Granola Bars

Note:  We eat a ton of granola bars.   Making them can be dangerous because they are even more delicious!

Granola Bars

Ingredients
1/2 c. margarine, softened
1 c. brown sugar, packed
1/4 c. sugar
2 T. honey
1 egg
1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. whole-wheat flour
1-1/2 c. long-cooking oats, uncooked
1-1/4 c. crispy rice cereal
1 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. salt

Directions

Combine all ingredients together; mix well. Press into a lightly buttered 13"x9" baking pan; bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. Cool; cut into bars to serve. Makes 3 dozen.

Little House Popcorn Balls

Note:    This is the most fun recipe we have tried so far.    "Laura kept popping corn and Ma made it into balls until the large dishpan was heaped with their sweet crispness." (These Happy Golden Years, Laura Ingalls Wilder) These bite-size popcorn balls are just the right size for "Half-Pint", Mary, and little sister Carrie. 

Little House Popcorn Balls

Ingredients
20  cups  air-popped popcorn (from 2/3 to 1 cup kernels; see Notes)
1 1/4  cups  butter, cut into chunks, plus more for your hands
1 1/4  cups  honey
3/4  teaspoon  salt
2  teaspoons  vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat oven to 325°. Put popcorn in a large roasting pan. Line a large baking sheet with waxed paper.In a medium saucepan over medium heat, use a heatproof spatula or wooden spoon to stir together 1 1/4 cups butter, the honey, and salt until butter is melted. Increase heat and boil honey mixture gently 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in vanilla.   Carefully pour honey mixture over popcorn in roasting pan and stir gently to coat. Bake popcorn, stirring every 5 minutes, until deep golden all over, about 25 minutes.   Let popcorn stand 5 minutes, or just until cool enough to handle. Working quickly with lightly buttered hands, press small handfuls of the mixture into 1 1/2-in. balls, occasionally loosening popcorn from bottom of pan with a spatula. If mixture cools too much to be malleable, return it to oven for about 45 seconds to soften.   Put popcorn balls on prepared baking sheet and let cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

TMTT: Valentine Chex Mix

Note: My boys love Chex Mix so I know they will love this Valentine version!
 
Valentine Chex Mix

Ingredients:
9 cups Rice Chex® cereal
1 cup white vanilla baking chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter or margarine
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup red, white and pink candy-coated chocolate candies
1/4 cup red or pink jimmies sprinkles

Directions:
In large bowl, place cereal. In small microwavable bowl, microwave baking chips, peanut butter and butter uncovered on High 1 minute to 1 minute 30 seconds, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted and smooth. Pour peanut butter mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated.

Place 1/2 of the cereal mixture in 1-gallon food-storage plastic bag. Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper or foil to cool, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, stir candies and sprinkles into remaining cereal mixture. Spread on waxed paper or foil to cool, about 15 minutes.

In serving bowl, mix both cereal mixtures. Store in airtight container.

Recipe Source: Betty Crocker


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Caramel Covered Cheetos

Note: The boys were watching the Mythbuster marathon the other night so I was watching the Twitter feed. People were talking about caramel covered cheetos. WHAT?!? Have you ever heard of such a thing? Someone finally posted a link which led me here. A recipe this crazy? I have to try it.

Caramel Covered Cheetos

Ingredients
2 cups light brown sugar
1 cup margarine - yes, for this one you must use margarine
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 - 21 oz. pkg. Cheetos® - crunchy kind

Directions

Mix sugar, margarine and corn syrup in pan. Bring to a boil. Boil 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat and add soda. Stir until light in color and foamy. Spray a roasting pan (deep 10 x 14) with Pam. Put Cheetos® in pan. Pour the mixture over Cheetos® and stir, coating each piece. Place in oven at 250 degrees. Bake for 1 hour stirring every 15 minutes. Immediately, pour onto wax paper, or cookie sheets, sprayed with Pam. (This is the hard part.) VERY QUICKLY spread out as thin as possible. If not quick and spread out as thin as possible, you will get a big hard glob. After about 5 minutes, pull/break these apart even more and loosen them from the wax paper. If you don't, you'll have wax paper stuck to them when you go to eat them.

