Peanut Butter Chex Mix

LeRoy's absolute favorite snack. He has loved this from his first Christmas with my family in 1990 (mom makes it every year for Christmas). He makes it for every Super Bowl, Thanksgiving, Christmas and any other occasion that he can think of. He makes it so often that I had never actually made it until October when I made it as a Halloween surprise for him (that's when I took this picture). I haven't made it since because he always beats me to it.

2 cups corn chex

2 cups rice chex

2 cups rice crispies

1 cup sugar

1 cup corn syrup

1 cup peanut butter

Mix all the cereal in a large bowl and set aside.

Bring the sugar and corn syrup to a boil. Remove from heat and add peanut butter. Pour over cereal and mix together. They can be formed into "cookies" (as pictured above) or eaten straight out of the bowl (which is how LeRoy likes it). Keep in airtight container to maintain gooey-ness.

Popcorn Balls

One of my favorite childhood traditions was having carmel popcorn almost every Sunday. The only thing greater than that is the side order of homemade fudge that came with it and the games we played while eating. Silly me, I haven't taught my daughter to make a whole lot of meals but she can whip out carmel popcorn in no time.

1 cube butter
1 cup corn syrup*
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups brown sugar
1 can sweetened condensed milk
10 quarts popped popcorn** (approx)

In a saucepan over medium heat bring butter, sugar and corn syrup to a boil. Add the milk and bring to another boil. boil to softball stage (just barely softball if you like it to still be gooey after a few hours). Remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour over popcorn.

If forming into balls be sure not to press them tight together - this makes them hard to pull apart or eat. Our family likes to just get bowls of it or to eat it out of the mixing bowl. . . we're to impatient to make balls.

* I use 1/3 cup molasses and 2/3 cup corn syrup. I reminds me more of the popcorn we had growing up and gives it a little more carmel flavor

** We like to mix corn chex with the popcorn to give a little crunch to it

Veggie Tortilla Pizza

This is my 'disgusting, healthy" version of pizza. Thank you for your opinion kids!

Keep in mind that all of these toppings are optional, these are just the ones that I use. The day that I took this picture I didn't have any olives or pineapple opened so it may look a little plain, but the color and flavor of this pizza is one of my favorite ways to eat veggies.

Tortilla(s)

Pizza Sauce

Zucchini

Canadian Bacon (if I have it on hand)

Peppers (green and red are my favorite)

Onion

Pineapple

Olives

Cheese

Put tortilla(s) on a baking sheet and spread sauce on top. Layer your favorite combination of toppings, ending with cheese.

Bake at 375 for about 15 minutes or until veggies are cooked to your preference.

The easiest way I have found to eat these is to fold them in half, use a knife and fork and eat away!

Derek's English Muffin Pizza

After Derek went to scout camp he tried to convince all of us how great these pizza's were. We were all a little skeptical based on his description of them but when he volunteered to make dinner one night I let him have at it. They were so yummy and I'm not a pizza fan. Making these is easier with the large Canadian Bacon slices and they are a little thicker and yummier but as you can see from our picture we used the small ones this time - the store was out of the big ones. It can be a little tricky to flip over but it still worked and tasted yummy.

english muffins (1 muffin =2 pizzas)

pizza sauce

pepperoni rounds

large canadian bacon rounds (as big as the muffin)

cheese

optional toppings (pineapple, olives, onion, peppers)

*cut open the muffin and spread both sides with pizza sauce, add the pepperoni rounds, cheese and any other toppings you want, then. . . add the large canadian bacon round last.

*in a hot pan sprayed with pan spray (you can also use the pancake grill if you are making alot of them) set your muffin pizza in to cook with the muffin on the pan. After 2-3 minutes, carefully turn the pizza over and cook on the canadian bacon side for about 2 minutes until lightly grilled.

Applebee's Grilled Club Sandwich

This is LeRoy's all time favorite sandwich so when I found the copycat recipe online and made it at home it became the most overused recipe of all time. He loves them hot off the grill, cold the next day and as many times as I will make them. We all enjoy them, but not as much as LeRoy. Since having them at our house Mom and Kara have also adopted this wonderful recipe, much to the tummy-satisfaction of Dad and James.


thick slices of bread (Texas Toast works best)
softened butter
mayonnaise
grated cheese
turkey slices
ham slices
cooked bacon
tomato slices (completely optional)
Bullseye barbecue sauce

*Heat pancake grill when you have all of your items ready to go . . this is a fast paced put together so the bread doesn't burn.

*Butter the bread on one side, the other side with mayo and have them all stacked and ready to go. Put all of your lunch meat on a plate and warm for about 35 seconds so that it isn't cold when you build the sandwich.

*Once you are ready, place 1/2 of the bread slices on the grill - butter side down, mayo up - and quickly layer cheese, 1 slice ham, 1 slice turkey, bbq sauce, bacon, tomato, 1 slice ham, 1 slice turkey, cheese and top with mayo side down piece of bread. Carefully flip sandwich over to brown other side.

**The picture shown above is without tomato and only 1 slice of each kind of meat.

**I'm not picky about the lunchmeat quantity. If I'm making enough sandwiches for the whole family or guests I use a little less (only 1 slice ham, 1 slice turkey)because they can get expensive. Also if you only have 1 kind of lunchmeat, it still tastes great with that.

Basically, this is a very flexible sandwich. However, we have tried it with regular breads and it isn't near as good - the Texas Toast makes a big difference.

Kiwi Cooler

A hint for always having fruit on hand for smoothies is to buy it at Sam's Club/Costco in bulk and freeze it. This is especially great for strawberries, pineapple and kiwi. Just peel the kiwi and pineapple and slice them in about 1/2 inch slices, place in large freezer bag and they will be great to toss in for smoothies. Even banana can be frozen, just peel and stick in a bag.

Here is one of our favorite smoothies.

1 (4-5 frozen slices) kiwi
1/2 banana
1 cup (5-6) frozen strawberries
1 cup (1 sliced ring) fresh pineapple
1 cup water
1 cup ice cubes

*If your fruit is frozen you can omit the ice cubes
*These measurements are flexible (since it is hard to measure a frozen pineapple round) and it works well to just use this combination.

Strawberries Wild (Jamba Copycat)

* Makes about 3 cups *

1 cup apple juice

1 cup frozen strawberries

1 frozen banana

1 cup vanilla frozen yogurt

ice to thicken if desired

Pour the apple juice in the blender. Add the strawberries, bananas, frozen yogurt and ice cubes. Blend until smooth with a thick consistency.

Tortilla Roll Ups

Ok - to be honest, this one is only approved by Erika and I. It must look to girly or not be heavy enough for the guys in our family. Erika and I started making these last year (2007) when we were doing homeschool together and they became our traditional lunch. They are also great for travel. Oh yummy!



Ingredients:
tortilla (we like the tomato basil and the garden spinach the best)
vegetable cream cheese
lunch meat (turkey is our favorite)
thin slices of cheese (we like pepperjack and colby jack)
lettuce
tomato (I like, Erika doesn't)
green or red peppers (or both)

Lightly spread some cream cheese over the tortilla. Layer the toppings and roll together tightly. If you roll it tight it is easier to cut into slices which make a beautiful display for a 'girly' activity (bunco, bookgroup, baby shower, enrichment).

A great substitute for the boring sandwich!