Rice Crispy Treats

Gifts are wrapped........
.....Bags are packed.........
............Treats are Made ......
...................Off to Mommy's House...... :)


The ones in the back are the traditional recipe. I did have a little left over white chocolate from the White Chocolate Strawberries so I drizzled some on top.

The Treats in front are a variation on the Scotchers recipe that was on the box.

You need:

1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup peanut butter
6 cups Rice Crispies
1 pkg butterscotch chips

Melt and dissolve together the syrup and sugar. Remove from heat and add in the peanut butter. Stir until smooth. Measure the Rice Crispies into a large mixing bowl and then pour the mixture over the rice crispies. Stir until evenly mixed. I poured mine into a 9 x 13 inch pan that had been lined with parchment paper. Before they cool, scatter the butterscotch chips over the top and press them in with your hands. The warmth from the hot sugar should melt them to the surface. (my opinion... I could have gone a little easier on the butterscotch)

Fillet with Merlot Sauce

The Fillets:
Prime thick Fillets (we got them at our gourmet-ish grocery named Fresh Market
Grilled on high heat 6 (should have been 7) minutes on each side.

The Garlic Potatoes:
6-8 small red new potatoes halved and boiled
sautee 1-2 tbs of minced garlic in about 3 tbs salted butter
(I added about 3 more tbs butter)
1/3 cup half-and-half
salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste

The Merlot Sauce
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Merlot-Sauce-13609

Our changes.... the sauce was not thickening and the steaks and potatoes were done... so I added some corn starch to about 1/2 cup of the sauce, let this thicken and then add it back into the rest of the sauce.....

Crock Pot Bar-B-Q Beef with Potato Crusted Goat Cheese Tart

It's been long enough that I don't' exatly remember what I did with the meat in the slow cooker. The recipe for the goat cheese carmelized onion potato tart is from epicurious.

Chicken Pot Pie

Filling:
1 package bacon
1 large Potato cubed
1/2 chopped onion
10-15 baby carrots
chicken stock cube and cup of water (or cup of chicken stock)
1.5 pounds chicken breast tenderloin
1 tbs Demi Glace
1 tbs flour
about 1/4 cup milk

Crust:
1 stick salted butter
1/2 Package Cream Cheese
about 1 cup flour

Instructions:
For the crust, soften butter and cream cheese, add in flour to make soft dough. Form into a roll and chill. ( I didn't chill long enough so I ended up kneeding the dough on a floured board until the dough would hold together to be rolled into a top and bottom crust)

Cook bacon in large skillit until crispy. Remove bacon and reserve 2 tbs of the drippings to prepare the filling. In the bacon drippings, sautee onion and cubed potatoes until softened. Add about 1 cup chicken stock, carrots cut into 1/2 inch pieces and chicken defrosted and cubed. Cook on low until chicken is cooked through. Drain stock from chicken and vegetables. Add demi glace, flour, milk and simmer until thickened (I forgot about the milk but I think it would have been better with it.) Add back in the chicken/vegetable mixture and crumble in the bacon.

Half the crust dough. Roll one half into a 10 circle and place into the bottom of the pan. Add filling and top with the other rolled out crust.

Bake in medium oven (about 400 degrees) until crust is golden brown.

Dim Sum (or various fried things of the Asian variety)

From Left to Right:

Spring roll, Wasabi Edamame Dumplings and Pork Dumplings.

The Pork Dumplings

http://sacfoodies.com/2010/01/soup-series-wasabi-dumpling-soup/

I fried my dumplings and left out the soup....

The Wasabi Edamame Dumplings

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rescue-chef/fried-edamame-dumplings-recipe/index.html

The Spring Rolls

• Chopped Green onions
• the remainder of the pork dumpling filling
• a handful each of red and green bell peppers and carrots cut into thin strips.
• bean sprouts
• one serving of Japanese noodles

Spring Rolls

The Apple Egg Roll Pyramid

From after thought designed to use the extra wrappers, this dessert is now apparently a requested addition to a pot luck.

For these egg rolls, the filling is made much like a traditional apple pie filling and then wrapped like a regular egg roll. These were deep fried in olive oil and after draining on paper towels and cooling for about 30 sec. the outside dusting of sugar and cinnamon and sugar was accomplished by shaking each in a ziploc bag of cinnamon and sugar.

This batch was the creation of B. My only additions to the process was helping in peeling the apples (it was just too painful to watch ;) , adding a couple dashes of salt to the cooking apples and dropping the egg rolls into the fryer as B was doing the wrapping.

Beef Roast and Vegetables

So... on the way home, I figured that B- would not want another dinner of hot dogs (yep that is what we had the night before) so I dropped by the grocery store. ... I was thinking... something good that does not take a lot of prep. So, I picked up some Carrots, had potatoes and onions at home and I grabbed a 2 pound beef roast.When I got home I plopped that roast in a baking pan (after cleaning out the last few chess squares that had last been made in the pan) and then started adding the accoutrements. Around the roast I scattered a couple handfuls of baby carrots, about 3/4 chopped onion, a couple small white potatoes cubed and then I poured over the top about 1/2 cup of "italian dressing' I had made up the night before that consisted of 1/3 cup olive oil less than 1/4 cup Oregeno Basalmic Vinegar and some Tomato Onion Seasoning. Over that I poured a cup of warm chicken stock.

I put Aluminium foil over the top and baked it all in a low (325 degree F) oven for a couple hours.

When it was near done, B suggested that we add some of the Demi-Glace (aka. "Meat Jellie") that he had picked up recently at a Williams and Sonoma on a lunch break (on an aside..... must be nice to take more than a 5 min coffee break for lunch)

So we did... add a large tablespoon to the stock that had formed ..... cooked for about 20 more minutes and then served with some texas toast cheesy bread. By then I was on this Kim Crawford Chardonay that is in the pic.