Double Dipped Caramel Apples

Note: We love caramel apples. They are so much fun to make. So much fun to eat. BUT, they are also so much fun to share with friends and family as special treats during the fall season! My boys define these as yummy to the tummy.

Double Dipped Caramel Apples
Ingredients
5 Granny Smith apples (or Fuji)
5 popsicle sticks
14 ounces (about 50 pieces) of unwrapped caramels
2 Tbsp water
12 ounces semisweet chocolate
"Toppings": mini M&M's, nuts, sprinkles, mini chocolate chips,

Directions
Rinse and dry your apples. Insert popsicle sticks about halfway into apples. Bring a pan of water to a boil. Place caramels and 2 Tbsp water into a bowl and place over the boiling water and stir until melted. Dip each apple into the caramel about 1/2 - 3/4 of the way. Use a spoon to wipe off excess caramel back into teh bowl and place apple on waxed paper. Once all the apples have been dipped, place them (still on wax paper) in the refrigerator to get firm for about five minutes.

Re-boil water and place chocolate over boiling water to melt. Take apples out of the refrigerator and dip each apple in the chocolate. Place each apple on wax paper to set for about 10 minutes.

Take each apple and roll the bottom 1/3 in the topping of your choice. Seasonal colored sprinkles look great or just tickle your taste buds with your favorite crushed candy bar or candy pieces.


Let's go find my yummy to my tummy recipes at Tempt My Tummy Tuesday!

Fall Snack Mix

Note: Every season seems to have its own snacks. For our family, this simple snack mix is one of our favorites. We keep the ratio of the healthy parts of it outnumbering the "sweet" parts of it.

Fall Snack Mix

Ingredients
peanuts
cashews
candy corn
dried fruit (whatever you like)
Reese's pieces

Directions
Toss all together and eat as you are hungry. For movie times, we pop a bag of popcorn and toss a couple of handfuls into the bowl. It is a nice snack with lots of salty and sweet!

Baked Potato Pizza

Note:   I love weird pizzas.   Maybe that is because I am not a fan of "real" pizza.     Tonight is the season premiere of "Survivor".   I know... we are weird and watch this whacked out reality show.    Little Guy will be making this pizza for us and we will be sizing up the competitors.



">Baked Potato Pizza/div>

1  can (11 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated thin pizza crust

6  slices (1 oz each) provolone cheese

2  cups cubed unpeeled baked potato

2  tablespoons olive oil

2  tablespoons ranch dressing mix

8  strips crisply cooked bacon, chopped

1  cup shredded mild Cheddar cheese

Sour cream   

Heat oven to 400°F. Spray or grease 15x10-inch or larger dark or nonstick cookie sheet. Unroll dough on cookie sheet; starting at center, press dough into 15x10-inch rectangle.  Arrange provolone cheese slices on dough. In medium bowl, mix potato, olive oil and ranch dressing mix. Spoon evenly over cheese. Sprinkle with bacon and Cheddar cheese.   Bake 13 to 16 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted. Serve with sour cream.

Perfect Parched Peanuts

Note: My Papaw grew peanuts. I have no idea how he parched or boiled his peanuts, but this is the best way I have found to parch peanuts. It is easy, easy, easy. Cooks while you sleep!

Perfect Parched Peanuts

Ingredients

Dried peanuts

Directions

Before you go to bed preheat oven to 350 degrees. Arrange dry peanuts in single layer on cookie sheet and place in oven. Turn off the oven. Leave the peanuts in the oven until morning.

Puppy Chow

When we were in Atlanta, Little Guy had so much fun because his friend love cooking as much as he did. One night they made Puppy Chow for us to snack on. So simple and so yummy!

Puppy Chow

Ingredients

9	cups Corn Chex®, Rice Chex®, Wheat Chex® or Chocolate Chex® cereal (or combination)
1	cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2	cup peanut butter
1/4	cup butter or margarine
1	teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2	cups powdered sugar

Directions
Into large bowl, measure cereal and set aside. In quart microwaveable bowl, microwave chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter on high 1 minute. Stir. Microwave 30 seconds more and stir. Continue microwaving in 30 second intervals until smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour over cereal and stir until coated. Pour into 2 gallon ziploc bag. Add powdered sugar. Seal bag and shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper and let cool. (That is if you can!)

