Crispy Date Bars

If you want to be the hero at the next pot luck, then bring these bars. Seriously, you'll have instant celebrity and people will offer their first born child for the recipe. They're that good. I mean really, they are THAT good. Crispy, nutty, sticky, sweet, cream cheesy, shortbready treats. Oh, you say you don't like dates? Hmmmm, have you tried them? Have you tried them in these bars? I think not. I know, dates lean a bit to the exotic side of the dried fruit world. Kind of sticky and weird with a peely papery skin that looks pretty gross. Take a leap of faith and try one. Just close your eyes and pop one into your mouth. Chewy, creamy, snappy and sweet. Delish!

I'm not entirely sure where this recipe came from. I've been making them since before I had children, since before I got married, since before I moved out of my parent's house. I probably started off making them for my Dad since two of his favorite things are rice crispy treats and dates. For the longest time, I had a handwritten copy of the recipe and then somewhere along the way I typed it up and that's the copy I have now. I suspected that the recipe came from a book at some point so I Googled it and my search landed me squarely on the Rice Crispy Cereal recipe site. So as not to make angry, a corporate giant like Kellogg's, I'm going to link to their recipe and just show you how they're made. One note though on their recipe, I totes recommend you use pecans instead of walnuts. I also don't add the optional milk into the icing. But that's just me, do what you like. . .

Strawberries & Cream Scones

They say, "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade." But in my world, when life hands you an almost out of code carton of cream and some strawberries on their last days, you make Strawberries and Cream Scones. I really, really can't bare to throw out food. So when I ended up with a handful of strawberries that were a bit too old to just eat but really not bad, something had to be done. So I whipped up a batch of scones. I'm using my scone shortcut (a box of biscuit mix) because, well because it's easy, and I had it on hand. I also love a recipe that comes together out of necessity and I loved the fact that I made this work with what I had on hand. No extra trips to the store, believe me when I tell you, that doesn't happen often. This recipe is easy and straight forward so let's cut with the chit chat and get started. . .

Apple Sharlotka

I saw this recipe on the Smitten Kitchen blog and new that I wanted to try it. It was quite a while ago and I've waited. Waited because my husband doesn't like cooked apples. That's right. No apple pie, no apple turnovers, nada, nichts, nothing. I've waited because there were birthday cakes to make and little league treats to bake. Waited because there's been house work to do, because I changed jobs, because time has a way of slipping by unnoticed while you're busy doing stuff. Finally, last week, I'd waited long enough. It was time to try this recipe or unbookmark it and let it go. So I tried it.

The rustic simplicity of the recipe and ingredients piqued my interest. Could such simple, dare I say "plain", ingredients deliver. Would the whole be greater than the sum of it's parts? Could you make a cake without butter? Could you make a pie without a crust? What would this be? Breakfast? Dessert? I had to find out. . .