Foz Bars

My friend Jeff has been asking me to make him these no-bake peanutbutter bars all summer and I've been neglecting him until now... ya, I'm such a GREAT friend =P. "Foz" is a inside joke nickname I've been given and Jeff calls his favorite treat Foz Bars, they only difference between Foz Bars and peanut butter bars is that I add a little special ingredient called love :)

INGREDIENTS
1 cup butter melted
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 cups (at least) confectioners sugar
1 cup peanut butter (plus an extra spoonful for chocolate topping)
1 to 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips melted

Let's do this.

1. Make sure you got your ingredients
2. Put graham crackers in a freezer bag and crush them using a rolling pin or pound on the bag with your fists
         like I did before someone suggested a rolling pin...
3. Mix graham cracker crumbs with peanut butter and melted butter
4. The best way to mix this is using your hands...its fast AND fun. It should kinda look gross....
5. Add confectioners sugar and hand mix.
6. Mixture should stick to itself rather than you - add more confectioners sugar to get the right consistency.
         It's ok if you feel like you're adding a TON of sugar... 
7. Layer a pan (or anything square shaped) with wax paper to make removal of bars easy. Size of pan really
         doesn't matter. If you want your bars thick, use a smaller pan but if you prefer thinner, flatter bars use a
         larger pan  
8. Melt your chocolate chips with a spoonful of peanut butter. I usually do a heaping full of peanut butter and
         melt in the microwave but you can use as much or as little peanut butter and melt this anyway you'd
         like!
9. Pour melted chocolate over the peanut butter/graham mixture and spread evenly.
10. You can put these in the freezer or the refrigerator. (I usually freeze first, cut bars, then refrigerate).
         Wherever you put these, DO NOT let them get too hard to  slice into squares. Chocolate should
         harden but not all the way, just enough to take a butter knife and slice into somewhat even squares,   
         and then placed back in the refrigerator.

Keep refrigerated because if you don't, the bottom layer of the bars will melt and get too sticky. Plus they taste better cold :)

Enjoy!!

hello sun, welcome back

Finally after these gloomy days the sun comes out! I feel like I've been deprived of my vitamin D for the past week - I couldn't have spent my day any better than lounging under the warm rays, deep in a good book.

The beautiful Stephanie

a fun farewell

A last minute get-together for Ada to see everyone one last time! We had quite the "party" with all sorts of company coming and going, continuous games of bags and what seemed like endless amounts of chips and salsa,good beer, and frangelicos over ice.

A couple candids of Stephanie and her mother, Terri - and there's one of Steve in the middle. Far right is Terri showing me how one of her students taught her the right way to box.

                                                                                 The Frangelico Brothers

My father (Uncle Tommy) and Stephs (Uncle Jimmy) have the silliest, cutest and one of the most enjoyable friendships I ever did see. Always partners in the American game of bags, they have acquired the team name "Frangelico Brothers". It might have something to do with Frangelicos over ice almost always in their hands while they're together. And yes, they have shirts to display their greatness.

Stephanie figured out how to capture these cool images using a flashlight! 

 

Here she is! The dedicated and artistic photographer who truly enjoys her newest indulgence, a Nikon d5100. Notice her makeshift tripod we used to capture the flashlight photos

Why not photobomb my Dads picture with Terri?

One of the Frangelico Brothers, my papa =), enjoying his cigar while intently watching a bags game, incessantly  providing color commentary .

My (short) father with Gene Halton, a sociology and humanities professor at Notre Dame who also rocks the harmonica and literally just informed us that he competed in the 1972 Olympics for track and field...
The bottom two photos are candids of our good (and somewhat new) friend, Ira on the left - Steph and her dad playing against each other in bags.

 

The night was full of laughter between good friends - I'd say it was a successful shindig that lasted until the wee hours of the night

dinner for two, please

My cousin Ada and I dined at Frankies for dinner the other night and I must say that it was a pretty fantastic date :).

Ada is from Poland and stayed with us this summer to help her with her English (which is pretty good!) and despite learning of each others existence just months ago, we've had quite a fun summer!

My delicious "Strawberry Fields" salad with fresh strawberries, walnuts, boursin cheese with a poppy seed dressing atop some tasty greens - Served by our handsome (and favorite) waiter!

The two of us hung around well after finishing our dinner, enjoying some good ol' girl talk! 

                             Not quite ready to have my                                                   Ada looking cute, as always!                                            Using a fantastic piece of technology-

                                          picture taken                                                                                                                                                                                     a digital translator!

          

bacon chocolate sable cookies

Probably one of the most delicious cookies I've ever had....This might be because they include crispy bacon...

This recipe is from broma bakery (with some minor changes)

INGREDIENTS
1 1/4 cups flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tspn baking soda
11 tbs butter
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract/coffee *
3/4 cup chopped semisweet chocolate *
10-12 strips crispy bacon crumpled into tiny chunks

                 * If it isn't too much trouble, substitute vanilla for coffee (any kind works!). All things coffee really
                    bring out the chocolate flavor but if you already finished your morning cup, vanilla will do :)
                 * The recipe I used calls for bittersweet chocolate but I only had semisweet on hand and it
                    worked just fine so use whichever you prefer  

1. If your bacon isn't ready, you better start soon because it takes a while to get nice and crispy
2. In their own bowl, mix your dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt)
3. In a separate bowl combine your butter and sugars and vanilla/coffee. I hand mixed everything with a
    whisk but if you prefer an electric mixer, go for it!
4. Combine the dry ingredients to butter-sugar mixture, adding a little bit at a time
5. Hand mix the bacon and chocolate chunks. And by hand mix, I mean literally get dirty and use your hand.
    Or you could use a spatula or wooden spoon, but then where's the fun?! Just don't use a whisk or electric 
    mixer.
6. Roll into logs that are about 1 1/2 inches in width. If your logs look like they belong in a toilet rather than
    your kitchen counter...you're doing everything right.
7. Wrap your logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. You can keep them in the fridge for a
    few days before baking, but if you're anything like me, you're counting down the 3 hours until the last
    minute. You can also freeze them if you don't plan on baking them for a long time.

