Need to satisfy an extra big snack craving? This is your recipe. It makes a bunch. And I warn you – if you start munching it, you won’t be able to stop. I adapted the recipe from an old Taste of Home magazine. The original called for Crispix Cereal, which I couldn’t find. Do they even make that anymore? I also changed a few other things.
butter
Butterscotch Cookies
Have you joined the challenge to save money by eating from the freezer and pantry for a week? I found that I saved $100 this week at the grocery store. Jen L. shared that she saved $70 this week.
Saturday, this really lived up to the term “challenge” for me. My son had a soccer tournament, which meant two games on Saturday. It would have been so easy to pick up fast food for both lunch and dinner, but I resisted. We pulled together a quick meal of soup for lunch and the crockpot came to the rescue for dinner. Staying out of the fast food places probably saved us about $30 on Saturday. I’m glad I have you all holding me accountable 🙂
I need a treat to keep me going. These cookies come together from ingredients I usually have on hand. They taste a bit like butterscotch blondies, only in cookie form.
Fettuccine Alfredo
Dinner is on the table in the time it takes to boil water and cook the pasta. Much faster than grabbing take-out, and the ingredients can be kept on hand for when you need a super fast meal. I altered this recipe from Country Gourmet Cookbook. That recipe called for raw eggs and I’m not willing to risk a case of food poisoning for dinner, so I took the eggs out and added a bit more cheese and half & half.
Gather up your ingredients:
1 box fettucine
1 container of shredded parmesan cheese (the original recipe calls for 1 cup, but I like more)
4 Tbs. butter, cut into pieces
1 1/2 cups half & half, warmed
Put the water on to boil and cook the fettucine according to the package directions. Warm the half & half in the microwave for 1-2 minutes. You don’t want to boil it, but you do want it warm. Drain the pasta and put it back into the cooking pot. Add the 4 Tbs. of butter to the pasta. Pour in the warm half & half and add the cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste. You can also add finely chopped basil or parsley. I’m usually in too much of a hurry to fuss with that when I make this meal.
For my family of 6, this is enough pasta if I serve a few side dishes with it, like salad, broccoli or bread. I really need to start making a double batch to keep everyone happy. The big kids really eat a lot of this!
Peanut Butter Balls
If you’re from Ohio I know it’s bothering you that I fully dunked the peanut butter balls in chocolate instead of making them look like buckeyes. I have a problem with all you Ohio people leaving little naked places on your candy. That’s just not right.
These are my must-have Christmas treat. I remember playing Barbies with my sister and we would break to go get a snack of peanut butter balls. Yum!
Gather up your ingredients:
2 sticks butter, softened
2½ cups graham crackers
1 cup peanut butter
1 lb. powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
12 oz. bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
⅓ bar paraffin wax
Cream the butter and peanut butter together in a mixer bowl. Mix in the remaining ingredients until it’s all well blended. Roll into balls about the size of a walnut.
Melt a bag of semisweet chocolate chips with the paraffin wax in a double boiler. The wax thins the chocolate to help it coat better and also gives a glossy shine. Dip the balls into the melted chocolate and put on wax paper to set up. Store in the fridge.
If you have leftover chocolate, throw in some pretzels.
Toffee
Of all the delicious ways to eat a stick of butter and lots of sugar, Toffee is one of the best.
This is easy to make, but you do need a candy thermometer. I clipped the recipe out of an old Southern Living magazine. There are all kinds of yummy variations but we go for plain and simple at our house.
Toffee
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup butter
- 1 Tbs. light corn syrup
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Lightly grease a baking sheet.
- Bring the sugar, butter, corn syrup and water to a boil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly. Cook until the mixture is golden brown and the candy thermometer reads 290-310 degrees (or Hard Crack)
- Pour the mixture onto the baking sheet.
- Sprinkle with the chocolate chips and let them stand for a minute until they begin to melt. Spread them out evenly over the top.
- Chill for an hour and break into pieces.