No Bake Peanut Butter Drop Cookies

Awhile back I received a free booklet in the mail from Karo. I always send away for these free booklets because sometimes they have the best recipes and this was one of those times.

I've always liked rice krispies treats and these are sorta like them but different.

I, of course, changed up the recipe slightly. I added some peanuts to the recipe and I also used rice chex instead of corn chex cereal.No Bake Peanut Butter Drop Cookies

6 cups rice or corn chex cereal (I also bought the generic brand)
1 cup Karo Light Corn Syrup
1 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups creamy peanut butter. I used a little crunchy peanut butter to make the 1 1/4 cups.
2/3 cup milk chocolate chips

Pour cereal into a bowl and set aside.

Stir corn syrup and sugar together in a large sauce pan over med/high heat until dissolved and boiling. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter until creamy. Add chocolate chips and stir until chips are melted.

Pour mixture over cereal and mix until all pieces are coated.

Drop by heaping spoonful onto waxed paper. I placed them in the fridge for 5 minutes to set up.

Store in an airtight container.

Enjoy.

Rolo Pretzel Turtles

Today I tried a recipe that I saw in a magazine and it seemed simple enough, with little that could possibly go wrong...just my kind of recipe.

Bag of Rolos
Bag of small salted pretzels
Pecan halves (I ran out of pecans so I made some with walnut halves, cashews, and peanuts)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees


Place tin foil on a cookie sheet (I tried parchment paper and the tin foil worked better). Lay out pretzels then place an unwrapped Rolo on top. Put cookie tray in the oven for no more than 5 minutes. Do not let the Rolos get too soft.

Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and place the nuts on top. I found that I barely had to squish (technical term) them because the weight of the nut made it sink into the chocolate and caramel.

I also made some with peanuts placed on the pretzels first, then a Rolo. After I removed them from the oven, I added 2 or 3 more peanuts to the top.
The recipe called for you to let them cool for 1 hour before storing but I found they were still kind of soft after 1 hour. I remedied this by putting them in the fridge for 5 minutes. This seemed to do the trick and I was then able to place them in a sealed container without them sticking to one another.

Very tasty. Next time though, I would sprinkle with coarse sea salt while the Rolos were still soft but tasty none the least. I preferred the salted pecans the best.

For a twist...the next time I am going to cut a date in half (lengthwise), then place a Rolo on top. Place in oven for 5 minutes. Then top with a pecan. If I decide to get out of my pajamas tomorrow...I'll go to the store and get some more pecans and then try this recipe.

Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

What's spring without strawberries?

I found this recipe on a design blog called Southern Hospitality. It's an great tasting easy recipe that uses a box cake mix as the start for a tasty moist treat.

I followed the recipe for the cake portion but tweaked the frosting recipe just a tad.

Cake Recipe

1 box white cake mix
1 3 oz box of strawberry jello
1/2C water
3 T flour
1/2C oil
1C chopped strawberries
4 eggs

Preheat oven 350 degrees.

Combine in a large bowl cake mix, flour, jello (dry) mix ingredients. Add water and oil mixing on medium speed. Add 1 egg at a time to the mixture. Mix well. Fold in strawberries until well blended into mixture.

Pour mixture into a greased 9X13 cake dish. Bake for 45 minutes. Remove and cool cake.
Frosting Recipe

1 stick of butter (room temperature)
1 8oz cream cheese (room temperature)
1C strawberries chopped and sweetened (smash with a fork, let sit in fridge for 1 hour so that a syrup forms)
powdered sugar (I used about 2C, use enough to thicken frosting but do not make frosting stiff)Frost cake. This will make a lot of frosting that is why I cut back on the powder sugar and used no more 2 cups. Originally the recipe called for 5-7 cups. I wanted the strawberry/cream cheese flavor to come through and did not want it to be overly sweet. Place frosted cake in refrigerator so that the frosting can set up before cutting.

Fluffy Strawberry Meringue Pie

This recipe was demonstrated at the Taste of Home Cooking School that my sister and I attended. It's a rather unique recipe that uses odd ingredients to obtain delicious results.

The pie is great the way it was demonstrated but I am going to tweak this recipe the next time I make it. I'll blog about it when I do.

Fluffy Strawberry Meringue Pie

3 egg whites
1/4 t cream of tartar
1 C sugar
1/2 C crushed saltines (about 12 crackers)
1/2 C chopped pecans
1 t vanilla extract
2 pints fresh strawberries
4 cups of miniature marshmallows
1 carton of frozen whipped topping (thawed)

In a bowl, beat 3 egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar, mix on high until stiff glossy peaks form. Fold in crackers, pecans, and vanilla.

Spread onto the bottom and up the sides of a greased 10 inch deep dish pie plate. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until meringue is slightly brown. Cool.

