M&M Dessert Bars

Author: Mysidia

When I was younger, my mother tried her hardest to get me to learn how to cook. I hated the notion. I fought her tooth and nail, believe it or not. Somewhere in my mind, I knew that if I learned, I would be doing it all the time and adding to my already growing chore list.

She was a crafty one, however. (Who's mom wasn't/isn't, though?) When we went food shopping, she would only buy so many snacks to nibble on during the week. If we (my two brothers and I) blew through them in a day or two, we either didn't have snacks or I would have to learn how to bake or cook.

There was a method to her madness...

One of the first things I learned how to bake, came out of a box. Pillsbury had a box mix simply titled “M&M Bars”. I gotta tell ya, if you under-cooked them just a bit, and left them “mushy” in the middle of the pan, it was heaven. Oooey, gooey, mushy heaven.

And then, of course, like all things you learn to love, the company discontinued making it. I'm not saying I was completely heartbroken, but bummed would be an accurate description.

Now I'm older, have children of my own, and absolutely LOVE to cook and bake. (Thanks, Momma!) And since we live in the “Age of Information”, off to the internet I went to locate if Pillsbury made it in another country, or if I could find a suitable substitute.

Several food blogs had thrown around the recipe below and I decided to take the plunge. While although it's not completely identical to the heavenly bars I remember from my youth, they are a decent replacement. They are easy to make and I found that even my oldest could help me “decorate” the top of the bars with M&M's. A great summer activity to keep those little hands busy!

This particular recipe I decided to use from http://fantasticfamilyfavorites.blogspot.com/2011/06/thick-and-chewy-m-cookie-bars.html and just add peanut butter M&M's where noted.

You will need:
9x13 pan

Tinfoil (optional)

2 1/8 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
12 TBSPs butter (1 1/2 sticks), melted and cooled slightly (gotta use the real stuff, no substitutions or it won't come out right.)
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 tsps vanilla extract
1 12oz bag M&M's, divided (I used half a bag of peanut butter and a half a bag of regular chocolate)

1. Preheat oven to 325. The recipe calls for you to line a 9x13 inch baking pan with foil, but if you have a decent cooking spray, just spray your pan real good and you won't have to worry about the foil.
2. Mix flour, salt, and baking soda in a separate bowl and set aside.
3. Whisk the melted butter and sugars in a large bowl. I placed these in my mixer and put it on the lowest setting. Worked just as well.
4. Add the egg and the egg yolk you previously separated, along with the vanilla and mix well.
5. If you've mixed in a mixer, remove and begin folding in the dry ingredients. The batter will be stiff. (Think cookie dough without the chocolate chips.)
6. Fold in 1 cup of M&M's (I used peanut butter M&Ms for inside the batter) and spread evenly in your prepared pan.
7. Sprinkle the remaining M&M's on top. My son got a kick out of “Decorating” the pan with them.
8. Bake until the top of the bars are a golden brown. For my oven, it was about 25 minutes. Since I like mine slightly under-cooked, if you want it completely cooked through, 27-30 should be sufficient.
9. Completely cool before cutting into desired sized squares.
   
   
   
   
   

All in all, I was happy with this recipe. It's as close to the box mix as I have found. I remember the box mix being slightly denser in texture but I'm sure I can play around with the recipe and find my “happy medium”.

Coming up next: Slow Cooked Baked Beans....

Jesus' Chicken and Pasta Dish

Author: Mysidia

Greetings, fellow amateur cooks! If you've wandered onto this blog, it's because you either know me or my “twin” in person, you've Googled a recipe and it brought you here, or you're a lot like me (mother of multiple children and 0 time to fuss.)

I should probably state it here that I “TRY” to cook healthy. But, much like the rest of the populous, I cook on a tight budget. So many of my dishes are with regular meat, regular eggs, and regular veggies. I don't behoove anyone who cooks all organic, GMO free, free range, who are vegans/vegetarian, Paleo, or any other such foodie group that I've failed to mention. I don't behoove anyone wanting to better their health or their lives. If it works for you, more power to you. But until you buy my food and feed my family, this is how I cook. So if that bothers you, kindly click that “X” in your upper right hand corner and move about your day.

