National Peanut Festival Day-Amy's Way!

Peanuts, peanut butter, peanut oil... We tend to avoid them all. My little guy is allergic so really we just try to stay away. Every once in a while I will make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or eat peanut butter with my banana, and he wont come within 10 feet of me... "it smells horrible". Oh I am so glad he doesn't know what he is missing out on! Its pretty funny because like Kim, if I don't want to share, all I have to do is make sure there is peanut in it somewhere... peanut butter cups, peanut butter cookies, peanut butter M&Ms... as a Mom, you know there are the times you don't want to share!

So anyway, today I decided to makeup a recipe combining a couple of ideas... I'm sure there is a recipe out there that is similar, but I didn't go out looking and I didn't run across it in the last week. So  here they are:

Peanut Butter Pretzel Brownies!

My mom makes this jello pretzel salad that has a pretzel crust that I love. Its filled with sugar, butter and pretzels... Goodness! So I did that as my crust. Add some peanut butter, your favorite brownie recipe (or box mix) a little more peanut butter, and WaLa!

Pretzel Crust
2 cups cosely chopped, smashed, broken pretzels
1 1/2 sticks of butter
4-5 tsps. sugar

Melt your butter, mix in the sugar, and then add the crushed pretzels. Mix and dump into 9x13. Spread to cover the bottom and then bake at 400 for 8-10 minutes.

While the crust in in the oven baking, mix up the brownie mix and set aside. If you have time... now is a good time to do those dishes that I HATE! Pull the crust out of the oven and let cool for just a minute. I melted my peanut butter. You may use as much or as little as you would like. I drizzled the peanut butter over the hot pretzel crust and then poured the brownie mix over top and drizzled a little more. Pop in the oven and bake according to brownie directions and ......... ENJOY!!!

National Peanut Festival Day- Stacy's Way

I love me some peanuts and I love me some peanut butter! Don't know if ya'll have noticed the huge spike in the cost of peanut butter, something about flooding then droughts, supply demand. Blah, blah, cha-ching, cha-ching $$. Anyway, stumbled across this delightful little snack (and great way to stretch peanut butter) about a month ago when I used it as frosting on an ice cream cake I made for my husband's birthday. Started thinking about all the yummy things I could use it as a dip for! Apples, pretzels, celery, graham crackers, bananas... the possibilities are truly endless! In my opinion, pretty guiltless too! Here it is:

Cool Whip Peanut Butter Dip/Frosting 

*2 heaping tablespoon fulls of peanut butter
  1 8oz. container of Cool Whip

Thaw Cool Whip and add peanut butter. Stir until well combined. Dip your favorite treats and enjoy!


*Adjust amount until desired ratio is reached


Notes:

• As mentioned above this also can replace any whipped cream frosting for things such as ice cream cake or angel food cake!
• Tastes a lot more peanut buttery with the pretzels
• Add chocolate chips or chopped peanut butter cups for an extra special treat (no longer guiltless)

National Peanut Festival Day - Kim's Way

When I think of peanuts, I am reminded of the way my dad would crack unsalted peanuts from their shells… and that silly song I sang as a kid, “A peanut sat on a railroad track, his heart was all a-flutter.  Around the bend came Number 10, toot, toot, peanut butter!”  Ah, nothing like a little nut to inspire memories, right?

When it comes to nuts, the people in my family just aren’t fans!  Peanut butter must be creamy, and I can’t put nuts in anything I bake – unless I want to eat it all myself.  In fact, the little one, detected that I used crunchy peanut butter in these magical bars.  (What else am I supposed to do with the jar of crunch peanut butter that I bought by accident?)

So, in honor of National Peanut Festival, I had to make something that starred peanuts in their nut butter form – not whole or chopped.  Today is Jeremy’s birthday, so after searching for recipes that I’d like to try, I let him pick from my top choices.  Let me say, he picked well!  Thank you Pinch of Yum for this recipe.  These layered bars, include a delicious peanut butter cookie, with scattered chocolate chips and oats to make them hardy, with a fluffy cheesecake layer contained in the middle!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars

 ½ cup butter, softened

½ cup sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

½ cup peanut butter

1 egg

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt (I left this out because I use salted butter)

½ cup oats

½ cup chocolate chips (original recipe called for 2 cups, but I wanted the peanut butter flavor to be most prominent)

8 ounces cream cheese

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg

½ teaspoon vanilla

Click here for recipe instructions.  (I recommend crumbling remaining cookie dough on top of the cheesecake layer instead of rolling out the dough.  I pulled it out of the oven too soon because it was hard to tell if the cheesecake layer was set in the middle.  Also, leave the foil on for 25 minutes, then remove for remaining baking time.  I had to bake longer than recommended and this will help keep from over-browning.)

These bars were a super delicious!  A perfect combination of the best baking ingredients!

