Turtle Chips

Super yummy, fun, and easy to make. The kids loved them. 

 Turtle Chips 

- 11 ounces ridged potato chips

- 14 ounce pkg caramels

- 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream 

-  12 ounce pkg milk chocolate chips

- 2 Tbsp shorting (I used coconut oil)

- 1 cup finely chopped pecans (we did not add these as we don't like pecans. It still tasted great!)

Arrange whole potato chips in a single layer on a cookie sheet. In a saucepan, combine caramels and cream. Heat and stir on low heat until caramels are melted. Drizzle over chips.

In a microwave, melt chocolate and shortening; stir until smooth. Drizzle over the caramel mixture; sprinkle with pecans. Serve immediately. 

Halloween Rice Crispy Treats

I had leftover candy corn and reece's piece's from making my Monster Munch and had my 6 year old wanting to help make a treat for FHE. I wondered if I could throw it all into a rice crispy treat. After a search on Pinterest I saw many different recipe's that had done something similar, but with M&M's instead of Reese's Piece's. I came up with my own recipe and we all loved it!The combined flavor of it all was amazing. We think it might win over our favorite Monster Munch!

Halloween Rice Crispy Treats
submitted by Michelle

3 tablespoons butter
4 cups mini marshmallows
6 cups Crispy Rice Cereal
1 cup Reece's Piece's
3/4 - 1 cup Candy Corn
extra 1/2 cup of mini marshmallows

Melt the butter in a medium pan on medium heat. Add mini marshmallows, stir until they are completely melted. Turn off the heat. Add the Crispy Rice Cereal and mix until the cereal is completely coated with the marshmallow mixture. Then add Reece's Piece's, Candy Corn, and extra mini marshmallow's and mix until combined. Spoon into a 9×11″ shallow pan. Press down into the pan. Allow to cool. Cut into squares and serve.

Oreo and Peanut Butter Brownie Cakes

These were seriously AMAZING!!! My Hubs and I could not stop eating them! And super easy to make, too. My kids loved helping spread the peanut butter on the Oreo's. All 7 of of us gave it 5 stars!

Oreo and Peanut Butter Brownie Cakes
submitted by Michelle
(recipe from Picky Palate)


1 box brownie mix, 8×8 inch size
24 Oreo Cookies
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and line a 12 muffin cup baker with paper liners.

 2. Prepare brownie mix according to package directions. For each cupcake cup spread 1 teaspoon of peanut butter over 2 Oreo cookies and stack them on top of each other. Spoon 2 Tablespoons of brownie batter over each stacked oreos and let it run down the sides of the cookies. If you have left over brownie batter, bake separately in a separate baker or muffin tin. Bake cookies and brownies for 18 to 20 minutes, until brownies are cooked through. Let cool completely then serve.

Makes 12 servings

Christmas Pretzel Hugs

I was in charge of Activity Days this week for church and wanted to bring a easy, yet fun and festive treat for the girls. I have made these for Valentine's Day using Valentine M&M's, and Michelle has made them for Halloween using Fall M&M's. This is such a super easy treat, and they are seriously so good too!!!!

Christmas Pretzel Hugs
submitted by Camille

Ingredients:
circle or square shaped pretzels
Hershey Kisses Hugs
Christmas M&M's

Preheat oven to 250 degree's. Line baking sheet with wax paper or tin foil (I used tin foil). Align pretzels on the baking sheet. Unwrap hugs and place one on each pretzel. Stick baking sheet in oven for approx. 4-5 minutes, or until the hugs are softened.
Remove baking sheet from oven and quickly place an M&M on top of each hug. Push the M&M down a bit into the hug to help spread the chocolate over the pretzel. Leave them to sit on the counter to harden, or stick them in the fridge for about 10 minutes to harden.


 

Pilgrim Hat Cookies

I have seen these cute Pilgrim Hat Cookies all over the web and in some Magazines, too and thought they were so cute and super easy so I knew we had to make some. My oldest son was wanting to make a treat all on his own one evening, but we didn't have a lot of time to make and bake something, I remembered I had all the ingredients for these and let him make them on his own. He was bummed they didn't turn out as cute as the one we had seen in pictures, but the rest of us thought they turned out pretty cute! 

