Nibble, nibble, CRUNCH!

One of my preschool mom's sent this snack to school today. I asked her where she got it, she said it was from a Taste of Home spin off.....Tasteful something or other. I looked on my lunch hour for the Nov/Dec issue at HyVee, Hastings (our video/book store) and no luck. I looked online at school and it told me I had to have a special number to see the recipes, then I came home and typed in tasteofhome.com and what picture showed up immediately??? Chocolate and Caramel Crunch! I didn't know the name, but I did recognize the yummy picture. So without further adieu, here you go. It's gooooooood.

Chocolate Chex® Caramel Crunch

SUBMITTED BY: Chex® Cereal

"Plain brown sugar and butter turns into caramelly goodness that surrounds chocolate cereal squares for a scrumptious crunchy snack."

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PREP TIME	15 Min
READY IN	15 Min

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

• 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
• 1/4 cup vanilla baking chips

• DIRECTIONS
• 1. Into large microwavable bowl, measure cereal; set aside. Line cookie sheet with waxed paper.
  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 over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Microwave on High 3 minutes, stirring every minute. Spread on cookie sheet. Cool 10 minutes. Break into bite-size pieces.
  3. In small microwavable bowl, microwave vanilla baking chips uncovered on High about 1 minute 30 seconds or until chips can be stirred smooth (bowl will be hot). Drizzle over snack. Refrigerate until set. Store in tightly covered container.

And it's not even St. Patrick's day!

Last time we talked I was making a soup with ground beef, cabbage, etc..... not worth passing on. Sorry if you were looking forward to soup. Tonight however we had a Reuben Crescent casserole. Now in my world anything that is made with Pillsbury crescent rolls is most likely to be great. This recipe was from a taste of home magazine, and I tweaked it a bit because it had lots of meat and cheese and I just didn't think it needed that much. Here's my version, my husband Mike liked this one a lot. When I took it out of the oven he said, "Pretty impressive!" and he's a good judge of casseroles. ;- )

Reuben Crescent Casserole

2 tubes (8 oz ea) refrigerated crescent rolls.
8 oz Swiss cheese slices (NOT wrapped processed cheese)
3/4 pound sliced deli corned beef
1 can (14 oz) sauerkraut, rinsed and well drained
1/2 cup thousand Island salad dressing
1 egg white, beaten
1 tsp caraway seeds

Unroll one tube of crescents into one long rectangle and press onto the bottom of a greased 9x13 baking dish, pinch together seams. Bake @ 375* for 8-10 min or until golden brown.

Layer with half of the cheese and all of the corned beef. Combine sauerkraut and salad dressing; spread over beef. Top with remaining cheese. Top with second tube of crescent dough. Brush with egg white and sprinkle with caraway seeds.

Bake for 14-16 minutes or until heated through and crust is golden brown. Let stand for 5 min before cutting. Makes 8 servings.

NOTE* I think it's pretty important to get a good quality 1000 Isle. salad dressing - not a generic brand. I think there is definitely a difference in the taste. I think I bought Wish Bone and that was good. The other thing is to make sure you don't get the sauerkraut that is sweet - just the regular old Franks Kraut. Make sure you squeeze the heck out of it so it's pretty dry.

What's in that sandwich?

Today is a cloudy, windy, and occasionally drizzly day. In other words, it's a day to cook. I'm in the middle of two brand new recipes. The first is a sandwich that steps outside the box, waaaay outside the box.

Last week for snack time one of my preschool girls brought a sandwich with bacon, peanut butter and banana....I think. Well, that started me thinking - and you know what happens then, I'm going to try something NEW! It just so happens that my husband brought up a Better Homes & Gardens magazine from Oct. 2007 to show me a recipe for minestrone soup. That was my original goal, to make a pot of soup. As I am perusing through the articles I stumble upon a peanut butter apple bacon sandwich, gasp! I made it for lunch today, and it definitely rates a repeat performance. I hope that you will step outside YOUR box and give this a try. I kept the PB to a minimum because of the strong flavor, and next time I think I'll put in 3 dashes of the cayenne, just for fun!

