.chex crack.

Jessica made this deliciousness for our girls night last week – and I knew it would be perfect to take to Student Led Cnferences this week. It is so good – dangerously good! I made a double batch and the two bowls I brought to school were licked clean!

Ingredients

• 8 cups Chocolate Chex® cereal
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 6 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 3 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, MINI size
• 1 cup MINIATURE marshmallows
• 1/2 cup caramel bits (found by the chocolate chips in the baking aisle -- or chop up regular caramels)
• 1 Tbsp heavy cream
• 1/2 cup MILK chocolate baking chips (or more if you're a huge chocolate fan)
• 1/2 cup vanilla (white) chocolate baking chips
• 1 tsp coarse sea salt

Directions

1. Into large microwavable bowl, measure cereal; set aside. Line cookie sheet with waxed paper or foil.
2. In 2-cup microwavable measuring cup, microwave brown sugar, butter and corn syrup uncovered on High 1 to 2 minutes, stirring after 1 minute, until melted and smooth. Stir in baking soda until dissolved. Pour caramel mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Microwave on High 3 minutes, stirring every minute. Spread on cookie sheet. Cool 10 minutes. Break into bite-sized pieces.
3. Make sure Chex mixture is cool to the touch (so candy doesn't melt.) Evenly sprinkle mini peanut butter cups candy and miniature marshmallows over Chex mixture.
4. In small microwavable bowl, microwave caramel baking bits and cream uncovered on High about 1 minute or until chips can be stirred smooth. Use a spoon or fork to drizzle over snack. Microwave the milk chocolate baking chips next, starting with 20-seconds and stirring, then at 20 second intervals until the mixture is completely smooth (microwave temps vary, so watch the chocolate and stir frequently until it's of drizzling consistency). Drizzle over the snack mixture. Then microwave the vanilla (white) baking chips in 20-second intervals, stirring until smooth, and drizzle that over the snack mixture. (Note: The vanilla and milk chocolate chips should not need cream added.) Quickly sprinkle coarse salt over all while candy drizzles are still wet.
5. Refrigerate until set. Break apart and store in tightly covered container. Perfect for gift giving!

.christmas baking.

I did some Christmas baking today – or pretzel dipping, not really baking.

Here’s the lineup:

Rolo Pretzels – YUM!

Unwrap all the Rolos from the foil. I used two bags of Rolos (and had to buy them in Connell – cha ching cha ching!).

Lay out pretzels (Costco ones work really well) on a foil or parchment paper lined cookie sheet…one with sides works well since they kinda slide around. Put one Rolo on top of each pretzel. Put them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 5 minutes or until the chocolate shines and is slightly melted.

 

Press a pecan in the center of the Rolo, smashing the Rolo down and causing it to spread out over the pretzel.

Let them sit for about an hour or until hardened.

Enjoy – but not all at once! :)

Next – Dipped pretzels

Melt the Almond Bark in the microwave according to the directions on the package.

Put a handful of pretzels in the bark, make sure it’s completely covered, then fish it out and lay it to dry on wax paper.

   

I used two packaged of almond bark and the pretzels filled two 9x13” Tupperware containers when I put them away. Between the Rolo pretzels and the dipped pretzels, I used two full bags of Rold Gold small pretzels. The Costco ones work real well, but I didn’t get to Costco.

Last for today – Snicker Doodles!

Here’s my Mom’s Snicker Doodle recipe in our church cookbook.

 

I think this recipe made about about 6 dozen cookies. Could’ve made a few more, but I had to sneak some of the dough. Guilty!

 

Yum! Now on to the next round…coming soon!

.so long, farewell.

We had a Beta style going away party tonight for Kelly & Melissa. Kelly is moving to Olympia and Melissa is moving to Puyallup. They’ve both promised to come back once in a while – and we’ll hold them to it!

Alkie & Boo

Momma Connie & Melissa

Kamryn got to come enjoy the party too – she loved on Samson as usual! She likes to kiss him, have him kiss her, pet him, rub his belly, and brush his hair. :)

 

And ride him?! AH!

 

My Mom found these old Glamour Shot pictures of Melissa and I from about 1994 and Karlye thinks they’re SOOOOO funny! She has been posing “Glamour Shot” style ever since, so we had to have a photo shoot tonight after the party! 

 

 

“Ok Karlye, you wierdo!”

Oops – Melissa, still Glamour Shots, not gangsta style!

 

Kate told me she had something in her car for me and it was this basket for my quilts! I have seen pictures online of quilts stored like this and I LOVE it! Karlye and I rolled mine up and they fit perfectly! I love love love it!

 

Everyone brought appetizers to share tonight, so I used the opportunity to try out some more recipes from Pinterest!

Jessica had this hot corn dip at her Pampered Chef party & I thought it was delish! It’s really easy to make and wows the crowd!

Hot Corn Dip
From Gina Marie's Kitchen

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack
2 tbs chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, diced small
1 small can (4oz) diced green chilies, undrained
1/2 cup Mayo
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 11oz can of corn, drained
1 small tomato
2 tbs cilantro, chopped
2 tbs green onions, sliced thin

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Mix the cheeses, chipotle and green peppers, mayo, garlic powder and corn together. Pour into an oven safe dish.
2. Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly
3. Top with diced tomatoes, green onions, and cilantro. Serve immediately with tortilla chips.

Strawberry Cheesecake Salad
From Time for Supper

12 oz. whipped topping
1 small package of cheesecake pudding (powder)
3 (6 oz) strawberry yogurts (I use Yoplait)
1 lb fresh strawberries, sliced
3 bananas, sliced (add just before serving or they brown)
miniature marshmallows (add just before serving)
Thaw whipped topping and in a large salad bowl stir together whipped topping, yogurts, and pudding powder. Let this set up in the fridge for at least an hour before serving. Wash and slice strawberries. You can add strawberries to salad or wait to add them with sliced bananas and marshmallows just before serving. Keep refrigerated.

.minute to win it.

A group of us got together at church this evening for a potluck and Minute to Win It games. Kate & Beth did a great job finding the games and everyone was really good sports!

We started with a puzzle game – which was harder than it sounds!!

Nick & Ben

Jamie & Amber

 

Karlye & Kate

 

Maren & Beth

 

Then there was a game where there was a quarter in each leg of a pair of pantyhose. You had to get the quarter out while only using your hand – and you couldn’t use your two hands together.

 

 

 

 

Amber was having a little bit of trouble!

 

 

The next game was blowing a cup off across the table using a straw. The little girls thought they could participate in that game!

 

I was horrible at this game – couldn’t stop laughing!!!

 

The next game was putting six nuts on a skewer then stacking nuts on top of each other. Karlye & Amber went head to head and Amber beat Kar by a long shot!!

 

 

The next game was knocking over six water bottles with an orange inside pantyhose on your head.

 

 

We were all pretty funny looking!

 

 

 

Finally – the three winners had one last competition. They had to put an Oreo on their forehead and then scoot it down to their mouth without using their hands!

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the fun evening everyone!

I forgot to take pictures of the food I made for the potluck – two recipes from Pinterest!

One was a Twice Baked Potato Casserole from here: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Twice-Baked-Potato-Casserole

and a berry cobbler, recipe here:
http://livingachangedlife.blogspot.com/2011/04/recipe-review-berry-cobbler.html .

They both turned out great – I’ll add them to my list of recipes to try again!