I placed cookies on wax paper, which I do for most baked goods because
it's more reassuring than anything called "non-stick"!

TO BAKE
Slice logs into 1/2 inch cookies
Bake at 325° F for 12 minutes. They may look undone, but trust me folks - 12 minutes.

a little sable in the morning

Starting off a wonderful morning on the back porch with a good book, a hot cup of joe and bacon chocolate sable cookies.... yes, I said bacon.

Oh, and this handsome fella decided to enjoy the summer air with us =)

I'll probably include him in many posts to come, but the old man above is an easy going, gentle 11 year old labradoodle named Slappy (short for Slapshot - I come from a long line of Hawks fans).  Oh, must also mention that he happens to be abnormally large -  he's almost bigger than me!

Our scrumptious delights. Because there's bacon in them, I considered these cookies a perfect breakfast treat ;)

Please take notice of the middle picture where Steph is carefully catching the perfect photograph 

I got the recipe for these treats (which I will post in a minute) from broma bakery

Just had to see this cute nose again - in closeup of course!  =)

oven roasted rosemary-thyme chicken and vegetables served with couscous and quinoa

Topping off an excellent 7.4 mile run with a healthy, savory dinner

Serving size: 3-4
INGREDIENTS
3-4 chicken breasts
3-6 roma tomatoes
3 peppers (red, orange, etc.)
4 garlic cloves 
1 zucchini
1 onion
olive oil
rosemary and thyme (leaves or crushed)*
goat cheese/ feta cheese (optional)
1/2 cup uncooked couscous *
1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
                    * I used wheat pearl couscous, but you can use any kind
                            ** you can also substitute couscous and quinoa for any kind of grain
                    * In our spice cabinet, I found a container of crushed rosemary and garlic
                            (It's the spice on the right of the plate in the picture) so I used that in
                            additional to rosemary leaves and crushed thyme
      Any vegetables will work with this dish and the portion of ingredients depends on
      your preference, but these numbers are roughly what I used.

1. Preheat your oven to 400° F
2. Cut up all your veggies and season them with olive oil and spices
3. Season your chicken breasts with olive oil and spices and lay them in an oiled baking dish
4. Layer two pieces of tin foil and form a bowl by crumpling up the sides and place veggies inside
5. Place baking dish with chicken and foil bowl with veggies inside oven and bake until chicken is
       fully cooked and veggies are soft and roasted.
             * My chicken took 45-60 minutes and my veggies took 30-45 minutes - keep an eye on yours
                and cook them just how you like it!
             * About 15 minutes in the oven, I threw in a handful of chopped onions in the chicken dish just
                for the heck of it
6. For your couscous and quinoa, either follow the directions on the box or cook on a stove-top in about
       1 cup to 1 1/2 cups of water brought to a boil before adding the couscous/quinoa. Also add some olive
       oil and let simmer until all water is absorbed. My couscous took about 10 minutes while the quinoa
       took 15.
7. Once couscous and quinoa are done, combine together in a bowl along with more olive oil and spices.
8. If you chose to use goat or feta cheese, serve with dinner so anyone can add as much or as little as  
       they'd like

Dinner is served!
I forgot about the cheese until everyone already started eating. Today we ate with goat cheese, which happened to be a pleasant surprise since I had planned on using feta but grabbed a container of goat instead... I was disappointed at my mistake but Mom said why not give it a try! It ended up going well with the entire dish! We sprinkled some on everything - it's creamy texture was nice and I would recommend goat cheese for anyone trying this dish.

The great thing about this dish is that leftovers can be refrigerated and reheated in the oven. Just make sure to add olive oil to everything to keep moist.

                                             

she's an alvarez, that one

My lovely Alvarez that was hiding in the corner of the clearance room when I found her. Her petite frame fits perfectly to mine, her sound soft and sweet.

Sister Sangria

The three sisters. Really, there are four, but the youngster wasn't here for the picture! We'll be playing 8-12 songs in October...time and place are to be determined...

yummy

Bethie's glorious blueberry pie. Unfortunately, she put together this chef-d'oeuvre states away from my watering mouth! 

delightfully sweet

In honor of our morning of blueberry picking, the following breakfast featured the scrumptious picked blueberries, shared with raspberries and blackberries. I also stumbled upon a jar of whipped honey with chocolate. The contents within the jar sounded and looked delicious, however I found the taste quite disappointing. It may be because of my distaste towards honey, but that's just a thought ;)

blueberries as big as the end of your thumb

                  There's nothing better than Stephanie calling you a third time to wake you up before 10am
        to go blueberry picking after the Fourth of July. After hours of treading through sandy terrain, ears
        full of girl talk, tummies filled with berries and fingers stained a purplish blue, we left with at least
        2 pounds of this ripe fruit each. I'd say it was a successful morning - finished with a second cup of
        Joe and a perfect beach day.

Photo courtesy of Stephanie Grider
mostlycharming.blogspot.com