Butternuts & Candy Cane Cookie Bars

I made these yesterday for Mel and me.  The recipe is called "Butternuts" and made w/ butterscotch candies and pecans.  Walnuts were cheaper so I just divided one bag of walnuts between both cookies.  Anyway, I really love peppermint bark, so at least 5 years ago I got the idea to substitute butterscotch for candy canes.  It would be good to melt some white chocolate over both kinds of cookies, so someday I'm actually going to try that!  The cookie dough is a bit crumbly so I decided to make the candy cane cookies into bars, and it worked better, especially since the candy melts and tends to make the cookies spread too much.  The cookies pretty much taste like yummy, buttery walnut shortbread w/ either a butterscotchy or pepperminty kick.  We both love these a lot!  Mel gives them both a 9;  I give the Butternuts  a 9, but the & Candy Cane Cookie Bars a 10!

P.S. I made the dumb mistake of slicing the top of my index finger on my left hand when I cleaned the food processor blade in between crushing the candies, so it's a little tricky to type.  Hopefully there aren't too many typos!!

Peanut Butter French Toast With Caramelized Bananas

I got this idea from a TV show we've been watching on Netflix called "Best Food Ever" about the best places to eat across the country.   I don't remember what restaurant this idea came from, but Mel & I saw it and drooled over it.  I didn't have an actual recipe, but it's basically French toast that I made w/ eggnog (my idea), filled them w/ peanut butter and cooked them some more like a sand which, then made and added the caramelized bananas.  Yummy!  Mel gives this a 10 and I give it a 9!!  I'll probably make it again tomorrow.

Julie's Vegetarian Chili

I made a big pot of chili tonight for our dinner.  Another great meal for a budget!  I got this recipe from an old friend of mine, Cheryl G., but I changed it a little bit.  Again, I did not take a picture of the ingredients, but here's what I used: 1 onion, 2 packages of vegetarian "beef", 2 cans of chili beans (chili-flavored pinto beans), 2 cans kidney beans, 1 can black beans, (I usually use 2 cans black beans, but I must have used one of the cans for the stew I made),  4 cans of diced tomatoes - 2 were roasted garlic flavored, and the other 2 had diced chilies in them, and I used 4 different flavored grinders.  The kitchen is so cold it froze the olive oil, so I sauteed the onion in butter, and my usual 2 types of vinegar (balsamic and red wine).  We like to top our chili with Fritos, I used plain & Mel used chili cheese flavored.  Mel also used Mexican cheese, & I used cheddar.  Mel also likes hot sauce!  It turned out really yummy, and we both give it a 10!  Mr. Sock Monkey liked it too!!     

Julie's Vegetarian Beef Vegetable & Bean Stew

This is my own recipe, which is why I call it "Julie's".  I never make it the same twice, and I think it gets better each time I make it!  It's such the perfect meal for a cold winter day and for a tight budget (because one pot will last a week).  Mel and I both give this a 10!  Mel says it was the best stew he has ever had - says it's "flavor heaven"!  I didn't take a picture of the ingredients because we have no heat in our house so it was super cold in the kitchen & I was trying to get in & out as fast as possible!   (we do have a space heater in our bedroom)  Here's what I used: diced potatoes, onion, & vegetarian stew beef sauteed in the bottom of the pot with olive oil, red wine vinegar, & balsamic vinegar, then added cream of onion soup, mexi corn, garbanzo, kidney, & black beans, diced tomatoes, and yams, then sage, sea salt grinder, and  pepper grinders in 4 different flavors.  So yummy!