March 1st is Peanut Butter Lovers Month and I think I would like to make these cookies by Betty Crocker. 

Let's Talk About It :)
I really like peanut butter cookies but I can't ever remember making them with a cream center. Now I have made oatmeal cookies with a creme marshmallow center so I don't know how I've gone without making a creme center peanut butter cookie LOL! Especially since I love creme fillings so much. The filling for this recipe is just peanut butter, vanilla frosting and milk. Gosh that is so simple.

Memory Lane Oatmeal Peanut Butter Creme Sandwiches Recipe

INGREDIENTS:
Cookies

• 1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® oatmeal cookie mix
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 egg

Filling

• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup Betty Crocker® Rich & Creamy vanilla frosting
• 4 teaspoons milk

DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, stir cookie mix, brown sugar, butter, peanut butter, water and egg until soft dough forms.
2. Roll dough into 40 (1 1/4-inch) balls; place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Press each ball with fingers to slightly flatten.
3. Bake 9 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 3 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.
4. In small bowl, stir peanut butter, frosting and milk until well blended.
5. For each sandwich cookie, spread about 1 tablespoon filling on bottom of 1 cookie. Top with another cookie, bottom side down. Press together lightly, twisting slightly.
Store tightly covered at room temperature.

February 23rd is National Banana Bread Day so in honor of that I thought I would say a few words to celebrate, pass on this Healthified Banana Nut Bread Recipe by Betty Crocker and give you a link to my favorite Banana Bread Recipes too.

Definition: Banana bread is a type of bread that is made with mashed fully ripe bananas. It is often a moist, sweet, cake-like quick bread; however, there are some banana bread recipes that are traditional-style yeast breads.

I must admit I don't make banana bread very often but when I do, I make my bread full of walnuts and plump golden raisins. My own personal taste is to drizzle it with sweetened cream cheese when I'm finished. My Mother never made it that way. Her banana bread was made the traditional way without raisins or cream cheese. We always had bananas in the house so banana bread was an after school snack many-ah-day for me. These days though.... I very seldom eat bananas so I never have any ripe ones around. I have to tell you.... after talking about banana bread it's making me want a fresh loaf. Happy Banana Bread Day everyone. ~Pam

"Healthified" Banana Nut Bread

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 1/2 cups Gold Medal® whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 2 egg whites
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 large)
• 1/4 cup fat-free (skim) milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans, toasted*

DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom only of 8x4-inch or 9x5-inch loaf pan with shortening, or spray with cooking spray. In medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
2. In large bowl, beat sugar, oil, egg whites, bananas, milk and vanilla with spoon until well blended. Stir in flour mixture until well blended. Stir in walnuts. Spoon into pan.
3. Bake 8-inch loaf 55 to 62 minutes, 9-inch loaf 45 to 52 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes; remove from pan to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour, before slicing.

Grilled Margarita Shrimp

Everybodys going to be drinking Margaritas on February 22 in honor of National Margarita Day but for those of you looking for a meal to add to those yummie drinks then here's a Margarita recipe for you.


Let's talk about it:
I'm a fan of Margaritas and cant pass up a drink when I go to my favorite Mexican restaurant. They have 2 for 1 specials all the time. giggle~ I do keep the mix at home for sunny days at the beach so when I ran across this recipe I knew I would have everything I needed to make it.  All I need now is a warmer day, a clean grill and I'm good to go. Lol. 


Really tho, I am looking forward to trying this recipe in spring. I know I can make it inside for me and the hubby but if it's as good as I think it will be then I'll add it to my"Wanna-serve" list when I host my first garden party in Spring. Since I love Margaritas I'll love grilled shrimp with a Margarita flavor. Thank you Pillsbury.


Grilled Margarita Shrimp for Two Recipe


INGREDIENTS

• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/4 cup margarita mix (from 33.8-oz. bottle)
• 2 tablespoons tequila
• 12 shelled deveined uncooked large shrimp with tails left on

DIRECTIONS
1. Soak 4 bamboo skewers in water for 30 minutes. In 1-quart resealable food storage plastic bag, combine cilantro, garlic, margarita mix and tequila. Add shrimp; seal bag and shake to coat. Refrigerate 30 minutes to marinate.

2. Meanwhile, heat grill.

3. When ready to grill, thread shrimp on skewers; discard marinade. Place shrimp on gas grill over medium heat or on charcoal grill 4 to 6 inches over medium coals. Cook 5 to 7 minutes or until shrimp turn pink, turning several times.

Oh How My Mother Loved Her Birds

Humm7.jpg‎ 

Feeding birds and bird watching was a big part of my life growing up. My Mother was fascinated by them and she taught me at an early age how to feed birds, how to plant for the birds and how to take care of Gods creatures at an early age. 


I remember my Mother was crazy about hummingbirds. She always had 4 or 5 hummingbird feeders on her porch right up until the day she died. We would always have at least a dozen hummingbirds buzzing around our heads when we sit outside having lunch or swinging in the swings that Daddy made. It was not uncommon for the hummingbirds to swoosh our hair as they flew by either. Lol. It's so much fun watching them chase after each other and my Mother would just laugh and laugh. 


