No-Bake Cereal Treats

A month or so ago, I stumbled upon Weelicious. I can’t even remember what I was originally searching for; all I know is that I spent at least an hour on the site, paging through all of the delicious, healthy recipes. I immediately added it to my Reader, and when these treats popped up, I knew I had to make them for Andrew immediately.

If you have a toddler, he or she will love these. You will love them, too, and if you’re anything like me, you’ll eat six or seven of them without even realizing you’re doing it. I wanted to get a picture of Andrew eating one to share with you -- and to prove just how much he loved them! -- but honestly, they disappeared too quickly.

The original recipe calls for rice syrup, but that’s not readily available in my local supermarket. I decided to use honey as my sweetener instead, which was delicious. It made the treats pretty sticky, but Andrew and I agreed that their stickiness just made them more fun to eat. Lisa made these too using corn syrup, which she said worked really well, so that’s another alternative.

These were so good, I just may make another batch of them this weekend. I know Andrew wouldn’t complain if I did!

No-Bake Cereal Treats
source: Weelicious

1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup honey
4 cups honey-nut Cheerios

1. Place the peanut butter and honey in a small saucepan over low to medium heat and warm for 2 minutes or until it becomes smooth and combined.

2. Place the cereal in a bowl.

3. Pour the warm peanut butter and honey mixture into the bowl with the cereal and stir to combine.

4. Shape into cookies or place the mixture into a 9 x 9 inch ungreased pan, pat down and then cut into bars. The mixture will harden as it cools.

Honey-Teriyaki Chicken

Inspired in equal parts by Lisa and Jessie, I've been working on implementing a new meal planning system in our house over the past week or so, and so far it's working pretty well. It involves assigning "themes" to each night of the week that are consistent from week to week. It's really helped me organize the recipes I want to cook, and I've been doing a lot better at actually cooking dinner rather than opting for frozen pizza or a quick sandwich. My husband is part of a spring softball league that's been occupying the better part of his Monday and Thursday nights, which makes cooking on those nights pretty tough, but after his games are over I'll definitely start sharing my meal plans with you.

Anyway, the theme I've decided on for Saturday nights is international cuisine, and this week I made a fantastic meal brought to you straight from the pages of Everyday Food. Joe and I both really enjoyed this honey-teriyaki chicken. I thought it had great flavor, and although I worried it would be too sweet, it wasn't overwhelmingly so. I love cooking with chicken thighs; they're always so tender, and this dish was no exception.

I would suggest cooking the chicken in a casserole dish, or anything with high sides, rather than on a cookie sheet as the recipe suggests. The honey mixture bubbled up quite a bit in the oven, and it could have easily run over the sides of the cookie sheet and made a real mess that I wouldn't have enjoyed cleaning up at all. The skin on the chicken got a bit darker than I would have liked, so if I make these again I may cook them at a lower temperature for a little bit longer. Apparently the skin was still edible, though. I peeled the skin off my chicken, but Joe seemed to enjoy crunching through his!

I served this with Asian cabbage slaw, and it was a delicious accompaniment. This meal is definitely a keeper!

Honey-Teriyaki Chicken
Source: slightly adapted from Everyday Food, May 2009

1/2 cup honey
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons peeled and finely grated fresh ginger
Coarse salt and ground pepper
6 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 2 pounds total)

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. In a large bowl, mix honey, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Add chicken and toss to coat. Transfer chicken and sauce to baking sheet.

2. Bake chicken, skin side up, basting occasionally with pan juices, until well browned and cooked through, 25 to 30 minutes. Serve chicken drizzled with pan juices.

Oh my stars, Baklava Bars!

I've discovered that the only time I'm really able to bake now that I have Andrew is after he's gone to bed in the evenings. He goes to sleep at 7:30, so I still have plenty of time, but baking at night has been an adjustment. I guess the plus side is that now I get to go to sleep with the smell of delicious baked goods permeating my senses!

Baklava is my favorite dessert EVER. When I was younger, my mom dated a man whose mother made baklava all the time, and she always sent some over with him. When he and my mom broke up, I was more upset about losing my baklava hookup than anything else!

When this recipe was sent to me in my weekly Betty Crocker e-mail, I knew I had to make these bars right away. And they did not disappoint. They have all the flavor of a piece of baklava, but they're not nearly as tedious to put together as the traditional dessert. They are very, very rich and super-sticky, just like good baklava should be. Joe and I both really enjoyed these; Joe's only complaint was that the fillo shells cut the roof of his mouth. I didn't have that problem, but that could be because I was too busy enjoying the flavor and stuffing my face!


Baklava Bars
Source: Betty Crocker

Cookie base:
1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 egg

Filling:
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
8 frozen mini fillo shells

Glaze:
1/3 cup honey
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Heat oven to 350°. Spray bottom only of 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray.

2. In large bowl, stir cookie base ingredients until soft dough forms. Press dough in bottom of pan. Bake 15 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, in medium bowl, stir walnuts, granulated sugar, 1/4 cup butter, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and the salt with fork until mixture is well mixed and crumbly.

4. Sprinkle nut mixture evenly over partially baked base. With hands, crumble frozen fillo shells evenly over nut mixture. Bake 18 to 20 minutes longer or until golden brown.

5. Meanwhile, in small microwavable bowl, microwave 1/3 cup honey, 2 tablespoons butter, the brown sugar, lemon juice and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon uncovered on High 1 minute or until bubbly. Stir in vanilla.

6. Drizzle honey mixture evenly over fillo. Cool completely, about 2 hours.

7. For bars, cut into 6 rows by 4 rows. Before serving, drizzle 1/2 teaspoon honey over each bar. Store covered at room temperature.