I love a good recipe that doesn’t make my butt bigger just by looking at them. These Chewy Fruit Bars would be one of them.

Yes, they have butter and sugar, but some of the sugar is replaced by using Musselman’s Cinnamon Apple Sauce.

I have heard, you know urban legend kinda stuff, that using apple sauce can sometimes be a great way to lighten up a dessert. Yeah, yeah, give me butter/sugar or give me death is what I say. But you know what? These little bars were PERFECT. Sweet, but not overly sweet. You could eat them for breakfast and not feel to terribly guilty.

They are soft, and cinnamon-y (yes, that is a culinary word) with lovely specs of nuts and fruit.

The possibilities for the babies are endless. Next time I might throw in some dried cherries…oh yeah.

Thank you to Musselman’s for sending me some apple sauce  and the recipe to make the bars. I am glad they did, because now I can somewhat jump on the applesauce replacing sugar/butter bandwagon. However, ones not to say I might not fall of the wagon often.

The Hungry Housewife

These brownies made me very happy. I always have brownie mix on hand. If we are being honest here, sometimes I make the brownie mix just to have SEVEAL spoonfuls of the brownie batter before it even makes it in the oven. Oh, I know what some of you are thinking…”ewwww, thats nasty, there are raw eggs in there.” What I say to that is , PAH-LEEEEZE, I have been eating raw batters in all forms(brownie,cookie,pancake,cake etc.) since I was a small child and I am still alive. Heck, when I was really little I would sneak raw hamburger meat, dip it in the softened butter my Mom kept on the counter (another gasp from the peanut gallery) and EAT IT. The thought of that makes my stomach completely queazy, but the point being, I AM STILL ALIVE.
Geeze, I went off on a tangent there, I’m sorry…
Anyhoooo, yes, this is the perfect way to doctor up a brownie mix with literally ZERO effort with  MAXIUM result.

Plop the peanut butter over brownie batter and swirl with a knife.

The Hungry Housewife

Sup? Well, my adorable little niece did it again this year.

In her cute little voice on the telephone..

“Aunt Leslie, this is Sarah, would you like to buy some Girl Scout Cookies?”

Me- Place phone on mute….in my most annoyed voice..”$$%*&(*&&&&, (**%^%$^&^&(,FAT,^*((*&%%####,cellulite,%%$$%*** ”

Me- un-mute phone, “Well, yes Sarah, you know I will buy some Girl Scout Cookies from you.”

How can one say no? I mean, we all know I have no will power.

So I sit here with 2 boxes of Samoas, 2 boxes of Thin Mints(now in the freezer) and 2 boxes of Trefoils. I can’t have that kind of stuff laying around the house. There is a reason I don’t buy cookies at the store…plain and simple. I. WILL. EAT. THEM!

Remember this video from my last Girl Scout Cookie Rant?

Samoas are my weakness. So I had to come up with a remedy to get rid of them. If I knew I had a box, I would gooble them right up.
I knew I had to put them in something. I had a big ol box of Rice Krispies in the pantry.
The Samoas found a new home….chopped up in the Rice Krispie Treats.

Want my Thin Mint Truffle Recipe…click here.

OH YES I DID!

I am sure if you are a food blogger, you have a pretty spoiled significant other.

One night my husband opened up the “Baking Cabinet” and was just staring into it.
He was just waiting for me to notice.
I said, “What are you doing, do you want me to make you something?
With out hesitation or without even taking a breath he said,
“Brownies……. Brownies with walnuts, chocolate chips and marshmallows.”
He said it so fast like he had been plotting.
So the next morning I made him his requested brownies.
Brownies with chocolate chips, toasted walnuts and marshmallows. Pretty simple.

I took them to work and I have never seen people go so crazy over a brownie. Like I put crack in them. You know, Kinda like McDonalds does with their fries.
They look like normal brownies, but they were anything but.
I mixed the marshmallows into the batter and once baked they melted right in, you can’t even see them in the cooked brownie.
The marshmallows made the brownies sooooooooo deliciously chewy and amazing. And the added chocolate chips and toasted walnuts just put them over the top.
I used a box mix, cause I am lazy like that these days. And to be honest, I love boxed brownie mix.
So if you want people to thing you are a Brownie God, go ahead and make these!

