Smokin' S'Mores Bars

I feel the need to try and come up with something different to bring to every co-worker pot luck event not because I need variety in my life, but because I really enjoy doing something different and getting complimented on my creativity and "skill" (I put that in quotes because all I do is read and execute, but if people want to compliment me on my literacy and ability to follow directions, that's cool with me). I love the compliments so much that I don't think I have ever brought the same thing twice, in fact. I don't have a huge sweet tooth, but I know what's good and these were darn good, per me and my coworkers. Bonus Round: the recipe has had several more hits at my hand, and I bet it's going to have some more.

 

You can find the link to the original recipe here - I did make some changes when I made it in my 9x13 pan... You will find my version below.

 

 

My Version (Larger Pan, more fluff, and more chocolate):

 

Ingredients:

 

•1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (Two Sticks - If you use salted, omit salt below)

•1/2 cup packed brown sugar

•1 cup granulated sugar

•2 large eggs

•1 Tbsp vanilla extract

•2 2/3 cups all purpose flour

•1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

•2 tsp baking powder

•1/4 tsp salt

•5 of the largest Milk Chocolate Bars (I used Hersheys - You may have extra chocolate, but is that really a problem?)

•4 cups marshmallow creme/fluff (not melted marshmallows)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.

2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in eggs and vanilla. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined.

3. Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. Place chocolate bars over dough. 3 large-sized Hershey’s bars should fit perfectly side by side, but break the chocolate (if necessary) to fill in the spaces and to fill up the edges. (I ended up using 4.5 bars, but the leftovers were gone before the bars came out of the oven.)

 

4. Cover chocolate with marshmallow creme or fluff. I bought the large tub and put a 1/4-inch-thick layer over the chocolate. It works out to be about 2/3 of the large tub of Fluff.

 

5. Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff (most easily achieved by flattening the dough into small shingles and laying them together). make sure to press firmly, but not so firm that you push the fluff out of place.

6. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

Makes 24 cookie bars. I cut them into serving-size bars and placed into cupcake cups since I was sharing with coworkers.

 

Mine were a little lumpy out of the oven, but weren't we all?!

 

And - Yeah, that's right, I still have an avocado stove. This thing is a relic, but I'm keeping it til a hipster offers me big bucks for it... I am not exactly holding my breath, but hey, far stranger trends have come back, right?! 



 

K-4-P Slow Cooked Beef/Chicken W Broccoli

In an effort to avoid the wasteful Matzoh purchases that seem to occur every Passover, I decided to try to find dishes that I thought I could adapt to cook for my boyfriend, who observes the Passover holiday. I scoured the Food pages of Pinterest for days in search of recipes that were adaptable (he avoids eating anything that says K4P on it because he seems to think that those recipes are flawed in the area of flavor). I saw a Beef with Broccoli recipe, and thought it might work. I was dismayed to find out that he could not have soy sauce...

 

So, off to the store I went to buy the dreaded "boring" Matzoh crackers and things that he could eat. When I arrived at the aisle, I found out that Jewish people must have a really devout love for Asian food because I was amazed to find K4P Soy Sauce, duck sauce, and many other Asian fixins. So the Beef with Broccoli was back on the menu.

 

The ACTUAL Recipe can be found by Clicking HERE (I am going to have to try the "real" version after passover.) Here's a photo of her results (Unfortunately, my results are not so pretty, mostly because I am new to the food-photgraphy hobby):

 

 

Adaptation of Chicken & Beef with Broccoli for Passover:

INGREDIENTS:

1 Lb Boneless Beef Chuck Roast (Sliced into thin strips)

1 Lb Chicken

2 Cups K4P Beef Consomme (I dissolved K4P cubes)

1 Cup K4P Soy Sauce

2/3 Cup Brown Sugar

6 Garlic Cloves (Minced)

2 TB Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 Bag of frozen Broccoli Florets

 

PROCESS:

• Place meats into slow cooker (aka Crock Pot).
• Combine all other ingredients (except broccoli) in a saucepan set to medium heat: Note: I fried the garlic a little in the olive oil. After adding the rest of the ingredients, I let the sugar dissolve into the mixture and let it become very warm but not to the point of boiling.
• I then poured the liquid over the meat and made sure to mix well, separating any pieces that were stuck together and making sure all meat was covered by liquid.
• I set the slow cooker to low and let it cook for 5 hours.
• Upon the meat being complete, I added the broccoli (they were frozen, but I pulled them out of the freezer about an hour before the meat was done) to the meat mixture and stirred.
• It took about 45 min (one TV episode on Netflix) to cook the broccoli.
• Next, I made sure the results weren't vile and upon successful completion, I served the dish up to my boyfriend sans rice or cornstarch from the "real" recipe.