Pilgrim Hat Cookies
submitted by Michelle


Ingredients:
Fudge Striped Cookies
Mini Peanut Butter Cups
Yellow Icing Tube

Directions:
Lay Fudge Striped Cookie top down, squeeze some yellow icing onto bottom of Peanut Butter cup and put over hole on cookie, do not push too hard. Using yellow icing make a square on one side of the Peanut Butter cup.

Witch Hat Cookies

My 8 year old son made (with a little help from me) these cute cookies for a fun Halloween treat for us one evening. Super fun (and easy!) and super cute and festive!

Witch Hat Cookies
(from Explore. Dream. Discover.)
submitted by Michelle

Ingredients:
Fudge Striped Cookies
Hershey Kisses
Orange Icing

Directions:
the most difficult task creating these adorable treats is unwrapping the Hershey Kisses. After they are unwrapped, turn your Keebler Fudge Stripe Cookies over as shown in picture. A few pointers I've learned: When applying the orange icing, place it around the edge of the kiss, that way when you place the kiss onto the cookie you will not end up with an orange blob of icing going through the middle of the cookie and making an orange mess.
Leave them out for a few hours allowing the icing to reset. You will want to press the kiss down lightly to create a nice orange icing ring around the kiss. Do not press too hard, or it will crack the cookie.
Enjoy!

Cookies and Cream Rice Krispie Treats

I don't usually like Rice Krispie Treats, but when I saw that these were called "Cookies and Cream Rice Krispie Treats", that definitely caught my eye!
Cookies and Cream Ice Cream is my most favorite ice cream, so that is why I really wanted to try these. And you know what? They really did taste very close in flavor to Cookies and Cream Ice cream!!! 
They were super simple to make, and very few ingredients. My 7 year old son helped me make them. He has really caught the cooking bug lately, and loves to help me out in the kitchen!!! These were the perfect treat for him to help me with!!!!

Cookies and Cream Rice Krispie Treats
submitted by Camille
from Glorious Treats

6 cups Rice Krispies cereal

20 regular oreos, crushed/chopped (about 2 1/2 cups crushed)

5 cups mini marshmallows

3 Tablespoons butter

Directions-

1.  Put rice krispies treats into a large bowl.  Spray a 9×13″ casserole dish or cake pan with non-stick spray, set aside.

2.  In a large plastic (ziplock type) bag, crush oreos (I used a rolling pin).  You want to have some crushed into small pieces, and some bite size chunks.  Add oreos to rice krispies and stir to combine.

3.  In a large microwave safe bowl, heat butter and marshmallows together (about 3 minutes).  They will expand a LOT, so make sure your bowl is big enough.  When the marshmallows are puffy and mostly melted, carefully remove from microwave and stir to fully combine the butter, and make sure the marshmallows are fully melted.  (I did this over the stove as my microwave runs quite hot and I don't have luck with marshmallows in there!!!)

4.  Pour melted marshmallows over cereal and oreos and use a spatula sprayed with non-stick cooking spray to quickly combine all the ingredients.  As soon as all the cereal is combined, spread mixture into the prepared 9×13″ dish.  Use the spatula to press the mixture around the dish, and flatten as needed.

5.  Allow to cool (about 20 minutes) before cutting into squares.  Eat and enjoy!

Yield- About 24 (2 inch) squares.

Storage- Keep covered with plastic wrap, or in an airtight container 2-3 days.

Spiderweb Munch

I made this for FHE treat last week with the help of my boys. When they weren't looking I added the spider on top, which they loved! 

Make sure to only do a small snip in your bagging when adding the peanut butter. Mine was a tad big and my swirls didn't come out as good looking as the original.

