Sweet "Good and Plenty" and Salted "Planters" Peanuts Combine

My good friend came to visit and I realized I didn't cook anything for her, but instead we ate cold cereal, pizza, went out for our traditional Mexican lunch, etc. and thoroughly enjoyed our time spent not cooking!! When I mentioned to her that I hadn't made her anything special, she said, "Yes, you have! You introduced me to "Good and Plenty and Peanuts". Good and Plenty is the candy coated black licorice pieces and they taste great mixed with salted planters peanuts. 

I used to eat this sweet and salty combination while "at the movies" in Finland, since I couldn't get popcorn to eat at the Movie Theaters. While she and I were out looking for shoelace black licorice for the eyelashes for a Sponge Bob Cake for her son, we found these, so I introduced her to them. We bought them at KMart and they were stale. We'd found a generic Western Family brand of them which were fresh at my local grocer's and they tasted much better.  Any salted peanut will do. 

My brother likes to eat raw peanuts and raisins together, something he learned to eat in Finland. I prefer my combination better. I also like to eat plain M&Ms mixed together with peanut M&Ms.

Resolved: Eat more fruits and veggies every day!

Last night for Recipe Club we were to bring a new recipe for the New Year.  Our New Year's resolution is for ALL of us in our family to eat more fruits and veggies.  We've had 2 big Christmas bowls full of fruits available on the table, a drawer of veggies in the refrigerator and bags of frozen fruits and veggies to choose from.  Each child has enjoyed being the one to go with one of us to pick out the fruits and veggies.  With the purchase of  a Vitamix, the industrial strength blender Jamba Juice uses to make their smoothies, we are having fun concocting smoothies.  By the way, you can buy a Vitamix online at http://www.vitamix.com or at Sam's Club or Costco -- at least during the holidays.  I also came across a much less expensive type by Jack Lalane at http://www.healthmaster100.com.  The idea is to have a heavy duty type which will chop ice in seconds and puree most anything and has a variable speed so you can puree part and stir in pieces, if desired, especially for soups. 

My husband made a Smoothie for me to share last night.  He just sees what we have in the freezer and fresh and goes for it.  The key is to have a mix of fresh and frozen so it's thicker and colder.  He titled this New creation:

Triple Berry Tropic Smoothie

3 cups frozen mango chunks

3 cups frozen blackberry, raspberry, blueberry blend

2 fresh bananas, slightly spotted makes them sweeter

2 scoops of Whole Nectar smoothie powder http://www.wholenectar.com 

3/4 can of Dole Orange Strawberry Banana concentrate

I avoid adding sweetener.  I add spotted bananas as my sweetener.  Of course according to your taste or take on sweeteners you may try: 

sugar or splenda or honey or agave, etc.

Serve it frozen immediately.  It tastes best frozen right then, just like at Jamba, so it wasn't as tasty thawed by the time we got around to drinking it an hour later.   Also be ready to rinse, soak or wash your glasses immediately as it dries on quickly.   

So here's to "5 a day" in a fun way -- get creative and eat your fruits and veggies as smoothies and soups. 

We're crazy for Krazy Cake!

My kids are crazy about snowmen and penguins this time of year. I found some great penguin and snowman silicone cupcake pans in the after Christmas sales and needed a good dense cake recipe to make them up with.  I chose Krazy Cake or Wacky Cake as some call it . I got the recipe from another Mom whose son used this recipe in our Cub Scout cake contest last year.
Krazy Cake

In a large bowl, stir the following ingredients:

2 C sugar
3 C all purpose flour
1/3 C cocoa (I like Dutch processed when I can find it)
2 tsp soda
1 tsp salt

Add the following ingredients (don't stir until all wet ingredients are
in the bowl):

2 C cold water
3/4 C oil
2 Tbsp vinegar

Mix all ingredients well. You can stir by hand - an electric mixer is
not necessary. Pour batter into a well greased 9 X 13 pan and bake at
350F for 25-30 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.