Things I want to make in the future when I have some time:

• fruit cake (not the Christmas fruit you guys are used to, this is somethign we got in India, moist cake full of fresh fruit int he cake and in the icing)
• bread pudding
• chicken pot pie

Home made salt & vinegar chips

So, I'm sitting at home, stuck in here for the 5th day because of this snowstorm that's gripped the East coast and all I want are some salt & vinegar chips. Well, tough luck for me, since nothing's open. So, I turn to my trusted source, the Internet. I have 2 recipes I am trying out, 1 that uses balsamic vinegar and the other uses red wine vinegar.

Both recipes require peeling and slicing the potato really thin. Then, put it between two layers of paper towels to get the moisture out.



The first recipe requires mixing olive oil, red wine vinegar and Italian seasonings in a bowl and soaking the potato slices in it for 15-20 minutes. Then, sprinkle sea salt on the baking tray, put the slices on the salt and bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees.



The second recipe calls for the slices to be soaked in olive oil, balsamic vinegar and sea salt. Immediately put them on baking tray and bake for 10-20 minutes at 250 degrees.



Both batches are 10 minutes from being ready, will update when I taste them :)

Update: The balsamic vinegar recipe is a bust!
The red wine vinegar one, need to bake it for 10 minutes and need more vinegar, less salt but they crisp up really nice.

Lamb Loin Chops

Ingredients:

Lamb Loin Chops
Thyme
Rosemary
Oregano
Parsley
Some sort of mustard (I used stone ground)
Salt and pepper
Olive oil for searing chops

Mix the thyme, rosemary, oregano and parsley in equal amounts and keep aside. I had dried so I mashed them up using a mortar and pestle.



Salt and pepper both sides of the pork chops. Sear them in olive oil, 5 minutes per side.



Put them in the oven for 10 minutes are 375 degrees. Pull them out, liberally put mustard on both sides and then press the dry herb mixture into the mustard. Put back in the oven for 2-5 minutes, depending on how rare you like your chops.



Enjoy with a starch and a veggie side :-)