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Monster Cookie Bars

I love my jelly roll pan.  Or half sheet pan.  Whatever you want to call it!  Before I started staying at home instead of going to an office every day, I used to bake treats for my co-workers every so often.  And, then eventually my husband’s co-workers.  So when I baked, I found myself baking bigger batches of cookies.  Or doubling recipes to make 2 9×13 pans of bars.  Eventually, I succumbed and bought a jelly roll pan and started finding recipes that were made just for that size.  All of a sudden, making treats for a few dozen people was easy.

This is one of those recipes.  They’re Monster Cookie Bars as they have hearty oatmeal, creamy peanut butter, melty M&Ms, and yummy chocolate chips.  AND they don’t have flour in them!  So those that are looking to be Gluten-free, these could easily qualify as long as you made sure to get gluten-free oatmeal. Read More…

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OH MY STARS!  I married a cocoa-loving man.  I’m not really sure that I knew that when we married, but I did shortly after that.  The first winter that we were married, we happened to go grocery shopping together.  (Probably only one of maybe three times we’ve done that.  That must be something that only newly married people do.)  We got to the cocoa mix aisle and he started studying all the choices.

Studying them.  Not kidding.  He started debating the pros and cons of the various choices and eventually landed on a few to buy.  I had no idea that I had married a cocoa-lover.  But, really, there could be worse habits, you know?

A few years after that, I stumbled onto this homemade cocoa mix in a Hy-Vee magazine.  It was delicious!  My husband quickly dubbed it the “Best Cocoa That I’ve Ever Had”.  We ended up making a few tweaks to make it even better (to us) and that new concoction has become the “Best Cocoa In The World”.  As soon as he suspects that the weather is getting colder or that snow is on it’s way, he makes sure we have the supplies to make this mix.  We make a huge batch, keep it in a glass jar and just enjoy it all season long. Read More…

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How to Make S’mores in the Microwave!

Do you remember the “S’mores” scene from The Sandlot?  I mean, it’s a classic!  (Well, for people my age anyway.)  If you’re not familiar with it, here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlddDZkkxCc Who doesn’t love s’mores?  I love a good campfire.  Putting a marshmallow on a metal stick, finding out the right distance from the fire to Read more

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Homemade Popcorn Balls!

Years ago (at least a couple of decades ago now), my grandma used to hand out homemade popcorn balls to Trick-or-Treaters on Halloween night.  She’d probably spend a good portion of her day making them.  She’d wrap them individually and include her name and address on them.  Most of her trick-or-treaters were from her neighborhood Read more

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Get in the Christmas spirit with The Rose Theater’s newest musical, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Base on the popular book by Barbara Robinson, this new musical is perfection.

The Herdmans children are six siblings that have a reputation of being the worst kids in history in their small town. They steal school lunches, bully and harass other elementary school students. When they find out there are treats at church, they decide to show up.

With a new church pageant director, she sets up audition and casts the unruly Herdmans in their beloved Christmas pageant. Will the Herdmans ruin the pageant or make it the best one ever? Wouldn’t it be nice for everyone to come together for the best Christmas Pageant ever? Read More and enter to win a family 4-pack of tickets now…

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20 Easy Mug Cake Recipes

I love mug cakes! They are simple to make and perfect for when I want just a little something sweet. If I bake an entire cake, I usually end up eating at least 3 or more slices. With a single serve mug cake I can satisfy my sweet tooth and don’t have leftovers to tempt Read more

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Triple Chip Oatmeal Bars

One of the things that my husband most appreciates about me is my willingness to use butterscotch chips in baking.  I can’t say for sure that it’s what has kept us happily married for 7 years, but I’m guessing it’s a factor somewhere.  In case that’s true, I’ll continue buying those little gems AND I’ll Read more

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20 Simple Homemade Candy Recipes!

Cool weather always makes me eager to fire up the stove and oven and make sweet treats for the family. Make your own version of popular candies with these 20 amazing homemade candy recipes. Whether you love chocolate, gummy candy or fall favorites, like candy corn, there is something here for every sweet tooth. 1 Read more

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Butterscotch Zucchini Bars

It’s no secret that around here, we like our butterscotch.  In cookies and in scotcheroos.  Delicious! And we also like feeding a bunch of people. And we like using up zucchini. And, I cannot lie, we like big bucks.  Wait?  What?!?  Just seeing if you’re awake.     So, when you have zucchini and you have a Read more

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20+ Amazing Pumpkin Spice Recipes!

Fall will be here soon. I’m so ready for pumpkin patches, football, spooky decorations, cooler weather and pumpkin everything! There’s nothing quite like the sweet scent of pumpkin spice wafting through a home. Here are 22 amazing recipes with pumpkin. Love pumpkin drinks? Check out the delicious drink recipes. Want some yummy pumpkin desserts? You Read more

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