flicker-doodles | food, friends, & fun…

S’more Bars

Posted on April 23, 2013 by flicker

Sometimes while editing the pictures and typing up these posts, I start craving whatever it is that I’m writing about. Right now, I’m wondering if I have the ingredients in my cupboard to make these. And if not, I’m wondering what grocery store is open at 2 am so I can go buy whatever I am missing. These really are that good. They’re chocolatey, and melty, and oh so rich! I made them to take on our annual family ski trip and they were a huge hit! You’ve got to give them a try.

Start by mixing up your dry ingredients in a small mixing bowl. For the record, 1 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs is about 15 whole crackers. Or you can just buy the crumbs.

In a separate bowl, cream together butter, sugar, and brown sugar until it’s light and creamy.

Add in two eggs and vanilla, and beat well.

Add your dry ingredients and mix until it’s all combined.

Divide the dough in half, and press one half into the bottom of a greased 9×13 baking dish.

Lay the Hershey bars on top in a single layer.

Then smear on your marshmallow fluff. To make this easier, I zapped the whole jar in the microwave for about 15 seconds, and I sprayed my spatula liberally with non stick cooking spray.

Now we have to get the remaining dough on top of the marshmallows. Obviously you can’t just press the dough on there, so here’s what I did. I divided the remaining dough in half and placed each half into a ziploc bag and pressed it flat, so that it roughly was the same size as half of my pan. Then I cut my ziploc down the side seams.

Then I picked it up and layed it dough side down on top of the bars. (I had extra Hershey’s so I did an extra layer of chocolate on top of the marshmallow fluff. This is totally optional.)

Then all I had to do was peel off the ziploc bag.

Repeat those steps again with the remaining dough to cover the other half of the bars, then just press it together, gently, with your hands.

Pop it into the oven and bake until golden brown. Allow to cool slightly before cutting.

And then just try to resist eating the whole pan!

So, so good! Now you can have s’mores without the campfire!

here’s the printable recipe….s’moresbars

Pictures

Posted on April 17, 2013 by flicker

If you’ve been around here awhile, you may remember when I mentioned that I took my friend Courtney’s daughter’s five year old pics. Well, Courtney has been kind enough to let me practice on her girls several more times. I love taking pictures and I’m grateful for friends who let me practice my skills on them. Here’s a few pics from Kate’s six year old session, I figured I’d share them since we’re only about 6 months away from her 7 year old session!

(Kate’s cute headband was made by her aunt who is super talented. I’ve purchased stuff from her for my niece and everything is so dang cute. Check out her shop here and here. PS: This is my honest opinion. She has no idea I’m putting this out there!)

While we were at it we did a few pics of all three girls as well….

And even dad jumped into a few pics…

What a difference a year makes….

I did pics of the whole family together but I’m not satisfied with them. Kids are easy, adults not so much. I definitely need more practice with the grown ups! Any volunteers???

Homemade Fruit Snacks

Posted on April 14, 2013 by flicker

I hate to admit this in public, but I love fruit snacks. I could eat like 10 of those stupid little packages. And I tell myself that they’re healthy because they have fruit in the name, but in actuality, I’m pretty sure that they don’t have any real fruit in them at all. So I decided that if I wasn’t strong enough to give them up altogether, at least I could find a healthier version. Since I couldn’t find any in the stores that were somewhat healthy and tasted good, I decided to make some myself.

Here’s all we need to make them. Now you can go online and find grass fed, organic gelatin if you’d like, but I just used the old Knox blox gelatin. It worked fine, but if you’d like to go even healthier, be my guest!

I cut all the strawberries into pieces.

Then I used a masher to mash them up along with some blackberries.

You need about two and a half cups of mashed up fruit.

Toss it into a pot along with some lemon juice. (The lemon juice does make these a bit tart, if you like them sweeter, use orange juice instead. I’ve done it both ways, and they’re both equally good, just depends on if you like sweet or sour.)

Cook it on medium heat until the fruit releases all it’s juices and becomes even more mushy.

I used my immersion blender to puree out the chunks. You can either mash it up, or use a mixer or toss it into a regular blender. You just want it to be as chunk free as possible.

Then add in some honey,

And the gelatin. Stir until the gelatin is all dissolved.

Pour into a 8×8 pan. I lined mine with parchment just to make lifting it out easier. Wax paper would work well too.

Refrigerate until it’s firm. I left it in there for a few hours.

Then just lift it out of the pan and cut into pieces.

Yum! While not exactly the same as those little prepackaged little bites, these really are a refreshing and healthy snack. And they’re perfect for this summer when it’s too hot to turn on your oven.

These kept in a covered dish in my fridge for about 5 days, I think they could probably last about a week, at most, in an air tight container.

Make ‘em for your kiddos (or yourself) soon!

Here’s the printable…homemadefruitsnacks

Pepperoni Pizza Bread

Posted on April 4, 2013 by flicker

Maybe a year ago, or so, a new restaurant opened up near my work. We had it for dinner at work one night and it was really good. So I talked my friend Kelly into going there with me about 6 months ago for girls night. We loaded up on their fantasticly creamy mac and cheese and split an order of their pizza bread. It was to die for. I’ve been back several times in the last 6 months and I order it every time. It never disappoints. I thought I’d try to recreate it at home and this is what I’ve come up with. While not quite as good as the restaurants version (when is it ever, really?), this comes pretty darn close and satisfies a very strong craving!

To start, I make a batch of my favorite homemade pizza crust…

Sprinkle some dry yeast on top of warm water and set aside.

In the bowl of your mixer, combine flour and salt.

With the paddle attachment set on slow speed, drizzle in some olive oil and mix just until it’s combined with the flour.

Then pour in the yeast/water mixture.

Mix until it’s all combined and a sticky dough forms. Grease another bowl with some olive oil and place the dough into the bowl, toss to coat the dough with oil. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and stick it in the fridge. Now this is where your willpower is tested. Ideally you should let the dough sit for a few days, but if you can’t hold back, just let it sit for a couple hours.

When you’re ready to get cooking remove the dough from the fridge and separate into two halves. Using your hands pull and stretch the dough out until it’s thin. (Please note that in this picture, this is way to thick! I wasn’t planning ahead and didn’t leave myself enough room to spread out the two crusts. I’ll show you the difference later.) Place onto a greased baking sheet and shape into a rectangle.

In a small bowl, combine some melted butter and olive oil. I didn’t really measure how much I used but I would guess it was about a 1/2 stick of butter and maybe 1/4 to 1/3 cup oil. Brush mixture onto crust.

Cover half with some pepperoni and mozzeralla cheese.

Carefully fold the other half over the top and press edges with a fork to seal.

Brush more of the olive oil/butter mixture on top. The sprinkle with some parmesean cheese and oregano.

Pop it into a pre-heated oven and bake it for about 20 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.

Using your pizza cutter, cut it into slices. Remember how earlier I said the dough was too thick? I know it’s kind of hard to tell, but you can see that the one in front is nice and thin, and the one in back is thicker. You want it to be thin. The one in the back is way too bready.

This was my first attempt at making this and I really was impressed at how it turned out. You should definitely give it a try. It’s a great appetizer or snack, but it’s also hearty enough to be a meal. Or of course you can be like Kelly and I and eat it as a side dish with your mac and cheese!

Whichever course you choose to eat it at, it’s tasty! Make it soon!

here’s the printable for the pizzacrust