turtle bars

Don't you love how certain foods bring back memories?  Vivid memories.  Eating these turtle bars always takes me back to a certain Thanksgiving for us.  We were away from our families and we wound up having dessert at a friend's house.  She served up the most delicious turtle bars.  Whenever I have them I think of her cozy little farmhouse on a cold Thanksgiving night.  These bars have become a yearly Christmas treat tradition for us.  This year we loved them so much we had to make two batches!

 

Turtle Bars

2 cups flour

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1 stick butter

1 cup pecan (halves or bits)

1 cup milk chocolate chips

2/3 cup butter

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix the first three ingredients together and place in 13 x 9 pan.  Firmly press down into pan and then sprinkle with the pecans.

Next melt 2/3 cup butter with  1/3 cup brown sugar and still til boils.  Boil for 30 seconds.

Pour mixture over the pecans.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly.

Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips evenly.  You can either lightly press chocolate chips onto the bars or take a knife and spread the chocolate chips evenly all over as they melt.

easy chicken taco soup

This is BY FAR one of the easiest soups you could ever make. Anyone could make it and it's super delicious!! You really couldn't mess this one up!

Chicken Taco Soup

1 15 oz can northern white beans (drained)
1 16 oz jar black bean and corn salsa
2 14 oz cans chicken broth
shredded chicken to your liking

Grated cheese for topping
Sour cream for topping
Tortilla chips for serving



Place first four items in pot and heat to serve.  Top with cheese and sour cream and serve with tortilla chips.
 

On a side note : one thing I am pretty picky about is dry shredded chicken or chicken that is not flavorful.  What I did to prepare the chicken for this recipe was cook a couple of chicken breasts in a can of chicken broth.  I dumped the remaining chicken broth right into the soup.  The chicken was so tender and had lots of flavor.

If you would want to make this an EVEN easier recipe you could just purchase precooked chicken or I know someone that uses cut up rotisserie chicken.

cinnamon french toast sticks

I feel like there are a lot of things that I can easily bake and cook with great success in the kitchen.  One thing that I have always had trouble with though is french toast.  I mean really? French toast? Mine has always turned out a bit soggy and no one in my house (me included) has ever been crazy about my french toast.  I'm also a bit of a weirdo about things being too eggy. I've been known to toss french toast that tastes too eggy.  Well I can happily report this is my problem no longer!!

 I was browsing around for some new recipes to try and came across one for french toast and it called for flour...say what?  I had never heard of making french toast with flour...maybe that's why mine have never turned out? I gave the recipe a whirl and finally success! Everyone LOVED the cinnamon french toast sticks!!  One thing I will note is that I was very strict about sticking to cooking them 3-4 minutes on each side.  I'm kinda goofy like this but I totally timed it!  You might notice in the picture there is no cinnamon sugar mixture...we added that step after we had already taken the photos :)



Cinnamon French Toast Sticks


5/8 cup milk
1/4 cup flour
1 egg
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
5 slices bread cut into thirds

1/4 cup sugar plus 2 tsps cinnamon



Beat first five ingredients in a shallow dish.  In a separate shallow dish combine the 1/4 cup sugar with 2 tsp cinnamon.  Heat your pan to medium heat and spray with nonstick spray. Dip your bread slices into the batter and let excess drip back off into your dish.  Place your bread slices in your pan and cook each side for 3-4 minutes or until nicely browned to your liking.  Upon removing from the stove roll around the french toast stick in the shallow dish with the cinnamon and sugar mixture.

Recipe adapted from Betty Crocker