Pioneer Woman's Spreads

For the last couple weeks, possibly even months, I can't seem to get enough sugar/chocolate into my system. I could eat sweets non-stop!

The other day I asked Jesse to bring me home a Twix candy bar. I couldn't take it anymore - I just needed it! He brought me home a whole box of them!!! I was so excited and then thought... wait, this could be dangerous! I should set a rule that I can't eat all of these in one day! Well... they lasted a week! I felt good about that! : )

Now I am back to no more sweets in the house and going crazy again. I go to the grocery store and avoid the sweet isle (which is really hard with Valentines candy galore) because I am afraid my cart would heap with sugar and no real food. So I bought - fruit and yogurt instead. Ha! That lasted 2 days of fulfilling my sugar/sweet need. Although I did find this yogurt that was vanilla flavored and I got to mix in a crushed up Heath candy bar! Yum! You gotta try those!

I came up with this brainy idea to take a club cracker, smear creamy peanut butter on top of it, and then top it off with Hershey chocolate syrup. Oh my! That really worked!

Then I was reading this blog/website and came across these and just had to have them immediately!!! Problem!! I don't have brown sugar and I am at home without a vehicle! You want to know what I did... I made my own!! Yup! I did!! I took white sugar and a little molasses and mixed and wa-la brown sugar!!!!! I'm not even kidding! I was desperate!!! I swear that is all that brown sugar is... right?

Oh!! Then I was softening my margarine in the microwave... with the wrapper on it. All of sudden I hear a big zap and see a big light flash in the microwave. What the heck!?! I opened up the door and saw sizzle marks on the wrapper. Apparently it never crossed my mind that... um... the wrapper was aluminum!!! Sheesh! This is why I leave the baking to my mom and sister!!! It is a whole other language that apparently I don't speak!

These were the easiest bars to make and it is just like a chocolate chip cookie without all the work! And my homemade brown sugar... you can't even tell! At first I'll admit I tasted the batter and went, WOW that tastes a little too much like molasses. I tossed it into the oven anyways and said a little prayer that they would magically taste different when they were done. They did!!! Now I have a batch of bars/cookies to hold me over for a few days! So worth it!

If you want to see the recipe with lots of picture you can go here. Otherwise here is the basic breakdown...

Pioneer Woman's Spreads
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup margarine
1 egg
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 to 8 ounces chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

First mix together your brown sugar and margarine. Next, add egg and mix together. Now add flour, salt, and vanilla, and mix together well.

Spread the dough onto a cookie sheet to a thickness of 1/4 to 1/2-inch.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until slightly brown.

Sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over the top. Return to oven for 1 minute. Remove from the oven and spread the melted chips evenly over the top.

Finally, cut into squares.

thepioneerwoman.com

Taco Soup

I had a super bowl party at my house this year. I was feeling in the mood to cook a bunch of random stuff and eat until my heart was content. What better way to do that then to have a bunch of people over and have them eat with me! It worked! : )

A couple of the guys had a bowl of it and they were making the Hmmm sound and my Dad couldn't take it anymore he had to have his own bowl to see if it was worth all the Hmmms he was hearing. It was!

Oh and I made everything the day before and just let it simmer on the stove top and people could dish up when they wanted. Soup/Chili always taste better the next day anyways!

Taco Soup
2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 pounds ground beef sirloin
Salt and black pepper
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup hot sauce, any kind you like
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 1/2 quarts beef stock
4 scallions, chopped
2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup green olives with pimento, chopped (this sounded gross to me - so I left these out)
3 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 cup corn tortilla chips, crushed

Heat a medium soup pot over medium-high heat with EVOO. When oil is hot, add beef and season with salt, black pepper, chili powder and cumin.

Brown the meat for 5 minutes, breaking it up into small pieces with the back of a wooden spoon. Add the garlic, onion, peppers and the bay leaf, and cook for 7-8 minutes until tender. Add the hot sauce and tomato paste, and cook for another 3-4 mintues. Stir in stock, bring to a bubble, reduce heat and cook for 10-15 minutes.

In a medium-size mixing bowl, combine the scallions, cilatro, olives and tomatoes. Serve this mixture on top of the bowl of soup along with a handful of crushed tortilla chips.

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