S’mores Bars.

Wow. Just wow. Blondies + s’mores = droooooooool…

I pinned this months ago, but I’ve never been a consumer of Marshmallow Fluff — in fact, any time I think about it, the line from Julie & Julia comes to mind, “What eez zees marshmallow fluff?” But I followed Mel’s advice & overcame my Fear of the Fluff. SO WORTH IT.

Overcome your Fear of the Fluff & make these. Now. (Original recipe here.)

• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about a sleeve of graham crackers, crushed)
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 sticks butter, room temp
• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups marshmallow fluff or creme
• 2 cups chocolate chips (I used semisweet, but milk would be more authentically s’mores)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line a 9×13 pan with foil, leaving an overhang on the short edges, & spray the foil with cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, combine dry ingredients.
3. In the bowl of your electric mixer, cream together butter & brown sugar. Beat in eggs & vanilla.
4. Reduce speed to low & gradually add flour mixture until combined.
5. Divide dough in half. Press one half into the bottom of the prepared pan in an even layer.
6. Dollop on the marshmallow topping & gently spread in an even layer.
7. Sprinkle chocolate chips over the top.
8. Scatter remaining dough in clumps on top, leaving some of the marshmallow & chocolate peeking through.
9. Bake 30-32 minutes, or until golden & the marshamllow is good & toasty.
10. Let cool completely before removing the bars using the foil, cutting, & enjoying.

Kiddie primavera. (Or, getting your kid excited to polish off her veggies.)

Weelicious triumphs again!

To minimize mess, I generally buy & cook the short pastas, so when I told The Munchkin we were having “slurpy spaghetti” for dinner, she practically leaped for joy. The many different veggies in this dish are julienned just like the pasta, so she slurped them up just like the noodles. & get this: she was happy about it! She ate them on purpose! “Look, mommy, I’m slurping asparagus!” This, coming from the toddler who enjoys carrots, but will hardly touch zucchini or asparagus. The bowl was polished off. Success!

• 2 zucchini
• 2 carrots, peeled
• 6 asparagus spears, woody ends snapped off
• 1 small red bell pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (original recipe calls for only 1, but it needs more)
• 1 lb. whole-wheat spaghetti (or, if you don’t have a food processor to julienne your veggies & your knife skills are as atrocious as mine, linguine covers a multitude of sins)
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 1/3 cup Parmesan

1. Julienne your vegetables with a knife or the shredding blade of a food processor.
2. Cook pasta in salted water according to package directions.
3. Meanwhile, heat oil in a saute pan over medium heat.
4.  Saute garlic 1 minute.
5. Add veggies & salt & saute an additional 3-4 minutes or until softened.
6. Drain pasta, reserving 1/3 cup of the pasta water.
7. Return pasta to pot or place in a large serving bowl. Add veggies, pasta water, butter, & Parmesan; toss to coat.
8. Let your Munchkins pretend to be baby birds slurping up worms!

Simple Shamrock Sugar Cookies.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day (in a week or so) from this non-Irish (Scottish & Welsh, actually) gal!

I found this easy, kitchen-helper-friendly recipe at Better Homes & Gardens (I think) a few years ago & made it again this year for our Mom’s Club’s St. Patrick’s Day party.

• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 egg
• 1/4 tsp. extract of choice (I used vanilla, but you could do peppermint or almond)
• green food coloring (I’ve used both gel & liquid now, & find that liquid is just easier & doesn’t affect the dough’s composition)
• 2 cups flour
• green sanding sugar

1. In your stand mixer with the flat paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed 30 seconds or until softened.
2. Add sugar & salt; beat on med-high until fluffy.
3. Add egg, extract, & food coloring. Beat well. Add more food coloring if necessary; it will look paler when the flour is added.
4. On low speed, gradually add the flour & mix well. Divide the dough into 3 equal parts.
5. Place a sheet of wax paper on a jelly roll pan or cookie sheet. Pour a generous amount of sanding sugar all over the wax paper.
6. Take 1 of your dough lumps & roll it into a long “snake” 1 inch in diameter. Let your kitchen helper assist you in rolling it in the sugar to coat. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Repeat with remaining dough lumps. Toss the wax paper & leftover sugar.
7. Refrigerate dough “snakes” at least 2 hours, or up to 1 week (yeah right, like cookie dough would EVER last that long in someone’s refrigerator!).
8. Preheat your oven to 350. Remove one “snake” from the fridge at a time, unwrap, & slice crosswise with a sharp knife into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Take a few of your slices & cut them into thirds to make your “stems.”
9. Shape your shamrocks by placing 3 slices with sides very slightly overlapping on an ungreased cookie sheet & adding a stem piece. Gently press together. Don’t forget to make a few lucky 4-leaf clovers too!
10. Bake for about 8 minutes or until set in the middle. Cool on the sheet for a few minutes, then remove to cooling rack to cool completely.

To serve, position them next to each other on a serving dish or tray rather than piling them onto a plate like I did. They ended up looking like a jumble of circles so no one knew what they were until they picked them up. Presentation is everything sometimes!

“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”

The Munchkin’s current favorite book is Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Our good friend Lauren gave her the “complete” book, which includes the sequel Pickles to Pittsburgh, some time ago, & now that her attention span has caught up, we’re reading it with her at least twice a day.

So when I saw this recipe over at Weelicious, you can imagine that the book was the first thing I thought of. (Her picture’s better than mine.) Meatballs, fun pasta, & mozzarella “clouds!”

 I halved the recipe & there were still leftovers for us. I also used ground turkey instead of chicken because it was cheaper. I’ve re-ordered the steps a little, since the meatballs take longer to prep & cook than the pasta.

• 1 lb. ground chicken or turkey
• 1/3 cup seasoned bread crumbs
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 2 tsp. salt, divided
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 lb. mini-wheel or other fun pasta
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1, 28-oz. can tomato sauce
• 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil
• 8 oz. Bocconcini mozzarella (“small balls” — or buy the larger balls & then cut them smaller)

1. Combine chicken, bread crumbs, egg, & 1 tsp. of the salt in a medium bowl. Use wet hands to roll teaspoonfuls into small meatballs.
2. In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the meatballs & cook 3 minutes, turning occasionally.
3. Meanwhile, prepare pasta according to package directions.
4. Add garlic to meatballs & cook 1 minute or until fragrant. Add tomato sauce, basil, & 1 tsp. salt (you may wish to add slightly less; I found it a little on the salty side) & cook meatballs in sauce on medium-low 8 minutes or until done through.
5. Add pasta & mozzarella balls to the sauce mixture & cook until heated through, 2-3 minutes.