Peanut butter cups are divine...

My sons birthday is coming up later this week. He requested two things: A smoked turkey from Louie, a friend of the family since James was a youngster. And a Peanut butter cup pizza. I ALMOST forgot them both. Just realized last night I had not ordered the turkey, and about an hour ago I happened to think about the dessert. That is why I live my life around a list, keeps me out of trouble. I think that working with preschool age children has given me a shorter attention span. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

Well, before I'm distracted again I will post the recipe so I will be able to deliver the ultimate birthday treat on James' GOLDEN birthday!!

TRIPLE PEANUT PIZZA
1 tube (18oz) refrigerated peanut butter cookie dough
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups chopped peanut butter cups

Press cookie dough onto a greased 14: pizza pan. Bake @ 350* for 12-15 min. Sprinkle with chocolate chips; let stand 4-5 minutes. Spread melted c hips over crust and freeze for 10 min or until set.
Meanwhile, beat cream cheese, peanut butter, brown sugar, and vanilla until creamy. Spread over the chocolate layer. Sprinkle with the PB cups and chill until serving. Refrigerate leftovers.

Muffin Man

REFRIGERATOR BRAN MUFFINS

1-15oz Raisin Bran cereal
3/4 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cups white sugar
5 cups flour
5 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2-3 cups walnuts or pecans coarsely chopped
1 cup dried apricots - chopped
1 cup dried dates - chopped
1 cup margarine melted
4 eggs beaten
1 qt buttermilk

Line cupcake pan with liners, fill each 3/4 full and bake approx 20-25 min @ 375*
This can be kept in the refrigerator for 3-4 weeks. I bake just a 1/2 dozen or so at a time so they are fresh!

Prime Rib

Do you cook prime rib around this time of year? We do a small cut, but this recipe turned out the best of all last time. Making my mouth water....yum.

Prime Rib
4# meat
Sniders Prime Rib and Roast seasoning

Leave meat out for 2 hours to bring to room temp. Use a generous amount of seasoning and hand rub it into the prime rib. Place into a pan with about 3" sides for roasting. I just used a cake pan. Heat oven to 450* put meat thermometer in roast then place in oven for 20 min (5 min per pound). Shut oven off DO NOT open the door!!
After 3 hours turn heat on to 350* and roast to desired internal temp. Ours was at 150* it was beautifully pink and juicy. It took about 25 min.
Let it stand 15 min before carving to keep it juicy. I used the meat drippings and an envelope of aujus for delightful dipping :-)

Huskers Like Cake!

I can't wait to eat this!! It's a recipe for BOSTON CREAM PIE, why they call a cake a pie in Boston is beyond me. Premier run on this recipe, but I can tell you the icing tasted fudgy, the filling was creamy, and the cake....don't know yet but it looks good! The original recipe said to use one layer of the cake and cut it horizontally, but what would I do with the other layer cake??? I just used them both. This picture was taken outside since it said to refrigerate for an hour, and it definitely wouldn't fit in my frig today. Rest assured I put it in an airtight cake carrier so nothing could creep in, not even a 4 legged Maddie dog. I'm taking this to a Husker party tonight, let's hope it's a celebration cake!

BOSTON CREAM PIE

1 pkg (3.4 oz) JELL-O vanilla flavor instant pudding
1 cup cold milk
1 1/2 cups thawed cool whip
1 yellow cake mix - baked according to directions in 2 round pans
1 square semi sweet Bakers chocolate
1 Tbsp butter
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp milk

Beat pudding mix and 1 cup cold milk 2 minutes. Stir in cool whip, let stand 5 minutes.

Stack first cake layer on serving plate, spread pudding mixture on and top with second layer.

Microwave chocolate and butter 1 min. Stir until chocolate is melted. Add sugar and 2 Tbsp milk; mix well. Spread over cake and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Do you stuff your bird?

TO stuff or NOT to stuff, that is the question. My mother in law makes the most wonderful stuffing, and it always comes out of the bird. I have had zero success with stuffing as I always compared the end product to Ann's. This time I tried a slow cooker recipe. This seemed like a great plan since it would take up no room in the oven, and I could cook it anywhere I had a plug in! I will admit it got a little brown on the bottom, so if you want to avoid that be careful when dishing it to a bowl. I wonder if I should have stirred it during the cooking process to avoid that? I did like the flavor, it was pretty close to the best ever stuffing. (I also did my corn casserole in a slow cooker, worked great and had the most wonderful texture.)

Thanksgiving Stuffing in a Slow Cooker

1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery (include some tops)
1/4 cup butter
1 package seasoned stuffing cubes or crumbs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp poultry seasoning
1 tsp rubbed sage
1/2 tsp pepper
1 can 14 1/2 oz chicken broth
2 eggs
giblets from turkey chopped and browned in skillet if desired

In a small skillet cook onion & celery in butter until tender. In a large bowl, combine the bread cubes/crumbs, and seasonings. Stir in onion mixture and giblets if using. Combine broth and eggs and add to bread mixture tossing to coat.

Transfer to a 3 qt slow cooker coated with cooking spray. Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours or until heated through. Makes 12 servings.

They came, they saw, they ate.

Thanksgiving was great! There was a chance of inclement weather, but that turned out to be nothing. Everyone arrived Wednesday night, and by Friday night, after a satisfying Husker win, they were all on their way back home. Seemed to fly by very quickly, but on the other hand it was nice that everyone still had a whole weekend waiting for them after all the celebrating!

We stick to a tradition menu for this holiday, but I did try some new things this year. One of the variables on the menu is the sweet potatoes. Not a loved veggie by the general population, but my dad likes them so I am always looking for a magic way to prepare them that will dazzle the crowd. My son who does not like sweet taters said this was good, so there you go.

Pretzel Topped Sweet Potatoes 10-12 Servings
2 cups chopped pretzels
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup coarsely chopped fresh or frozen cranberries
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 stick butter, melted
1 -2 1/2# can sweet potatoes, drained
1 -5oz can evaporated milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a large bowl, combine the pretzels, pecans, cranberries, brown sugar and butter; set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the sweet potatoes until smooth. Add the milk, sugar, & vanilla; beat until well blended.

Spoon into a greased shallow 2 qt baking dish; sprinkle with pretzel mixture and bake uncovered @ 350* for 25-30 min or until edges are bubbly.

These were best the first time served, the pretzels got mushy when reheated and didn't look very appetizing. I also thought that half of the amount of pretzel topping would be sufficient, but James said that was his favorite part.

We eat cranberries because.....

My room has been full of Pilgrim information the last two weeks. We learned that 102 people sailed on the Mayflower. Over half of them died the first winter. Wild turkeys were introduced to us by the Wampanoag people. Cranberries were very plentiful and the pilgrims used them in just about everything!

My mother in law gave me this recipe not long after we were married, it's traditional each and every Thanksgiving that we have this. It may be my favorite thing on the table!

Cranberry Salad
1/2 pkg fresh cranberries ground
1 orange ground with 1/2 of the orange rind still on it
2 apples chopped coarsely
1 -8 oz can crushed pineapple
Mix all above with 1 cup sugar

Dissolve 2 packages of red jello any flavor with 3 cups of boiling water. Add fruit mixture and 1/2 cup of walnuts coarsely chopped. Chill until thick.

(I like to use raspberry jello, but you can certainly decide for yourself what to use!)