Peanut Butter Fudge

This is a recipe from a loooong time ago. I grew up with this one, my mom would make this fudge every year around the holidays. I became 100% addicted. She stopped making it over the years, which spurned me to go to my parents house and dig the recipe out of her stuffed recipe box. I think the first couple weeks I had it, BC and I made this fudge like 4 or 5 times.

The recipe originally came from my grandmother. It was printed sometime back in the 80s in a newspaper in South Florida. Despite being laminated, the newspaper is weathered and brown and old. I can never ever eat peanut butter fudge from a shop again...I'm a total snob for this recipe!

ALSO--This recipe contains NO butter! Yes, it is possible to make delicious pb fudge without a stick of butter!

(please, try to contain your excitement for the fancy paper towel in the picture. fine china here only, folks.)

Peanut Butter Fudge

recipe courtesy of my Mother and Nanny

1 c. sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 c. milk

2 tsp. vanilla

3/4 c. peanut butter

Butter a 8x8 baking dish. Set aside.

Combine sugar, salt, and milk in a saucepan. (Make sure you use a pretty big saucepan here...once the sugar starts getting all bubbly, its going to rise a LOT.) Heat the sugar mixture on high until you get to the soft ball stage--235 degrees. (Depending on how awesome your stove is, this could take you about 3 minutes, like at my MIL's house, or a good 10 minutes, like at mine. Boo.)

Once you reach this temperature, immediately remove from heat and stir in vanilla and peanut butter. Stir fast, until the mixture loses its sheen. (Be prepared to stir for several minutes.)

Pour mixture into prepared baking dish. Refrigerate.

Banana Pudding

I first had this dish this past Christmas, when BC and I were at his parents house. His Mom had gotten this recipe from one of the lunchroom ladies at the school she taught at. I have to say, it is so freaking delicious. I mean, I'm not a huge banana pudding fan, and initially blew it off as just another bananas pudding. But friends...this is so much more.

*Update: I was asked to be a part of a dessert linky party with this recipe! My first one ever, pretty excited :) Check it out here.

Banana Pudding

recipe from my MIL and some unknown lunchroom lady

2 bags of Pepperidge Farm Chessman Cookies

2 small boxes of French Vanilla instant pudding mix

6 bananas

1 8-oz box of cream cheese, softened

1 12-oz. tub of Cool Whip

1 can of sweetened condensed milk

1 cup milk

Line a 9x13 pan with one bag of Chessman Cookies. (You may have to break up some of the cookies to fill in gaps.) Slice up all bananas and layer on top of cookies.

Mix together the pudding boxes and cup of milk in one bowl. Set aside.

Mix together the softened cream cheese and condensed milk in another bowl. Fold in Cool Whip. Add this mixture to the pudding mixture and stir to combine.

Pour pudding mixture over bananas. Layer second bag of cookies over pudding mixture. Refrigerate for several hours, overnight if possible!

Cream Cheese Fruit Dip

Every Christmas Eve, BC's family makes a big spread of appetizers and finger foods to munch on throughout the day and into the night as we play games. This recipe was one of my old faithfuls...a quick easy thing to throw together, but tastes and like you spent some actual time and energy preparing it! Its very versatile, and can be made to healthier specifications, like sugar free pudding mix and lite Cool Whip!

Cream Cheese Fruit Dip

an AC original

1 box cream cheese pudding mix

1 8 oz tub Cool Whip

any fruit you wish to dip!

Combine the pudding mix and Cool Whip together. To save a bowl, do this in the Cool Whip tub! Refrigerate until ready to use.

Jalapeno Popper Cups

My Mom recently made these, and they are so yummy! I just had to add them to the blog. They make a great little appetizer!

Jalapeno Popper Cups
adapted slightly from AllRecipes
24 mini phyllo tart shells
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese
3-4 Tb. chopped jalapeno (depending on how hot you want them!)
2 Tb. hot sauce
bacon bits

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place phyllo cups on a baking sheet.

Stir together all other ingredients, except bacon bits, and spoon mixture into each phyllo cup. Top each with a sprinkle of bacon bits.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. Serve warm!

Puppy Cookies

Wow! Sorry for the delay! Definitely a lot going on at the casa de S.T.E., but I have TONS of recipes ready to be blogged about!

This is one not quite meant for human consumption (although, I'm sure you could if you really wanted). I decided to do something a little different for Coco and make her a treat instead! Plus, I wanted to remember our neighbors pets in our holiday baskets this year.

I did a ton of research on what sorts of ingredients are best for puppies tummies. (Some of you are probably thinking--ummm our dogs clear our dinner plates...so what?!) There are tons of things dogs shouldn't eat, and even more ingredients found in food we eat everyday that can cause many dogs to get sick, or at least not feel well. One of those is gluten. I found a ton of websites that stated that many dogs have gluten allergies, or at least can't digest it well. Another is baking powder--apparently, it can be toxic to dogs.

With all that in mind, I created this recipe, thanks in part to the recipes found on dogtreatrecipes.org: here and here.

(Funny story about these pictures--I actually took the one on the right first. When I leaned down with the cookie, Coco immediately took it from me and I had to dig it out of her mouth just to get the proper picture on the left! Seriously, she's addicted.)

Bacon-Flavored Dog Cookies

1 c. brown rice flour
1/2 c. uncooked oats
1/2 c. water
1 egg
3 Tb. extra virgin olive oil
2 Tb. bacon drippings**

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all ingredients. Add extra water if dough is too dry. Take about a tablespoon of the dough, roll into a small ball and then flatten for even baking. Bake for 15 minutes, turning half-way through. Feel free to adjust cooking time based on how crispy you want the cookies to be!

**You can add 2 Tb. of any flavoring you would like...I used bacon drippings, but you could do any other type of fried/sauteed meat, like sausage or ham, use chicken or beef stock, or save the oil from a can of tuna or chicken.