Happy Halloween! - Reeses Smores Bars

I've had my eyes on this tasty treat for sometime now but was waiting for a good opportunity to make it without poisoning my husband who is allergic to peanuts.  Tragic, I know.  They were amazingly delicious, as could only be expected from such good ingredients.

1/2 C butter, softened
1/2 C  brown sugar
1/4 C sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 C graham cracker crumbs
16 peanut butter cups, regular size
1 1/2 C marshmallow fluff - good luck trying to measure this.  I just eyeballed it

Beat butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add egg and vanilla, beat well.  With the mixer on low, stir in the flour, baking powder, salt, and graham cracker crumbs until mixed.

Press 2/3 of the dough into the bottom of an 8x8 baking dish lined with parchment paper.  Press the peanut butter cups into the dough, then spread marshmallow fluff on top.  Press the remaining dough on a non-stick surface into the shape of an 8x8 square (I used my silpat mat for baking cookies).  Flip the dough square over ontop of the marshmallow fluff and peal off of mat.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until the edges just start to brown.  Cool bars for 2 hours to set.  Lift parchment paper out of pan and cut into squares.  Enjoy!


Thanks The Sweet Life for such a delicious recipe!

And finally, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

The dragon, the princess, and her knight in shining armor.  Isaac thought the sword was sooo funnny.  I'll try to put up a video of him giggling hysterically at being poked with the sword.

Tina looking sullen wearing her Halloween pumpkin.

And finally, our Halloween tree.  I was crafty, I know this is shocking.  And ask Geoff, I was so proud of my Halloween tree.

Bombay Coconut Stir Fry

Reading through this recipe, I was a little concerned that it would be too spicy so I was a little conservative on the spices.  This was a mistake.  The food was delicious but FAR from too spicy.  When I make it again, I will use the full amount of spices called for, perhaps even a little extra.  My favorite part of the recipe was the mustard seeds.  I loved the little bit of crunch they gave the dish.

A little Chicken or shrimp
Salt and Pepper
1 1/2 C onion, diced
1 1/2 Tbsp curry powder
1 Tbsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp cinnamon
dash ground red pepper
1 C frozen peas and carrots
1 can light coconut milk
2 C rice
1 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

For the coconut rice:  Combine rice, coconut milk, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1 3/4 C water in a large pan.  Bring to a boil, stirring the bottom of the pan occasionally.  Reduce heat and simmer with a tight lid for 15-20 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed (stirring the bottom occasionally to avoid sticking).  Remove from heat and let sit covered for 5 minutes.  Rice can stay warm and fluffy for up to 1 hour if left covered.

Salt and pepper chicken or shrimp.  Brown in a little bit of olive oil, turning once.  Remove from pan.

Over medium heat, heat additional swirl of olive oil (if needed).  Add onions and cook 2 minutes.  Add salt, pepper, curry, mustard seeds, cinnamon, and red pepper.  Add 1 1/3 water and peas and carrots.  Bring to a boil.  Cover and simmer for 4 minutes, reducing heat as needed.  Return meat to the pan and cook 1 additional minute.  Serve with rice and garnish with cilantro.

And now, we are long overdo for pictures from baby's trip to Austin, TX, where the natives don't mess around with football.  I'm pretty sure the whole town closed down during the football game and it was illegal to wear any color other than burnt orange.

We took Brewster to the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory.  It was awesome.  We watched ice cream being made, sampled dozens of flavors, and then we each got a dish of our favorite.  Baby was the star of the show.  We held him up to the windows to see down into the factory and workers waved and stopped working to see the cute little monster. (Why a monster, you ask?  Because of his innate ability to destroy.)

We gave baby his first ever ice cream (first dessert, for that matter).  It would be a crime to take him to  blue bell and not let him try some of their creamy goodness.  We gave him peach ice cream and daddy snuck him a few bites of his chocolate.

Here we are at the state capital.  Does visiting make us real Texans?

And finally, the whole reason for the trip to Austin:  seeing the bats.  Austin has the largest urban colony of bats living under this bridge and every night they fly out at dusk.  You have to get there an hour in advanced to have a decent spot to sit.  So we let the wild wiggle boy wiggle around while we waited for the bats.  No pictures of the bats, I'm afraid, it was too dark for our camera to get anything besides blackness.