Chocolate Peanut Butter Graham Cracker Bark

So...I've been slacking a bit with this blog.  I meant to post this a month ago and failed. I cut back on the amount of sweets I made this year for Christmas, but I had to make my favorite treat.  It's sooo yummy and as a bonus it end up looking pretty cool as well.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Graham Cracker Bark

Ingredients:

• Graham crackers 

• 6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

• 1/2 cup peanut butter 

• 3 oz white chocolate

Directions:


1) Line a  9x13 baking sheet with foil, making sure to cover handles. Layer grahams onto sheet, covering as much space as possible.

2) Melt semi-sweet chocolate and peanut butter in the microwave, and stir until smooth.

3) Pour melted mixture over the graham crackers and spread until smooth.

4) Melt the white chocolate in the microwave and dollop over the chocolate.

5) Using a knife, swirl the chocolate into whatever pattern you like.   Refrigerate until firm.  Once firm, break it into pieces. 

Very Merry Bead Sprites

While I have been pretty good about posting recipes and holiday things, I feel the video game portion has been slightly neglected.  I shall remedy that now with a very cute yet very nerdy set of Christmas decorations I made.


This is a Christmas set of bead sprites I made.  As you can see I adapted each one to be slightly more festive with antlers, santa hats and Christmas colors.  I then put them in some red and green frames I got from IKEA. You could do this with any character and they look very nice hanging on the wall. You could also thread string though the tops and use them as ornaments.

Festive Cranberry-Apple Salad

I make this dish every Thanksgiving.  It can be a side dish or a dessert depending on what you serve it with.  Its pretty easy to make and its a nice change from the traditional canned cranberries.

 

 

Festive Cranberry-Apple Salad

 

 

Ingredients:

 

1can (20 oz.) crushed pineapple, undrained

2 pkg. (3 oz. each) or 1 pkg. (6 oz.) JELL-O Raspberry Flavor Gelatin

1 can (16 oz.) whole berry cranberry sauce

1 Apple, chopped

2/3 cup chopped pecans

 

 

Directions:

 

1) Drain pineapple juice into large container (at least 4 cups).

 

2) Add enough cold water to the juice to measure 3 cups.

 

3) Pour the juice into saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and add dry gelatin mix. Stir until completely disolved 

 

 

 4)Stir in cranberry sauce.

 

 5) Pour into a large bowl and refrigerate 1-1/2 hours or until slightly thickened.

 

 

6) Stir in pineapple, apples and nuts.    

 



 

7) Refrigerate 4 hours or until firm

 



Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie

 

Thanksgiving is just around the corner.  This scares me a little since the end of Thanksgiving means the beginning of the Christmas season.  I'm just not ready for Christmas.  Things just need to slow down a bit while I get my life in order, or at least take down my Halloween decorations.  Anyway.  Here is a dessert that is super simple and will look great on your Thanksgiving dessert table.  I give to you....

 

 

Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie

 

 



 

 

Ingredients:

1 graham cracker pie crust

1 gallon pumpkin ice cream

1 cup caramel sauce

1/3 cup chopped pecans

 

Directions:

 

1) Spread softened ice cream evenly into the pie crust. Cover and freeze for at least an hour.

 



 

2) Spread top of pie with caramel sauce and top with chopped nuts.  Cover and freeze for another hour.



 

3) That's it!  Two simple steps.  Serve it up and let the compliments roll in.

 



 

Pumpkin Beer

Last fall I jumped on the pumpkin beer band wagon just as most places were selling out. I was only able to try 2 or 3 of the less popular varieties.  This year I vowed to do better.  I set out at the end of September to secure my pumpkin beer selections and I believe I did quite well. I was able to purchase 12 types of pumpkin beer and 2 types of pumpkin cider. Since I don't know a lot about beer I won't bore you with a review of each one but I will tell you a little about them all

(from left to right)

 

1) Jacks Pumpkin Spice Ale - Anheuser-Busch - ABV 5.50%

2) O'Fallon Pumpkin Ale - O'Fallon Brewery - ABV 5.50% 

3) Punk'n Harvest Pumpkin Ale - Uinta Brewing Company - ABV 4.00%

4) St. Ambroise Pumpkin - McAuslan Brewing - ABV 5.00%

5) Woodchuck Hard Pumpkin Cider - Woodchuck Brewery - ABV 6.90%

6) Punkin Ale - Dogfish Head Craft Brewery - ABV 7.00%

7) Post Road Pumpkin Ale - Brooklyn Brewery - ABV 5.00%

8) Ace Hard Pumpkin Cider - Ave Cider - ABV 5.00%

9) Pumpkin Smasher - Big Muddy Brewing - ABV 6.00%

10) Painted Ladies Pumpkin Spice Ale - Tyranena Brewing - ABV 7.50%

11) Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale - Smuttynose Brewing Company - ABV 5.84%

12) Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale - Buffalo Bill's Brewery - ABV 5.20%

13) Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale - Shipyard Brewing Company - ABV 5.10%

14) Pumpkin Ale - Onion Pub and Brewery - ABV 5.40%

Candy Corn Cookie Bark

 



This bark might not be super pretty, but what it lacks in looks it makes up for in taste.

 

 

Candy Corn Cookie Bark

 

 

Ingredients:

•  1 package white almond bark
•  1.5 cups pretzels, broken into piece
•  16 Halloween Oreos, broken into pieces
•  1 cup Candy corn
• Halloween sprinkles
   

Directions:

 

1) Spread the Oreos, pretzels, and half the candy corn on a cookie sheet (ideally with sides) lined with foil

 

 

2) Place the bark in a microwave bowl and microwave slowly until its melted. About 2 minutes



 

 

3) Carefully pour the almond bark over the cookie sheet

 



 



4) Spread the bark so that all the Oreos and pretzel pieces are covered.  Top with sprinkles and remaining candy corn

 

 

5) Place in the refrigerator for 1 hour or until hardened



 6) Break into small pieces and serve.

 

Pumpkin Chili

The weather has gotten quite chilly meaning its time to whip up a batch of chili.  Keeping with my October theme I made a big pot of pumpkin chili in the crock pot.  It was the perfect dinner to enjoy while watching all the Fox Halloween specials.  

Pumpkin Chili

Ingredients:

1 pound lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, diced

2 Serrano peppers, diced
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
2 cups tomato juice
1(15.25-ounce) can black beans, drained

1 can of chili beans in chili sauce
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
2 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Directions:1) In a medium saute pan, brown the ground beef; drain. 

2) Chop the onions, bell pepper, and serranos and add them to the ground beef. Cook until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.

3)In a slow cooker, combine the diced tomatoes, tomato juice, beans, pumpkin, chili powder, cumin, pumpkin pie spice, salt, and pepper. Stir it all up. 

4)Add in the cooked beef and stir.

5)Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4 hours.