Homemade Kit Kat Bars

Tonight was our annual ward party at the Rec Center, and I made homemade kit kat bars as my contribution. Honestly, I was a little skeptical (because they have club crackers in them!), but they are pretty good. Lots of people wanted my recipe, so here it is in case you're interested.

No. Mine weren't this pretty. Picture is from Serious Eats!

Homemade Kit Kat Bars
Courtesy of Serious Eats!
serves Makes approximately 32 bars
active time 45 minutes, total time 2 hours, 45 minutes

Ingredients:
75 Club crackers... Don't knock it til you try it. Trust me.
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup butterscotch chips

Directions:
1- Line 9- by 13-inch rectangular baking pan with one layer of Club crackers (you may need to break some to fit).

2- Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Add graham cracker crumbs, dark brown sugar, milk, and granulated sugar. Bring to boil. Boil for five minutes, stirring constantly. Remove pan from heat. Pour half of butter mixture over crackers in pan. Smooth surface with spatula.

3- Arrange another layer of Club crackers over butter mixture. Pour remaining butter mixture over surface. Smooth surface with spatula. Arrange a third layer of crackers over top.

4- Combine peanut butter, chocolate chips, and butterscotch chips in small saucepan. Melt over medium-low heat, stirring constantly. Spread evenly over crackers.

5- Cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate two hours. Cut into 2-inch bars. Bars will keep for two weeks, stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

What's for dinner?

Neither M or m make decisions well. This REALLY affects our eating habits. M never has any opinion about what's for dinner, and m couldn't care less if she ate most nights. So, the other night, we were trying to decide what we wanted for dinner, and you guessed, it! We couldn't think of anything. M said jokingly, "We need a dinner jar. When we can't figure out what we want, we can draw a meal from the jar." He was just joking, but m thought that was a GREAT idea! She tweaked his idea a bit: she wrote down 22 dinners (random number I know. That's just how many pieces I cut the paper into Ü) and had M draw them out. She wrote down a meal for everyday for the next 22 days and they had their meals all planned out so they don't have to worry about what's for dinner every night!

So far it's been handy. The first night we had chicken (supposed to be parmesan, but we didn't have any mozerella cheese) and yesterday we had quesadillas! Tonight we get to have Mexican Salad, Mmm Mmm good!

So, if you can't ever decide what to do for dinner, this idea works great! Now we don't have to worry about dinners until the middle of August! Maybe we will save money by not running out for McDonalds or Jack in the Box.

Easy Skillet Lasagna

Last night we didn't know what to eat for dinner, so we pulled out our newest cook book and chose something that we had all the ingredients for.... Easy Skillet Lasagna! It was quite yummy. We cut the recipe in half and it still would have fed us a few times. It made a ton, so that's what I get to eat for lunch today, tomorrow, saturday.... Anyway, here's the recipe.

3 cups of your favorite pasta
1 pound lean ground beef
1 26 oz jar of pasta sauce
1 1/2 cups of grated mozzarella
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Cook pasta according to directions. Drain. Cook meat in med. skillet until browned. Drain off fat and move to a bowl. Clean out skillet. Spread 1/2 cooked pasta in skillet. Cover with half the sauce. Sprinkle with one cup of mozzarella cheese. put on remaining pasta, sauce, then cheeses. Cook covered on medium heat for 5-7 minutes.

Serves 6

The first recipe from our "52 Weeks of Proven Recipes for PICKY Kids" proved to be a winner with my picky eater. Tonight we're going to try Finger Lickin' Good Chicken and Potato Logs.

Attn: Chefs of Picky Eaters!

Now, if any of you know my husband and his eating habits, you know that he is one of the pickiest eaters know to man. He doesn't like any leafy greens, they make him gag. He doesn't like vegetables, because they are too... vegetably... He likes potatoes, corn, and green beans. He won't even try a yam/sweet potato. He doesn't eat very many fruits. Don't even mention fish or he'll want to throw up. Have you ever seen the Wendy's commerical for the baconator? "I'm a meatatarian. You know, I eat strickly meats. It's personal choice." (Something like that.) Well, that commercial basically describes Marcus to a T! So, I've come out with a new book called, "52 weeks of proven recipes for PICKY Kids and Husbands." You can purchase it at Deseret book for only $12.95!
OK,... so not really. I must confess, I did not write this book, but this book fits our family perfectly! It has a picture of Marcus on the front and describes him very well, and it's written by a McKenzie. Logan (my brother) saw this book in the store and laughed so hard. They called to tell me about it, and I had them buy it for me. While I thought Marcus might be a little offended, he thought it was cool. Here's the real cover of the book.I could pass as the author right? Jill McKenzie could be my alter ego, or whatever they call their fake names. Anyway, now in the M&M Kennedy household, we will be trying some new recipes from this book, but not all. I won't be making the fish ones (I don't like fish either.) and I know better than to put a salad in front of him.

