Snack – ketchupface.com

What was I thinking?

Ok, I’ll come clean. I actually remember what I was thinking. It went something like this, “Crap, Valentine’s Day is tomorrow” and “Double crap, he’s expecting me to bake him something like previous years”. I dug deep and decided to make pink, heart-shaped rice krispie treats with words on them (aka those candy hearts). My husband loves rice krispie squares and I can make them in a heartbeat so I decided that would be perfect.

I applied the tiniest amount of red food colouring to the melted marshmallow mixture and created a ghastly Pepto-bismol pink. Yikes! After studying the colour, and convincing myself that it wasn’t so bad, I decided to proceed. I pressed the mixture into a greased cookie sheet and punched out hearts using a large, heart-shaped cookie cutter. Then, I cut the left over bits into diamonds and “iced” them.

They still looked gross. I melted “Wilton red candy melts” (that’s what they’re called) and piped words on the hearts which improved the look . Unfortunately, they were still unappetizing. I know this for a fact as I took some to work and they lasted until the afternoon. A very bad sign.

That day I learned a valuable lesson (besides don’t leave things to the last minute) that I can now put in to practice with my own family. Original, unadulterated Rice Krispie Squares are best…period. There are some things in this world that you just can’t improve upon. This is one of them.

Original Rice Krispie Squares

Ingredients
1/4 cup margarine or butter
1 pkg (about 40) regular marshmallows or 5 cups miniature (250 g)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
6 cups RICE KRISPIES cereal

Directions

Melt margarine in large saucepan over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.
Stir in vanilla. Stir in RICE KRISPIES cereal until well coated. Using lightly buttered spatula, press into buttered 3.5 L (13 x 9″) pan.
Allow mixture to cool. Cut into bars. Best if served same day.

Note:
For chewier bars, use an extra cup of miniature marshmallows or about 8 regular marshmallows.

Courtesy of Kellogg‘s Rice Krispies.ca

Don’t laugh…

Yes, I have watched a couple episodes of Jon & Kate plus Eight in my time. I must admit, I was fascinated by the show when I was pregnant. It seemed unreal….and by all accounts, it looks like it was, but let’s not go there.

In one episode she made the kids “Monkey Munch”. I’d never heard of the stuff. Is it just me or is this a common kiddie treat? That episode was ages ago but I’ll admit, I was intrigued. Fast forward to last week, I stumbled on the recipe (don’t you love the Internet) and decided to make it.

Last night, I tested it out on a couple of friends. Part of the attraction was using up the box of Rice Chex Cereal I had been trying to get rid of for a couple of months (the cereal box that never ends, you know the one).

It took maybe 10 minutes to make. Then I spread the coated cereal on a cookie sheet covered in wax paper and stuck it outside for 10 minutes to harden and Voila! The perfect dessert for my dinner party…too funny…

What did people think, you ask? They actually liked it. They actually liked the “chocolatey, peanut butter, powdered sugar, coated” mess….unbelievable. One man said he reminded him of a snack you’d put out in little bowls at Christmastime (Ryan, are you nuts? I know you’re reading this…lolol).

My take on this snack was a little different than the rest. I think I’d eat a Rice Krispie Square any day over this stuff. Let’s just say I’m not a huge fan. On the bright side, there’s more room on our cereal shelf now…YEAH!

p.s. For someone who wasn’t that enthused, I just ate half a bowl of the stuff…and hate myself. It’s addictive but that’s a sugar thing. Please keep this away from me…lolol

Results of Monkey Munch Poll:

Liked 75%
Neutral 25%

Monkey Munch Recipe

Ingredients
9 cups Chex cereal or any variety or Crispix (I used 1.5 cups of Cheerios as I ran out of Crispix)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup margarine or butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions
1. Measure Chex and place in large bowl

2. Place chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter in a quart size microwavable bowl

3. Stir the ingredients together

4. Microwave the mixture uncovered for a minute on high. Stir the mixture again and continue to zap in 15-30 second intervals until mixture is smooth

5. Add the vanilla and stir

6. Pour warm chocolate mixture over the cereal while stirring

7. Put mixture in a large ziploc freezer bag

8. Add powdered sugar, SEAL, and shake the bag until the powdered sugar is evenly distributed

9. Spread coated cereal on waxed paper to cool and dry

10. Store refrigerated in airtight container

More info on Monkey Munch Recipe

There’s no other way to say it… “The highlight of my day was a blueberry scone”.

A scone of all things. I’ve never really liked scones much. How could this be? Those large, dry, day-old tasting pastry rocks are usually choked down as a last minute space-filling device.

Today, I was heading to Granville Island for lunch with Caden. On the way, we stopped at the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts (I can’t seem to pass by a bakery without stopping; damn carbohydrate addiction). I love this place. The food is great; as are the pastries. Everything is made by the student on site so the selection varies. These people know what they’re doing. Heck, I even had my wedding cake made here.

Once inside, I quickly bought a croissant, a blueberry scone for Caden and a blueberry white chocolate bran muffin for me. Caden nibbled at the croissant and scone and was done. I, on the other hand, ate the rest of the croissant and devoured the remaining scone. It was so good. When I say good. I mean GOOD, as in really, really amazing.

The scone was “short”, crisp and sweet on the outside, while “melt in your mouth” soft and flaky on the inside. So good in fact that I went back to the cafe on my way home and asked the girl working there if I could take a picture of my beloved scones (just a little something to remember them by). It seriously took all my willpower not to buy another one…today. Who knows what will happen tomorrow. Today, I learned the power of the almighty pastry.

p.s. You may be wondering what happened to the bran muffin I bought. Well, I threw it into the freezer once I got home. After the other baked goods I ate today, even the white chocolate couldn’t entice me to eat the bran. I’ve decided to save it for a rainy day

Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts
1505 West 2nd Avenue
Vancouver, BC
V6H 3Y4 Canada

Tel: 604 734-4488

Rice Krispie Squares, perfect just the way they are

Kate Gosselin’s Monkey Munch best left for Monkeys

All hail the power of the almighty pastry