Merry Christmas Magic Bars

If you celebrate, are you all ready for Christmas?  We're ready at our house.  After weeks .... months of shopping, baking and wrapping, Christmas always seems to come and go so quickly.  We need to keep the spirit all year long.

I love Magic Bars!  Okay truth be known, I love most things sweet.  Magic Bars are one of those desserts that eating one makes me want another and another!  Like most desserts I make, these didn't stay at our house.  I made a large enough batch to use half for holiday BUNCO,  half for a holiday lunch at work, leaving just a couple at home for Tim and I!

I love how this recipe takes the traditional Magic Bar recipe and dresses it up for Christmas!  The original baker also used holiday chips, sprinkles and M&M's.  I used regular chocolate chips but they still shine with holiday color.  Bet you can't eat just one!!

Christmas Magic Cookie Bars

Yield: 12 cookies
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 25-30 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
• One 14 oz Can Of Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 1 & 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1 cup Holiday or regular chocolate chips (divided into 1/2 cup portions)
• 1 cup chopped nuts (I prefer walnuts)
• 1 cup Holiday or regular M&M's (divided into 1/2 cup portions)
• 1 & 1/2 cups flaked coconut

Directions:

1. Unwrap butter and place in 13" x 9" pan. Place pan, with butter, in the oven and turn the oven on to 350*F. Butter can melt in pan while preheating. Keep an eye on it, checking every few minutes and pulling out of the oven when butter is melted. Please be careful while preparing recipe as pan will be very hot.
2. Crush graham crackers in a food processor to create graham cracker crumbs (or buy crumbs).
3. When butter is melted, remove pan from oven and carefully sprinkle the graham cracker crumbs over the melted butter. Press in lightly with fork or back of spoon.
4. Pour sweetened condensed milk over the crumb layer.
5. Sprinkle 1/2 of the chocolate chips, 1/2 of the M&M's & the nuts over the sweetened condensed milk layer. Sprinkle coconut on top, followed by remaining chocolate chips & M&M's.
6. Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven. Allow bars to cool completely. Slice, give and enjoy!

Birthday Cake Truffles

Am I the only one who is finding it hard to believe it's mid December?  Crazy, where did this year go?  Besides being close to the end of the year and the holidays, the second week of December is Secret Recipe Club time! I'm excited to be rejoining Secret Recipe Club Group B!!, Thanks to Group C for a fun 2016!

For December Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned Amy's Cooking Adventures, Amy says she loves to cook and bake, decorate cakes and cookies. She also says she despises housecleaning and calls her look "organized chaos". Amy, that is my kind of housecleaning. Amy's blog features a wonderful assortment of sweet and savory recipes, stop by and check it out.

For me, SRC posts are usually sweets. Tim has a food day at work every few weeks, so I'm always looking for recipes. Since, food days are usually to celebrate his coworkers birthday's, these Birthday Cake Truffles were the perfect treat. These truffles are easy to put together, even forming the balls didn't take too long. Dipping them in chocolate is a bit time consuming but I find using a fork to rest them on, helps with the process. I also added a bit of shortening to thin the chocolate just a bit, making the dipping process a little easier.These could easily be dipped in milk or dark chocolate, sprinkled with red and green sugar for holiday parties or gifting.

Birthday Cake Truffles
Recipe Courtesy of Amy's Cooking Adventures

1 Box of FunFetti Cake Mix
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
12 oz Milk, Dark or White Chocolate or Almond Bark

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine cake mix and sweetened condensed milk. Mix on low speed until combined. The batter will be very thick.Prepare a cookie sheet with waxed paper. Roll the batter into 1-inch balls and place on the waxed paper. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave. Dip each cake ball into the chocolate and place on a second cookie sheet lined with waxed paper. Decorate with sprinkles. Refrigerate the candies until the chocolate is hardened. Move to desired containers and refrigerate leftovers.

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Pausing to Remember

Thinking of my Father today, he was a Pearl Harbor survivor.  Thank you to him and all veterans for their service to our country.

BBQ Spaghetti Casserole

Slow Cooker pulled pork is one of my go to meals, perfect for a Monday when I know I won't feel much like cooking when I get home.  We buy the large loins when they are on sale and have the butcher cut and wrap them into smaller ones, perfect for the freezer.  Even with the smaller loins, we still have lots of leftovers.  I am always looking for recipes using the leftover pulled pork.  

This BBQ Spaghetti Casserole caught my eye on Pinterest.  I've made BBQ Spaghetti before but never with the addition of pulled pork.  This is a delicious use for leftover pork just be sure to add enough BBQ sauce or it could be a little dry.

BBQ Spaghetti Casserole
Recipe Courtesy of Spicy Southern Kitchen

Ingredients

• 1 pound spaghetti, cooked until al dente
• 1 pound bbq pulled pork
• ⅔ cup of your favorite bbq sauce
• 1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste (I omitted this)
• ¼ cup sour cream (I used greek yogurt
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 1½ cups shredded cheddar cheese
• cilantro for garnish, optional
• additional bbq sauce for serving

Instructions

1. Lightly grease a 9X13-inch baking dish. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl combine bbq sauce, tomato sauce, tomato paste, and sour cream. Stir well.
3. Add pasta, bbq pork, and green onions to bowl and toss to combine well.
4. Pour mixture into prepared casserole dish. Top with cheese, cover with aluminum foil. (spray foil with cooking spray so it will not stick to the cheese.) Bake for 20-30 minutes or until hot all the way through.
5. Top with cilantro and drizzle a little additional bbq sauce on top.