Valentines Day. Do you like it? Me..I’m on the fence.
Maybe back in High School when the boys were romantic, it was a cutsie and stuff.
But I have come to the realization the Valentines day is a Hallmark Day. I mean unless your man is Uber romantic, it will probably be just another day…..sigh. I think once you have kids, like everything else, the holiday becomes about them.

But we can still be a hopeless romantic and make some heart shaped Jello, right?
It’s cute and the kids liked to help.

Jello and kids kinda go hand in hand.

I got the idea of the multi colored Jello from the old school Jello Mosaic Dessert Bars
But what fun is it just cutting the jello into cubes? Let’s make hearts!!!!

Below is that it looks like before its final 2 hour chill.
As you can see, I used a small heart cookie cutter to cut my firmed red jello and arranged them in a 9 x 13 pan, then poured the sweetened condensed mixture over the top.

And once the firm, you invert the pan and cut them out.
Cute, huh?

It’s super easy to do!

My friend Shelly over at Cookies and Cups decided for a a bunch of us to get together and share our cute Valentines treats…so here are the other fabulous creations!

1)Confessions of a Cookbook Queen-Valentines Twinkies on a Stick
2)Buns in my Oven-Hot Fudge and Strawberry Donut Pudding
3)Glorious Treats-Red Velvet Cupcakes
4)Cookies and Cups-Glass Topper Valentines Cookies
5)Bakingdom-Valentines Day Cookie Cakes
6)The Hungry Housewife-Valentines Jello Hearts
7)Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle-Valentines Dotty Cookies
8)Sprinkles Bakes-Red Velvet Cake Minis
9)Bake at 350-Double-Decker,Stripey , Valentines Cookies
10)Two Peas and Their Pod-Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies
11)Scarletta Bakes-Mexican Chocolate Hearts
12)She Wears Many Hats-Valentines Popcorn ]]> http://www.thehungryhousewife.com/2012/02/valentines-jello-hearts.html/feed 50 http://www.thehungryhousewife.com/2012/01/top-10-recipes-of-2011.html http://www.thehungryhousewife.com/2012/01/top-10-recipes-of-2011.html#comments Sun, 01 Jan 2012 23:23:49 +0000 The Hungry Housewife http://www.thehungryhousewife.com/?p=1686 Hi all, I hope you had a wonderful Holiday Season. Mine, like I am sure everyone else’s was packed full and honestly is a bit of a blurr. I spent the last half of my Birthday(Christmas Eve) and into Christmas day cleaning up after my daughter who had the stomach virus. Poor little thing..who wants to be puking on Christmas? And then she gave it to me the day after Christmas..good times..good times. Let me just tell you that Red Robin tastes so much better going in than coming back out. ugggg

New Years Eve was great. My husband decided he wanted to have a party last minute. And by last minute, I mean the day before. Gotta love em’.
If you read this post, you know that none of my clothes fit me, so I began stressing out on what I was going to wear for the party. I mean, people usually get all fancied up for New Years.
So I decided to make our New Years party a PAJAMA  party! Everyone had to come in the P.J’s. Sure, I still put on some make up, but let me tell you how comfy I was!!!!
I had too much to drink…doesn’t happen often, but when it does….good lord.  Diet Coke and Cherry Flavored Vodka is VERY easy to chug down.
I was dancing all night long. One low point was, dancing to Beastie Boys- Brass Monkey with my dog under one arm and a wooden spoon in the other hand as a microphone.
I had fun

I am wishing each and everyone of you a Happy 2012.
I can’t thank you all enough for continually stopping by my blog and reading what I have to say. You all are very much appreciated. You make doing what I do worth every calorie!!!!

So onto my top 10 recipe/posts of 2011 (according to Google Analytics)

#10 Rustic Love Bird Wedding Cake

For the more photos of this beautiful wedding cake I made..click over to this post.

#9 Filet Mignon

For tips on how to cook the perfect Filet Mignon click here

#8 Sugar Cookie Tips and Icing Tips

For my Sugar Cookie and Icing tips head on over to here.

#7 Rice Pudding from Left Over Rice
This has been in the top 10 every year. This post was when my blog was only 3 months old!

Click here for the Rice Pudding Recipe

#6 Lemon Bars

Click here for the Lemon Bar Recipe

#5 Pretzel Rolo Turtles

For the recipe for the Pretzel Rolo Turtles click here.