Set aside two strawberries for garnish. Slice half of the strawberries, set aside. In a bowl, mash the remaining strawberries.

In a sauce pan combine marshmallows and smashed strawberries. Cook over low heat until marshmallows are melted. Place in refrigerator until partially set.

Fold the sliced strawberries and whipped topping into the marshmallow mixture. Spoon into meringue shell. Garnish with sliced strawberries. Refrigerate for 3 hours or until set.

Place all leftovers in refrigerator.

Orange Teriyaki Beef

This past Thursday my sister and I attended the Taste of Home Cooking School in Midland, Michigan. One of the recipes that the instructor, Dana, demonstrated was Orange Teriyaki Beef. I prepared this dish tonight and was it delicious.
My photograph does not do it justice.

FYI An alternative variation might be to add pea pods (steam before adding) before serving.

Orange Teriyaki Beef

2 T flour
1 Oven bag large size
1/2 C orange juice (I squeezed 2 large oranges)
1/2 C teriyaki sauce (I used low sodium sauce)
1/4 C firmly packed brown sugar
3 garlic cloves minced (I used 1 t freeze dried garlic)
1 t grated orange peel
1/2 t crushed red pepper (I omitted this)
2 lbs beef top round roast 1 inch thick (this is a cheap cut, I paid 5 bucks for 1.75 lbs)
Hot cooked rice
1/4 C chopped green onions for garnish

Shake flour in oven bag. Place in a 13x9 baking dish. Add orange juice, teriyaki sauce, brown sugar, garlic, orange peel, and crushed red pepper into oven bag. Squeeze bag to blend ingredients. Add beef to bag. Turn bag to coat beef.

Close oven bag with nylon tie. Marinate in fridge for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 325. Cut slits in top of oven bag.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until thermometer reads 145. Thinly slice beef. Stir sauce. Serve with sauce over rice. Garnish with green onions.

This was the second Taste of Home Cooking School that my sister and I have attended. The cost is 10 bucks. Not only do you get a gift bag but you might be lucky enough to win one of the many door prizes. My sister and I did not win a thing!!! But the cooking demonstration is well worth the time and $$$$.

Free Jiffy Recipe Booklet

I love these little recipe booklets that are put out by food manufacturers. Jiffy products are manufactured here in Michigan and their corn bread mix is a favorite here at 'The Gear'.You can get a FREE updated Jiffy Recipe book by going HERE and requesting one.

Angel Food Cake with Apricots & Raspberries

This is a cake that was featured on the Katie Brown TV show. I tweaked it a bit and rather than use a store bought angel food cake (the horror!) I used my favorite angel food cake recipe and omitted and added certain items. This cake recipe could also be changed slightly by using different fresh fruits.

What I really liked about this cake is that it is light and tastes great after a large heavy meal.
Bake cake according to recipe. Once the cake is completely cooled, cut the cake into 3 layers using a long serrated knife.

Spread pudding mixture onto the bottom layer. Place fresh raspberries and apricot slices about 1 inch apart centered on the layer. Repeat this for the next layer.

The top layer is assembled using the same method except you omit the apricot slices and use sliced almonds around each fresh raspberry.

Keep cake chilled in the refrigerator.

Angel Food Cake Recipe

1 C sifted cake flour

1 1/2 C sugar
1 1/2 C egg whites (10-12 medium size eggs)
1/4 t salt
1 1/2 t cream of tartar
1/2 t almond extract
1 1/2 t vanilla extract

Sift flour and 3/4 C of sugar together. Beat egg whites with salt and cream of tartar in large bowl using high speed setting on mixer, until light and fluffy. Sprinkle remaining 3/4 C sugar over egg whites, 2 T at a tine, beating thoroughly after each addition. Continue beating until stiff peaks form. Fold in extracts. Sift dry ingredients, 2 T at a time, over beaten egg whites. Fold in gently but thoroughly with a wire whip or rubber spatula. I cut a piece of wax paper exactly the size of the bottom of pan. Place in pan before pouring batter into pan. Pour batter into ungreased tube pan. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 40 to 50 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cracks are dry. Invert pan immediately. Cool cake in upside down pan for 1 hour.

After the cake is cool, place pan right side up. Run a knife between the cake and pan to make removal easier. Place plate on top of pan and invert the pan and plate. Lift the outer pan from the cake leaving the tube part and cake. Place a knife between wax paper and pan bottom loosening the cake. The cake should fall onto the plate with the wax paper still attached. Peel the wax paper from the cake.

Pudding Filling

1box of instant vanilla pudding mix
1 3/4 C of cold milk
1/2 small container of Cool Whip

Mix together pudding mix and 1 3/4 C cold milk. Mix thoroughly and let stand for 2 minutes. After 2 minutes the pudding should be thick. Add the Cool Whip, mixing thoroughly. Place in refrigerator for two minutes to aid in thickening. Use for filling after 2 minutes.