Quick and Easy Peanutbutter Cups Recipe

These peanutbutter cups are a favorite at my house and sooooo quick and easy to make! A few ingredients and a microwave is all you need.

* graham cracker crumbs (1 1/2 cups)

* powdered sugar (2 1/2 cups)

* peanut butter (1 1/2 cups)

* chocolate chips (12 oz.)

 * 2 1/2 sticks of butter, Divided

(Did you say the peanutbutter cups recipe has OVER TWO STICKS OF BUTTER?? Yes, yes it does)

Prepare in a 9 x 13 pan.

DIRECTIONS:

1) Mix the graham cracker crumbs and powdered sugar. To save cleaning a pan, I go ahead and mix it in the 9 x 13 pan. Warning: The pan won't look pretty by the end if you do this, but who cares.

2) Melt the peanutbutter and one and a half sticks of butter together in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave until the butter is melted (I usually put it in for one minute 30 seconds). Stir until you have a yummy peanutbutter-y syrup. Pour into the graham cracker mixture. This will be thick and awkward at first but keep stirring until well blended. Press into a crust onto the bottom of the pan.

3) Melt one stick of butter with the chocolate chips. I just toss this into the same bowl I melted the peanutbutter in and put this in for one and a half minutes also, stirring midway through. Stir until chocolate is melted, be careful to not put in too long as the chocolate will scorch.  Pour and layer the chocolate on top of the peanutbutter crust.  Spread until the crust is covered.

Hide from the children. Lick the spoon multiple times until it's clean.

Put the pan in the fridge to set up, about 30 minutes to an hour. Sometimes we can't wait that long.

Cut into bars or if you want cute peanutbutter cups, cut with small biscuit cutters. My crew won't wait that long.

Don't you love how the peanutbutter cups are sitting on a healthy eating, whole foods magazine?

It's Spring Break here and these are on the table. They won't last long. 

Let me know what you think if you try them..YUM!

Love,

Elizabeth

I can't really see....did someone say peanutbutter cups??

Mom's Lasagna Recipe & How I Thought I'd Killed My Father-in-Law

 Lasagna. Oh, how I love you. With garlic bread on a cold night. But only my momma's recipe will do.

Hubby has always loved it and it was the very first meal I cooked for my in-laws when Hubby and I had them over for dinner just after we married. Everything was perfect.

I just didn't account for the glass shards.

I really wasn't trying to kill my father-in-law. OK, 'killed' might be a little dramatic, but you'll get the picture...

I had just started cooking and could only make three recipes. My kitchen was the smallest, ugliest kitchen you could ever have but I loved it because it was all mine. I had scrubbed the white metal cabinets (all 3 of them) until they shined and vacuumed the old brown carpet in the dining room/breakfast room/family room (ok, there was only one room). The only table we had was set. The TV (which sat on a 2 x 4 board balanced on two paint cans hidden by a piece of fabric) sat across from our white couches that we were able to buy when we sold one of our cars. (No one said that the baby that would arrive a few years later would not be so kind to white couches). We had no curtains, no pictures on the bland vanilla walls, not much of anything in that little two bedroom apartment, actually, but we didn't care.

To outside eyes, the place was probably pitiful, but to me, it was our first home and I was so happy to have it.

In the rush to make everything 'perfect' for our dinner, I turned too quickly and an empty glass bowl slipped out of my hands. It broke into a gazillion pieces. Shew, good thing I had a spare to put the salad in! I quickly cleaned up the mess just as my in-laws arrived.  Everything was going fabulous and the lasagna was divine.

Until.

New father-in-law had a major 'crunch' going on in his lasagna.

Lasagna should never be crunchy.

His eyes got a wide as he spit out a piece of glass.

Oh dear. My eyes got wide too.

It seems that when that bowl shattered in that tiny kitchen, a few pieces of it flew into the lasagna.

And ended up in my father-in-law's mouth.

You really can't play off a piece of glass in someone's lasagna. I mean, I had no kids to blame it on yet, no pets.

It's really not like an 'oopsie, sorry that I about lacerated your esophagus' kind of moment.

Thankfully everyone laughed it off since there were no injuries (as they slowly backed away from the remaining lasagna). I mean, really, if you think about it, that could've ended up REALLY BAD. Needless to say, it happened over 20 years ago and I still get kidded about it two or three times a year.

So, if you are brave enough, here is the recipe that has been talked about for decades...just omit the glass please. :) Without it, it truly is delish and is what I usually make for birthday and Christmas Eve dinners. I think the secret ingredient is the sour cream...