#4 Ice Cream Bread

Ice Cream Bread Recipe is here

#3 Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

The ever popular Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal recipe is here

#2 Antipasto Kabobs

Antipasto Kabobs are here

#1 Nutella Hot Chocolate- Sooooooooo Addictive and delicious. My Nutella Hot Chocolate was ALLLL over the web!

Nutella Hot Chocolate recipe lives HERE

Bark is so easy to make and it’s perfect for Holiday parties or just any day of the week really. However, it is quite dangerous to have laying around the house. It is cut in such small pieces, that you just walk by, pick one up and pop it into you mouth. Well, if you continue to do this all day, you will have probably eaten half of the tray. Don’t know how I know this fact..probably read it somewhere…yup that’s it.{cough-cough}.

Take a look at my other bark recipes…
Almond Joy Bark
Traditional Peppermint Bark

And the easy recipe..

Raise your hand if you eat Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk by the spoonful…..come on, don’t leave me hanging! It is delicious creamy heavenly goodness. Everything in moderation right?

You can use sweetened condensed milk for sooooooo many things. Take a look here, at the Eagle Brand Recipe page, you will be amazed at all of the wonderful recipes they have.

Take a look at this Key Lime Pie Ice Cream with Chocolate recipe I made with sweetened condensed milk! It was soooo easy and one of the best ice creams I have ever made!

Oh, and speaking of recipes. Do you have a fabulous recipe that uses sweetened condensed milk? One that everyone raves about, one that people can’t get enough of? Do you think it could possibly be worth $10,000?  You need to enter it into the
Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk Sweet Secret Recipe and Essay Contest. Hurry though, it ends December 7th. Click here to enter. You’ll never know if it’s worth $10,000 unless you enter!!!!!!

On to the Giveaway!!!!

One of my readers will win

• Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk (regular, low-fat and fat-free varieties)
• 13 x 9-inch Baking Pan
• Reusable Silicone Baking Liner
• A $50 Gift Card to Cooking.com

GIVEAWAY RULES CONTEST CONTEST CLOSED

One of my readers will win the above prize pack.
Main Entry
(Required)

1.) Tell me your favorite recipe using Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk

(For EACH additional entry, you must leave a SEPARATE comment for EACH ADDITIONAL entry)

2.) Like THE HUNGRY HOUSEWIFE on Facebook
3.) Follow THE HUNGRY HOUSEWIFE on twitter
4.) Tweet using this..Go visit @HungryHousewife for a Eagle Brand GIVEAWAY/$50       Cooks.com gift card http://tinyurl.com/83t2anl
5.) Post about this giveaway on your Facebook Page using this tag http://tinyurl.com/83t2anl
6.) Subscribe to THE HUNGRY HOUSEWIFE via email.
7.) Like Eagle Brand on Facebook

And there you have it, a total of 7 entries for you.
Contest ends Monday December 5th at 8 pm est  CONTEST CLOSED
Winner will be chosen by Random.org
Winner MUST CONTACT ME within 72 business hours of winning or another winner will be chosen(NO EXCEPTIONS)
Contest open to US resident only.

One might call the way I cut my fudge wasteful. See all the scraps left behind? Well, you see, you have to be creative. Most people serve coffee after the holiday dinner. So here is what I do…leave a plateful of the “scraps” next to the coffee station so people can drop pieces in their coffee! Instant PEPPERMINT MOCHA! Yeah, I’m a genius.

*Giveaway courtesy of Eagle Brand, all opinions are mine.

August 25, 2011

I made lots and lots and lots of this crumb cake when I worked at the bakery. Might not be the best photo, but it was taken in the horrid florescent light at the bakery.
It sold out every time I made it. So you know it must be good.
The bakery is sadly no longer in business. Man, do I miss licking the bowls. Whaaaa? Quality control, it was for quality control people.

In my opinion, crum cake is allllll about the crumb. The more the better.

The recipe was from a Cooks Illustrated book, with a few additions.  Not sure which one..I just stole a copy of the recipe from the shop..shhhhhhhh.

I suppose it is citrus week here on The Hungry Housewife. Did you miss Mondays post? Key Lime Pie Ice-Cream with Chocolate…Ohhh yeah, view it here

I am a sucker for all things LEMON. Lemon chicken, lemon pasta, lemon lotion..I could go on and on.
But nothing screams summertime more than a nice refreshing Lemon Bar or some call the Lemon Squares. They have been one of my favs ever since I was a wee little girl.

I like to think they are healthy because a fruit is after all the first word. Totally a diet dessert. {cough-cough}