Chocolate Caramel WOW...

The other night we had company over for dinner and Tad made some amazing speghetti and I was incharge of dessert. MMMMM....I wanted to make something good without having to buy anything. Trying to use up some pantry items....so I found this and it was GREAT!!!

"A tempting delight in every bite."

1 (18.25 oz) Chocolate or German Chocolate Cake Mix

1-1/4 Cups Water

1/3 Cup Oil

3 Eggs

1 (12 oz) Can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 (12.25 oz) Caramel Topping

1 (8 oz) Cool Whip Topping

4 (2.1 oz) Butterfinger Candy Bars

1. Bake cake in 9x13 inch pan as directed. Cool cake for 5 minutes. Using handle of wooden spoon, poke several holes in cake.

2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix condensed milk and caramel topping. Pour caramel mixture evenly over warm cake. Cool completely.

3. Spread Cool Whip Topping evenly over cooled cake. Sprinkle with chopped Butterfingers. Refrigerate until served. Store loosely covered in refrigerator.

Monkey Muffins, Monkey Muffins......mmmmmmm

Monkey Muffins from The Pioneer Woman. These are Yummy!! I made them this morning for breakfast and used refrigerated biscuits. They turned out great and a lot less baking time then regular monkey bread. You gotta give them a try :)

Three Girls - N - Bows

I love it...Three Girls...Three Bows :)

My Pilgrim & Little Indian Girls

I finally got the pictures from my Mom that she took of the kids at Tate’s Thanksgiving Feast at school. I mentioned all the details of this fun filled day in my post Thanksgiving Eve... She got some good pictures of the kids and dressed them all so well. It was a lot of fun :)

Sweet and Sour Chicken & Outrageous Caramel Fudge Brownies

These recipes comes from a cookbook my sister gave to me a couple of years ago for my birthday. It is called “The Real Ranch Cookbook” From the Elko County Cattle Women. It is a great book and it has a lot of heritage of Nevada’s Northeastern working ranches, their recipes, histories and photographs. I have really enjoyed reading all the history and looking at all the photos….not to mention, a ton of recipes. These are a couple of recipes I have tried and really like…

Sweet and Sour Chicken:
1 to 2 lbs, chicken cut up in bite-size pieces
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup cornstarch
oil for frying

Sauce:
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup catsup
1/2 cup cider vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. soy sauce

Dip chicken in egg and roll in cornstarch. Brown in oil. Put in 9"x13" baking dish. Pour sauce over chicken. I add peppers, onions and pineapple at this point. Bake for 45-60 minutes at 375 degrees. Turn chicken over a couple of times while cooking.

Chinese Style Fried Rice:
1-1/4 cup water
1-1/2 cup Minute Rice
1 slightly beaten egg
1 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup water
2 to 3 Tbsp. soy sauce

In a small pan bring 1-1/4 cup water to boil. Stir in rice and remove from heat. Cover and let stand 5 minutes. Meanwhile, using a skillet, cook egg in butter; add onion and rice. Saute; stirring over medium heat until mixture is browned. Mix 1/4 cup water with soy sauce and stir into rice.

Outrageous Caramel Fudge Brownies
These are so, so, so good!!!

1 bag (14 oz.) caramels, unwrapped
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 cup butter or margarine
2 cups sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1-1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup baking cocoa
1/4 tsp. salt
1 bag (12 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate chunks or chips (2 cups)
1-1/2 cups chopped pecans
1 tsp. vegetable oil

Heat oven tto 350 degrees. Grease bottom and sides of a 9"x13" pan with shortening or cooking spray. Heat caramels and milk in 2 quart saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently, until caramels are melted and smooth.

Melt butter in 3 quart saucepan over low heat; remove from heat. Stir in sugar, vanilla and eggs until well blended. Stir in flour, cocoa and salt. Stir in 1-1/2 cups of chocolate chunks and 1 cup of of the pecans. Spread evenly in pan.

Gently and evenly drizzle melted caramel over batter, preventing caramel from reaching bottom of bars. (Carmel can cover entire surface of batter). Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until set.

Heat remaining 1/2 cup chocolate chunks and the oil in 1 quart saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently, until smooth. Drizzle over the warm brownies. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup pecans; press in lightly. Cool 20 minutes. Refrigerate about 1 hour 30 minutes or until chocolate is set. If refrigerated longer, let stand at room temperature for about 20 minutes.

Sloppy Buffalo Joes

These Sloppy Buffalo Joes are so GOOD! Oh my goodness, they are just as good as buffalo chicken wings. Then when you add the blue cheese to top it all off…it’s just really, really good. Just a note…when I added the vegetables to the chicken the water from the veggies made it mixture runny so after I made and added the sauce I made a flour rue to thicken it up. IT IS SO GOOD!!!

Kaylee Jane....1 month

Hard to believe that Kaylee is almost 7 weeks old. I took her to the doctor last week for her one month check up (even though she was 6 weeks). It gets harder to keep up on doctor visit when there are so many kids to look after. My goodness...how time flies when you're having fun :) So, I took her in and she already weighed 9 pounds. I could not believe it!! In as little as 5 weeks she gained almost 3 pounds. It is great to know that she is growing well and is very healthy. She is such a great baby and a wonderful blessing to our family. We love her so much...

Candy's Clam Chowder

This is my mom’s Clam Chowder Recipe and it is my favorite and quick!!

2 (6 oz.) cans chopped clams

1 C. finely chopped onion

1 C. finely chopped celery

2 C. diced potatoes

1-1/2 tsp salt

1-1/2 Tbsp sugar

Couple shakes of pepper

2 C. half and half

¾ C. flour

¼ to ½ cube of butter

Drain clam reserving the clam juice. Add vegetables to large pot. Add clam juice to vegetables then add just enough water to cover vegetables. Cook until vegetables are tender. Add butter to vegetables. Lower heat. Mix half and half with sugar in blender, then add flour and blend well. Pour the blended mixture over cooked vegetables (do not drain water), add clams and cook until thick.

Instead of using water you can use all clam juice. It is next to the clams in the grocery store….and I always use more clams.

Chile Colorado

Tad was having a craving for some GOOD red chile and we found this recipe for this really good Chile Colorado. Of course I am talking about Tad here so he had to add his changes to the recipe. The first go around it did not have enough chile flavors so the second go around he added more of the dried chiles, and both times he more than doubled the recipe. This second making is really good, the first was good, but this one is better. So if you are looking for a good red chile recipe…give this one a try. It is YUMMO!!

Great Recipes....

Thanks to Kira, I have come to love The Pioneer Woman. I encourage everyone to check out her site and try a few of her recipes. Here are just a few of the recipes that I have tried and LOVE!!!
Cynthia's Spicy Shredded Pork

Chicken Parmigiana

AND….This one came from the Tasty Kitchen…

Chocolate and White Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes
Seriously…these recipes are all GREAT and The Pioneer Woman is GREAT!! I check out her site daily for something new!!
Another really yummy recipe Kira has suggested is these really good Chocolate Chip Pancakes with Cinnamon Cream. My kids love them and ask for the quite often. And the cinnamon cream is GREAT on hot cocoa.
Big THANKS to my dear friend!! She rocks!!