TMTT: Muffin Tin Meals

What does this look like to you?

Of course it LOOKS like a muffin tin. But it can be so much more than that!

There is a new way of eating that I have discovered that is sweeping across blog land called "Muffin Tin Meals". It is really fun and have themes. Although my boys are older, I love this idea and wanted to share this with you.

Have you ever read Eric Carle's "The Very Hungry Caterpillar"? Here is a wonderful muffin tin meal that was created to go along with that book...

How adorable is that? How fun would that be to snack on while reading the book?

There are all kinds of things you can do with muffin tin meals.

(Also notice all the various "muffin tins" you can use.)

Shapes

Colors

Holidays

Girly

Family Heritage

Based on a book

The possibilities are endless!

For more great meal ideas and recipes, join me in visiting Tempt My Tummy Tuesday!

Funnel Cakes

Note: The boys woke up this morning and wanted something different for breakfast. What about funnel cakes they suggested? OK. Why not! It is summer. So we made funnel cakes and they were definitely a hit. All we were missing were some fresh strawberries!!

Funnel Cakes

Ingredients
3 eggs, beaten
2 cups milk
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
oil for deep frying
sifted confectioners' sugar

Directions
Beat eggs with milk. Sift together flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder; add to eggs and milk. Beat until very smooth. Heat oil in deep fryer to 370°. Holding the funnel with one finger keeping the opening closed, fill with batter. Open the end of the funnel and allow batter to run out in a stream into deep hot fat. Move funnel from center, swirling outward in a circular pattern. Fry for 2 to 3 minutes, until golden brown. Transfer fried funnel cakes to paper towels to drain. Shake sifted confectioners' sugar over drained funnel cakes.

Cuckoo for Cocoas

Note: Today is the last day of MCT tests. This is three days of state testing that the Mississippi Department of Education puts our students through each year. This year, in all their infinite wisdom (HA!), they decided to move state testing to the days right before the end of school and final exams. Talk about too much stress and way too much testing in a week and a half's time! For that reason, I am making a treat for my guys for them for making it through MCT and to give them some energy for studying for finals.

Cuckoo for Cocoas

Ingredients:
24 ounces almond bark
2 cups Cocoa Krispies
2 cups dry roasted peanuts

Directions:
Melt almond bark in the microwave cooking and stirring in 30 second increments on high heat. After almond bark is melted, stir in cereal and peanuts. Spread on cookie sheet and allow to cool. Break into pieces and store in airtight container.

OR

Drop by teaspoon onto cookie sheet and let cool.

Baseball Cheese Crackers

Note: Right now we are spending a lot of time at the baseball field with our Little Guy. For some reason everyone gets the munchies when you are at the fields. We love to take these crackers along!

Baseball Cheese Crackers

Ingredients:
2 sleeves saltine crackers
1/2 stick butter, softened
1 (8 ounce) package shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
Red pepper to taste

Directions:
Spread butter over the crackers and place on large cookie sheet. Sprinkle with grated cheese and red pepper. Place under broiler until cheese bubbles. Remove from oven. When oven is cool, set oven to 150 degrees and bake crackers for 8 hours. Store in an air tight container.

Caramel Corn

Note: Hubs and Little Guy are driving down to New Orleans with our children's ministry to go to the zoo. Being on the bus means you need snacks and enough to share with friends. This is always something that is fun for a car ride.


Caramel Corn

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon baking soda


Directions:
Preheat oven to 200 degrees F. Over medium heat, combine first 4 ingredients and boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in baking soda. Stir well. Pour over 8 quarts popped corn. Stir to coat well. Bake in large roaster or pan for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread on waxed paper to dry.

Cheetos "Carrot" Treats

Note: If you are a room mom for your child's school, you are constantly looking for ways to take cute and creative snacks. Cupcakes and cookies get old... fast. With Easter fast approaching I wanted to take something fun, but filling a cone shaped bag with jelly beans has been done a hundred times. It also can be expensive and the kids tend to throw them away because not a lot of kids like jelly beans. Cheetos are a very cute way to fill cone shaped bags. They are orange. Kids LOVE them and the results are adorable!


Cheetos "Carrot" Treats

Ingredients:
Crunchy Cheetos
Cone Shaped Bags
Twist Ties
Green Ribbon

Directions:
Fill bags 3/4 of the way with Cheetos. Tie off the bag with twist tie. Tie big green ribbon to be the "leaves".

