Butterscotch Bars Recipe

My favorite books to read are quick mysteries, with a female leading character who solves cases on the side. Once I find a new series to read, I fly through them quickly until I'm done and then move on the the next.

Recently, I found books by Joanne Fluke.  The main character owns a cookie shop, is about my age, single, owns a cat, need I go on?  I think it's pretty obvious why I like her.   Another bonus, is that every book has about a dozen or more recipes.  They aren't just cookie recipes, but any recipe that someone in the book makes.  I've tried a couple of them out.

In the book, Devil's Food Cake Murder, there's a recipe called Butterscotch Bonanza Bars.  They sounded really good, because I love butterscotch, and the ingredients were really basic.  I actually had everything I needed.  So, I decided to try it out and oh my! They are so delicious!  They are crisp on the outside and chewy, gooey on the inside.  I made them plain, but as you can imagine, you can add all kinds of things to them.  Some of the suggestions are walnuts, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, white chocolate chips, fudge frosting, whatever else you can imagine.

When you go to the website, there's a place where you can submit pictures of the recipes you made.  I submitted mine to see if they would put up my delicious creation.  Mine isn't up yet, but hopefully I will see it soon.
Here's the recipe for the bars.  I must warn you that there is nothing healthy about this recipe, but they actually aren't too bad.  The nutrition info is included at the end.

Butterscotch Bars
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 cups packed, light brown sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs (I used Ener-G egg replacer)
1 1/2 c. flour

The first time I made these I shaved chocolate on top.  I prefer them plain.

*It's easiest to work this when the butter is still warm.  Have everything ready to go so it will go quickly and the butter won't cool too much.
**I used an electric mixer to combine the ingredients.  It made it much easier.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9x13 pan with nonstick cooking spray.
Melt the butter, either on the stove top or in the microwave.  Put in a medium sized bowl.  Add the 2 cups of brown sugar and mix until completely combined.  Add the baking powder, salt, and vanilla.  Stir until completely blended.  Add the eggs.  You'll see that I used Ener-G egg replacer.  If you do this, combine the "egg" mix and water first.  Let sit while you mix the other ingredients up.  Just give it a quick stir again before adding it in.  Stir until combined.  Now, add the flour 1/2 cup at a time until each half cup is completely combined.  Pour into the 9x13 pan and smooth out evenly.  Bake for 20-30 minutes.  The first time I made these I had to make them for 25 minutes, the second time for 30, but the instructions in the book say 25-30.  Also, when they come out they should have a golden color on top, but you will notice that it will seem very liquidy.  It will harden as it cools.  The recipe says it serves 40, but my nutrition info is for 32, because that's how many servings I got out of it.

They only have 100 cals a piece which isn't too bad.  They are really, really sweet, so you really don't want more than one or two at a time anyway.  

I hope you enjoy these as much as I do!

Happy Baking!

Thunderstorm Tuesday

Rain is in the forecast this whole week.  April showers will bring a whole lot of mud May flowers.

The worse the weather, the more determined I am to run outside.  Maybe it's all the people telling me not to go.  I was bound and determined to get my 4.5 miles in today.  All I needed was Becky's cooperation.  

It was thundering and lightening all day.  Becky was on the fence if she wanted to go outside because of visibility issues with her glasses.  I was being selfish and did my best to convince her.  She agreed and planned out a good route for us so we weren't being pelted with rain and wind the whole time.  

On my way to meet Becky, I started cracking up when I saw a news van that read, "Severe Storm Team" on the side parked by the river.  I knew they were there because of our flood watch, but I didn't think that was a good sign.  

The river is pretty high,

but it's been worse. 

Back in 2008 when the Root River flooded.

The run passed pretty quickly which I was a bit surprised about.  I was prepared to be miserable the whole time.  The worst thing about it was my freezing toes.  When I'm not running my feet are always hot, when I'm running, my feet are always cold.  I don't get it.

We finished our run where we split to go home.  We didn't mince any words today and made a quick departure.  I started to cool down and was really starting to get cold.  

When I got home, I was completely drenched!