Peanut Butter Truffles

November is a five Monday month, you know what that means?  We have a bonus Secret Recipe Club  post!  Whenever there's a five week month, we do a themed Secret Recipe Club reveal.  What could be more perfect for this time of year but Holiday Treats?  Yummy!  A reveal of nothing but holiday treats is the best!!

My assigned blogger is Cathleen of A Taste of Madness. As always I had fun browsing Cathleen's blog and had trouble choosing just one recipe.  I ended up choosing these amazing Peanut Butter Truffles.  They're delicious and easy to put together.  If you're looking for a food gift or something fun to take to a party, give these a try.

Peanut Butter Pretzel Truffles

What you'll need:

• 1 1/2 cups pretzel pieces
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons icing sugar
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon shortening

Directions:

1. Put the pretzels into a large resealable plastic bag and crush into small bits using a rolling pan.
2. In a small bowl, combine the peanut butter, butter and brown sugar until fully combined. Add in the pretzel pieces and icing sugar, and mix until fully combined.
3. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Scoop around 2 tablespoons worth of peanut butter mixture, and gently shape into a ball with your fingers. Place the ball on the prepared cookie sheet, and repeat with the remaining peanut butter mixture. Place in the freezer for around 30 minutes.
4. Boil 5 cups of water and pour into a medium bowl.
5. Place the chocolate chips and shortening into a smaller bowl, and place it into the bowl full of water. Mix the chocolate chips and shortening until the mixture is smooth, making sure not to let the water mix in with the chocolate mixture.
6. Take the frozen balls out of the freezer and dip them in the chocolate mixture. Place the dipped peanut butter balls back on the waxed paper. Quickly sprinkle the peanut butter balls while the chocolate is still wet with some extra broken up pretzels.
7. In a microwave safe bowl, melt some peanut butter. Drizzle on top of truffles, and freeze until hard.

 

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New Orleans BBQ Beer Shrimp

Tim and I have been brewing our own beer for about a year.  I regret not blogging about the process. Maybe in 2016?  It can be a little time consuming and a true test of team work.  Which in our cases is never a problem as long as Tim does it my way.   Ha!  Now that we have our system down, it's a fairly smooth process.  We've made a pumpkin ale, an IPA, a Hefeweizen a Lemon Coriander Weiss and a Holiday Ale.  Besides enjoying and sharing our beers, I love cooking with them.    This bbq beer shrimp is delicious, reminds me a little of good ole spiced shrimp with a kick.  I used our Lemon Coriander Weiss in this recipe.  Any mild or pale ale will work great.  I served this on top of rice with a loaf of crusty bread to soak up the delicious sauce. 

New Orleans Barbecue Beer Shrimp

Recipe Courtesy of The Beeroness

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• ½ teaspoons cayenne pepper
• ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon dry oregano
• ½ teaspoon hot chili sauce (such as sriracha)
• 1 cup pale ale
• 1 pounds raw shrimp, deveined, shell on

Directions

• Melt the butter in a cast iron skillet over medium high heat.
• Add the remaining ingredients (besides the shrimp), bring to a simmer.
• Add the shrimp, cook until shrimp have turned pink. Avoid over cooking or the shrimp will be tough.
• Serve with crust bread to mop up all that beautiful sauce. And lots of napkins.

Loaded Sweet Potato Soup - SRC

For this month's Secret Recipe Club,  I was lucky enough to be assigned Debbie of Debbie Does Dinner Healthy.  Debbie is the hostess of Group C.  Thanks for all you do to make SRC a success.  I've been following Debbie's blog since I began blogging in 2009.  She has some great healthy and low cal recipes on her site!  Stop over and check them out.

I love potato soup but never thought about making sweet potato soup.  After making this recipe, I realized I've really been missing out. This soup is so good and the great thing is, it's healthy.  I did use the bacon, not a lot, but it really adds to the flavor.  I pureed the soup with my immersion blender, next time I will be using the blender instead.  It takes a while to puree this soup and the blender would be so much easier.

I love, love, love this soup.  One of the best soups I've made in a long time.  Thanks, Debbie for an amazing recipe, one I can't wait to make again soon!!!

 
Loaded Sweet Potato Soup 

Recipe courtesy of Debbie Does Dinner Healthy
1 large onion, diced
1 tbsp. bacon grease or oil
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp. garlic, minced
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 can broth (chicken or vegetable)
7 - 8 cups sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 tbsp. white wine vinegar
Pepperjack or extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
Sour cream
Bacon (if desired and not vegetarian)

Saute desired amount of bacon. Save bacon grease for sauteeing. 

Add onion, bacon grease, salt and pepper to hot large pan and saute until tender.  Add garlic, thyme, chili powder and cinnamon, cook for a couple of minutes.  Add sweet potatoes, broth, vinegar and about 3 cups of water.  Season with more salt and lots of pepper.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 25 minutes.  When potatoes are tender, puree with an immersion blender or carefully add to a food processor.

Garnish with cheese, sour cream and bacon. 

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