Peanut Butter Shale

Good Friday morning! Have you had a good week? Can you BELIEVE it's the end of August? This year is flying by. I can't say I'll be completely sorry to see it go, but it does mean I'm getting older....:D

Today's review is a recipe from a blog named Cookistry, for peanut butter shale candy.

I'm going to give this a conditional YES, PLEASE; mine didn't spread nearly thin enough to be called shale, or to be munchable for any length of time. But I THINK, if I can figure out how to fix the problems next time, it will be much better.

The flavor isn't in question! It tastes just like peanut butter brittle. Kenn isn't supposed to eat peanuts, but he can eat peanut butter. And he loves peanut brittle and Butterfingers, so I thought he'd like this. Although he swears up and down he doesn't like peanut butter. :D

I think my biggest problem is that my pan wasn't deep enough for the candy thermometer to really be where it should, and that my mixture got hotter than it was supposed to. When I added the remaining ingredients, it tightened up so quickly I couldn't spread it very thinly. So it's in chunks instead of pieces, very difficult to really get a bite of! :D But it's good. And I can see using it for baking, if I pound the dickens out of it to make it small enough. :D

Let me know if you try it, and what you think! Enjoy your weekend; have fun, do something that makes your heart smile. Be BLESSED!

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

 Happy Wednesday! :) How's your week going? Can you BELIEVE we're so close to the end of the month already? We're on the downhill roll to Christmas, ladies and gentlemen! :D

Today's recipe is brought to you by Foodie With Family. I really enjoy her blog! This recipe's for Cinnamon Swirl Bread.

Her story of her recipe development is fun. :D Picky eaters are the reason about 75% of new recipes are created, I think. :D

I have to admit: when I made the bread, I was a little dubious about the dough. It was, on hindsight, a sturdier dough than I'm used to using. part of it came from the fact that I didn't have any potato flakes (I HATE starting a recipe and finding out one of my ingredients is GONE! AUGH!!!). And probably, also, because I haven't made bread by HAND in forever. But I continued, even though the dough felt heavy in my hand.

Then there was the filling; I ended up doubling the amount of raisins in it.

But this gets a YES, PLEASE! from my family! It's cinnamony - have you picked up on the fact I love cinnamon? :D - and the filling is baked well into the bread.

Now, because I'm used to making cinnamon ROLLS when I'm rolling dough, I ended up rolling the dough too thin. My loaf isn't as big as it should have been. But I used the extra length to make some cinnamon rolls. They turned out fantastically; they're not as light as the normal dough I make, but they're good.

I'm going to use this filling again, definitely; I'll probably make the dough I normally make in my bread machine. I can't wait to try it out! I'll need to have a special occasion, though - that many raisins on top of bread? Well, shoot me to the moon! :) But it WILL happen.

OK, I'm outta here. Have a WONDERFUL day! Be BLESSED!

"Rotisserie" Chicken Revisited

Good morning! :) I hope you had a great weekend. Did you try anything NEW???? :D

I wanted to fill you in on that chicken that I gave a NO, THANKS to when I did it in the crockpot. We tried it a different way. We cooked it over a bundt pan in a conventional oven, with root veggies in it.

I'm glad to report that it was MUCH better, very juicy and still tender. The dry rub's got a really great flavor, and I think it helps the chicken stay moist. I would recommend it now, with a YES, PLEASE! :)

OK, I'm outta here. I'm making a recipe to review for Wednesday! Stay tuned! And have a BLESSED day!

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

Good Friday morning. Have you had a good week? Can you believe there's only one week left of August?!??! Wow, this year is FLYING.

Today's recipe is brought to you by Go Bold With Butter. :D And it's pretty apropos! :D

This is a YES, PLEASE. The batter for the cake is THICK; it reminded Mom of something, and I guessed it as "muffin". It would make a FANTASTIC muffin base; it's sturdy, and moist and would stand up to fruit if you chose to add it.

I tweaked the batter by using half Greek yogurt and half sour cream. It ups the protein and cuts the fat just a bit. And it was GOOD. :D

I tweaked the cream cheese by not adding the pecans. The directions for swirling the layer weren't done well; I'd rather do it my way than the way that's written. If you know how to do a good swirl, pay no attention to that part of the directions. :D

I did the crumb topping exactly as written. Well, if you include adding more cinnamon. :D

I cut this recipe into two, and did two 8" square cakes instead of a 9x13. One is in the freezer; with the pumpkin bundt cake in the house, we didn't need a full cake around! :D This way, when we want something special to serve, it's there. I love the freezer! LOL!

