Sunday, February 28th 2010
Oatmeal Fudge Bars
This turned into an unusal circumstance for dinner. Some friends invited us over for dinner. It was decided we would bring dessert which would afford us the chance to still try a new recipe. Sunday morning my friend called and said her son was sick, but she had already made double the dinner and still wanted to bring it to us to have. How could I turn down a meal someone had already prepared? Since we made the dessert I figured we swap after church. During Church they were passing the Missionary calendar around and that Sunday was still empty. The list had already been around the room and I didn't want them to go without dinner. I knew we were getting a pan of Shepard's Pie, I figured with some side dishes, we would have enough. So I signed up. I made some breadsticks and smoothie, and the dinner they brought us was great! We enjoyed dinner, had plenty of dessert (even with the swap), and shared many laughs with the missionaries. During the course of events however, I was amused that somehow we managed to go from a dinner date at a friends house, to having people over for dinner, serving them food someone else prepared.
-- life can be strange sometimes.
I gave my baking cupboard a make-over. It had gotten quite terrible between the desert sands of spilled sugar and the sticky streams of leaking honey.
My spice cupboard has been revamped too. It's been bothering me for years but I never wanted to take the time to do something about it. Instead, time after time I simply shoved the toppling bottles back in and quickly shut the door to keep them from falling. When I finally got the courage, it took me all of 15 minutes to go through it. 15 minutes!!! Why do I do this to myself. I could have had a clean cupboard years ago. There are a lot of things like that in my life. Little jobs that if I took the time would make life so much easier. The time is now to take them on! I have figured my goal for this year. To eradicate my time wasting clutter. Oh wait, that has been my goal for years. darn it! It will proabably continue to be for years to come. Oh well, hopefully it won't be my baking and spice cupboards again.
Isabel was very excited about our new and improved cupboards. It made it much easier for her to find what she needed.
This was the extent of Jordan's helpfulness-- Watching JJ play Zelda on his computer.
Learning to open cans.
I love her concentration
Mmm Mmm, is there anything better than sweetened condensed milk?
As Laney poured it out we noticed it made an interesting shape. The front part hung like that while the back dripped in a steady stream. It certainly was not what I would have expected.
Instead of sprinkling a portion of the dry mixture over the top, we spread it all in the bottom--it was the only way to cover the large cookie sheet.
Having the cupboard organized also prompted Isabel to be more neat as she cooked.
Instead of the counter looking like this when done...
(as it did in week 1)
It looked like this!!!
She has gotten much better at cleaning up her messes after cooking. Which encourages me to let her cook more often.
Oatmeal Fudge Bars
Cookie Dough
1 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. Vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3 cups oats
Cream butter, br. sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Add flour, soda, salt. Mix in oats. press 1/2- 2/3 of dough onto cookie sheet.
Chocolate Filling
1 can sweetened condensed milk
12 oz. semi sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup butter
2 tsp. vanilla
Cook top ingrediants together until melted. Stir in vanilla. spread chocolate filling over dough evenly. Sprinkle remaining mixture over top. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes (mine was spread over 11x17 inch pan and 20 minutes was too long).
Review: I absolutely loved the chocolate part. That is a great fudge topping for any cookie bar. The oat bottom was good too, but because I over cooked it, it tasted a little dry to me. I might add a little less oats next time too. Sometime I want to try this adding peanut butter into the the dough. I'm not sure what it would do to the consistancy but I think it will be fun to experiment. Peanut butter and chocolate-- yum yum! These were a hit for JJ and the kids!
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