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.

Something's fishy

Do you like to eat fish or have you heard you should be consuming more Omega -3? I just heard a butcher share his 3 favorite suggestions for cooking fish. Since my Mother grew up eating fish daily, our family likes fish, so I'm going to try all 3. Please add your comment if you have more ideas or like these fishy suggestions.

Salmon Fillet: Put skin side down on grill, cover top with honey butter. Cook about 8 minutes. Gently flip over and the skin will peel off. Add honey butter to this side as well. You'll have a crispy honey butter side and a moist honey butter side.

Halibut Fillet: Spread mayonnaise on top of it as it grills.

Tilapia Fillet: Melt lemon yogurt in a frying pan and spread it over the tilapia as it cooks.

When I lived in Finland, I got to go fishing for Pike. It was so fun to fishing because you are constantly casting and reeling in. I like that better than sitting and waiting. Anyway, if you caught a fish, you were given a fillet knife. The superstition is you must pay for a knife or it brings bad luck, so you give a quarter or something to the gifter. I still have my fillet knife and enjoy filleting trout, etc.

Our sons went fishing for scouts and caught Bass in a local private pond, in exchange for clearing up some logs for the owner. One son's bass was large enough to eat and the others needed to be returned. Dad fried it in lemon pepper.

When I cook salmon it's in tin foil in the oven with lemon pepper and butter buds.
When I cook trout I fillet it and coat it with flour, salt and pepper and fry it in butter, as my Mother did.

Tiger Ears

It's time for "our state fair, is the best state fair, don't miss it, don't even be late!" One of the favorite treats there is Tiger Ears, scones made large and thin and served with honey butter, sponsored by the local Boy Scouts. We planned to go on Saturday, but changed to going the following Saturday. We could hardly wait for the Tiger Ears, so we decided to make these "scones" ourselves. Ours weren't as large and thin, but the kids liked them better.

The recipe is from my cousin who says she uses this recipe for everything, but any bread recipe will do.

In mixing bowl:
Dissolve 3 cups warm water, 2 Tbs. dry yeast, 1 Tbs. sugar and let sit 5 minutes.
Add: 1/2 c sugar, 2 tsp. salt, 1/3 c. oil, 6-7 cups flour, knead 5 minutes with dough hook.

For SCONES: Increase sugar to 1 c. After turning onto floured board, pat 1/2" thick. Cut, stretch thin. Let rise 30 minutes. Fry in hot oil.

For LOAVES: Shape into 2 loaves. Let rise 30 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

For ROLLS: Do not punch down the dough after rising. Just turn onto floured board. Pat to 1" thick. Cut, stretch thin. Let rise 30 minutes. Fry in hot oil.

For CINNAMON ROLLS: Increase the sugar to 1 cup. After turning onto floured board, roll to 3' x 3' square. Spread with 1 cup butter, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup white sugar, lots of cinnamon, nuts and raisins, optional. Roll up, cut 1" thick and cut. Bake at 375 degrees 15-20 minutes. Cool some, frost with 1 cube magarine, 4 cups powdered sugar, 4-5 Tbs. milk, 1 Tbs. vanilla

Snap, crackle, pop -- rice krispie (treats) save the day!

15 minutes before the rest of the family was leaving for a neighborhood skiing party I wasn't going to, (sore back) I remembered the flyer said, chili will be served, but bring a treat to share! No time to be creative, so I quickly grabbed my sister-in-law's Rice Krispie Treats recipe and made a batch.

Rice Krispie Treats
1/2 c. butter or margarine
5 c. marshmallows
7 c. rice krispies

Melt butter a little in microwave. Add marshmallows and micro about 2 minutes. Add rice krispies and stir. Pour into lightly greased 9x13 pan.

PHew! I handed them the pan as they walked out the door! No time to cut them, so I sent a knife along and knew that the 20 minute ride, would be enough for the rice krispie treats to set up. If I had gone along, I would have been balancing the pan on my lap as I cut them into squares just before arrival. It'll take longer to write and edit this blog than it did to make those treats last night!!

I did not grow up making or eating rice krispie treats. I did grow up eating rice rispies and listening quietly for snap, crackle and pop to speak to me at breakfast. Thanks to my brother's wife's recipe and my husband's family making/serving "rice berry chickies" as one of his brothers called them as a child often, we occasionally make them, like last night and for chocolate fondue.

Recently we were invited to another family's for a potluck and games. Santa brought our family a chocolate fountain fondue for Christmas, so we took it and brought various items like strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, pretzels, chunks of bite size pound cake, etc. to hold under the flowing chocolate (chocolate chips with a little bit of oil). The hostess was serving rice krispie treats and everyone ended up using them in our chocolate fondue. It was perfect! Rice Krispie Treats in chocolate fondue are much better than pound cake or marshmallows alone, so now we serve them instead or in addition. Strawberries are still hands down everyone's favorite with chocolate! One of our children can hardly wait to try white chocolate next. Do you have any ideas to share?

For those peanut butter lovers, who want a twist to Rice Krispie Treats, here it is. Since 1 family member doesn't like the site or smell, let alone taste of peanut butter, we don't make the recipe below very often. Funny thing, I love peanut butter, but while I was pregnant with this child, I didn't like peanut butter either! Don't count on making this one in under 15 minutes from start to finish and out the door!

Peanut Butter Rice Krispies with Chocolate
3/4 c peanut butter
1 c corn syrup
1/2 c brown sugar
Melt these together.
2 T margarine or butter (optional)
5-6 c rice krispies, add, stir.
Pour into a lightly greased 9x13 pan.

Top with:
1 c semi sweet chocolate chips
1 c butter scotch chips
melted together.

Enjoy!