INGREDIENTS:

LASAGNA NOODLES (Mom's directions say 1/3 package...you'll need 9 noodles layered in a 9 x 13 pan, I always have some noodles that fall apart so I cook extra just in case)

SOUR CREAM  - 1/2 PINT (I never know how much a pint is, just buy a small container)

MOZZARELLA CHEESE - (I BUY 3 PACKS OF THE 6 OZ. SLICES) ENOUGH TO COVER 3 LAYERS OF NOODLES

PARMESAN CHEESE

SAUCE:

1 LB HOT SAUSAGE

1 ONION (you can buy the frozen version already chopped!)

1 CAN DICED TOMATOES (14 oz) - I love Hunt's Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes

1 CAN TOMATO SAUCE (14 oz)

1 TBSP SUGAR

1/2 TSP. SALT

1 TSP. BASIL

DASH OF GARLIC

***IF YOU ARE IN A HURRY AND DON'T WANT TO MAKE YOUR OWN SAUCE, I SOMETIMES CHEAT AND USE 1 JAR OF BERTOLLI'S OLIVE OIL AND GARLIC SPAGHETTI SAUCE AND I ADD A CAN OF TOMATOES AND THE COOKED SAUSAGE TO IT.  INSTANT SAUCE! 

DIRECTIONS:

Brown the sausage and onion; Add the tomatoes and tomato sauce, sugar, salt, basil and garlic; Cover and simmer. Give it time, it's more yummy that way.

Cook the noodles according to the package directions.

Make three layers in a 9 x 13 glass pan: Start with 3 noodles (or however many you need to cover the bottom of the pan), smooth 1/3 of the sour cream onto the noodles as if you are generously buttering bread; Layer mozzarella cheese slices over the noodles and sour cream. Add 1/3 of the tomato mixture on top of the cheese, then sprinkle sauce with parmesan cheese.  Repeat three times.

Cook @ 350 degrees for 30 minutes uncovered.

I usually serve with garlic bread and a caesar salad. So good.

I hope you have time to try it.

Love, 

Elizabeth

P.S. - I hope to get a system in the future where if you comment and I answer you, you will get an email letting you know. Right now, unfortunately, you just have to check back to the post you commented on if you want to see my response. I tried emailing everyone my answers, and it soon got so time consuming that I couldn't consistently do that. Sorry for the trouble, I hope down the road it will be more efficient. Have a great day!

I always watch Elizabeth dish out my food, you know, just in case.

Best Southern Sweet Potato Casserole Recipe

It's the recipe that makes me a rock star. The one that everyone wants afterwards and the one I'm expected to bring for every holiday dinner. It's the bomb.com.

I'd like to say I made it up and it's my secret recipe...but it's actually from a little country church cook book. Hello southern ladies, gorgeous AND can cook!

So that's one dish on the Thanksgiving menu. Don't let the fact that there's a vegetable in the name fool you, it's totally pie in disguise. 

Meanwhile in our house, I'm living with Buddy the Elf - aka Bear. There's no one more excited than Christmas than Bear and he's totally skipping Thanksgiving. He has played Michael Buble's version of 'Baby, It's Cold Outside' exactly 52 times, insisted we all sit down and watch 'Christmas with the Kranks', (and snuggle under a reindeer blanket and hold hands) and has already dug out the Christmas decor. He got mad at me yesterday because I wouldn't take him Christmas shopping to buy everyone he knew Christmas presents with his nonexistent money. Oh yeah, and he pranced through the house early Saturday morning blowing a trumpet. I'm not sure that one is related to Christmas, but knowing him it was wrapped in mistletoe. I totally wouldn't be surprised if I wake up to a house full of paper snowflakes and find him eating spaghetti with syrup.

So on that note, below is the pie...er, I mean, casserole recipe. 

I gotta go finish decorating for Christmas, and hold hands and snuggle. And thank the Lord above that my child loves Michael Buble, because I do too.

SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE

3-4 cups cooked mashed sweet potato*

1 cup sugar

1 stick melted butter

2 beaten eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1/3 cup milk

*Don't cheat and use canned sweet potatoes, it won't be as good. Boil  3-4 sweet potatoes with the skins on, let them cool and the skins will peel right off). 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine all above ingredients and mix well. Pour into a 2 quart casserole dish. Bake for 30 minutes.

TOPPING:

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 Tbsp melted butter

1/2 cup chopped nuts

Combine and mix well...P.S.- this topping also tastes good without the nuts if you have a nut allergy to deal with like me :)

Spread topping over the baked casserole and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes.

LET ME KNOW IF YOU TRY THE RECIPE!

Have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Love,

Elizabeth

Elizabeth thinks if you call a pie, 'a casserole', it's healthier. I just hope she drops some. Delish.

Mom's Butterscotch Pie Recipe and Ellie's Halloween Costume

If you've been around here long enough, you'll remember that I went on a 21 day diet where you ate categories of foods in different sized boxes. You were allowed plenty of boxes of vegetables a day, but there was a TINY box for fats, including cheese, and you only got one of those a day. I did lose some weight, but really, I ask you, who can live long term with only a tiny box of cheese a day? (If you missed those episodes of fleeting nutritious eating, read Part I here and Part II here).

