Peanut Butter Toffee With Saltines

I made this yummy treat for hostess gifts for Jack Henry's first shower. I saw it on a blog and HAD to try it! =) They were pretty easy to make and were very good. Jeff said that when Lydia tried it for the first time she said "This is the best treat ever!" Pretty good compliment if I say so myself! Hah!

1/4 lb (one sleeve) saltines (the salted ones)

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup butter

2 1/2 cups semi-sweet chips

1/3 cup peanut butter

Chopped M&M’s

Chopping the M&M's were harder than I thought it would be!! The recipe also said that Reese's PB cups or nuts would be good on top!

Preheat oven to 400-degrees. Line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper (the pan needs to have a lip to it or these things will leak all over your oven.) Place saltines in pan, salted side up. Leave just a bit of space between crackers so the toffee with encase the entire cracker when done.

Bring sugar and butter to a boil in a saucepan.

Put dollops of peanut butter on top and return to the oven for 1 minute.

Top with M&M pieces (or whatever you come up with). Place in freezer for at least 1 hour. Once these are set, crack them into individual pieces.

Bring sugar and butter to a boil in a saucepan. Boil for 3 minutes (time the boiling after the whole thing starts boiling, not just the edges). DO NOT stir ... this was TOUGH for me!


Pour boiling mixture over crackers. Place in oven for 5 minutes.

Put dollops of peanut butter on top and return to the oven for 1 minute.

Spread melted peanut butter over mixture with spatula and top with chocolate chips. Then, put back into the oven for 1 minute.

Use spatula to spread the chocolate chips (which have melted). 

Top with M&M pieces (or whatever you come up with). Place in freezer for at least 1 hour. Once these are set, crack them into individual pieces.

King Ranch Chicken Casserole

3-4 chicken breasts cooked and shredded

8 tortillas cut into strips

1 Can Cream of Chicken soup

1 Can Cream of Mushroom soup

1 Green Bell Pepper diced up

1 Can rotel (or whatever diced tomatoes you have...for this one I had Hunts diced tomatoes with garlic...it's just what I had!)

1 Onion

1 small can mushrooms

Cumin

Shredded cheese

Crushed Chips

Preheat oven to 350. 


Saute the onion and bell pepper with some salt. 


Add the chicken, soups, rotel, and drained mushrooms. At this point add your cumin and just let it simmer and stir occasionally. 


In a baking dish place down a layer of your tortilla strips.


Next layer with a bit of the soup/chicken mixture, then layer with some cheese. Repeat this until you are out of the soup/chicken mixture. Top with remaining tortillas and crushed chips.


Cook for 20 minutes, top with more cheese and cook for remaining 5 minutes. We ate this with a salad and it was delicious!

Mexican Rice Bowls

Another new recipe that I am sure I'll be making A LOT!! So light and refreshing, especially for summer. I served this with chicken quesadillas because I knew that Lydia probably would not touch it and that Jeff would want some sort of meat! =)

Cilantro Lime Rice

2 Cans Black Beans

1 Small bag of frozen corn

Roma Tomatoes, diced

Avacado, diced

Salsa (Used my new recipe!)

Cilantro

Layer all ingredients, starting with rice then corn and beans, tomatoes, salsa then avacado. Top with cilantro.

Calories: 260

Fat: 5 grams

Protein: 8 grams

**You need to check out CJ In The Kitchen!**

Cilantro Lime Rice

Found this recipe on the same website that I found the Cookies n' Creme Cookies. It was wonderful! Full of taste and was great in the Mexican Rice Bowls!

1 cup long grain rice
1 can chicken broth

1 cup water

zest of 1/2 lime

2 garlic cloves

2 tsp sugar

2 tbsp lime juice
3 tbsp chopped cilantro

Combine rice, chicken broth, water, lime zest and garlic in a medium sauce pan. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cover for 20 minutes. Fluff rice with a fork. Put rice in a bowl and add sugar, lime juice and cilantro. Stir and serve!

Salsa

I've always wanted to try to make my own salsa because I am not a huge fan of what you buy at the grocery store, but love what you get at restaurants though! I found this recipe this week and could not wait to try it out. It's from The Pioneer Woman who has AMAZING recipes, so I knew it would be good! It was a huge hit at our house! I think from now on, I'll be making my own salsa!

1 can (28 Ounce) Whole Tomatoes With Juice

2 cans (10 Ounce) Rotel (diced Tomatoes And Green Chilies)

¼ cups Chopped Onion

1 clove Garlic, Minced

1 whole Jalapeno, Quartered And Sliced Thin

¼ teaspoons Sugar

¼ teaspoons Salt

¼ teaspoons Ground Cumin

½ cups Cilantro (more To Taste!)

½ whole Lime Juice

Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender and pulse 10 to 15 times, until desired consistency. Taste and season more if needed.

Refrigerate salsa for at least an hour.

Symphony Brownies

Another tasty Paula Dean recipe!! And the best part ... it's SO easy! I made these one day at the shoppe in Benton that I've been working at on Fridays and knew that it would be added to my collection!

2 - 20-ounce package (family-sized) boxed brownie mix

4 King-sized almond-toffee Symphony brand candy bars (made by Hershey, found in the candy aisle)

Prepare the brownie mix according to package directions.

Line a 9×13-inch cake pan with aluminum foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Spoon in half of the brownie batter and smooth with a spatula. Break apart the candy bar into sections and space them out so they cover the surface of the brownie batter. Cover with remaining batter.

Bake according to package directions (mine took 40 minutes). Let cool completely, then lift from the pan using the edges of the foil.

Cookies 'n Creme Cookies

These cookies are AMAZING! I found them on the site CJ In The Kitchen. She has some recipes that look really good! Can not wait to try more of them out!

2 1/4 cups flour 

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup butter, softened 

1/2 cup packed brown sugar 

1/2 cup white sugar 

1 (4.2 ounce) package Cookies 'n Creme pudding mix 

2 eggs 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

2 cups white chocolate chips 

15 Oreo cookies, very coarsly chopped 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugars, add pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking soda with a whisk then add it to the butter mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips and Oreo cookies. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes in preheated oven until cookies tops barely have a touch of brown.

Lydia could not wait to get her hands ... well tongue ... in this cookie dough!! =)

Strawberry Cake

This is Paula Dean's recipe ... and OH SO YUMMY!! =) Jeff loves strawberry cake and think this is one of his favorites that I've ever done!

1 box white cake mix

1 - 3 oz. box strawberry flavored instant jello

15 oz. frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed

4 large eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup water

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

1/4 cup butter, softened

8 oz. cream cheese

10 oz. frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed

1/2 tsp. strawberry extract

1/2 tsp. vanilla

7 cups powdered sugar (more if needed)

Fresh strawberries, for garnish, optional

Preheat oven @ 350*. Lightly grease 2 (9 inch) round cake pans.

In a large bowl, combine cake mix and jello. Add pureed strawberries, eggs, oil and water; beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Pour into prepared pans and bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely on wire racks.

For Frosting:

In large bowl, beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Beat in 1/4 cup of the strawberry puree and strawberry and vanilla extract. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating until smooth.

Spread frosting in between layers and on top and sides of cake. Garnish with fresh strawberries, if desired.

Enjoy!