Our Attempts at Creativity

So, Marcus and I, yes, both of us together, have been trying to be creative! He's such a good husband! Our first attempt was on Thursday. It was my brother, Ren's, birthday. I asked Marcus if he would go to the store and buy some stuff to make cupcakes in ice cream cones, because they are so much better than regular cupcakes. I also said, if you want you can make them to! *wink wink* So I get home and the batter is already, but no cupcakes yet. He showed me the stuff he got. He got FuNfEtTi batter and frosting, so "Ren could re-live his childhood"(or something to that effect) was his reasoning. Then he got cones and waffle bowls. We decided since it was Ren's day, he should get the BIGGEST and best cupcake, so we made his in a waffle bowl and the others in cones. Amazingly, it turned out great! Ren said the cupcake was good, but the bowl got soft in the middle. HAPPY BIRTHDAY REN!

Our next 2 attempts were with pictures hanging on the wall. We stole both of them from sisters-in-law. Sorry, but they were such good ideas! I couldn't help myself.

Liz, my sister-in-law, was telling me how she was going to hang her marriage license, the proclamation and a picture of her and Pace at the temple on the wall all together. What a great idea! When we got married, the sealer gave us all those things, minus our picture, and so I decided they could all go together like she planned! Here's how it turned out. It took me FOREVER to decide how to hang them. I'm anal like that about somethings.

We went to Mike and Becky's house for dinner one night, and she showed me this shelf and picture frames that Mike made her just out of wood, and they look like she bought at Tai Pan or Krumpets or something. A few days later I was looking for picture frames to hang a big picture of us in, and one of each of us on the side, so 3 total. Everwhere I looked, the big frames that I wanted were close to $100. I just about died. I'm cheap, and don't enjoy spending tons of money on stuff. So... *DING* the lightbulb went off in my head, and I realized I could make picture frames just like Becky did, that look like the simple frames I wanted for MUCH cheaper! So we got the big frame done, and have to work on the two smaller ones now, but I wanted to post how the first one turned out. I was excited! Amazingly, Marcus was into doing this stuff just as much as I was. He definitely isn't your typical guy. He does love his Fantasy Football (GO Spongemonkeys!), ESPN, and Tiger Woods Golf '09, but he also likes doing things with me that are crafty. It's so great! I try to be into the things that he likes, and I've learned a lot. I can tolerate them for a few hours, then it's time to do something productive!

Last Night's Dinner

On the first of every month, my work sends out a newsletter with all the Credit Union happenings. They always include a recipe, but most of them Marcus won't even agree to taste, but this month they had a Taco-type thing I thought he might try, and he agreed to taste it. So, I made it last night, and Marcus liked it! Now, if Marcus likes it, almost anybody will like it Ü (I♥U Marcus.) I would describe it as glorified Hamburger Helper. I'm not a huge fan of that stuff, but it was better than that, I swear.



One-Pan Taco Beef and Noodle Skillet
Prep Time—10 minutes
Total Time—30 minutes
Servings—4

INGREDIENTS
• 1 lb. lean ground beef
• 1 pkg. (1-1/4 oz.) Taco Seasoning Mix
• 2 cups water
• 1 pkg. (7-1/4 oz.) Macaroni & Cheese Dinner
• 1/3 cup Sour Cream
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• 1 cup shredded lettuce
• 1 cup tortilla chips, broken up

DIRECTIONS
BROWN meat in large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat; drain. Add seasoning mix, water and Macaroni; mix lightly. Bring
to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover. Simmer 7 min. or until noodles are tender and liquid is almost completely absorbed.
STIR in sour cream and Cheese Sauce Mix until well blended.
TOP with tomatoes, lettuce and tortilla chips.

Garlic Bread... Mmm!

Last night we thought my parents were going to St. George, so we called to invite Branae to dinner so she wouldn't starve, but my parents were home and we invited all three of them and Shaynie over for dinner. I look online for new recipes to try, because Marcus and I can never decide what to eat, and it always ends up being the same things: Spaghetti, Grilled Cheese, Tacos, Hamburgers... It's really hard to feed someone who is so picky! Well, we had one of the same things last night, spaghetti, BUT while looking for a lasagna recipe, I found a new "recipe" for garlic bread. I usually just put garlic salt and butter on it, and it was always kind of boring. Last night I used butter, garlic salt, italian seasoning, and motzerella cheese... YUM!! You all should try it... unless you have already thought of this and are like, "duh McKenzie!"