The result was really great, although my 1970's kitchen cast a "special" yellow tint onto my bowl when I photographed it. (And clearly, I am not a professional "ladler" given the splash marks... You're on the wrong blog if you want perfection. ;-P)

A few extra notes on the recipe: Yes, the sauce is thin, but without the ability to use many thickening agents, I left it that way instead of trying to waste time and money on Kosher substitutes. This does not, however, make the sauce any less delicious.

 

I hope everyone enjoys this recipe (and/or the original). After having it for half of a week, I can say I probably won't make it again for a while, but it was no less terrific Saturday than it was on Wednesday when I made it. :)

Tacos Mexico - Norwalk, CT

Salsas & Michealadas - Great Starters! 

As we turned onto Fort Point Rd, we could feel the anticipation building, knowing this would be our first review for the site. When we pulled into the crowded parking lot and found a parking space, we felt a sense of personal satisfaction, knowing how rare that could be at lunch time. As we walked into the front door, it was clear that, visually, this place may initially have been designed to be a take-out only establishment. We sat down at a table and noted the full bar to compliment our lunch selections. The place has enough tables, which can be put together to accommodate groups. There are also several TVs, just in case you need to avert your attention when you are dining with co-workers who are not your first choice.

Carnitas Burritos

As for service, the waitress was very nice, albeit slow, but not slow in a lazy way, more like she wasn’t trying to rush us out of the restaurant and turn the table over (like the bad behaviors you might find at a Chilis or Fridays). It did however take a little while to get our food and later to get our check. She was the only waitress working there. Bottom line is, if you want quick service, order take out.

Chicken Fajitas

 Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty: the food. Overall, we scored this place a 3.5 out of 5. We agreed that the salsas were great, and that the food was definitely pretty authentic. While it has a bit more flavor than most “Authentic Mexican” food places, we agreed that “Authentic Mexican” is always a little bit on the bland side. I was able to add some salsa to mine and I found the result to be fantastic, but my cohort can’t eat raw onions, which made it hard for her to add anything since naturally all of the salsas contained them. “What did we get?” you ask. The meal starts with a basket of chips and three selections of salsas: Verde (it’s medium-spiced and creamy green in color), Pico de Gallo (minced vegetables – mild in spice) and Roja (red, pureed vegetables medium in spice). The salsas had a tremendous amount of flavor and were a great addition to our meal. We ordered Steak Sincronizadas (a quesadilla-like selection with cheese, onion, tomato and avocado in a tortilla shell), Carnitas (Marinated Pork – my personal favorite) and Steak Burritos (The burritos are quite large and stuffed with meat, lettuce, refried beans, rice, onion, avocado, tomatoes, cheese and sour cream), and Chicken Fajitas (chicken, bell peppers and onions with home-made totillas and rice and beans on the side). We washed all of that down with Micheladas (beer with spices and lime served in a salt-rimmed glass), and they were good, not the best ever, but they definitely hit the spot for a lunch-time cocktail.

Steak Sinchronizadas

And back to the real reason we are here: Price. The price of our meal for 3 people and all of the food listed above [drum roll please]… $41 dollars. That rounds out to be about 13 dollars a person before tip, which means that this place definitely scores high on our “champagne taste on a tap water budget” philosophy. For a really reasonable cost, you get one alcoholic beverage, an appetizer and a very filling meal. All in all, we are putting our stamp of approval on this place, warning that the service can be slower than you might be used to, and there’s some spice to the food (so if you have a sensitive stomach, pack the Pepto), but that the food is great for “authentic” and you will not walk away hungry unless you want to (which would be crazy).