Caramel - Peanut Butter Bars

I pulled this recipe out of Sandra Lee Semi Homemade in April of 2010 but only got around to making it the week before James was born. She lists it as a great bake sale idea but the bars would also be good to give as gifts to neighbors at Christmas or for some other occasion.  While they were pretty easy to make I will warn you that they are very rich and very peanut buttery!  So be prepared -- if you aren't a big peanut butter fan you won't like these bars, but if you like peanut butter then this might be just the dessert for you!  But the dessert did get better the longer it sat so I'd definitely recommend it if you're baking them ahead of time.

Caramel-Peanut Butter Bars

Makes one 9x13 dish to be cut into bars

1 box yellow cake mix

1 cup regular Oats

2/3 cup creamy Peanut Butter

1 large egg, slightly beaten

2-3 Tablespoons whole milk (I used 2% because it was as high fat content as I had)

8 oz Cream Cheese, softened

1 12.25 oz Jar Caramel Ice Cream Topping 

1 cup SemiSweet Chocolate Chips

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Lightly grease a 9x13 baking pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine cake mix and oats.  Using a pastry blender or two forks, cut in peanut butter until mixture is crumbly.

3. In a small bowl, combine egg and milk.  Add to peanut butter mixture; stir until just combined.  Reserve 1 1/2 cups peanut butter mixture.  Press remaining mixture into prepared pan.

4. In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy.  Add caramel topping; beat just until combined.  Carefully spread over peanut butter layer in pan.  Sprinkle remaining peanut butter mixture over cream cheese layer.  Sprinkle with chocolate chips.

5. Bake for 30 minutes, or until nearly set in center.  Cool completely in pan on a wire rack (about 1 hour).  Cut into bars.

Chicken Roll Up's

I love the blog world and the ability to catch up with people that you knew in college once you've left college life and are out in the real world.  Catherine is one of those people that I love to keep up with via blog's and I especially love all of the wonderful recipe's that she frequently post's!  Even though I wasn't an AOPi in Tuscaloosa, I can still appreciate the great meals that all of the sorority houses served so when I saw that she posted a recipe from the AOPi house I knew I needed to try it out.  

This recipe was really easy to put together -- especially since I cheated and went with precooked chicken from the store!  And it turned out great!  I halved the recipe so that I could freeze half of it and one half of it ended up being just enough for Jason, Charlotte, and I.  If you have more people in your family I'd go ahead and cook it all at one time, but for us it was the perfect size halved.  And the bonus with that is that there's another recipe in the freezer ready to pull out now that James is here!  The recipe below has my shortcut modifications of Catherine's recipe but you can check her's out by clicking on the recipe name.

As a sidenote, if anyone else has any great sorority house recipe's could you send them my way? I'd love to try them!

Chicken Roll Up's

Makes one 9x13 casserole or two smaller square dishes

Two 6 oz packages of pre cooked chicken, chopped

2 cans crescent rolls

1 3/4 cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese

2 cans Cream of Chicken Soup

1 cup Milk

1. Open crescent rolls and press two crescent rolls together into a large rectangle.  Cut the rectangle in half to get two squares of rolls per two crescent rolls.

2. Mix soups, 1 1/2 cups of cheese, and milk.

3. Chop chicken and put a spoonful of chicken into the center of each crescent triangle and close.  (I sort of made little wonton shapes.)

4. Place chicken rolls into a greased baking dish.

5. Pour soup mixture over the rolls and spread mixture evenly over them.

6. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until the rolls are beginning to brown on the top.

7. Sprinkle rest of cheese over the top of the rolls and enjoy.

King Ranch Chicken

If you're looking for a spicy chicken dish to either serve as a meal or as a heavy topping to chips for a game day look no further than this recipe.  I found it off of a blog I love, Lamberts Lately, and made it a few weeks ago for us.  The recipe I'm going to give you is a much less spicy version than Leslie's because her version was pretty much more than I could handle!  But if you want to up the spice quotient follow her directions and you'll be there.  We liked it as a meal but will probably use it as a game day dip meal in the future.

King Ranch Chicken

Makes 1 packed to the brim square/small round casserole or a less full 9x13 casserole

1 lb Chicken

1/2 Tablespoon Chili Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1/2 Teaspoon Pepper

1/8 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup

1 tub Philadelphia Cooking Cream (or 10 oz Cream Cheese)

1 can Rotel

3/4 cup Pepperjack Cheese

1 1/4 cup Cheddar Cheese

1 bag Tortilla Chips

1. Cut the chicken into small pieces and cook in a little bit of oil a skillet.  Add next four seasonings to chicken as it cooks.

2. Mix together soup, cooking cream, rotel, and half of each cheese.  Add in chicken once finished.

3. Put a good layer of tortilla chips on the bottom of a sprayed casserole dish, then top with the chicken mixture.  Add the rest of the cheese on top.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until bubbly.