Peanut Butter Fingers

I found this delicious little recipe on In My Kitchen. The author of that blog recounts her childhood memories of having this as part of a Utah school lunch. I am a native Utahn, and don't remember having them for lunch in elementary school (although I do remember some incredible peanut butter cookies, the only peanut cookies I would eat at that point in my life). But they are awfully good.

Warning: this recipe makes a lot of cookie bars. It's baked in a jelly roll pan, which we call a cookie sheet at our house. It's something like 16 x 9. So either make it when you're going to a very large gathering, or plan on having it around for a few days. I made it on Monday of this week (which was spring break), and we still had lingering leftovers by Thursday. It holds up well over time, though, and the kids were in heaven with readily available snacks all week.

Peanut Butter Fingers

3/4 cup butter or margarine

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

Cream these ingredients together and then add:

3/4 cup peanut butter, cream until smooth

Note: We used creamy peanut butter because we had a surplus of it and because the kids prefer chunky on their sandwiches. But I think chunky PB would work great, and would add a little nuttiness to the mix.

Add:

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons vnilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups oats

1 1/2 cups flour

Mix together and pat down into a jellyroll pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Let the cookie substance cool a little, but while it is still warm, spread a think layer of peanut butter over the top. After it has cooled quite a bit, add the frosting on top:

Frosting

6 tablespoons butter

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

4 3/4 cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoon cocoa

1/4 cup milk

Blend frosting until smooth and spread over cookies.

Pasta Cordon Bleu

This recipe came from my friend Amy. I had every intention of taking her a healthy portion to sample, but it was so popular at our house that there was only a little left, and that after I shooed several kids away. This definitely isn't health food, but it's really, really good.

The original recipe called for even more of the good (but not good for you) ingredients. I scaled them back both according to what I had on hand and what seemed reasonable.

Pasta Cordon Bleu

1 pound package penne pasta

6 tablespoons butter

4 crushed garlic cloves

30 ounces chicken broth

3-4 tablespoons cornstarch

3 cups heavy cream

1 chicken breast

1 cup chopped ham

1/2 cup crumbled bacon

6 - 8 sliced fresh mushrooms

2 cups shredded Swiss cheese

Cook pasta. Drain. Saute and brown garlic and butter. Whisk cornstarch with chicken broth and add to pan. Stir until thickened. Add cream, stirring constantly, and heat through; do not boil. Spray a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray. Place noodles, chicken, ham, bacon, green onions, mushrooms, sauce and cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

These aren't the most photogenic baked goods in the universe, but they are easy to make and quite tasty. I started with a recipe from recipezaar.com, a cooking website that I like because it has multiple ways to search and there are often comments from people who have tried the recipe (besides the original poster).

Some of the comments on this recipe noted that the muffins were not particularly lemony. I added more lemon juice along with some lemon zest and was quite pleased with the result.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

2 cups flour

3/4 cup sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons poppy seeds

1 large egg

1 cup milk

1/3 cup cooking oil

6 tablespoons lemon juice

Zest of one lemon

1 tablespoon sugar for the topping

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and poppy seeds; set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix the egg, milk, and cooking oil. Then add the lemon juice and lemon zest. Mix liquids into the dry ingredients. Pour the batter into muffin tins that have either been well greased and floured or that are lined with muffin papers. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins generously with sugar; do not mix in the sugar, as it is what forms the crunchy top.

Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden brown.