Tell me... could there be a cuter snack for your child's class?

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It is my favorite day of the week to plan my menus!

Copycat Gummi Bears

Note: Do you love gummi bears? We do. And they are fun to make too!

Copycat Gummi Bears

Ingredients:
1 small box Jello with sugar (any flavor)
7 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup water

Directions:
Mix in a saucepan until the mixture resembles playdough. Place pan over low heat and stir until melted. Once completely melted, pour into plastic candy molds, and place in the freezer for 5 min. When very firm, take out of molds and eat! Have fun!

PB&C Quesadillas

Note: Want something special for breakfast? Surprise your kids with this quesadilla. Hey! Don't judge me.... It has bananas, peanut butter.... just with a little chocolate on top!

PB&C Quesadillas

Ingredients:
4 flour tortillas
Non-stick cooking spray
1/4 cup Creamy Peanut Butter
1/4 cup marshmallow creme
2 small bananas, sliced
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips or semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Lightly coat one side of each tortilla with cooking spray. Place tortillas on clean work surface, coated sides down.

Spread 1 tablespoon each peanut butter and marshmallow creme on half of each tortilla. Arrange 1/4 of the banana slices and 2 tablespoons chocolate chips over marshmallow creme; fold each tortilla over to cover filling.

Heat large non-stick skillet over medium heat 1 minute. Add two quesadillas; cook 1 to 2 minutes or until tortillas are golden brown and crisp, turning once. Repeat with remaining quesadillas. Serve warm. 4 servings.

Football Bites

Note: I am going to make these for Superbowl Sunday and also to take to Little Guy's class on Friday. I found the recipe on the Kraft website. (Photo from Kraft website.)

Football Bites

Ingredients:

6 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1 Tbsp. butter or margarine

1/2 tsp. vanilla

4 cups cocoa sweetened rice cereal

White decorating gel

Directions:

MICROWAVE chocolate, corn syrup and butter in large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 2-1/2 min., stirring after 1-1/2 min. Blend in vanilla.

ADD cereal; mix well. Cool 10 min. Shape into 18 (3-inch-long) football shapes with lightly moistened hands. Place on large sheet of wax paper; cool completely.

USE decorating gel to add "lacings" to "footballs." Let stand until gel is firm.

Cheerios Christmas Trees

Note: Every year the boys and I make gingerbread houses. Wouldn't these look cute outside our houses?

Cheerios Christmas Trees

Ingredients:

6 cups Honey Nut Cheerios® cereal
6 tablespoons butter or margarine
4 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
Green food color
Red cinnamon candies or sliced gumdrops

Directions:

Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper. Pour the cereal into a 4-quart bowl. Set the bowl aside.
Place the butter and marshmallows in a 3-quart saucepan. Heat over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is smooth. Remove the saucepan from the heat.
Stir in the food color until the mixture is evenly colored. Pour the marshmallow mixture over the cereal and stir until the cereal is evenly coated. Lightly spray your hands with cooking spray. For each tree, shape about 1/4 cup of the cereal mixture into a Christmas tree shape on the cookie sheet. Press the candies into the trees to decorate. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. Store the trees in a loosely covered container.

Source: Betty Crocker

Praline Pecans

Note: One of the best part of the holiday season is the family and friends that visit and that you get to visit. When we have visitors I want them to feel comfortable. We don't have a separate guest room per se. We usually let our guests stay in Big Guy's room and all the kids have a slumber party in Little Guy's room using our Aerobed mattresses. One of my favorite things to do when we have guests arrive is to have a "welcome" tray or basket on the bed. I like personalizing the items for the likes of my friends. Favorite drinks or snacks. Favorite books or magazines. Even a surprise or two like a homemade snack. The praline pecans below are definitely a hit and something yummy for some of the males in our family who tend to get the munchies late at night!

Praline Pecans

Ingredients:
2 cups whole pecans
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
4 tablespoons heavy cream

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients. Spread into a square baking pan, sprayed with cooking spray. Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes, or until coating is dry, and slightly crystallized, stirring once. Remove from oven to cool and stir once more. If not serving immediately, store in an airtight container.

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