Granola Bars

My son is allergic to peanuts and all granola bars say that they MAY contain peanuts. So I found this great recipe for homemade Granola Bars. This way I can add whatever extra ingredients that will suit my family. I made them the other day. They are yummy and SUPER easy.
Feel free to experiment with the ingredients. I left out the coconut, replaced the mini M&Ms with chocolate chips and they tasted just fine.

Chewy Granola Bars Recipe:
2 1/2 c. Oats - quick rolled oats
1/2 c. Rice Krispies
1/4 c. coconut
1/2 c. M&M minis
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. butter, softened
1/4 c. honey
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Add all of the ingredients and mix together until combined. Press into a square 8×8 pan. Bake at 350° for 18-20 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes and score into bars. Let it set completely and then cut into bars. For thinner bars, press mix into a 9×13 pan. They seem to set a little better in the 9×13 pan.

Great Tip: Spray vegetable spray into the measuring cup before you add a sticky substance, like honey! It should slide right off.

***Original recipe can be found HERE. Below is a picture from that website. (much more colorful than mine)

Nutty Caramel Cookie Tart

Watching the Food Network can be very bad, like this past Saturday I got caught up watching the Pillsbury Bake-Off and saw this recipe. So of course I had to try it. It didn't win the million dollars but it is still quite a tasty treat.

NUTTY CARAMEL COOKIE TART
1 roll (16.5 oz) Pillsbury(r) Create 'n Bake(r) refrigerated sugar cookies
1/3 cup Dry Roasted Peanuts
1/3 cup Caramel Ice Cream Topping
1/4 cup Creamy Peanut Butter
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup peanut butter chips

1/4 cup white vanilla baking chips

Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Press cookie dough evenly in bottom of ungreased 9-inch springform pan. (If dough is sticky, use floured fingers.) Bake 17 to 22 minutes or until light golden brown.
Meanwhile, place peanuts in resealable food storage plastic bag; seal bag. Crush peanuts with rolling pin or meat mallet; set aside.
In medium microwavable bowl, microwave caramel topping, peanut butter and cinnamon uncovered on High 30 to 60 seconds or until hot and bubbly; stir well. Drizzle mixture evenly over partially baked crust. Sprinkle with peanut butter chips, vanilla baking chips and crushed peanuts.
Bake 12 to 18 minutes longer or until edges are golden brown. Cool completely, about 1 hour 30 minutes.
Run sharp knife carefully around edge of tart to loosen; remove side of pan. To serve, cut tart into wedges. Store tightly covered at room temperature.



*I only had the white chocolate baking sqaures, so I used some white chocolate shavings, and then also added a few semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Cupcake Bites

Debra and I made these fun little cupcakes for the 4th of July. We found them on Bakerellas website (which is very awesome by the way) She was even on Martha Stewarts show, to promote her cupcakes she made. If you are interested in making them I suggest just visiting her website, she does a great step by step instruction. We did the easier version of the cupcakes, but she also did a cupcake pop that is way cute so here is the link for that one.

Foil Dinners

This is such an easy meal, that Jason and I love to make. Add whatever meat and veggies you want and season to your own liking, throw it on the BBQ, and with in 20-30 minutes you've got dinner.

The best part was it used it my leftover veggies that were in my fridge.