Spiderweb Munch
submitted by Michelle
(from Sugar Tot Design)

2 cups (12 ounce package) Semi sweet Chocolate morsels
1 cup creamy Peanut Butter, divided
1/3 cup powdered Sugar
3 cups Toasted Rice cereal

Heat Morsels and 3/4 cup Peanut Butter in small saucepan over low heat stirring constantly until smooth: remove from heat. Add sugar; stir vigorously until smooth.
Place cereal in large bowl. Add 1 cup chocolate mixture: stir until mixed well.
Place un-greased baking sheet.  Shape into 10 inch circle with slightly raised 1 inch wide border.
Pour remaining chocolate mixture in center of circle; spread to border.

For Spiderweb: place remaining Peanut Butter in plastic baggie. Cut tiny corner from bag; squeeze to pipe concentric circles on top of chocolate.
Using wooden toothpick or tip of sharp knife, pull tip through Peanut Butter from center to border. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until firm. Cut into wedges.

Apple Crisp Pizza

I love fall. I love apple crisp. Apple Crisp just SCREAMS fall to me!!! Well, that and anything pumpkin :) Here is a DELICIOUS take on Apple Crisp. It was very easy. My 11 year old, and 8 year old daughters helped me make it. My 8 year old folded the edges of the pie crust to raise it up a bit. Didn't she do such a good job? Oh yeah, and apple crisp is always best with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side :) Enjoy!!!

Apple Crisp Pizza
submitted by Camille
(from The Girl Who Ate Everything )

Ingredients:
Pastry for single-crust pie (9 inches)
2/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
4 medium apples (like Gala, Fiji, Braeburn, Empire) peeled and diced into 1/4 inch pieces

TOPPING:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup salted butter, softened (see Note)

1/2 cup caramel topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Roll pastry to fit a 12 inch pizza pan; fold under edges to give the pizza a bit of a raised crust. Combine sugar, flour and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Add peeled, diced apples and toss. Arrange the apples in a single layer over the pie crust to completely cover it. I didn't use all of my apples because I had really big apples.

For the topping: Combine the flour, brown sugar, oats, cinnamon, and butter in a bowl. Mix well. I like to use my clean hands to get in there and mush it together until it's the texture of wet sand. Sprinkle  topping evenly over the apples.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until apples are tender. Remove from oven and immediately drizzle with caramel topping. Cut into pizza slices and serve warm with ice cream. Makes 12 servings.

Halloween Pretzel Bites

During my kids Fall Break we made these fun Pretzel Bites over on Sisters Cafe. I am not a fan of Candy Corn at all, so I used M&M's in fall colors instead. I discovered my oven was broken when I went to use it to melt them, so we did it in our Toaster oven instead. Took a bit longer, but the kids and I still had fun.

HALLOWEEN PRETZEL BITES
(submitted by Michelle)
from Sisters Cafe

Small Pretzels (Snyder’s Snaps work best)
1 bag Hershey’s Hugs
Candy Corn or M&M's
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place small pretzels on a cookie sheet (line with silpat or parchment paper for easy clean up). Top each pretzel with a Hershey’s Hug candy. Place in the oven for 3-4 minutes. The Hugs will look shiny but will still hold their shape. Remove from oven and push a Candy Corn/M&M on top of each one. Let firm up for 30 minutes (longer if kitchen is warm).

Peach Dump Cake

My hubby loves peach cobbler. I love apple crisp. I have been looking for something that would combine the two somehow. Kinda like a Peach crisp?! I came across this gem on Bakerella, and KNEW it was what I had been looking for!!! It called for nuts, but we don't like nuts, so I subbed dry oatmeal for the nuts, and it was pure heaven I tell ya. Oh yeah, and this is like SUPER DUPER easy to make!!!! Which could be good or bad......I made it 2 times in one week.

Peach Dump Cake
submitted by Camille
 (adapted from Bakerella)

24.5 oz can of sliced peaches, in light syrup
1 pkg yellow cake mix
1 stick butter (1/2 cup), sliced into 16 pieces
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup dry oats

Preheat oven to 350 degree's. Layer ingredients in 9x13 pan starting with peaches. Bake for about 40 minutes. Serve warm or cold....with or without ice cream.

