Chocolate and Butterscotch Blondies with Creamy Maple Sauce

I'm a little bit excited to share this recipe with you...ok, a lot bit excited! We had some fabulous friends over for dinner Saturday night and I "invented" this recipe for them. Then we made them again today. In my opinion they were JUST AS GOOD the second time around! If you're more of a brownies person than blondies person...I did double the chocolate chip amount compared to the amount I originally added...so there's your chocolate. And I kid you not...there were moans of yummy goodness when I served these! I don't know if it was the blondies that received the moans or the luscious sauce....do NOT skip the sauce!

CHOCOLATE AND BUTTERSCOTCH BLONDIES WITH CREAMY MAPLE SAUCE

BLONDIES
1/3 cup butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
2 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup butterscotch chips
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

Heat oven to 350. Brown butter in sauce pan -- if you're new to this, basically melt the butter over medium heat then continue to cook for 5 - 7 minutes. Keep an eye on it and remove it as soon as it gets golden brown. Allow to cool. Butter an 8X8 pan.
In a medium mixing bowl combine butter, sugar, and vanilla. Beat in eggs until everything is smooth. Stir in baking powder and flour until just mixed. Now for the chips and nuts...mix until well combined.
Spread into the pan and bake 25 minutes. It can be slightly under-cooked. Because let's be honest, it's better that way!

CREAMY MAPLE SAUCE
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup cream cheese
2/3 cup powdered sugar
3 Tbl Real maple syrup

Cream all the ingredients in a mixing bowl until light and creamy. Microwave for 1 1/2 - 2 minutes and pour over blondies or pretty much anything...you'll be glad you did!

ENJOY!

Warmly,
Mary

Cheesy Sausage Dip

Today I made something a little special. Why? Oh, because there was a football game on. And it was Sunday. And I didn't feel like cooking. And I didn't want to eat salad. And because my family likes it. And well...because I wanted to and I'm the momma and what I say goes! I love being the momma!

There wasn't a Husker game, but showing my Husker Spirit!

CHEESY SAUSAGE DIP
1 lb sausage (or ground beef), browned and grease drained
1 lb Velveeta cheese, cut in cubes
4 oz cream cheese, cut in cubes
1 can Rotel Tomatoes
optional - can green chiles

Tortilla Chips for dipping

Set the slow cooker on low. Add sausage, cheese, cream cheese and tomatoes. Cover and stir periodically until melted and mixed well. Serve!

Enjoy!

Warmly,
Mary

Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers

No story...no prelude...just an awesome super simple recipe with pictures! Happy Friday! :)

BACON WRAPPED JALAPENO POPPERS
15 Jalapeno's
8 oz pkg cream cheese, room temp
2 green onions, sliced, just the green tops
1lb thick slice bacon


Cut each pepper in half, lengthwise. And we like it spicy, so we leave the seeds inside, but if you don't like it hot, so ahead and remove the seeds and the white membranes inside the peppers. HINT #1 When handling the jalapeno's you probably want to wear rubber gloves or if you don't have any, put your hands in a couple plastic baggies.
Mix together the cream cheese and green onions. Scoop into each pepper half. HINT #2 I put the cream cheese mixture into a baggie and pipe it into the peppers.
Cut each piece of bacon into thirds and wrap each pepper. HINT #3 the Thick Sliced Bacon that we buy has 10 slices, I just cut through the whole slab of bacon twice to get 30 even pieces. HINT #4 I wrap the bacon so that the end piece will be on the under side when it bakes it won't curl up.
Heat grill on low or oven on 350. Grill or bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until the bacon is done to your likeness. HINT #5 We cook on the grill outside...the oils from the peppers get in the air and can burn your eyes and even hurt to breathe if you cook them inside.


Enjoy!

