Homemade Snickers Bar

Chocolate Top & Bottom:

2 teaspoons butter

1 cup milk chocolate chips

1/4 cup butterscotch chips

1/4 cup Creamy Peanut Butter

FILLING:

1/4 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup evaporated milk

1-1/2 cups marshmallow creme

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-1/2 cups chopped salted peanuts (I just put a cup in but next time will put in more)

CARAMEL LAYER:

1 package (14 ounces) caramels

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

ICING:

1 cup (6 ounces) milk chocolate chips

1/4 cup butterscotch chips

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

Line a 13-in. x 9-in. pan with foil; butter the foil with 2 teaspoons butter and set aside. In a small saucepan, combine the milk chocolate chips, butterscotch chips and peanut butter; stir over low heat until melted and smooth. Spread into prepared pan. Refrigerate until set.

For filling, in a small heavy saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add sugar and milk; bring to a gentle boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; boil and stir for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in the marshmallow creme, peanut butter and vanilla. Add peanuts. Spread over first layer. Refrigerate until set.

Juice It UP!

Juicers. So many types and methods, both manual and electric. How do you know which one is the best for your typical use? My first experience with a juicer was one day I stayed home from church because I was feeling a little under the weather and a Jack LaLanne juicer infomercial was on! They stuck cucumbers, carrots, celery, apples, cabbage, potatoes and all kinds of stuff into this easy to use tube connected to a a centrifuge type of juicer and the result was with a beautiful cup of pure juice!  It all looked so easy. It came apart and you could throw it into the dishwasher. I bought it!
Well since then I researched all the different types and actually found out that is was a good decision. I lucked out. Today I juiced a cabbage, carrots, potatoes, vidaillia onion, fresh ginger and some parsley as my base for a veggie soup. I added a couple of garlic cloves and chicken broth with a good amount of salt and pepper cooked it until it reduced by about a third. I wanted to make it thicker so I added some canned white beans and after cooking a while I took my trusty electric soup puree wand and made it smooth. It still had a few pieces visible and so I strained it through a wire sieve and it was perfect! So many layers of flavors. So then I made some sweet fresh orange/apple/carrot juice and it is about the yummiest juice ever! So if you are thinking of getting a juicer, DO IT,and I suggest electric because of the volume of fruits and veggies you go through to get a good batch. If you do apple juice be prepared for it to turn brown. If you do granny smith apples and serve it immediately it is a beautiful bright green!

Cowboy Beans

Cowboy Beans
The picture here doesn't even begin to look as good as the recipe I am recommending you try but believe me it's a must for summer or fall picnics. My recipe is deeper and richer than this pictures shows and has many layers of flavors.
So, I made one of the best things in a long time and I made it up basically from a Calico Bean recipe but on steroids!  I need to make a slight disclaimer at this point that my proportions are not exact but pretty darn close.  Sometimes I share recipes such as this and because I am a a "toss about this much in" type of cook and some folks (like my son) scream that it didn't turn out like mine, so hear my disclaimer now!  Some things are forgiving and inexact and some are not. This is a pretty forgiving one, so here is what I put in ans it make a LARGE batch, that will fill a whole crock pot.
Make a batch for a big crowd or divide it in half and freeze one.


2 cans black beans (all beans drained)
2 cans white beans
2 cans red kidney beans
2 cans garbanzo beans
1 large can baked beans
1 c crumbled cooked bacon
1 large vadellia onion saute until golden brown and caramelized 
2/3 c maple syrup
1/2-2/3 c Ketchup
1/2 c Jack Daniels BBQ sauce
1 TBSP dry mustard
1 lb lean ground beef browned well and drained
1 tbsp minced garlic
salt & and pepper to taste (lots of cracked fresh pepper)
1 tube Jimmy Dean's ground breakfast sausage browned and drained well
1/4-1/2 tsp red pepper
1 bottle lager beer
liquid smoke to taste


In a large pot toss in a couple of tablespoons butter on a medium high stove top and throw in diced onion. Cook until nicely caramelized. Stirring constantly and being careful to not burn them. Turn temperature down medium low. Once done, add maple syrup,bacon Ketchup,BBQ sauce 1/2 c water and one bottle beer. Stir until well all blended. Set aside.
In another pan brown sausage and lean ground beef until well done. Drain and mix with onion mixture.
Drain all canned beans except for baked beans and combine with onion and beer mixture. Salt and pepper to taste. Bake in oven until bubbly at 350 for about 45-60 minutes or put into crock pot for about two-three hours.  I don't like to over bake or heat beans too long due to the beans starting to break down. It is amazing and the response I got was "what on earth did you do to these beans?" "They are unbelievable and I can't get them into my mouth fast enough!" I served them with a smoke beef brisket, rolls, hot sweet pickles, salty potato chips, and some red potato dill potato salad and coconut cake balls. It was fun to see the reaction to this meal. I am so glad it blessed them! 

Jello Shots recipe

Jello Shots recipe

Happy New Year

The Best Sugar Cookies You Ever Ate or Snitched

Oh MY!  If you have ever seen a plate of sugar cookies and was tempted to dive in, and then to your dismay they were too hard, too dense, or way too sweet, get ready to be smitten by these amazing sugar cookies. These cookies are great because they have butter & oil and cream of tarter. You must not skimp on these and they will turn out perfect every time. Folks take one bite and all seem to have the same response; "ooooooooohhhh, these are really good!"
Here you go:
Cream together: 1 c butter (no substitution), 2 eggs, 2 c sugar, 1 c oil ( not olive) canola, corn, or vegetable oil is fine, 2 tsp vanilla
In another bowl whisk dry ingredients; 5 cup flour, 2 tsp soda, 2 tsp cream of tartar
With mixer on low, blend flour mixture gradually into butter mixture until all blended. Dough will be moist and don't add extra flour. Scoop up with small or medium ice cream scoop so all cookies will be uniform in size. You may roll dough in colored sugar, mash down with the bottom of a glass and bake, or just bake plain at 350 F. for 12 minutes. Do not  over bake! Edges will be only slightly browned. Let cool on a wire rack until completely cooled, then if they are left plain you can frost with the frosting of your choice.  I like to make up a frosting that has 3 c powdered sugar, 4-8 ox cream cheese,  1 tsp. vanilla and heavy whipping cream until creamy, thick and smooth. It's a great for cupcakes and cookies of all types. Enjoy!

Home Made Spiced Chai Concentrate

Spiced Chai Concentrate4 1/2 cups water
1 stick cinnamon
1 3-inch piece of fresh ginger, chopped
7 whole cardamom pods
2 whole star anise pods
10 whole cloves
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon orange zest
10 bags of black tea
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon vanilla

Prepare the spices and the tea, and set aside. Bring the water to a boil, and remove from heat. Add the spices and the tea bags, and allow the mixture to steep for 15 minutes.



Strain the mixture into a 4-cup glass measuring cup or large bowl, discarding the spices. Add the sugar, honey and the vanilla, and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Pour the mixture into a jar and store in the refrigerator.

To serve, mix 1 part concentrate with 1 part milk. Heat for a warm beverage, or pour over ice to enjoy cold.