Pink Lemonade Dip

OMG!  This dip is to die for ... The recipe calls for chilling, but we can never wait that long.  Ran out of apple slices?  No problem!  Grab a spoon and eat the stuff straight out of the bowl.  My favorite is raspberry-lemonade.  The Pink Lemonade is more tart, but if that is what you like, great!  To ease some guilt (but you will be in heaven when you taste it and could care less about guilt) make the dip using reduced-fat or fat-free cream cheese and cool-whip.

Necessity: The Mother of Invention

Also known as the children ate some of the ingredients you needed ...

Peanut Butter Cheerio Bars

This is what I made tonight for the family.  It was supposed to be Rice Krispie Treats, but someone ate my Rice Krispies. I am in the melting butter stage and not too happy to find I have only 3 cups of Rice Krispies when I need twice that.  The box was in the taboo-touch-you-die cabinet and should have had enough for two batches of Rice Krispie treats.

 So what to do ... Hmmm.  The voices in my head go to town and start talking to each other.

   "I have Honey-Nut Cheerios." 

   "Oh, I think some creamy peanut butter will go with that.  

   "We aren't allergic, are we?"

   "No, it's the other stuff we can't have."

   "Great!  Let's mix the peanut butter with the marshmallows.  How much do you think?"

   "One-third cup?"

   "Nah, I like peanut butter.  Let's do one-half."

  "Cool!  That sounds good to me!"

So on the advice of my voices, I continue to the melting marshmallows stage and put in half a cup of creamy peanut butter.  I mix the two together before pouring in 6 cups of said cheerios and mix.

   "Chocolate!  Chocolate is always good."

Yeah, that chocolate?  Those are the occasional brown spots in the picture.  The kids got into and ate most of my chocolate chips too.

The results are in:  It was a hit, and the family loved it the "strange-looking Rice Krispie treats." Once mixed, be sure to place into a greased (with butter or spray) 9x13 pan and cool.  Have a glass of milk ready because they are a bit rich.

Tuesday's Tip: Substituting for Butter

I won't argue that cooking with butter makes food taste real yummy. The biggest problem though is not my waistline (although I am trying to fix that) but my youngest's allergies. He cannot have anything with dairy among other things. That leaves out butter or anything similar.

We do use a dairy-free margaine like spread that he can have. There are foods out there but many times what doesn't have dairy products was made in close proximity of milk products or on the same equipment. That is a no-no too. Seeing as I do not like having a little boy with a upset tummy, congestion & blow-outs, I avoid the causes.

One thing that it makes difficult is having bread in the house, homemade or store-bought. He can't have eggs either, by-the-way. The other day I made some mashed potatoes from scratch. Instead of throwing out the potato water, I use it to make potato bread. It is already warm so works well with the yeast as does the sugars and starches in it. My potato bread recipe calls for milk and butter/margarine. Since both are no-nos, I substitute. I just use the potato water for the milk and oil for the butter. I use oil to replace butter in my bread recipes, preferring canola as it is a healthy oil.

Using those substitutions brings down the cost of making the bread and all in my family can enjoy it. (Which we did!) Here is my recipe that I use. It can be made in a breadmaker that can handle a two pound loaf. I have made that way and by hand with both working just fine.

Potato Bread

1-1/2 cups warm potato water
2 tablespoons oil
2 teaspoons salt
4 cups flour (use bread flour or add gluten to all-purpose)
1/3 cup potato flakes
2 tablespoons sugar
2-2/3 teaspoons yeast

If using a bread machine, add all ingredients in given order. Select white or normal cycle with light crust (if option is available).

If making by hand, disslove yeast in warm potato water. Add sugar, salt, potato flakes and oil. Mix well. Add flour gradually until all has been added. Knead dough and let rise in warm place. When doubled, knead dough again and place in lightly greased loaf pan(s). Let the dough rise again until about doubled. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes or lightly browned.

By hand, this will make one large loaf (10-inch or larger loaf pan) or two medium (9-inch or smaller) loaves. In the bread machine, this makes a two-pound loaf.