Most importantly, you know what they didn't even have a box for?

Pie. 

Really.

I can't live in a world without pie. 1) Pie makes me happy. 2) Happy people live longer. 3) There has to be a box for pie, people. And there's no better pie than my mother's butterscotch pie recipe, which obviously will lengthen my life, making me happy and all. 

Seriously. It's the bomb.

I can't give up my mom's recipe without a proper introduction...Some of you may remember I've mentioned my grandmother, MomB, and how she was a character? (If you missed it, read about her here). Well, my mother, Lana, doesn't fall far from the tree in that regard, although she's a character in different ways. She's fun, sassy, and is always on the go. 

Mom and I at a Mother/Daughter Banquet several years back. I know, isn't she pretty?

When I say she's always on the go, I mean it. A few years back I called and said we were coming for a visit for spring break (she lives 12 hours from us). She paused and said, well, that'd be nice, honey, but I'll be in Spain. Most ladies her age are not dropping everything and running off to Spain. I don't have half her energy, but she keeps telling me she's just 29, so what do I know?

However, she does slow down long enough to cook when she's not jet setting off somewhere, and anything she makes is a treat. She is constantly entertaining and this is one of the favorites. Her cousin teases her that he's going to keep her locked up in a closet and only let her out to make this pie. (He's a little sassy, too, haha).

Here is her famous Butterscotch Pie Recipe, a perfect fall dessert. Delicious.

LANA'S BUTTERSCOTCH PIE RECIPE

Ingredients:

3/4 cup light brown sugar
3 tsp. Cornstarch
1/4 tsp. Salt
2 Cups milk
3 beaten eggs
3 tsp. Butter
1 tsp. Vanilla extract.

1 unbaked pie shell

Meringue
3 egg whites
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 tsp. Vanilla extract
6 Tbsp. Sugar

In saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, & salt; gradually stir in milk.  Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture boils & thickens. (Warning, if you don't thicken enough, pie will be runny!) Cook 2 mins. longer.  Remove from heat; in a separate bowl, stir small amount of hot mixture into beaten eggs; return eggs to hot mixture.  Cook 2 mins over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.  Add butter &vanilla.  Cool to room temp. You can pour directly into unbaked pie shell, or I like to bake my shell 10 mins. first, cover edges so it will be crisp.

Meringue: Beat egg whites with cream of tartar & vanilla until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar, beat until stiff.  Layer meringue on top of pie filling and bake at 350 degrees for 12 - 15 minutes.

PIN IT FOR LATER!

Hope y'all enjoy the pie!

Love,

Elizabeth

P.S. I need help choosing Ellie's Halloween costume...I'll show you the choices over the next few posts. Let me know what you think.  Choice #1:

Queen Ellie does have a nice ring to it. 

And I couldn't resist posting a pic of Mom a few years ago on Halloween.

I told you she's a fun gal.  She says this year's costume is a surprise...I'm almost afraid to ask, haha

The Junk Food Junkie Diaries Entry 2, A Recipe and Some Dark Days

IF YOU MISSED Entry One, find it here.

Day 7:

The Junkie is feeling surprisingly like a human. Maybe even feeling amazing! Has decided to be a grown up, just in this eating/exercise department. No more crying, no more pity parties and drinking stress away with Mt. Dew.  

Still loves Mt. Dew.

Has exercised every day and eaten 'clean' in the past week. (Learned that means more than the food was just washed). Ok, the bleu cheese dressing and a fried green tomato smothered in cheese was a stretch (mmm, there's a secret love affair with cheese going on), but otherwise every meal has been whole, non-processed foods, no preservatives, chemicals, etc..

OKAYYYYYYY.  There was one night of pizza and popcorn because it was the weekend, and that's reason enough.  So, keeping' it real, by end of week 1, there were two cheat meals.  Junkie feels no remorse.

The rollerblades have been banned to the basement. No child has been duct-taped anywhere. There is still the desire to do this, however, when the ten year old provides commentary during the workouts, or when tucking in at bedtime, when the kid says, 'Hey, Mom! Your leg looks smaller! Oh, nope, yeah, still just as fat.'

Kid is lucky to be alive. 

The house is clean, the music is playing, Junkie is twirling around like that lady in the Sound of Music and the family has been fed. Even likes them again. Has lost four pounds.  Proof that if a Junkie can do it, so can you. (Or if you are one of those fortunate people who have already have this down because of this fabulous metabolism or already follow this kind of lifestyle, Junkie will put you in the 'Friend I Like But Cannot Sit Next To In A Bathing Suit' category).  You know who you are.

And remember the Beach Body participant, Carolyn?  