Best Fruit Dip EVER

Strawberries are back in season and I am one happy girl! I love them. And I love a good fruit dip to go with them, so when I saw this recipe over on Pinterest I had to try it out. We all loved it! Very simple and very yummy, with very few ingredients. A winner all around in my book.

Best Fruit Dip EVER
submitted by Michelle
(from Simply Real Moms)


Ingredients
1 8oz pkg Cream Cheese, softened
1 7oz jar Marshmallow Cream
1 cup Powdered Sugar

Instructions
Mix all ingredients until combined.
Enjoy with your favorite fruit!

Cake Batter Cookies

I have been on a huge Cake Batter kick the past while, all thanks to these yummy and amazingly easy cookies. I found them floating around Pinterest and tried them out and quickly fell in love. I think I have made them a dozen times since, no joke.

Cake Batter Cookies
submitted by Michelle
(from Stephanie Cooks)


Ingredients: 1 (18.25 oz.) box cake mix
1 tsp. baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

 Directions: 1- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2-In a medium bowl, stir together the cake mix and baking powder. Add eggs and oil, then mix until well blended. (It was a bit crumbly for me so I used my hands to really mix it well- it's not as smooth as typical dough.)
 3-Stir in chocolate chips, or your choice of additions. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto cookie sheets.
4- Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Peanut Butter Rice Krispy Treats

I just love anything with Peanut Butter and Chocolate!!! What an amazing combination...don't you think? I am not a big rice krispy treat fan, but my kids like them, and they are easy to make. So, when I saw this recipe, I had to try it!!!! It was so good!!! We took it to a church activity, and they were gobbled up!!! Which was fine with me...that way I didn't eat the whole pan!!! LOL!!!

Peanut Butter Rice Krispy Treats
submitted by Camille
( adapted from Liv Life)

6 cups Rice Krispies

approx. 12 oz. mini Peanut Butter Cups (you can get the Trader Joes kind, or I got 2 bags of the Reeses brand at Wal-Mart, and added 1 1/2 bags)
1 bag (10.5-oz) miniature marshmallows
¼ cup (2 ounces) unsalted butter
1¼ cups creamy peanut butter
2 cups Milk Chocolate Chips

Prepare a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray or butter.

In a large bowl mix the cereal and mini peanut butter cups, set aside. Melt the marshmallows and butter together in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Pour the melted marshmallow mixture over the cereal mixture, quickly stirring well to evenly coat the cereal. Pour the cereal mixture into the prepared pan and evenly press into the pan.

In a small sauce pan melt the peanut butter and milk chocolate chips over low heat, stirring to combine.  Pour the melted chocolate over the cereal mixture, spreading with a rubber spatula to cover.

Allow the topping to set, then cut and serve! (I needed this to hurry up, so I stuck it in the fridge for about 30 minutes - and hour, and it was set!!)

Chex Lemon Buddies

This was fun and different. My kids LOVED them, and these were so easy to make!! Definitely a fun springtime snack for the kids!!!!


Chex Lemon Buddies
submitted by Camille
(adapted from Chex cereal)

Ingredients:
9 cups Rice Chex
1 1/4 cups white chocolate chips
1/4 cup butter or margarine
4 tsp grated lemon peel
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:
Pour Rice Chex into large bowl. Set aside. In 1 qt. microwavable bowl, melt white chocolate chips, and butter uncovered on high for 1 minute. Stir. Continue to melt white chocolate chips in microwave at 15 seconds intervals until completely melted. Add lemon peel and fresh lemon juice, stir. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into 2 gallon ziplock bag. Add powdered sugar. Seal bag and gently shake until cereal is evenly coated with powdered sugar. Spread onto wax paper or foil to cool. Store in an airtight container.

