Tag Archives: Everyday

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cup Crispy Treats

This is a great easy-to-make recipe—a fancy version of those classic rice cereal treats! If you like peanuts, these bars have both peanut butter and peanuts in them. And they’re topped with a yummy mixture of semi-sweet chocolate and peanut butter chips, plus peanut butter cups…you can’t go wrong with that! 🙂 This recipe is adapted from one I found at Kraft. The chocolate topping layer in my version is nice and thick, but if you’d rather have a thinner layer of chocolate, just use half the amount of chocolate and peanut butter chips.

Continue reading →

Easy Pea Soup with Ham or Bacon

13 Replies

I like Split Pea Soup but have never made it before. I was looking through a little soup cookbook I had called Soup Gourmet and found an easy recipe I thought I’d try. I made my version thicker because I like thick and hearty soups. I like this soup because, in addition to peas, it has lots of other good-for-you veggies in it–carrots, onion, and celery. And you can add ham or bacon if you want, or make it without any meat.

After looking at some other recipes, I decided I would try garnishing this with croutons and feta, and I’m so glad I tried that out–I really liked it! The feta cheese gives a nice zing to the soup, and the crispy croutons make a nice touch, too. Serve this soup with a salad and some crusty bread–it makes a great lunch or dinner during the cold winter months!

EASY PEA SOUP WITH HAM OR BACON by NancyC, adapted from Soup Gourmet

Makes 4-6 servings

2 (16-ounce) packages frozen peas, thawed (or you can use 2 (16-oz.) cans of peas)

1 (14.5-ounce) can chicken or vegetable broth (this is a thick soup, so if you’d like it to be thinner, add an extra 1/2 to 1 cup of broth)

1 1/2 cups boiled ham or cooked bacon, diced (if you’d like this to be meatless, leave out the ham or bacon)

1 cup carrots, finely diced or grated

1 cup yellow onion, finely diced

2 celery stalks, thinly sliced

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

additional seasonings to taste, if desired

croutons for garnish, optional

crumbled feta cheese for garnish, optional.

Place peas and broth in blender or food processor and puree until smooth (the peas and broth will fill your blender almost to the top, so you can blend them half the amount at a time, if you prefer–you’ll need to do this, too, if you are adding extra broth to make a thinner soup).

Transfer blended mixture to a large pot. Add ham or bacon, carrots, onion, and celery. Bring to a boil and simmer 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Halfway through cooking, add salt and pepper, and additional seasonings, if desired.

Serve hot in soup bowls or cups and garnish with croutons and crumbled feta cheese, if desired.

I really like it served with the croutons and feta cheese–they add an extra special touch to the soup! Have you tried any new soup recipes lately?

Easy Cheesy Salsa Potatoes

7 Replies

I had some extra salsa after making Salsa Roll-Ups, so I decided to look for another recipe using salsa, and found these Easy Cheesy Salsa Potatoes from the Pillsbury website. I made a few simple changes, using green onion instead of regular onion, shredded Fiesta/Mexican blend cheese instead of cheddar, and a little more bread crumbs in my topping to make it more crumbly. If you don’t have bread crumbs, you could substitute crushed corn flakes or crushed French Fried Onions. Continue reading →

Lentil Soup with Chard And Lemon from The Essential James Beard Cookbook

14 Replies

Influential American chef and food writer James Beard wrote over 21 books during the course of his career. Known as “The Dean of American Cooking,” he helped educate and mentor countless professional chefs. He died in 1985, but left a strong legacy in the food world with his innovative recipes and culinary excellence. And now there’s a recently published collection of his best recipes– The Essential James Beard Cookbook: 450 Recipes that Shaped the Tradition of American Cooking. I received a review copy and wanted to share a really delicious soup recipe I tried from this book–Lentil Soup with Chard and Lemon. You can substitute spinach for the Swiss chard, which is what I did, and I also added extra garlic to the recipe since I’m such a garlic-lover! It’s a fabulous soup–and it’s so healthy, too! I love the lemon flavor combined with with lentils, onion, and garlic. If a simple soup recipe from this book is so good, can you imagine how great the other recipes must be?

