Saturday, December 15, 2007

Baking and frugal tip

This is the frugal tip of the week: When using a bagged product, I cut a 'strip' the whole length of the bag--about 1". This strip serves as a tie when some contents are remaining in the bag for the next time. This works for things that will go in the freezer or in the cupboard. This method works so that the 'tie' is always there and even, color coded for the times that there are several bags in use, on the counter, at the same time. The bag in the picture is shedded coconut from Aldi.

The ingredients for the Cookie Bars:

1 1/2 cups of crumbed corn flakes
Practical tip: (I crum the corn flakes with my rolling pin)
Place the crumbs in a mixing bowl and add

1 stick of melted (unsweetened) butter
3Tbsp of sugar (I only use cane sugar)
Mix these three and spread them in a 9x13 baking pan.
On top add 16oz of chocolate chips
1 cup of pecans
1/2 cup of walnuts (or any variation of your favorite nuts)
Sprinkle a 13-14oz bag or can of angel coconut--sweetened coconut

Drizzle over these one can of sweetened condensed milk.

Bake at 350F for 30' or until golden around the edges.
I'll have to wait until it comes out of the oven for a picture.
Here it is! Now, I must tell you that I used a can of condensed milk that had 'expired' in Oct. '01
When I opened it, it tasted good and looked a light caramel color. It also stayed on top rather than distributing itself throughout. With a regular and 'new' can of condensed milk, you could see the coconut, chock chips and nuts individually, after it's baked. It was still boiling when I took the picture, so I will let you know tomorrow, Lord willing, how it tastes.

This is a beautiful scripture. It sets in my hutch that #2 (the drawer cabinet) and #4 (the tops shelves) made for me a few years ago. I love it and wish I had one in each room. They did such a beautiful job. #4 made the Israel star which is in the nesting dove (a picture is worth a 1000 words) I made the doily and the thermometer (it's 64.0F) courtesy of my techy DH.

This little table is right outside the dining area of the kitchen. Those who have not been here in a while, especially the little ones who see this at eye level, will see that I've not changed anything. The basket underneath contains my gloves and 'sleevelets' that I knitted to keep, the space between the gloves and the coat sleeve, warm.

Sleevelets (my name for them, there may be an official name for these)

Well, it is snowing. We got about 1 and 1/2" last night and are supposed to get about 2" more. It does not look likely, we'll have to wait. It began snowing again about 15' ago--little tiny drifting flakes.

My friend told me that her Momma knew how many inches it would snow by counting the number of snow birds (juncos) that would feed on the ground, right before a snow. I must tell you that, more often than not, she has been right.

All morning long there have been 4 snow birds feeding in our back patio (with other birds) I will let you know tomorrow if my 'snow forecasters' were correct.

I'll leave you with this:

"For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth" Job 37:6a

1 comment:

SchnauzerMom said...

I love the bag idea, I'll try it.

The bars sound really delicious, I'll have to try that too.

The sleevelets are really cute, may try that.

Thanks for the great ideas!