Warmly,
Mary

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Did I ever proclaim my love for football to you? Particularly Big Red Football...Nebraska Football! Really any football will do, but nothing compares to the love and dedication of the team that you've been watching since you were a tiny little girl. I have 3 brothers and my dad and I remember many days growing up with the game on. And if you're not from Nebraska then I don't think you'd understand, but to be honest, that's about all we have here. There are no pro-teams, so we put all our time and energy and enthusiasm in backing up the legacy that we have in the Huskers! And if you've never been to a game...oh, you're missing out! Even if you're not a fan of football...it's an experience! Over 100,000 people downtown wearing red. The sea of RED! Nearly 90,000 fans in the stadium! We've had more consecutive sell outs than any other team. Friends of ours who played college ball for Michigan, Virginia Tech, and Colorado have all said that there is nothing like playing at Memorial Stadium, even as the opposing team! I have to agree...it's quite the experience. Did I tell you that in my Senior Book from High school I was named as "most likely to marry an NFL player". I kid you not! I just ran across that book the other day! Funny! Anyway, our season is over but there's still a little NFL action going on and to gear up for the Super Bowl I'm going to share with you some of our favorite Football Snacks, first up Buffalo Chicken Dip.

BUFFALO CHICKEN DIP

1 lb chicken breast, cooked and shredded or chopped
1 pkg cream cheese
1 8 oz pkg sour cream
1 5oz pkg blue cheese crumbles
1/2 cup hot sauce, I use Franks
1/2 cup ranch dressing
4 green onions, sliced

Dump everything into a crock pot or slow cooker and set to low. Stir every once in a while to get things all happy together. Once it's hot, it's ready!

Serve with tortilla chips and Enjoy!

Warmly,
Mary

Turtle Bars

I am sitting here laughing at myself! Oh wait, first things first! Happy New Year! So, I have a blog and I normally post food on my blog. And I take tons of pictures, in fact I got a sweet new camera for Christmas, Woo hoo! I especially take lots of pictures of food, because I'm constantly making good food and trying new recipes and have an awful memory because of all the other things that I'm trying to remember every day, so I take pictures to remember what I've made and hope that one day I'll get a chance to share it with you on my blog and *pause to breathe* last night we had a some friends over for a New Years Eve party and I had been out of town for a couple of days and got back into town just 2 1/2 hrs before our guests were to arrive (for the kids pre-party part of the party). I had some fast cooking to do! I normally spend 4-5 hrs the day before doing party prep and all day the day of the party doing party prep (yes, I take my parties seriously!). Yesterday I had 2 hours. So I made my tried and true favorites! In all the chaos I took not one picture of the dishes I prepared! NOT ONE! Oh, I have some great pictures of friends dancing their little tails off! And cute little ones shaking a tail feather too! Speaking of little ones...my little princess is friends with my dear friends little boy who is just a couple weeks older than the princess...and let me tell you...dare I say...I want her to marry this sweet little brown eyed boy! He's got some moves too! Ok, back to my story. No pictures! But I really want to share this awesome recipe with you. So, just now I went to the kitchen to snap pictures of the turtle bars. GONE! The entire pan is GONE! I think I cut 30 bars. Oh wait...there was this one sad little corner piece left. The rest. GONE! So, here is an amazing Turtle Bar recipe and a pitiful little corner bar pictures to show for it!

Oh, look at that teeny, corner piece. But it still looks good!

mmm...the caramelly goodness!

TURTLE BARS

2 1/4 cups flour
1 cup butter, room temp
1 cup brown sugar
1 pkg caramels, I use the little caramel bits this time
1/3 c heavy cream
1 cup pecan halves
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350. Line 9x13 baking dish with foil or parchment paper. In a food processor combine butter, flour and brown sugar. Mix until crumbly and press into the bottom of the lined pan.
In a microwaveable bowl add caramels and cream and microwave for 1 minute. Stir and microwave for another minute. Continue until the caramel is smooth. Pour over the crust. Sprinkle with the pecans and bake for about 25 - 35 minutes or until the caramel is bubbly and the crust looks done. Sprinkle with the chocolate chips and place in a cool place until set.

Cut, serve, eat and enjoy!


Warmly,
Mary