I do have to say, though, that I think one of the reasons the soup was so great was because I used some very high quality olive oil from California Olive Ranch. They generously supplied me with several bottles so I could experiment with some recipes. They offer a great selection of olive oils that come in wonderful glass bottles, which I’m saving to use as vases after the olive oil is all gone! And I read that the distinct green California Olive Ranch bottle actually keeps their premium extra virgin olive oil fresh longer–another plus!

Here’s the soup recipe so you can try it yourself!

LENTIL SOUP WITH CHARD (or Spinach) AND LEMON from The Essential James Beard Cookbook

Makes 6 servings

A rather different, Syrian version of lentil soup, tartened by lemon juice, that is also delicious served cold. Serve with crusty French or Italian bread.

1 1/2 cups lentils

2 1/2 pounds Swiss chard or spinach (I used baby spinach leaves)

1/2 cup olive oil

3 to 4 garlic cloves ( I used 6 cloves)

Kosher salt

3/4 cup chopped yellow onion

1 celery rib, chopped

3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 teaspoon all-purpose flour (I used unbleached flour)

Put the lentils in a large saucepan, cover with cold water, and simmer, covered, until tender–between 30 and 45 minutes, depending upon processing; taste to see when done. Wash and chop the chard or spinach, and add to the lentils with 1 cup water. Cook until the chard (or spinach) is wilted.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a skillet. Crush the garlic with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Saute the onion, celery, and garlic until soft, then add to the lentils. Mix the lemon juice and flour and stir into the soup. Simmer, stirring, until the soup thickens slightly. Taste and correct seasoning. serve in soup bowls, with crusty French or Italian bread.

I love lentil soup, and this is such a nice change from the lentil soup I usually make! Are you a lentil soup lover too?

Dark Chocolate-Toffee Magic Cookie Bars

17 Replies

If you’ve never made Magic Cookie Bars, you really need to try them! The original Magic Cookie Bars recipe is from Eagle Brand®, a classic and well-loved recipe, and I decided to try making them with dark chocolate chips and toffee bits. These are really rich and yummy, and they’re so easy to make! They are also very addictive. I gave some to my friend Alisa and she said she couldn’t stop eating them! 🙂 This recipe makes a nice big 9×13″ panful, so there’s plenty for sharing!

DARK CHOCOLATE–TOFFEE MAGIC COOKIE BARS by NancyC, adapted from Eagle Brand®

Makes a 9×13″ pan

1/2 cup butter (1 stick), melted

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (you’ll need about 8 to 8 1/2 whole crackers)

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 (10-ounce) bag, or 1 3/4 cups. dark chocolate chips (or substitute a 12-ounce bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips, which is equivalent to 2 cups)

1 1/3 cups (or a 3 1/2-ounce can) sweetened flaked coconut

2/3 cup Heath® English Toffee Bits (also called Bits ‘O Brickle Toffee Bits)

1 cup chopped pecans (or substitute walnuts)

Preheat oven to 350˚F (or 325˚F if using a glass baking dish). Grease or spray a 9×13″ baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Combine graham cracker crumbs and butter. Press evenly into a thin layer in bottom of greased or sprayed pan (see below, left photo).

Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumb mixture. Layer evenly with chocolate chips, coconut, toffee bits, and nuts. Press all ingredients down firmly and evenly in pan with a fork (see above, right photo).

Bake 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool, then cut into bars. Store covered at room temperature.

For perfectly cut cookie bars, here’s a tip from Eagle Brand®: Line the entire pan with foil, extending foil over edge of pan (or you could use parchment paper). Coat lightly with no-stick cooking spray. After bars have baked and cooled, lift up with edges of foil to remove from pan. Cut into individual bars.

Here are some other variations you can make on Magic Cookie Bars:

7-Layer Magic Cookie Bars: Substitute 1 cup (6-oz.) of the following: butterscotch flavored chips, peanut butter flavored chips or white chocolate chips, for 1 cup of the dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Magic Peanut Cookie Bars: Substitute 2 cups (about 3/4 lb.) chocolate-covered peanuts for the dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips and chopped nuts.

Magic Rainbow Cookie Bars: Substitute 2 cups plain M & M’s for the dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Other Ideas: You can also substitute the chocolate chips or nuts with dried cranberries, raisins or mini-marshmallows.