It always amazed me how the hummingbirds would fly right in front of my Mother's face and hover there as if they were looking deep into her eyes. Mother would always give me the little hand signal with her beautiful hand to be perfectly still while she had a conversation with the bird, face to face. In the last days of her life; would you believe she still gave me that hand signal? Yes she sure did- but with a little wrinkled hand and a little crooked finger, but still ever-so soft in her gesture.


I knows my love for birds came from my Mother. Not only did she take care of hummingbirds but she was fascinated about blue birds too. We were forever having to go and watch their activities. When I would go to visit her (as an adult) she would tell me story after story of her bluebirds. She knew when a bird went missing and when her blue birds had babies too. I don't know how in the world she knew which bird belonged to which house but she could always tell me which bird was the mate to which bird too. giggle~ 


Mother's front yard had 4 bird houses nailed to the trees and all 4 of them had blue birds in them. Sometimes the squirrels would take over a bird house and chew out the entrance of the house and when that happened we would have to take it down - paint a brand new bird house "blue" then nail it back to the tree. We would then spend hours and hours sitting on the patio waiting for a blue bird to find the new house and move in. Lol!


Mother is gone now and I have recently moved into the house I grew up in. In fact I've only been here a couple of weeks. I walked out in the yard just yesterday and noticed 3 of the blue-bird houses still on the trees. I noticed one was missing. I walked to the tree it should of been in and found the 4th one had fell to the ground and busted. I guess it happened  sometime during the last few months. When I noticed the little house on the ground it actually brought a tear to my eye. The truth is it brought a few tears to my eyes. I think some how I related it to Mother being gone and knowing the life of that bird house was over like the life of my Mother was over- Never to see another blue bird and a little house that was never to provide a home for another blue bird again.  


I'm very happy I've inherited the bird houses, bird baths and bird feeders. I plan on replacing the broken bird house and put it back on the tree. And yes I think I will paint it blue. I plan on fixing the cracked bird bath so I can watch the birds fluff their feathers in the water and I plan on filling the hummingbird feeders with sweet liquid too. I plan on watching in amazement the "daily going" of the birds just like my Mother did. Oh how much my Mother loved her birds.

Recipe: Chocolate Grasshopper Cheesecake

Celebrate National Chocolate Mint Day, St. Patrick's Day or any green theme party with this beautiful and tasty cheesecake by Pillsbury.

Let's Talk About It:
I'm thinking this is what I want to eat for National Chocolate Mint Day which is celebrated every February 19th. I really like the idea of using chocolate Creme de menthe candy to top the whipped cream. It really sets off the cheesecake with it's double stripe and gives it a great tongue tingling balance. Well that's what I think anyway.

Recipe: Chocolate Grasshopper Cheesecake

INGREDIENTS
Crust

• 30 fudge mint cookies, crushed (about 1 3/4 cups)
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

Filling

• 4 oz semisweet baking chocolate
• 3 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1/3 cup green crème de menthe liqueur*
• Topping and Garnish, if desired
• Sweetened whipped cream
• Crème de menthe thin rectangular candies for garnish, unwrapped, cut in half diagonally

DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oven to 300°F. Wrap foil around bottom and side of ungreased 9-inch springform pan. In large bowl, mix crust ingredients with fork until crumbly. Press in bottom and 1 inch up side of pan. Bake 12 minutes. Cool 30 minutes.
2. In small microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate on High 45 to 60 seconds, stirring once halfway through microwaving, until melted. If necessary, continue to microwave on High in 15-second increments, stirring until smooth. Set aside.
3. In large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar with electric mixer on medium speed, scraping bowl frequently, until smooth and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth after each addition. Stir in liqueur. Pour filling evenly over crust.
4. Drop 8 to 10 tablespoonfuls melted chocolate randomly onto filling, allowing chocolate to sink into filling. With table knife or small spatula, cut through chocolate and filling to swirl for marbled design.
5. Bake 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes or until set 2 inches from edge of pan. Remove from oven; run knife around side of cheesecake to loosen. Return to oven; turn oven off and open door slightly. Cool cheesecake in oven 1 hour. Remove from oven to cooling rack; cool at room temperature 1 hour. Refrigerate 3 hours.
6. To serve, remove side of pan. Spoon whipped cream into decorating bag with large star tip; squeeze bag to pipe cream around top edge of cheesecake. Garnish with candies.

*One teaspoon peppermint extract and 4 to 6 drops green food color can be substituted for the crème de menthe liqueur.

High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): Before heating oven, place small baking pan filled with 1 to 2 cups water on oven rack below cheesecake to help prevent cheesecake from cracking. Bake 1 hour 25 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes.
High Altitude (3500-6500 ft):

Before heating oven, place small baking pan filled with 1 to 2 cups water on oven rack below cheesecake to help prevent cheesecake from cracking. Bake 1 hour 25 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes.