Special CEREAL Bars

I think I first had these at some R.S. doing many, MANY years ago, but they remind me most of our daughter Paula and the 'maker/baker' she is when visiting here, or the other way around. ♥

Heat until mixture begins to boil:
1 cup light corn syrup (Karo)  I like the corn syrup that is NOT the "high fructose" variety.
1 cup white granulated sugar

Remove from heat, and stir in:
1 and 1/2 cups chunky peanut butter (I like the 'natural' kind)
2 teaspoons vanilla

Add the above mixture to:
6 cups of Rice Krispie (or Special K) cereal, and stir carefully so as NOT to break the cereal into "crumbs".

Pat this into a buttered 9x13" pan.  Cool. 
Enjoy them 'as is', or top with the following:

CHOCOLATE 'FROSTING' (optional):
Melt together 1/2 bag of semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips and 1/2 bag of butterscotch chips.  Mix well and spread onto bars.  Let chocolate frosting cool/harden BEFORE cutting.

Whole Wheat, Flax, Oat Groats, Pumpkin Muffins

I like these!

As usual, I had to mess around with the original recipe a little bit.  Why?  Because.  Good enough reason?   Maybe not.  Okay,... later on, I'll explain the changes I made and tell why. 

Below:  I penned in some

of the changes I made...

 I increased the amount of spices and vanilla mainly 

because I upped the amount of pumpkin I used.

I don't drink coffee, but, I bought and used a small 

$20.00 electric coffee grinder for grinding the 

flax seed AND the oat groats.  It only grinds about 3 

tablespoons at a time, but it's so quick 

and it does a PERFECT job!

Quantity:  24

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 and 1/2 cups whole wheat flour.
• 3/4 cup ground flax seed (this is the amount AFTER grinding).
• 3/4 cup ground oat groats (this is the amount AFTER grinding). The original recipe asked for 3/4 c. oat bran, but mine was gone.
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed (I used dark brown).
• 2 teaspoons baking soda.
• 1 teaspoon baking powder (I prefer the aluminum-free kind).
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon.
• 3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice.
• 1 of 15-oz. can of canned pumpkin  (I almost doubled the original amount by using the whole can, because I didn't want to have 1/2 can of pumpkin left over).
• 3/4 cup whole milk (original recipe asked for skim milk).
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce.
• 2 large eggs, slightly beaten.
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract.
• 1 cup chopped pecans.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400-degrees (F)
2. Set cupcake liners into two muffin pans (12 holes each).
3. Very lightly spray the inside of the liners.  Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, ground flax seed, ground oat groats, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice.
5. In a separate bowl combine the pumpkin, milk, applesauce, eggs, and vanilla.  Whisk together until well combined.
6. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold together with a rubber/silicone-type spatula until just smoothly mixed.  (Once the flour mixture is introduced, you don't want to over-mix this!)
7. Gently stir in the chopped pecans
8. Fill each sprayed liner about 2/3 full (I like to use a cookie scooper for this-- it makes each the same size, and it's less messy.)
9. Put into the oven at 400-degrees for only 5 minutes.  Then, lower the temperature to 350-degrees and bake for another 15 minutes-- check for doneness with a toothpick at about 12 minutes after the heat is reduced.   If it has "dough" on it, bake for another couple of minutes-- re-check after each 2 minutes.  (With my oven, these muffins were done after the stated time of 5 + 15 minutes.)

Recipe adapted from:  Alaina at http://fabtasticeats.com/2013/10/24/whole-wheat-flax-bran-pumpkin-muffins/

Hamburger . Noodle . Crescent Roll Casserole*

Making something from what I already had-- that was my goal.   I had a pound of thawed ground beef, onion, creamed corn, tomato soup, Parmesan cheese, elbow macaroni, and a tube of crescent rolls.  This is quite a bit like what my mother would make during my young years.  I liked it then, and,... I like it now!  Since this was a recipe I'd "met" in the distant past, I was surprised to find an almost identical posting of it-- a posting by Dianne Clew in June of 2003.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 lb. lean ground beef
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 of 15-oz. can creamed corn
• 1 of 10-oz. can tomato soup, undiluted (you could probably use a different "favorite" soup)
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 and 1/2 cups uncooked macaroni noodles, cooked according to directions
• Desired seasonings, according to your taste.
• 6 slices of American cheese
• 1 of 8-oz. tube of Crescent rolls  (or a 12-oz. tube of small-type refrigerated biscuits)

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a heavy skillet, brown beef with onion.
2. Add creamed corn, the soup of your choice, and grated Parmesan cheese.
3. Simmer for about 15 minutes, while cooking macaroni.
4. Add cooked macaroni to the meat/onion/soup/cheese mixture.
5. Season to taste.
6. Pour into a greased or sprayed casserole dish.  (I used one that is considered to be 2.5 quart in size.  Check photos at the bottom to see this baked in a 9x13" dish.)
7. Top with slices of American cheese.
8. IF using Crescent rolls,  do not unroll them.  Instead, with a sharp knife, cut the UNrolled roll into about 14-15 slices like you would do for making a cinnamon roll. Place slices on top of the cheese slices.   (The reason I said to use a sharp knife for this is so that the roll won't be squashed down during the cutting process.  Sometimes, I've even used a thread for cutting things like this.)  IF you are using a tube of biscuits, just cut them in half to cover top of mixture.
9. Bake at 350-degrees F. until the Crescent rolls or biscuits are browned to your liking.   I think it took me about 20 minutes to get them as shown in the photos.  (Check your own oven to see how this time might vary for you.)  I took mine out of the oven when it looked like this...

The sauce mixture was lightly bubbling in 

the openings between the rolls...

This was well-liked...

* IF you prefer to bake this in a 9x13 pan or glass dish, go ahead and do it like I did the second time through.  To make this work, I just increased the amount of American cheese slices FROM six TO eight.  Also, I cut the unrolled tube of Crescent rolls into 24 of only 1/4" slices to end up with enough to make six rows of four on the top of this larger surface...just like this...

The baking time for the 9x13" was about 

18 minutes.   Bake according to YOUR oven.