Graham Cracker Eclair "Cake"

I have made this recipe a few times many years ago. I totally forgot about it, and then needed something quick and yummy for a funeral luncheoun. I rediscovered this one and then ended up having my 10 year old help me make one for our family for FHE treat a few nights later. YUM!

submitted by Michelle
(from kraftfoods.com)

15  Honey Graham Crackers, broken in half (30 squares), divided

1 pkg.  (3.4 oz.) Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding

1-1/2 cups cold milk

1 tub  (8 oz.) Whipped Topping, thawed

Arrange 10 graham squares, slightly overlapping, on bottom of 8-inch square pan; set aside. Beat pudding mix and milk in large bowl with whisk 2 min. Let stand 5 min. Stir in Whipped topping.
Spread half the pudding mixture over graham squares in pan; top with layers of 10 of the remaining graham squares, remaining pudding mixture and remaining graham squares.
Refrigerate 3 hours. Spread with frosting just before serving.

Frosting recipe (I almost always use this one I found over at The Sisters cafe that they use on brownies. It is my fave!):

1/2 cup butter

3 1/2 tsp cocoa

6 Tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

Powdered Sugar--just add until you get the consistency you want. If it gets too thick just add more milk.

Fudge Crinkles

I made these a few weeks ago and we all loved them! I also loved how easy they were to make. It is definitely one that you can have kids help with, or even do themselves.

Fudge Crinkles
submitted by Michelle
(from Sisters Cafe)


1 box Devils Food cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
powdered sugar


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together first 3 ingredients. Dust hands with powdered sugar then roll dough into 1 inch balls. Roll in powdered sugar and place on greased cookie sheet (or silpat, ungreased of course). Bake 8-10 minutes. Don't over bake! They should puff up during baking and flatten with cooling.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies

These were brownie cookies bars were so super easy and fast to make, yet tasted like I spent all afternoon on them. LOVE that! I found the recipe on Tidymom.net.

 All you need is your favorite brownie mix and a pouch of Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix. Make sure you get the brownie mix box that is for a 9 x 13 pan size.
Follow the directions on the box for making the brownies and pour into a greased 9 X13 pan.
Next, mix the cookie dough as directed on the pouch and drop by rounded tablespoons into the brownie batter. I pressed the dough down lightly into the brownie batter.
Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted 2 inches from side of pan comes out almost clean. When they’re done, take them out and let them cool completely.

Chocolate Ganache
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate morsels
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
6 Tbsp butter

• In a small saucepan, heat cream and butter until just before the boiling stage.
• Pour over the chocolate morsels.
• Stir until smooth.

Pour ganache on top and spread it out evenly. You will want to let the ganache set up before cutting

Delicious I tell ya.

"Unfried" Chicken

This chicken is a big hit with my family. And it is easy enough to let my kids help as well (which they LOVE!). I forgot to take a picture after making them last night, so the below pic is from kraftfoods.com.
"Unfried" Chicken
submitted by Michelle
(from Kraftfoods.com)


1 cup coarsely crushed corn flakes
1 Tbsp. flour
1 tsp. seasoned salt
1 egg white
1 Tbsp. water
6 pieces bone-in chicken, such as breasts, thighs and legs, skin removed


Preheat oven to 400°F. Combine cereal, flour and seasoned salt in shallow dish or pie plate. Beat egg white with water in separate shallow bowl. Dip meaty side of each chicken piece in egg white mixture, then in cereal mixture.
Place chicken, coated sides up, on baking sheet; spray lightly with cooking spray.
Bake 40 min. or until chicken is golden brown and cooked through (180ºF).

Chocolate Mint Frosty

This is a fun, easy, and yummy summer treat!!! It is really easy for kids to make too!! Enjoy!!



Chocolate Mint Frosty
submitted by Camille
(from Kraftfoods.com)

2 cups milk
1 cup frozen Cool Whip
1 pkg. (4 serving size) chocolate instant pudding and pie filling
4 small chocolate covered mint patties (I used peppermint patties)

Pour milk in large glass measuring cup. Add enough ice to measure 3 cups. Pour into blender. Add remaining ingredients, cover and blend on High until smooth. Pour into 4 glasses and serve immediately.