Turkey Rice Krispie Pops & Mickey Mouse Pops

Our Turkey Rice Krispie Pops are cute and yummy!

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Today we started the first day of our holiday break. It's so wonderful to sleep in, enjoy a good cup of coffee, read a magazine and blog a little.  For those of you still at work and school, so sorry!  I will try not to rub it in, since this is the first year we have actually enjoyed such a long Thanksgiving break.

Hopefully this will mean a few extra entries on the blog since I know everyone is already planning their holiday menu and grocery shopping, too!  This weekend I had a little help making these fun Rice Krispie Pops.  You can find the original recipe on the Kellogg's blog but I've included it here along with a few pointers that might help you as we figured out along the way.

Our messy little Mickeys taste delicious!

We also made a few into Mickey Mouse Rice Krispie Pops for our little 2 year old neighbor next door who loves anything Mickey.  These were a little messier to make and came out a little more "home-made" looking.  So, if kids are helping, turkeys are super easy and Mickeys, not so much!

Turkey Rice Krispie Pops

3 tablespoons butter or margarine

1 package (10 oz., about 40) regular marshmallows

6 cups Kellogg's® Rice Krispies® cereal

1 package (12 oz., 2 cups) semi-sweet chocolate morsels

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 1/3 cups candy corn

48 small white candies

24 lollipop sticks or wooden ice cream sticks

In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.  Add Kellogg's Rice Kripies cereal. Stir until well coated.  Using 1/4-cup measuring cup coated with cooking spray divide warm cereal mixture into 24 portions. Using buttered hands shape each portion into ball. Cool. (We stuck each ball in the freezer for a few minutes because the warm chocolate seemed to make the balls fall apart unless they were really cold.)

In microwave-safe bowl combine chocolate morsels and oil. Microwave on high for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes or until smooth, stirring every 30 seconds. Dip each ball into chocolate, allowing excess to drip off. (We waited until the chocolate was set before we added the candy corn feathers and beak and the candy eyes.  Trust me on this one.  Super messy if you don't wait and super easy if you do!) 

Decorate with candy corn for tail feathers and beak. Add candies for eyes. Let stand until firm. Insert lollipop stick into each. Best if served the same day, but we think they still tasted great the next day.

Mickey Mouse Pops

3 tablespoons butter or margarine

1 package (10 oz., about 40) regular marshmallows

6 cups Kellogg's® Rice Krispies®cereal

1 package (12 oz., 2 cups)semi-sweet chocolate morsels

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

4 ounces white chocolate

red sprinkles

yellow icing

24 lollipop sticks or wooden ice cream sticks

In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat. Add Kellogg's Rice Kripies cereal. Stir until well coated. Using 1/4-cup measuring cup coated with cooking spray divide warm cereal mixture into 24 portions. Using buttered hands shape each portion into ball. Cool.  Next, take 48 mini marshmallows and attach two on either side of each ball.  We pinched a little off the of the long side of each marshmallow to make it flat and sticky. 

Put the marshmallow Rice Krispies balls into the freezer for about 5 minutes to set and harden.  In microwave-safe bowl combine chocolate morsels and oil. Microwave on high for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes or until smooth, stirring every 30 seconds. Dip each marshmallow-eared ball entirely into chocolate, allowing excess to drip off.  Let stand until firm.

Melt 4 ounces of  white chocolate in the top of a double boiler, stirring constantly.   Dip the Mickey's about 1/3 of the way down and then roll in red sprinkles.  With yellow icing draw on Mickey's buttons on the back of his red sprinkled "pants."  Let harden and then insert lollipop stick into each one!

Welcome Back S'more Bars

Welcome Back!

I went away for awhile...and I don't even have one big reason.  I have a million small reasons.  Three of them are not that small anymore ...they are growing bigger every day.  Those big feet and growing hands have busy schedules, sports practices, piano lessons, school projects.  Then add in my ever growing responsibilities... homeroom mom, job, homemaker extraordinaire (my family would be rolling eyes at this point) and the blog has gone from active, to occasional, to non-existent in recent months.

My apologies.  I hope a few of you out there remember me and the little cooking blog that could. 

Beyond all the activity that keeps me rushing from one place to another, I have just been in a resting place.  One of those times when you reevaluate all the ways you spend that precious commodity called time.  I am not always thrifty with those precious minutes, the ticking off of the past that propels you into the future.  I am the ultimate "fly by the seat of your pants" girl, which comes in handy when your child tells you the night before a project is due or someone needs six dozen of something delicious whipped up by tomorrow afternoon.  In these moments, I am your girl! Making something out of nothing really gets my adrenalin going!

However, those important goals that take planning and perseverance and plodding... Sigh! I am working on these attributes, learning from others who are better at it, who naturally make a choice, day-by-day and work and follow through, and emerge on the other side with something wonderful. 

So, I decided to slow down a bit.  Evidence in my life revealed itself.  That monster "Busy-ness" had taken over the family.  You know him, don't you?  Surely you've met him, too, at some point.  If I describe him, I'm sure you'll recognize him... the barring teeth ready to gobble up all your time, the strong arms that keep pushing you out the door to the next important something, the oh-so loud voice that drowns out solitude and quiet.  You know him, too?  He is very strong!  And on occasion, he quiets his loud voice to whisper into my ear.  "Everyone else is doing it."  "You will miss out."  "Your kids will fall behind."  "You don't have time to stop and think." "GO, GO, GO!"

Sigh.  But another voice has been whispering to me as well.  That still small voice.  Oh what a precious voice, so sweet, so beautiful...full of goodness and truth.  Telling me to,

"Be still and know that I am God." 

Be Still.  Be......still.   B...e.......s...t....i...l...l...

I do see the irony.  We are heading into the BUSIEST time of the year.  He is asking me to be still..NOW?  Absurd!  Unbelievable!  Impossible!

"With God, all things are possible."

OK, I will open my hands a little, loosen the grip I have on all the things, people, activities, self-made plans.  I will try to give them up to Him.  What He gives back is far greater, anyway.

So, the question becomes, "What stays and what goes?"  I have a suspicion that it can't all stay.  I don't really have the answer yet.  But asking the question is a start.  And I am sure about one thing.  I will never find the answer if I do not listen.

"Be still and know that I am God."

Why am I sharing??  Because I want to be a blessing to you.  I do NOT want to overwhelm.  Or heap more pressure. Or add guilt.   That monster is big enough without adding to his power.  I do want to add a few ideas and recipes over the holidays, fun crafts, treats for kids, yummy recipes.  I would like to encourage you to spend time with your family, or make something homemade together.  The trick is to pick ONE thing or maybe TWO... and let the other things go! 

Join me in some stillness this holiday season.  And if you see me at Target, running around like a mad woman with tinsel in my hair, you have my permission to reprimand me! :) 

It has been A LONG TIME... so here's a yummy treat that's easy to make.  I hope you have time to sit and enjoy them with the family!

Baby girl helping in the kitchen!

S'more Bars

1 cup butter, softened
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2-2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 packages of HERSHEY’S Milk Chocolate Bars
6 cups miniature marshmallows

Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until well blended. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt; add to butter mixture, beating until well blended.

Press a little more than half of dough in a prepared 9" x 13" pan. Reserve remaining dough. Bake 10 minutes.  I reduced the amount of time from the original recipe because it is easy for the cookies to become overdone.

After removing from oven, arrange large chocolate bars over baked layer, breaking as needed to fit. Sprinkle with marshmallows; scatter bits of remaining dough over marshmallows, forming top layer.
Bake 10 to 15 more minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars.  Wonderful to eat when warm and gooey.