OK, I'm outta here. :) Have a wonderful weekend. Try something new! :) BE BLESSED!!!

Pumpkin Bundt Cake

 Good Wednesday Morning!

What a week it's been. Here's hoping things sail a little smoother for a while!

Have you tried anything new lately?

Here's my newest try; it's from the Just a Pinch Recipe Club, which I've mentioned several times - for Pumpkin Bundt Cake.

I can't quite decide about this cake. It's SUPER-simple, and nicely moist without being too much so. But it's lacking...something. Mom and I talked about it maybe needing a struesel layer, or more spice, or something. I did add extra cinnamon - my pumpkin pie spice didn't smell like much, so I added more cinnamon. I always add more cinnamon. :D

I think I have to give it a NO, THANKS, just because I've got SO many dessert recipes already. But it made a BEAUTIFUL cake, and would be easy to transport. I might come back to it and play with it a little, but I kind of doubt it. It IS good, though. :D You should try it, and tell me what YOU think.

OK, I'm outta here. I think Mom and I are going to go to the county fair for a little this evening; I think we need just some FUN time. Have a wonderful, BLESSED day! Hug someone, too. :)

Chicken Pad Thai

Good Monday Morning! Did you have a good weekend? Did you try anything new?

We didn't have a very good weekend. Please pray for my family as we walk through a devastating loss together. Thank you!

I *love* good pad Thai. It's so yummy - and Thai cooking is based on four things: sweet, savory, spicy, and salty. Of course, they are arranged in varying degrees in various dishes - and I am not over-the-top about ANY spice! :D (Well, if you consider cinnamon a spice, then I'm guilty, but....)

This recipe comes to us from none other than the Betty Crocker website!

Let's see. Did I tweak it much?

Silly me for even asking. LOL! I used noodles that are made from soy, so they're VERY low carb. They're also VERY expensive, so I don't get to eat them a LOT. I don't like scallions or bean sprouts, so I used  some carrot, a little mushroom, and a little celery. The sauce, I think I used too much lime juice - I used bottled, and just poured some in. :D I also used Splenda instead of sugar - I mean, I'm using those expensive noodles, I have to make the carb count actually COUNT! :D

I'm giving this a YES, PLEASE, although I like my sauce a little thicker than this was; next time, I may use a little slurry of arrowroot powder and water to thicken it a bit and make it stick to the noodles better. And I'm going to increase the red pepper flakes just a tiny bit, and perhaps add some Thai sweet chili sauce. :D (That's part of the fun in cooking for yourself! You can make it taste the way YOU want!!!)

OK, I'm outta here. Looks like I need to do some cooking to have something to talk about the rest of the week. :)

Be BLESSED. And tell your loved ones how much you love them. Life is too short.

Twice-baked Potatoes

Good Friday Morning!!! How are you today? Have you had a good week? Got big plans for the weekend? Whatcha gonna do? :D

Today's recipe comes from that wonderful blogger, The Pioneer Woman - and it's Twice-Baked Potatoes. :)

As she said in her post, this is more about the method than it is  about the recipe. :) I took her method, and played with it a bit. :)

Basically, my mom said, "There's a bunch of baked potatoes in the fridge. Please figure out something to do with them!" (She's got the shingles, and is really trying to recuperate from them and my sister's large family visiting for a week. :) )

The first one I did was mostly what you're familiar with, the above one. :D I used some butter, sour cream, parsley flakes, salt, pepper, motgomery jack cheese, and bacon bits on top. I have to tell you, cold (as in refrigerated!) potatoes are hard to scoop out without breaking through the skin. But I did pretty well. :)

The second one was sweet potatoes. I wanted it to be a bit sweeter. I mean, it IS a twice-baked sweet potato. :D I added butter, cinnamon, a bit of freshly-grated nutmeg, and some Splenda/brown sugar mixture.

Goodness, this is a YES, PLEASE. Next time, I want to use warmer potatoes, so when I mash the inside with the ingredients, it will be smoother. Even the sweet potatoes were super-yummy!

I'm off! I'm performing a couple of historical monologs at the Wilson County Fair this Friday and Saturday; come see us! :D And then try something NEW! :D Be BLESSED!