When I got married, one of the gifts I received was the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, Limited Edition. At the time, I thought, “How cute, a retro cook book!”

Little did I know just how handy it would be.

First of all, it’s spiral bound, so I can remove a page if I need to access a recipe but don’t want to deal with the whole cumbersome book.

It’s also conveniently divided into sections, such as appetizers & snacks, breads, cakes, cookies, eggs & cheese, fish & shellfish, meat, pasta, poultry, and vegetables, to name a few.

Granted, you’re not going to find new age recipes here, but I swear that every time I need to bake chicken (or turkey for Thanksgiving), I reach for this cook book to determine over temperature and cooking time.

It’s my cooking bible. What’s yours?

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I picked this recipe out of Vegetarian Times magazine, but apparently they got it from The Joy of Vegan Baking. 

Ingredients
2 cups crispy rice cereal, crushed
1 1/2 cups natural peanut butter
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup + 2 Tbs. non-hydrogenated, nondairy butter, melted*
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup nondairy semisweet chocolate chips

* I HIGHLY recommend Earth Balance Whipped Buttery Spread

I know these are not the type of ingredients you will find at your average grocery store–I have found all at my local Co-Op.

Directions
1. Coat 13- x 9-inch baking pan with cooking spray.
2. Combine cereal, peanut butter, confectioners’ sugar, 1/2 cup melted butter, and vanilla in large bowl. Press mixture into prepared baking pan.
3. Melt nondairy chocolate chips and remaining 2. Tbs. butter, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. (Or microwave in 30-second increments until melted, stirring and checking often.)
4. Spread chocolate mixture over peanut butter mixture. Set aside 1 to 2 hours to set. Slice into squares. Try not to eat all at once.

I made these for the first time a few weeks ago when we had some friends over for dinner.

As I am not the most thorough mixer in the world, there were a few lumps of sugar in the bars, and we started calling them “crack” bars, and the name stuck.

It’s true. One bite of these Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars, and you will be addicted. In my house, they never even last long enough to get a picture of them.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.