Haha. You can see Kevin taking my picture.

I really didn't stretch afterwards like I should have.  I hopped right in the shower, made some tea, started my split pea soup (which is a whole ordeal in itself), and went to log in all my run data in the 4 different places I put it.

I'm still cooking my split pea soup.  I soaked the beans overnight like I'm supposed to and I cooked it for two hours.  When I went to taste it, the peas were still crunchy!  What the heck?  I'm going to be up all night trying to finish this.   At least it tasted pretty good - minus the crunchy peas.

Would you run in the rain?  Or treadmill all the way?

Cleaning Out My Closet

I've been trying to lose weight for a while <-- understatement of my life.  I have lost close to 50 lbs from my heaviest ( I wrote about that here. ) Not seeing the scale go down very much, then up, then down, etc. can get a bit frustrating.  What's a girl to do?

Maintaining around here.

I've been using my food diary and at the beginning of each month I'm supposed to take measurements of my hips, waist, legs, etc.  The last time I did that was January 13, 2013.  I skipped February, because I wasn't really feeling like I had lost anything.  I kept gaining/losing the same 5 lbs. and I didn't want to have another blow to my psyche.

At the beginning of April, I decided to take my measurements again - sort of a fresh start.  I was so surprised to see that I have actually lost 7.5" total since January!  The scale may not be budging (through my own fault), but at least I'm still making progress through exercise.

I thought that maybe it would be time to try on my old, old jeans that haven't fit in years.  This led to a whole cleaning out my closet event that kept me up until almost 2am Saturday night/Sunday morning.  It was worth it though!  I now have 5 pairs of jeans I can wear, instead of the same one or two.  

I found these jeans that have not fit me in NINE YEARS!!! I bought them right after Kev and I started dating and quickly out-grew them with my rapid weight gain.  Super awesome moment for me!! 

Trying to sort through my stuff.

Eggroll helping me.

I bought two of these about 4 years ago and saved the other one for when we ran out.  I think it's time to open it.

Found this in one of my purses.  I bought it for my first 5k four  yrs ago.  Doesn't it look pretty?  It's in the trash now.

Pretty and organized!

So, don't give up if you aren't seeing results right away.  If you keep with it only good things will come!

Easy Barley and Mushroom Soup

I sort of forgot that I bought a ton of veggies before Easter.  I kept meaning to cut them up and either cook them into something or use them.  Over a week later, there they sat in my fridge giving me the stink eye.

I made a stir fry with a lemon lime soy sauce.  It was kind of bland and that's when I realized I forgot to put a sweetener in it (old age rearing it's ugly head).

I also came up with a super easy, super delicious soup recipe.  I have barley.  I have never used it.  I really wanted to.  So, my Barley and Mushroom Soup was born.

Easy Barley and Mushroom Soup
2 Tbsp. EVOO
1/2 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, diced
1c. barley (I used quick cooking.  I really don't know if it matters)
3c. water
5c. vegetable broth
2 green peppers, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
8 oz. mushrooms, chopped

Heat a soup pot over medium heat.  Add the oil and let heat up, maybe 2-3 minutes.  Add the onion and garlic.  Let these cook out for about 2-3 minutes.  You don't want them brown.  Add the barley and 3c. water.  Raise heat to high.  While that is heating up, prepare the vegetables.  Add the peppers, carrots, and vegetable broth.  Cook on high so it is boiling for 20 minutes.  Add the mushrooms.  Lower soup to a simmer, cover, and cook for another 10 minutes or until your barley is finished.

 

I REALLY like this soup.  I immediately gobbled a bowl down.

I wanted to make a split pea soup, but I didn't realized I had to soak the peas like any other dry bean.  I guess I've never cooked with them before.  I will do that tonight and hopefully tomorrow I will have a delicious split pea recipe to brag about!

How's your Monday going?

Runner-necking and Mexican Quinoa and Lentils Recipe

Today was my long run day.  I only had to do a 10k since it was a step down week.  I was pretty pumped about going, except I procrastinated getting ready all morning.  Thankfully Becky did the same and we finally met at almost noon.

