Trix "Krispies"

I'm kind of a nut about coupons.

I'm by no means an "extreme couponer," but I like a deal. Like just the other day, I went to the grocery store to buy milk, decided to check on a couple of coupons, and walked out with smoked sausage for $2 instead of $5.

Ask my friends, I'll frequently say, "I have a coupon for that!" And then I'll get it out of my purse because that's where I keep my envelope of coupons.

Lately, I've been keeping an eye out for coupons that would go with recipes I want to try.

Like Trix "Krispies".

I mean, really. Who wouldn't want to eat a rainbow?

I knew the recipe was on my Pinterest board. And then I found a coupon for $1 off a box of Trix. I didn't have to buy multiple boxes (like is usually true with cereal coupons) and it didn't stipulate how big the box needed to be.

I totally bought the smallest box I could find. And it turns out it would have been just the right amount, if I had followed the recipe precisely.

Now, I've never made Rice Krispie treats. Mom never liked them, we never had them in my house when I was little, and the only other time I tried to make something like this was in grad school, with Honey Nut Cheerios, and that turned out to be a mess. I even melted a spatula.

So I decided to give this recipe the ole college try. I followed the directions pretty closely. Until it came to the amount of Trix.

I decided that the amount of butter and marshmellow couldn't possibly be right since the recipe for Rice Krispie treats (on the mini-marshmellow package) called for twice as much better to half as much cereal. So I decided to just pour in 5 cups of Trix to see how it looked, and then go from there.

I decided to add another two cups, and that's where I quit. There just didn't seem to be enough moisture for the other three cups. And my bowl was full.

I sprayed the pan and pressed in the Trix Krispies. I cut them before taking them to the party, but I didn't try them until I got there.

You can see I really was supposed to add those last three cups since hers are so much thicker than mine.

I think everyone at the get together tried one. No one raved, because there was nothing to rave about. They are totally edible, and taste just like childhood. But they don't take on the wonderful chewy texture of Rice Krispie Treats. It probably has something to do with the ability of the cereal to absorb the butter. But I didn't think this treat was stellar enough to try to improve.

Also, they did not keep at all. I put the left over ones in plastic bags to take to work for lunch and they were pretty much bricks.

S'more Pizza

I don’t get all the recipes I want to try from Pinterest, although I know it seems like I do. I own some actual cookbooks, too.

My cookbook collection. I try to keep it in check.

One I got recently (I think I actually  bought it for myself, which I rarely do), is Guy Fieri’s cookbook. I had his Diners Drive-ins, and Dives book, but there were very few actual, viable recipes in it. I think that one went to Vietnam Vets or my consignment shop...
Either way, I broke out the Guy Fieri cookbook one night after dinner while my friends were still there. I got a special request for his S’more Pizza, so I started collecting the ingredients.

And then finally broke down and made it recently.

Now, I didn’t need two pizzas, so I cut the recipe in half. I use Pillsbury pizza crust because I had – wait for it – a coupon. I guarantee that surprised no body.

I asked one friend to bring over her pizza stone for me to make the pizza on. I knew this wasn’t getting made a head of time since I would want to serve it hot, so it wouldn’t matter if I didn’t have the pizza stone in hand until we sat down for dinner.

I dusted the pizza stone with flour as the recipe called. I did not use any corn meal. I opened the can of pizza dough and was confused because it seemed to be cut. Who would perforate a pizza dough? I know you have to do that for the crescent rolls, but pizza?

Turned out, actually, that opening the can had ripped the dough.

So I balled the whole thing up and started over.

I tried to spread it as thin as I could on the stone, but I fear it was not thin enough. The dough was just so elastic-y, it was hard to spread out. And I don’t own a rolling pin, so I was just using my hands.

I had prepped the graham cracker crumble and toasted the almonds before dinner to help with the timing.


Then I just followed the directions. 


The problem was this: His measurements aren't exact. I mean, he wants you to use a whole sleeve of graham crackers turned into crumbs for the graham cracker mixture. I used a half a sleeve and had WAY too much. I didn't use all I had made. The friend who brought the pizza stone actually took the leftover mixture home for a snack. I thought it was too spicy to eat on its own.


