EASY PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE

This is the EASIEST fudge ever 

and it is OH SO TASTY!!!

 

2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup evaporated (canned) milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup (smooth) peanut butter

In a medium sized saucepan (with a heavy bottom), mix 2 cups sugar and 1/2 cup evaporated milk. The heavy bottomed pan will keep this mixture from scorching.

Cook on medium high heat, stirring, until bubbles start to form around the edge of the pan. Turn the heat down to medium low and cook until the mixture starts to boil (bubbles all across the surface that don't go away when you stir it). Boil for exactly 2 1/2 minutes, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and peanut butter. Mix until very smooth (whisk works well here).

You can pour this cooked mixture into any size pan you like (larger pan gives you thinner fudge), but just make sure you have lined the pan with parchment paper or foil first. I have great luck using a loaf pan.

Sit this pan of hot fudge on a cooling rack. After about an hour or so, the fudge will be FIRM, but still very warm. This is the BEST time to cut the fudge cleanly.  Just grab the edges of the parchment paper or foil (that you lined the pan with) and lift the whole thing out of the pan. Slice the fudge with a THIN, SHARP knife.

You can also wait and cut the fudge after its completely cool, but it cuts easier and more cleanly if you cut it while it's still warm.

Store cooled fudge in 

airtight container

 

ENJOY !!!

MICROWAVE BROWNIE FOR ONE !!

 They say that you are not supposed to reward yourself with food...OK, I get that. But every once in a while, I crave something deeply chocolate, deeply warm and gooey. This recipe fills that bill perfectly and since it is only a single serving, there isn't a whole pan of guilty calories calling your name the rest of the day.

PURE HEAVEN IN MINUTES 

MICROWAVE BROWNIE FOR ONE
.
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon butter (room temperature)
1 tablespoons pecans (optional)
2 tablespoon chocolate chips (or 1 tablespoon mini chocolate chips)
.
In a small microwave safe bowl, mix everything together until smooth (mixture will be very thick). 
.
Now here comes the only "tricky part" of the recipe. Total cooking time in the microwave is 1 to 2 minutes depending on how powerful your microwave is. 

My microwave is a 1000 watt machine and it takes 1 minute 20 seconds. 

Watch your microwave carefully (the FIRST time you make this treat) so you don't over bake it (use the toothpick test for doneness). After you do this first "trial run", you will know exactly how long to microwave the next mini brownies.

LET THE BAKED BROWNIE SIT FOR ABOUT A MINUTE BEFORE YOU EAT IT.
.
NOTE: I am embarrassed to say I know this recipe by heart now. Any flavored chocolate, peanut butter, white (etc.) chips will work well.
.
NOTE: The recipe doesn't say you have to, but I bake mine in a little ramekin that I spray with cooking spray.

ENJOY !!!

CHUCK ROAST SLOPPY JOES IN THE CROCK-POT

This recipe came about one day when I was feeling very lazy relaxed. I had a beef chuck roast in the fridge, but the idea of regular old roast beef just didn't sound good, so I went through my recipes and spotted a Sloppy Joe recipe that my family has been enjoying for 40+ years and thought...why not???

I put the roast and veggies in the crock-pot, early in the day, and enjoyed the inviting aroma of our upcoming dinner all afternoon. When it was time to eat, I just pulled out some burger buns and potato salad and we had a meal fit for company (well, OUR kind of company anyway).

CHUCK ROAST

SLOPPY JOE'S

2 pounds LEAN beef chuck roast 
1 cup chopped onion
2/3 cup chopped celery
2/3 cup green pepper chopped small
2/3 cup ketchup
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon mustard POWDER
1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder

Trim the fatty parts off of the chuck roast and cut the meat into a few large pieces, then brown them in a frying pan before putting into a large crock-pot.

In the same frying pan, sauté the vegetables until the onions are almost transparent; tuck them in and around the meat. 

Mix the rest of the ingredients and pour over the meat and veggies. Crock-pot on high for 4 to 5 hours or low for 8 hours. It isn't necessary, but I like to rotate the meat (and coat it with sauce) a couple times during the afternoon. 

Thirty minutes (or so) before serving, remove the meat and thicken the sauce with a slurry of 1 tablespoon cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of water. Once the sauce is nice and thick, slice the beef (or just pull it apart) and put it back into the sauce so it will stay hot.

When it is time to eat, pile the meat and sauce on a warm buttered bun or French bread ....oh so good!!! We like our Sloppy Joe's with a swirl of yellow mustard.

NOTE:  My Crockpot takes 4 hours on high to make the meat extremely tender but still slice-able. If you like your beef super-shredded (like pulled pork) cook it an extra hour.

NOTE: Browning the meat and veggies isn't absolutely necessary, but it really adds to the overall yummy-ness.

ENJOY !!!