GLEE Notecards

Do any of you watch the tv show GLEE? Do you love it? I like it. A lot. It's kind of a love/hate relationship for me though. I love the songs and the dancing, but the plot lines sometimes are just too far out there for me. I'm not sure how I feel about some of the things the teachers and students are saying to each other in school, etc., but it's fun to watch and they do have some hilarious quotes in the show.

One of my girlfriends recently had a "Glee" themed birthday party, and I wanted to get a gift that tied in with that theme. I searched Etsy for stuff, not sure what I was looking for exactly or what I would find. Turns out you don't find a whole lot on that topic. The only matches that came up were for notecards with quotes on them. I was *this close* to ordering some when it occurred to me that I, too, make cards.

*facepalm* Doh!

So, I whipped up a quick set of six for her. My original intent was to keep them all very simple, similar to the Lady and the Tramp card, but with different colored bases and ribbons. As I got started I decided to embellish a little more, but they still are pretty basic. I think I finished all six in about an hour and a half tops. I have been out of the loop for so long, I forgot to take nice pictures, but I did take some quick snapshots with my phone, so I'll share those:


I seriously have no idea who she would send these to other than another "Gleek", but I still think they're fun. And, it was fun to be stamping again, too. I joined a card swap recently, so it's a good little warm up for me before I have to get started on that next project.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Crunch Bars

I just got an envelope from my friend (and Pampered Chef consultant) Jackie yesterday, and in it was the current Season's Best Recipe Collection. In that booklet, I found this recipe and I knew I had to make it. Like, NOW.

The best part was that I had just about all the ingredients on hand (LOVE when that happens, by the way). I'm a sucker for a Rice Crispy treat, and love those ones with the melted butterscotch and chocolate chips on top (we call them "Scotcheroos" in our family, but I've seen different names).

This recipe makes a bar that is kind of a cross between a Rice Crispy treat and a Take 5 candy bar. NOM! It's the perfect combination of salty and sweet.

Here's the recipe:

1/4 c. Dry-Roasted Peanuts, coarsely chopped

1 2/3 c. Coarsely Crushed Pretzels, divided

3 c. Crisp Rice Cereal

3/4 c. Butter, divided

1 bag (10.5 oz) Mini-Marshmallows

1/2 c. Light Corn Syrup, divided

1 bag (10 oz.) Peanut Butter Morsels

1 c. Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels

Start by mixing 1 1/3 c. of the coarsely crushed pretzels (reserving 1/3 c. for later use) and the rice cereal in a large bowl. Melt 6 T. of butter, then add marshmallows and heat/stir until marshmallows are completely melted. Pour marshmallow mixture over cereal mixture and stir well (Hint: spray your spatula with non-stick cooking spray before mixing - that way it won't stick to the spoon). Spread mixture into the Pampered Chef Medium Sheet Pan, if you have one, otherwise a 9x13 pan would work as well. It should look something like this: Next, combine 2 T. of butter and half of your corn syrup until melted, stirring often. Stir in the peanut butter chips and mix until all the chips have melted. The mixture will be very thick - almost like real peanut butter (which kind of made me wonder why they didn't just use real peanut butter, but whatever. It probably wouldn't set up right). Spread the peanut butter mixture over the Rice Crispy base like so:

Finally, combine the remaining butter and corn syrup and melt it. Once melted, add the chocolate chips (sneak a few as a snack, I always do). Stir until all the chips have melted, then spread evenly over the peanut butter mixture. Sprinkle with the chopped peanuts and reserved pretzels. You can either stick it in the freezer for 5-10 mins to set the chocolate, or just let it set on the counter if you have the time and/or willpower to wait longer before you eat it. When all is said and done, it should look like this:

Yield: 24 bars Serving: 2 bars (LOVE that part)

Calories per serving: 260 (are you KIDDING me? That's awesome for as good as this tastes)

Total Fat: 12g

Sat. Fat: 9g

Cholesterol: 15mg

Carbs: 35g (Seriously, if you're worried about carbs, why are you making this?)

Protein: 4g

Sodium: 410mg

Fiber: 1g

As I was eating my first piece, I was thinking that if you really wanted to knock this out of the park and impress your friends, you could stop after the peanut butter step, then cut into small bite sized squares and set them in the freezer to set. Then, instead of making the ganache, melt a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips with 1-2 T of shortening (to thin it) and DIP the frozen squares in the chocolate (OMG), then roll them in the pretzel/peanut mix (though your pretzels would have to be way small for this to work properly).

*drool*

Enjoy, and as always, let me know if you try it. Also, if you're in need of a Pampered Chef lady, take a peek at my friend Jackie's page. She is very sweet, and goes out of her way for her customers. I really can't say enough good about her. I don't get anything for it, so please don't think I'm trying to sell something. I just like to enable people, that's all.