And before you ask, yes, I have read up enough about why I should switch to one thing or another. I have 3 small kids (5yr old, 4yr old, and a 3yr old) and have to feed my mother and grandmother along with the rest of my family at my dinner table. So yeah, it's not an excuse, it's a way of life for me.

As a child growing up, we didn't have a lot of money so a lot of the dishes I will be posting can be made on a tight budget. We had to learn how to make things last and how to keep the bellies full while keeping on that said budget.

The other night, I made the dish below. I had to make 4 boned chicken breasts into a meal that fed 7, since my brother in law also came to dinner. I call this “Jesus Cooking” and because of the story of Jesus taking a small amount of fish and a few loaves of bread, feeding several thousand people, this dish is going to be appropriately called “Jesus' Chicken & Pasta.”

A lot of what I make is trial by fire, but that's when I make my best dishes.

You Will Need:

1 box of your favorite pasta (I used tri colored.)

1 bottle of Garlic Herb Marinade (I got the generic.)

1 box of Chicken Broth. (If you've made your own, you will need 4cups of broth.)

2 tablespoons of EVOO

2 packages of frozen mixed veggies. (Feel free to use your own. Not everyone likes what's in that veggie mix.)

2 tubs of concentrated stock. (You can use 4 cubes of chicken bullion.)

Minced Onion (dried or fresh cut up)

Mrs Dash Table Blend

Curry Powder

Minced Garlic (unless you use your own. You will need 4 tablespoons worth.)

1 packet of powder gravy. (I used Mushroom simply because I didn't have any chicken packets left. Either or will work.)

4 boneless chicken breasts. (For this recipe, I only had 4. Feel free to add more if necessary.)

And my secret ingredient.... (in the lower left hand of the picture.)I use this in a LOT of my cooking, and I absolutely ADORE it. It's simply called “Smoked Sea Salt” and it's made by Auntie Arwen (http://auntiearwenspices.blogspot.com/ ). She is a small business owner that makes all her own herbs and spices. This lovely ingredient brings several levels of flavor to the table and a little dash will do ya. It's POTENT, bringing a level of smokey to any dish, that you'd swear you were around a campfire. For this dish, I used two decent sized pinches.

You will need two large pots, as well.

OPTIONAL: which did not make it into this dish

Cracked Peppercorns

Cayenne Pepper

My husband loves spicy food, but my grandmother can't handle the level of heat that he appreciates. I usually keep both on the table and he adds accordingly as per his palette.

1. If you got boneless chicken breasts, simply cut them up into ½ an inch to 1 inch cubes and place in the pot with 2 tablespoons the EVOO to brown. If you didn't get boneless, you will need to debone and skin them yourself.
   
   
   
   
   
2. If you're using dried minced onions, add a handful or two to 4 oz of water to rehydrate them. Set aside. I find that if you add dried minced onions, they end up burning into little black chips. If you're using real onions, add them to your browned chicken in this step.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Add a ¼ cup of the Garlic Herb Marinade to a ¼ cup of the chicken broth. Add both to the browned chicken.
4. Season the chicken with Mrs Dash and Curry to taste. If you are using cracked peppercorns and Cayenne Pepper, add them in this step. Give it a good stirring to blend everything evenly.
5. Reduce heat to a low simmer. Add your minced garlic and your rehydrated onions.
6. Add your frozen veggies and let the mixture simmer marrying everything together.
7. In a large pot, add the remainder of your chicken broth with the tubs of concentrated chicken stock. Add water until desired level. Set heat on high until it boils as you will be boiling your pasta in this stock/broth water. Cook pasta to desired tenderness and remove from heat to strain. Save 1 cup of this heated mixture (2 if you're cooking two gravy packets.)
8. Add the cup of the boiling broth/stock mixture to your powdered gravy and make according to the instructions on the packet.
9. Once gravy is cooked, add your pasta and gravy to the cooked chicken and veggie pot.
10. Give a hearty stir and mix everything evenly. Serve piping hot.
    
    
    

I have what I call “good eaters”, meaning they usually eat more than the suggested serving size. This entire meal will feed 7 – 8 “Good Eaters”.

Refrigerate leftovers. I found this dish tasting awesome the next day.  

As for the quality of the pictures, my camera phone isn't the best. It's the easiest to take pictures with when I do my step by step instructions. 

Next Recipe: M&M Dessert Bars....