1 cup peanut butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
48 mil chocolate candy stars or other sold milk chocolate candy

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or leave ungreased. Combine peanut butter, sugar and egg in medium bowl until blended and smooth.

shape dough into 48 balls about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Place 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Press one chocolate star on top of each cookie. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until set. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes 4 dozen cookies.

You can also make Peanut Butter Crisscross Cookies with the same ingredients:

Prepare dough and shape cookies as directed above, omitting chocolate stars. Dip fork into granulated sugar; press crisscross fashion into each cookie, flattening to 1/2 inch thickness. Bake as directed above.

Crumb Mixture:

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped salted nuts

Filling:

3/4 cup caramel ice cream topping
1/2 salted peanuts
1/2 cup miniature marshmallows
1/2 cup mil chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. For crumb mixture, in small mixer bowl, combine flour, graham cracker crumbs, sugar, butter and salt. Beat at low speed, scraping bowl often until mixture is crumbly 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in nuts. Reserve 3/4 cup crumb mixture. Press remaining crumb mixture into bottom of a greased and floured 9 inch square baking pan. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until golden.

For filling, spread caramel topping over hot crust. Sprinkle remaining filling ingredients over top. Crumble 3/4 cup reserved crumb mixture over top. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until marshmallow just start to brown. Cool on rack about 30 minutes. Cover; refrigerate 2 hours or until firm. Cut into bars.

Makes about 30 bars.

I think I found a more appropriate theme for my blog. Since it’s mostly recipes and some tips I thought something with food on it. I had gotten one with cookies on it but when I uploaded it to my blog it said it was missing the template. I wrote to the author but never received a reply. So I went and found a different theme.

Regular tips and recipe posts will resume soon. I’m getting a new computer tomorrow and hubby goes in for surgery on Wednesday.

Sorry for the lack of posts. Andi leaves on Thursday for Iraq. I will get back to posting again soon!

This is another of my grandmom’s recipes.

1 egg yolk
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 cup walnuts - chopped
1/2 cup pitted dates
White Icing

Blend together in mixing bowl: egg yolk, brown sugar and molasses. Mix well. Blend in sour cream. Sift flour, soda, baking powder, salt and ginger together, and blend into egg yolk mixture. Now blend in nuts and dates.

Spread in a lightly greased oblong pan (8 1/4 x 12 1/4 inch). Bake 15 minutes in a hot oven (400 degrees). As soon as removed from the oven cut into bars about 1″ by 2″, leaving them in the pan to cool. When cool, spread White Icing over the whole sheet of bars. Then while the icing is still soft but not “runny”, remove the bars from the pan with a broad spatula. (The icing will become stiff, with a dry finish as it stands). Makes about 48 bars.

White Icing

1 egg white
1 cup confectioners sugar
dash of salt
1/4 tsp lemon extract

Beat egg white until stiff but not dry. Gradually add confectioners sugar, salt and lemon extract. Continue beating until smooth and glossy.

NOTE: This icing should be “runny” when spread on cookies. Do not add more sugar to it to make it thicker. Icing on cookies stiffens as it stands and has a nice smooth dry finish over top.

One of my grandmom’s recipes.

Stuffed Meat Loaf

1 1/2 lbs ground round beef
1 egg, slightly beaten
3/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup fine dry bread crumbs
1/3 cup undiluted evaporated milk
1/4 cup chili sauce
1 1/2 tsps salt
1/8 tsp pepper
Bread Stuffing (Recipe below)

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine beef, egg, onion, bread crumbs, evaporated milk, chili sauce, salt and pepper. Di9vide in half and spread half in bottom of a greased 8 3/8 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 inch loaf pan. spoon Bread Stuffing over mat. Top with the remaining meat. Bake 1 hour and 20 minutes. Invert on serving plate and cut into slices. Serves 6 to 8.

Bread Stuffing

1/3 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
3/4 cup chopped celery
4 cups soft bread crumbs
2 tbsps chopped parsley
1/4 tsp dried oregano leaves
1/4 tsp dried basil leaves
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

Melt butter in skillet. Add onion and celery and cook over moderate heat until tender. Combine onion mixture with remaining ingredients.

Remove hair spray buildup from mirrors and counter tops with straight rubbing alcohol.

Use an all-purpose cleaner to clean hairspray off of your floor. If the buildup is bad, you may need to clean the floor with this cleaner more than once. What I would do is spray the cleaner on the floor and go off and do something else for a few minutes. When I came back the hairspray would be dissolved/softened enough to wipe it up easily.

As you use your curling iron hair spray will build up on your iron. Since it is an electrical appliance do not attempt to clean it while it is plugged in.

Once the curling iron has been unplugged and is cool you can clean off your iron with a damp rag.

If you can’t quite get it all, or it is being stubborn, grab a bottle of rubbing alcohol and dab some on your rag.

This should clean the rest of the hairspray off without much effort.

I’m sorry for the lack of posts. My daughter is on her way home from Iraq for R&R. I will try to post soon. I just can’t think to post much of anything right now lol.