By then I had started to develop a bit of a foul mood.  There's no real reason why.  I just felt like it, I guess.  I hoped that running would cheer me up.

I had dressed way too warm.  I realized it as soon as I walked out the door.  There was no time to change, so for the first time, I hoped there was a cool head wind.

The first couple of miles my calves were sore, and we were getting all of the green lights.  I enjoy the red lights so I can stop a minute and stretch.
We changed our route a bit when we noticed a ton of police cars down the road a bit.  We usually go straight and follow the bike path, but we decided to check out the scene.  It was a car accident and they had almost the whole road shut down.

Becky asked, "What's that word for people who slow down while driving by accidents?  Rubber-necking?"  I said, "Yes, but we are runner-necking!"  We decided that it is definitely going to have to be established as a new word.

At 3 miles, we turned to head back and put in our earphones.  I was feeling looser and more in the groove.  We really sped up the last couple of miles.  I think we both really wanted to be done.

I felt really good at the end.  The day was beautiful!

I had big plans to cook a bunch of veggies I have afterwards.  That didn't happen.  I did make some lentils and quinoa.  It's almost just like the Mexican Lentils and Rice recipe I love.  At the last minute, I decided to try it with quinoa to add a bit more protein.

Mexican Quinoa and Lentils

1 1/2 c. lentils
3/4c. quinoa
2 vegetable bouillon or 2 cups vegetable broth
3c. water (unless you use veggie broth, than just add 1 more cup)
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder

Throw everything in a rice cooker and cook until finished.  I ate mine on a corn tortilla with some hot sauce.

Happy Sunday!

RunChat Scavenger Hunt!

Today was my long run day and I was really looking forward to it.  I had learned that one of the sites that I follow, RunChat, put up a scavenger hunt list to participate in.  Here's the list:

I found 6 items on the list.  I could probably gotten more if I wasn't sick and just wanted to call it a day.

I found

1) A bridge

2) A giant hill I'm going to run up.  It may not look too bad, but I had to go up it a bit to get the whole thing...and please note the billboard at the top.  It's for McDonald's.  Makes me want to puke every time I come huffing and puffing to the top.

3)  Christmas decoration still up.  I was surprised I didn't find more.  After all, we've been snow covered for a while.  Decorations up in March really isn't that strange around here.

4) Water. I live by the Root River and run by it frequently.  I should have waited until we got to the lake.  The water was very pretty out there today.

5)  Trail Marker.  I think we are fortunate to live by these paths.  I love running them!

6) A scene from my favorite place to run.  The beginning of the Root River Path.

The scavenger hunt was a really fun idea!  I would love to do one of these more often, especially in warmer weather!

Hope everyone had a Happy Easter!  Did you run today?

Influenster Sugar 'n Spice Voxbox Review Part 3: Dickinson's Witch Hazel Towelettes

I have never heard of this product before.  I have heard of Witch Hazel and face wipes, but never Dickinson's daily facial towelettes.  I was completely unfamiliar with the product.

I was worried about trying it, because I have very sensitive skin and pretty much everything makes me either break out or causes irritation.  The product claims that it is gentle, non-drying, and soothes the skin.

I decided to try it after my workouts.  I am a heavy, salty, sweater and could use a face cleanser.  I threw some in my gym bag to keep on hand.

The wipes themselves are quite large and are kept very moist in their packet.  The package says they ar 5"x7" and you get 20 towelettes in each box.

I have been using them for the past two weeks and have had very positive results.  I've had no irritation, breakouts, or drying whatsoever, and I think it's actually helped my skin.  My face feels clean afterwards and there's no feeling of residue left.  There's only about 4 ingredients and it is NOT tested on animals, which is a HUGE plus for me and any other animal lover!

So, overall I really liked this product and was so glad I had the opportunity to try it out.  It is something I will buy when I'm out of this box.  They are inexpensive.  They retail for about $6 or less, which is only $0.30 per wipe.  

Would you try this product?

Influenster

"I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes, but the opinions are my own."