PEANUT BUTTER-APPLE-BACON SANDWICHES

1/4 cup peach preserves
dash cayenne pepper (optional)
8 slices whole grain bread
1 large yellow or green crisp apple, cored and very thinly sliced
8 slices smoked bacon, crisp-cooked & drained
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
2-3 Tbsp butter, softened

In a small bowl stir together preserves and cayenne pepper. Place 4 slices of bread on a work surface; spread slices with preserves. Top with apples and bacon. Spread one side of remaining bread slices with peanut butter; place spread side down, over apples and bacon. Spread sandwich tops with some of the butter.
Preheat griddle or very large skillet over medium heat. Place sandwiches, buttered side down on griddle. Carefully spread unbuttered bread with butter. Cook each side until golden and heated through.

This makes 4 sandwiches, I prepared all of the ingredients but only made 2 sandwiches. I'll save the rest for a lunch later this week.

The other recipe that I put together was a soup made from hamburger, cabbage, celery, onion, tomato sauce, etc.... I'll give it the taste test tonight and let you know what the verdict is. ;-)

Famous quotes

Here's a few little gems from my little gems at preschool.


"Him said a bad word" said the first student,
the second student replied,
"What did it look like??"


I'm going camping in Mexikota!


A polliwog turns into a calipuss.


My mom doesn't have any money,
but I'm going to ask her to buy some.

Apple Crisp, Apple Crunch, Apple Crumble

I just got home today from a teachers conference in Omaha. It's wonderful when you come home inspired by a new idea that you want to try, I have several bouncing around in my head. One of the techie guys showed how to make a smart board for under $50!! One of our teachers is trying that project tomorrow - a smart board is absolutely amazing. If you don't know what it is, Google it and see for yourself.

I got a phone call from my next door neighbor asking for a recipe for apple crisp. I don't cook a lot of fruity things, for some reason I have to be in the right mood for it. Apple pie will never be my first choice, I'm more of a pecan or pumpkin kind of gal. Anyway, back to the apple crisp. Pat's daughter had sampled a recipe I made and called to ask her mom for it...it took me more than 2 hours to realize that she was talking about a recipe I got from the apple orchard lady MANY years ago. I think this is a recipe that you apple pie type people will appreciate. This recipe is dedicated to my wonderful neighbors!

DEGROOTS APPLE CRISP

4 cups apples peeled and chopped (a tarter cooking apple)
3/4 cup sugar
2 Tbs cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Combine all of the above ingredients and pour into a sprayed 8x10 pan, then...

top with:
2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 package butterscotch pudding mix (not instant)
1/2 cup margarine
1/2 tsp vanilla flavoring
1/2 tsp butter flavoring
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Sprinkle over the top of the apples and Bake @ 350* for 45 min to 1 hour. This will vary depending on what kind of apples you use and how firm they are.

Sunday, the best day of the week!

I LOVE Sunday. My husband makes a fabulous pot of coffee from freshly ground beans, we get ready for church to hang out with people that we really enjoy, & we come home to have a simple or extravagant lunch...depends on how hungry we are. Today Mike is going to mow his mom's yard and then do ours. It's supposed to rain so he's trying to get the wheels turning. I'm doing some laundry and packing up for a conference that we leave for by 6 AM in the morning. I'm traveling with 8 other teachers in a giant white van, road trips are the best! Of course we'll need some snack for that as well.
Later Mike and I will take some time for a movie, and I'm cooking up some buffalo wings for that. It's been forever since we watched a movie at home. So many things have kept up busy on the weekends, and with the new Fall programs on tv, there have been some OK choices. See why I like Sunday??
I made a salad that is a cole slaw type recipe but it has a twist, there's noodles in it. Sounds strange, but it's quite yummy. I'm not a huge cole slaw fan, but I do enjoy this recipe. You can use whatever kind of noddle you like, I grabbed campanelle yesterday because I liked the trumpet shape of the pasta. Be creative!

		Pasta Cucumber Salad Directions Cook pasta according to package directions in a medium sized saucepan. Drain and cool the pasta. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, sugar and vinegar until smooth. Place the pasta, cabbage, onions, peppers and cucumber in a serving bowl. Pour the dressing over it and stir to combine. Salt and pepper to taste. Cover and refrigerate for at least two hours for the flavors to blend. OK people, I don't know why I can't get rid of the dots before each line of that recipe, how dumb!