National Pancake Day - Amy's Way

So since it is still fair season, I thought I would do something kind of fair-like... Churro Pancakes.
Ok so they are super simple and according to my growing son, they are Super GOOD! So good, he had them for breakfast and requested them again for dinner tonight. 

So my inspiration came from Pinterest.... DUH.  I got it here!
I was trying to be creative with my pancakes, and the juices just weren't flowing... I think my brain has too much going on at the moment, so I turned to my handy dandy friend, Pinterest. I know I can always count on her. So much good advice to offer. So thank you Penny (Pinterest)... 
Introducing......


 CHURRO PANCAKES!

So I do have to say..... I went the super simple way... Its call Krusteaz! and on some of the blogs that I looked at they actually fried the pancakes in butter and cinnamon sugar. I on the other hand... just buttered both sides and sprinkled away! No extra frying here.

So whip up a quick batch of pancakes, butter and sprinkle away.... wah-lah!

National Pancake Day - Kim's Way

I have a really good basic pancake recipe.  I make it all the time.  It seems to me that in honor of National Pancake Day, we ought to have something more than basic pancakes, right?  And so I thought of all sorts of great pancakes I have made in the past:  pumpkin pancakes, banana pancakes, butter pecan pancakes... but then I remembered this pin, and decided I would try something I haven't made before.  It seemed perfect to make ahead and have ready - each person gets what they like with little extra effort.

Kim's Pancakes
(I don't remember where I got this recipe, and I have tweaked it a couple of times since then.) 

1 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 heaping tablespoon sugar 
1 teaspoon cinnamon (omitted when making bites)
1 teaspoon vanilla (omitted when making bites)
1 1/4 cups milk
2 eggs
3 tablespoons melted butter

Whisk the dry ingredients together, add wet ingredients and stir until most of the lumps are gone.  (Heat a griddle or frying pan, melt a little butter on it or spray with cooking spray or oil, and pour pancakes.  Brown both sides.)


To make the bites - pour pancake batter into greased mini muffin pans, filling 2/3 full, top with crumbled sausage, chopped bacon, chocolate chips, granola, fruit, etc.  Bake at 350 degrees for 13-14 minutes.  Dump out of muffin pans and enjoy with syrup!

Confession:  The pancake bites didn't wow me - or the family at all.  Bummer!

Here's the thing - they just seemed like muffins - kinda bland muffins.  Zach thinks it's weird to have syrup on sausage (not my kid), so he ate his dry.  Natalie liked dipping her chocolate chip pancake muffins in syrup.  Jeremy missed out on breakfast today.  I thought they were just ok... nothing to rave over - and certainly not anything blog worthy, especially not Rival worthy.  

So, after making 2 pans of mini pancake bites, I added a few things to the remaining batter... some cinnamon, pecans and coconut, and made some tasty pancakes for myself!

**Hey, did anyone else notice I served Natalie on a paper plate and myself on my dishes?!?  I wasn't planning on using that picture of her.  :)

National Pancake Day- Stacy's way

Seeing as how National Pancake Day falls in the midst of fall harvest season I thought it fitting to mix apples with pancakes. I found the perfect recipe HERE. Happy fall and happy National Pancake Day! I call these...

Flip'n Amazing Apple Ring Pancakes

   1 C. favorite pancake mix 
        (I used Krusteaz)
   1 egg
1/2 C. Milk
   1 tsp. pumpkin pie seasoning
   2 medium apples 
     (I like Honey Crisp) cored

Combine pancake mix, egg, milk, pumpkin pie seasoning, mix with electric mixer until all ingredients are well mixed. Slice apples into 1/8 in. slices. Using a toothpick, dip apple slices and place on hot greased griddle. Cook until golden and flip. Continue cooking until other side is golden. Serve with warm syrup of your choice. 

Notes

• The original recipe also has a recipe for apple cider syrup. The maple syrup with the apple and pumpkin pie spice gave it a delicious fall flavor!  
• My dad used to spread a nice layer of peanut butter on top of his pancakes... I think these would be perfect for that!!
  
  

International Banana Festival Day- Stacy's way

One banana, two banana, three banana, POUR!!! I LOVE bananas. Chips, oatmeal, cookies, bread, COCKTAILS, you name it, if it's banana flavored I can almost guarantee you I will like it. What could be a more fun way to celebrate at a festival or party that to have a special drink or cocktail?? So for National Banana Festival Day I put a banana spin on a classic and turned a White Russian into a:

Banana Russian

2 oz. Banana Rum

1 oz. Kahlua 

1 oz. Heavy Cream 

Ice

Combine all ingredients in cocktail shaker. Shake well, pour and enjoy.

*Garnish rim of glass with chocolate syrup and a slice of banana. or a strawberry for an ice cream sundae spin!