And he says to use one chocolate bar for each pizza, but doesn't say how many ounces that bar should be! I had a coupon for Dove chocolate bars, so I bought the two of them the coupon required. I got milk chocolate because I couldn't find dark chocolate. Although I prefer milk to dark chocolate anyway. And then I used both bars on the one pizza because just one didn't seem like nearly enough.

The dessert pizza.

 Now, the pizza turned out pretty well. We definitely ate the whole thing. Problem was, the Pillsbury dough (and I do blame the dough, mostly) poofed up way too much in the middle. It made it difficult to put on all the toppings well. 


I might need to buy a rolling pin to help flatten the next dough out.

Creamy Garlic Pasta

I had my weekly dinner for the first time in a couple of weeks, so didn't want to take on something too terribly difficult. I decided to make this recipe. I already had all the ingredients, pretty much, so it didn't require an extra trip to the grocery store, which I appreciate.

The first thing I usually do when starting dinner is the dishes. Because there are usually some left over from whatever I was doing last and I don't like to have dirty dishes all over the counter.

So I put the olive oil on to heat up, then turned around to unload some of the clean dishes from the dishwasher.

It wasn't until I smelled something burning that I remembered the olive oil, the dishes had distracted me so thoroughly.

So, yeah. Burning olive oil. Not a good start.

I grabbed a towel, grabbed the metal handles of the pot, and dragged it to the back burner off the heat. No water, no nothing. Just took it off the heat.


Then I got out my other pot that's good for boiling pasta, put that on the hot burner and immediately put the garlic in it so the sizzling sound and the aroma would keep me reminded that I had something on the stove.

Then I went back to unloading the dish washer. But briefly, as I needed to figure out the chicken stock and pasta situation.

Yummy looking, huh?

See, I hate recipes that mix measuring. I have cups of stock, but pounds of pasta? And I don't keep spaghetti in it's box, I have an airtight container for it, so I had no idea how many pounds I had. I was at a bit of a loss.

So I started with the three cups the recipe indicated. I got that to boiling while figuring out what to do with the spaghetti.


I basically just kept adding until it looked like it would be enough for four people.


Then it looked there probably wasn't enough chicken stock, so I put in the last cup that was in the box of chicken stock.


I let the pasta boil while I finished the dishes then prepped the lettuce I had for a salad, and did what I could to make dessert easier later.


I kept checking on it because I was worried about the amount of liquid. Toward the end, I added an extra cup on water because it really didn't look like there was enough liquid to finish cooking the pasta.


Now, the only parsley I had on hand was frozen in my freezer. Not the prettiest for sprinkling over top. So I asked the first friend who arrived what she thought about either dried oregano or fresh basil. I happen to have a basil plant on my balcony now, so that was an option.


She opted for the oregano, so while she stirred the pasta with the milk and parmesan cheese, I went out and got a few leaves. I washed them all individually, dried them, rolled them up together, and used my kitchen shears to cut thin ribbons.

I'm looks pretty good, too.

I served it with Caesar salad and bread. A very carb-laden meal, which I generally try to avoid. Everyone seemed to like it though, although my friend who doesn't like chicken said she could taste the chicken from the chicken stock. The rest of us didn't know what she was talking about, since all we tasted was savoriness, not chicken.


Conclusion: Try vegetable stock instead of chicken stock to turn it into a vegetarian meal. Or for someone who doesn't like chicken. This would make a good side dish to baked chicken or steak. 

Kinda Fail

So, I've kinda been failing at the blog lately.

To be fair, it's not entirely my own fault.

Sure, there are days that I go home and feel like eating cottage cheese and pickles for dinner and then don't want to write. But there are also weeks where work gets crazy and keeps me late several nights in a row.

And then I was in a car accident this week, and let me tell you, nothing puts the damper on cooking like car shopping.

Either way, I'd like to apologize to anyone who cares about being a slacker, and let you know that'll I'll try to do better. I have three recipes in the preliminary blogged stages. We'll see how next week goes.