Chocolate Caramel Goo's

INGREDIENTS

Crust:

2 cups All Purpose or Unbleached Flour

2 cups quick-cooking rolled oats

1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda1

/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups margarine or butter, softened

Filling:

1 (12.5-oz.) jar (1 cup) caramel ice cream topping

3 tablespoons Flour

1 (6-oz.) pkg. (1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped nuts (opt.)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 13x9-inch pan.

Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. In large bowl, combine all crust ingredients; mix at low speed until crumbly. Reserve half of crumb mixture (about 3 cups) for topping. Press remaining crumb mixture in bottom of greased pan. Bake at 350°F. for 10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, in small bowl, combine caramel topping and 3 tablespoons flour; blend well.

3. Remove partially baked crust from oven; sprinkle with chocolate chips and nuts. Drizzle evenly with caramel mixture; sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture.

4. Return to oven; bake an additional 18 to 22 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 1 hour or until completely cooled. Tip: Go around the edge of the pan with a knife while hot...it will help you get these chewey morsels out of the pan easier.

Cut into bars. Eat and enjoy!

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Apricot Caramel - Coconut Bars!

1 cup Slivered Blanched Almonds
2 cups All Purpose Unbleached Flour
1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
1 cup Butter, cut up
1 cup SMUCKER'S® Apricot Preserves
1/3 cup Caramel Ice Cream Topping
3/4 cup unsweetened or sweetened shredded coconut

DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oven to 350°F.
2. In food processor bowl with metal blade, place almonds. Cover; process with on-and-off pulses until finely chopped. Add flour, sugar and butter to almonds. Cover; process with on-and-off pulses until mixture looks like coarse crumbs. (Or, finely chop almonds. In large bowl, mix chopped almonds, flour and sugar; cut in butter with pastry blender until mixture looks like coarse crumbs.)
3. In bottom of ungreased 13x9-inch pan, evenly press half of crumb mixture (about 2 1/2 cups).
4. In medium bowl, mix preserves, caramel topping and coconut. Spread over crumb mixture to within 1/2 inch of edges. Sprinkle remaining crumb mixture evenly over apricot mixture to edges of pan.
5. Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Cool completely, about 2 hours. For bars, cut into 6 rows by 6 rows.

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Bacon and Mozzarella Panini's

INGREDIENTS
1 can (13.8 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated classic pizza crust
4 teaspoons basil pesto
1/4 cup Caesar dressing (creamy or vinaigrette style) (Italian Dressing is also great)

8 slices (1 oz each) regular mozzarella cheese
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
12 slices cooked bacon
2 plum (Roma) tomatoes, each cut into 4 slices
1/4 cup Butter

DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oven to 375°F. Spray large cookie sheet with Cooking Spray. Unroll pizza crust dough on cookie sheet; press dough into 16x11-inch rectangle, pulling dough gently if necessary. Bake 9 to 16 minutes or until light brown. Cool about 15 minutes or until cool enough to handle.

2. Cut cooled pizza crust in half lengthwise and crosswise to make 4 rectangles. Remove rectangles from cookie sheet; cut each rectangle in half crosswise for a total of 8 squares.

3. On each of 4 crust slices, spread 1 teaspoon pesto; set aside. On each of remaining 4 slices, spread 1 tablespoon Caesar dressing. Place 2 cheese slices on each crust slice with Caesar dressing. Top cheese with pepper, 3 bacon slices, 2 tomato slices. Top with remaining crust slices, pesto sides down.

4. Heat 12-inch skillet or cast-iron skillet over medium heat until hot. Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in skillet. Place 2 sandwiches in skillet. Place smaller skillet or saucepan on sandwiches to flatten slightly; keep skillet on sandwiches while cooking. Cook 1 to 2 minutes on each side or until bread is golden brown and crisp and fillings are heated. Remove from skillet; cover with foil to keep warm. Repeat with remaining 2 tablespoons butter and sandwiches.

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Banana Cookies

This came from Jessica... they are really yummy! They taste like banana bread!

3/4c. shortening (I used Crisco Sticks-Butter Flavored)
3/4 c. brown Sugar
1 egg
1tsp. vanilla
2 bananas
2c. flour
1/4tsp. salt
1tsp. soda

Cream shortening adn sugar, add egg and mashed bananas. Add sifted dry ingredients(which I never do) and vanilla.

Bake at 350 for 10min. on a greased baking sheet.
Note: I added chocolate chips to the batch I made. Yummy either way!

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SHORTBREAD COOKIES

* These shortbread cookies, literally melt in your mouth!

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

2 Tbsp lemon juice

1 Combine flour, salt, butter, and sugar in a bowl. Mix with your fingers until it forms flaky crumbs and lumps. Mix in the egg, almond extract, and lemon juice. Continue to mix until it clumps; at first it may seem very dry. Shape into two balls, flatten into disks, wrap in plastic, refrigerate at least an hour, preferably overnight.

2 Pre-heat oven to 350°F.

3 Let the dough sit at room temperature for at least 10-15 minutes before attempting to work with it. The dough may be crumbly; if it falls apart, press it back together. Allow to relax enough to become somewhat pliable before rolling out. Roll out a disk, one at a time, between two sheets of parchment paper (or wax paper), to a 1/8 to 1/4-inch thickness, depending on how thick or thin you would like your cookies to be.

4 Dip the edges of one side of your cookie cutter into flour and cut out your cookie shapes. If the rolled-out dough becomes too soft to work with, place it in the freezer for a few minutes to firm up. Place on parchment paper, on a cookie sheet, with at least 1/2-inch distance between the cookie shapes.

5 Bake at 350°F for 8-12 minutes, depending on the thickness of the cookies, until the edges are just slightly golden brown. Remove from oven. Let cool on a rack for 10 minutes.
Makes 3-5 dozen cookies, depending on how thick, and the size of your cookie cutters.

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I didn't get to try this soup, because when it was almost done, Bridger took the opportunity to pour about 1/4 cup of Chilli Powder into the soup! Then he looked at what he did and said "Yucky Mommy!" I will suggest not to try this at home when preparing this soup.

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Bacon, Cheese & Potato Chowder

I'm making this for dinner tonight, don't know how it tastes, but looks yummy and simple!

Bacon, Cheese & Potato Chowder
Prep: 20 Total: 30

3 cups fat free milk
1 can condensed cream of potato soup
2 cups frozen Southern-style hash browns
1 cup Reduced Fat Sharp Cheddar Cheese
2 slices Bacon, crispy cooked, drained and crumbled
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions

Mix milk and sould in large saucepan. Stir in hash browns. Bring to boil on high hear, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium-low simmer 10 min. stirring frequently.

Top with cheese, bacon and onions.
Makes 6 servings, 1cup each
(This is 4 points per serving Jes :) )
,

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