Still an overachiever. 

So, Junkie will end this series for now (with updates here and there) and close out with her favorite breakfast recipe.  Because she writes it a week ahead and she already knows that week 2 brings on dark days.  DARK days, my friends.  You know the days,  where you get busy and don't put exercise first so you go to bed at night wondering where the day went.  The days when you attend a woman's conference for the whole weekend and somehow end Saturday night with your face in a delicious bowl of creme du brûlée mousse.  OH MY WORD. DELICIOUS. But she's hanging in there because Monday always comes back around and Monday allows for a fresh start. Week 3 will be awesome! Never give up!

But oh, those Saturday nights can be dark, my friends.   

On to the breakfast:

21 DAY FIX - BROCCOLI CHEESE EGG MUFFINS

INGREDIENTS

• 12 eggs
• Veggies of your choice, I used broccoli, sundried tomatoes and artichokes (diced peppers and onions work, chopped spinach, whatever you have, like an omelet).  There's no right or wrong amount, I believe I used about two green containers full or between 2-3 cups.  If you're splurging a little, crumbled bacon or turkey bacon is good to add as well.
• 1/2 - 1 teaspoon of salt, to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon of pepper
• One cup of shredded cheddar cheese (optional) (A must in Junkie's mind)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Spray 12 cup muffin tin GENEROUSLY.  These muffins will stick in your muffin pan so bad you might just give up and throw the whole pan away. Not that that has ever happened over here.  
3. Saute or steam broccoli until soft and chop sundried tomatoes and artichokes into bite size pieces.
4. Mix all veggies in a large bowl with cheese.  
5. In a separate bowl, whisk the 12 eggs as if you are making scrambled eggs. Pour over veggie mixture and stir.  
6. Fill each muffin tin 3/4 full and bake for 20 minutes or until you can insert a toothpick and it comes out clean.
7. Enjoy!  These lasted around three days in the refrigerator and can be frozen.  Great to make ahead for an on the go breakfast or snack.

For 21 Day Fix: Three muffins = One and 1/2 red, 1/2 green, 1 blue

Pin for later!

Low carb too! 

The Junk Food Junkie Diaries

A PEEP INTO THE LIFE of a Junk Food Junkie who has decided to eat healthy and get fit.  

The Day Before:

Naps instead of making grocery list. (Guys, it's Sunday). Is very grumpy. Is supposed to have groceries to cook in bulk by 6 pm- still has not made the list.

Cries about 5 pm. Overwhelmed at thought of not having french fries for a long time.  Two other family members who are already nice and fit have decided they want to do the program too, so Junkie has to make an additional two other meals to her one.  Food prep up 66%. Or something like that.  Doesn't like math either.

Cries again, blames it on sad episode of Cake Boss.

Finally makes grocery list at 9 pm.  Texts it to oldest son who is out and tell him to get these items so family will at least have enough for breakfast and lunch.  

He brings it.  Junkie wishes she’d just have given him the whole list but knows he would never bring home the right things (he once brought home FAT FREE cheese - NO), so just gave him the basics.  Now still have to go to grocery tomorrow.

Tries to figure out the color coded box system which comes with the Beach Body 21 Day Fix that Junkie has signed up for. Was hoping they'd just send her a new bod with the program. Hates the boxes. No new bod in there. Wants 10 blue boxes, only gets 1.  Blue box gets cheese.  Who can live with only a tiny box of cheese?

Already feeling withdrawals even though had Mt. Dew and Pringles while making the grocery list. Goes to bed feeling ashamed for being so grumpy with family.  While in bed looks at Facebook, sees member of the Beach Body group has started a day early.  Pics of food prep and sweaty selfie after her workout.  Dislike her immediately. Carolyn. Remember that name.

Official Day 1:

Wake up still grouchy and overwhelmed. Tell hubby his usual oatmeal is within the program and he can have that. Hubby looks afraid to talk to Junkie and politely leaves for work.

Must have coffee before making any decisions.  Thank goodness it’s on the program or someone might get hurt.

Day 3: 

Rest of Day 1 and Day 2 a blur.  Slightly remembers feeling like passing out during workouts.  Workouts not helped by 10 year old on roller blades circling around Junkie during the workout video, yelling, ‘Come on, Mom, even the fat lady on TV is doing better than you.’ 

Child may or may not have been duct-taped to the couch.  Who knows, still a blur.

UPDATES TO COME: (dramatic voice) - Will Junk Food Junkie make it through the 21 days??  Will family be fed at all?  Will rollerblading child survive?? Was he actually duct-taped to the couch???)  Stay tuned, there may be another installment in the Junk Food Diaries.  Or Junkie may have quit by tomorrow, in which case, this series is over.

If Elizabeth, er, I mean 'Junkie' continues this diet,  I"m going to Grandma's.