No Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bars

Ingredients

For the Cookie Dough:
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 can (14oz) sweetened condensed milk
• 2 cup mini chocolate chip morsels
For the frosting:
• 3/4 cup peanut butter
• 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat softened butter with brown sugar until fully combined. Add vanilla and peanut butter, beat until fluffy. Add flour and sweetened condensed milk. Beat until everything is blended well. Fold in the mini chocolate chip morsels.
2. Press into an 8inx8in baking dish.
3. In a microwave safe, medium sized bowl, add peanut butter and chocolate chips for the frosting. Melt for one minute. Stir and spread over the cookie dough.
4. Refrigerate for 3 hours (or overnight). Cut into bite sized pieces. Store in a covered container for up to a week.

Heart Attack Brownies

This weekend  I made heart attack brownies. Cookie dough, candy bars, Oreos, and brownies all in one. I'm not sure I've ever eaten anything like it. I took it to work today and my staff fell into a deep sugar coma.

Peanut Butter Bacon Pie

This week we watching the American Baking Competition on TV and thought we'd try our hand at Francine's Chocolate Peanut Butter Bacon Pie.

We used the recipe we found online but it proved to be full of holes and inaccurate information. We search several different discussion pages and finally found the correct recipe but we had already messed up it up with the "official" recipe that was posted on the TV website.  What we ended up with was decent but it definitely could have been better.  It looks a lot better than it tasted. One of these days we'll try it again and adjust it more to our liking.

How To Make Waffles from Scratch

Today I ran out of Bisquick and we had a craving for waffles, so what was I supposed to do?  Some would say run to the grocery store, but not me...I made them from scratch here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups warm milk
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, beat the eggs and then stir in the milk, butter, and vanilla. Next add the salt, flour, baking powder, and sugar.
2. Ladle the batter into a preheated waffle iron.  Cook until golden brown.

This recipe made about 5-6 waffles.

Egg Salad Sandwiches

Me: "Jason, what do you want for lunch?"
Husband: "Umm, you know, an egg salad sandwich sounds pretty good."
Me: "...."

Yep, it's a first.  I have never made an egg salad sandwich.  Last week when I was in Bellevue, I had two bites of one and couldn't finish it.  It was riddled with overpowering onions and way too much mayo. Growing up we never ate them, so I really had nothing to go off of...

Me: "Umm, what is in an egg salad sandwich exactly?"
Husband: "Mayo, mustard, and eggs."
Me: "Oh..."

So I took off to the kitchen to try my hand at this feat.  I boiled 6 eggs until the yolks were hard and combined them with mustard and mayo.  It was missing something, or rather a lot of things.  It was just TOO plain..  So I fancied it up a bit...or rather a lot...

Egg Salad Sandwiches

Ingredients:

• 6 hard boiled eggs
• 1 cup Mayonaise
• teaspoon of dill weed
• teaspoon of garlic salt
• fresh ground pepper (to your liking)
• handful of dried onion flakes (approx. 1/8 cup)
• small squirt (about 1 tablespoon) yellow mustard
• Wheat bread

Directions:

1. In a bowl, gently mix all ingredients, then apply to bread.

Very difficult recipe...I know.  This recipe yields about 4-5 sandwiches, depending on how much egg salad you want on your bread.

Glad it's only taken me 27 years to accomplish this great task...

Peruvian Salsa

This recipe is adapted from several I've tried. It makes about 3 cups of salsa.

Ingredients:

• 6-8 large Roma tomatoes or 1-28 oz can of whole canned tomatoes, drained
• 1 medium yellow or purple onion
• 2 cloves of garlic (minced or pressed)
• 2-3 hot peppers
• 1/2- 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• ground pepper, to taste
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1.2 teaspoon ground cumin (optional)
• juice of one lemon or lime (optional)

Instructions:

1.  If using fresh tomatoes, add 1/2 inch of water to a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Core and cut tomatoes in half, set them (cut side up) in the skillet. (If you are using whole canned tomatoes,  drain tomatoes and skip to step 3)

2.  While you dice onions, simmer tomatoes until tomatoes start to soften and the skins start to recede.  Peel and discard the skins.

3.  Blend tomatoes, hot peppers, and cilantro in a blender until smooth.

4.  Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in the skillet over medium-high heat.  Saute onion and garlic in hot oil for about 10 seconds-any more time will adjust the taste of the salsa because the onions will release sugars.

5.  Add blended tomato mixture to the skillet with the onions and garlic and stir.

6.  While salsa boils down, season with salt and ground pepper to taste.  Add cumin if desired.

7.  Simmer the salsa on medium-low for about 15 minutes , or until salsa is reduced and thick.  You may need to increase the time if the tomatoes are really juicy.

8.  You can add lime or lemon juice at this point, but be warned that it will temper the spiciness.

ENJOY!

**Notes: 

• For a mild salsa, try poblano peppers (remove all the seeds and veins)
• For spicy salsa, use one hot pepper for every 3 tomatoes.

Save the Produce!

This week we got a Bountiful Basket and as always, it was filled with delicious treats.  My only problem with our baskets are that there is so much food that it often spoils before we can eat it all.  So I had a plan this week, store it properly.  I know, I know, "Duh Abby" but a lot of these items I've never eaten or I've never really thought to store them a different way.

So today I share with you a few secrets to storing ordinary day-to-day produce.

Onions and potatoes

Store in a cool dry place that is well ventilated.  I took paper bags and chopped off the handles and put them in the cupboard.  Putting them in the paper bags allow for ventilation and they don't roll all over the place.  The bags are also sturdy enough that I can move them around a lot without them ripping.

Garlic
Garlic is best stored in a cool, dry place.  When I buy garlic I store it in an airtight container or a plastic bag in a dark environment like the pantry.  Do not put it in the crisper drawer in the refrigerator.

Zucchini

Some people say store in the crisper, but mine tend to go soft really fast.  I have found that they last much longer cool, dry place like my kitchen counter.