Peanut Butter S’mores Layer Bars

by Emily

Exciting news – on Saturday I officially graduated from my final undergrad experience with a degree in Nutrition and Dietetics!!! I guess I shouldn’t say officially, since I skipped graduation to hang out with Adam and his brother, but I’ve got a diploma coming in the mail any day now. I didn’t need to walk again, I did that with my first undergrad degree. <– blush

Besides, we already had our ceremonial, holding back tears, class goodbye. On Friday, one of our teachers sweetly hosted a goodbye lunch for our whole 18-person Coordinated Program at her home. My friend and I brought jello shots! The afternoon gets a little hazy after that, but I do remember everyone raving over the other thing I brought: peanut butter s’mores layer bars.

I know, I know; I’m having a weird obsession with layer bars lately. These guys are worth the repeat though. The combo of peanut butter and s’more is to die for, and they come together in a snap. Modeled after 7-layer bars, they are chewy, gooey perfection.

Peanut Butter S’mores Layer Bars, makes 25 squares

11 graham cracker sheets, crushed
1/2 cup salted butter
1 cup salted cocktail peanuts
1 cup peanut butter chips
1 cup milk chocolate chips
3 cups mini marshmallows
14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.
Place butter in a 9×9 inch baking dish in the pre-heating oven until melted.
Pour graham cracker crumbs into melted butter, mix together with a fork, and press into a thin, even layer in the bottom of the baking dish.
Sprinkle peanuts, peanut butter chips, and chocolate chips in an even layer over the crust, alternating ingredients so they are mixed together rather than in layers. Top with marshmallows. Drizzle the sweetened condensed milk on top.
Bake for 30 minutes, until the sweetened condensed milk no longer looks soupy.
Allow to cool before cutting into squares. You can serve these right away, but if there is a time gap I recommend storing them in the freezer so that they get nice and firm.

14May2013

Seven Layers In Heaven Bars

by Emily

It is Finals Week at Buffalo State. Instead of final exams, my program is spending Monday – Thursday, 8 am – 4 pm, sitting in a small room and filling out various forms, handing in portfolios, and doing presentations. Fun, right?

Yesterday, my group gave an hour(+) presentation on food service and food safety, complete with pre- and post-tests. We did a quiz bowl style post-test and I was responsible for bringing in a prize for the winners. Dietitian that I am, my mind went to cookies first.

I wanted to do something in bar form and I wanted to come up with a new recipe that I had never made before. I thought of doing a twist on 7-Layer (Hello Dolly/Magic) Bars but I knew that I had to get rid of the coconut because some ~~crazy~~ people don’t like it.

Enter Seven Layers in Heaven Bars. Aka Sweet and Salty 7-Layer Bars. Aka Peanut Butter Chocolate Pretzel {Toffee Graham Cracker} Bars.

I made enough for everyone – we’re all winners – and all were gone by the end of the day. When you get a group of Dietitians to go back for seconds on dessert, you know you’ve done a good job!

Seven Layers in Heaven Bars, makes 20 squares

adapted from the recipe for 7-layer bars

7 graham cracker sheets, crushed
6 Tbsp salted butter
3/4 cup Heath Toffee Bits
3/4 cup milk chocolate chips
3/4 cup peanut butter chips
1 and 1/4 cup crunched salted, thins-style pretzels
15 Tbsp sweetened condensed milk (just measure a scant cup)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.
Place butter in a 9×9 inch baking dish in the pre-heating oven until melted.
Pour graham cracker crumbs into melted butter, mix together with a fork, and press into a thin, even layer in the bottom of the baking dish.
Sprinkle the toffee bits, milk chocolate chips, and peanut butter chips over the crust. Top with crushed pretzels. Drizzle the sweetened condensed milk on top.
Bake for 30 minutes, until the sweetened condensed milk no longer looks soupy.
Allow to cool before cutting into squares. You can serve these right away, but if there is a time gap I recommend storing them in the freezer so that they get nice and firm.

20Apr2013

Love Factually

by Emily

Facts:

Dark chocolate and I have been having a moment lately.

Whenever I rock one of Adam’s t-shirts I always double up on eye makeup to try to compensate.

Kim and I spent five straight hours at Panera on Friday and I still am utterly confused by our final projects for this portion of the semester.

Adam and I were supposed to go to Toronto for pat bing soo this afternoon but the weather froze us out so we went to Gin Gin for red bean bubble tea instead.

The new grocery store in Orchard Park is amazing; Wegmans and Whole Foods wrapped up all in one.

This is the closest I’ll come to an egg cream while we live in Buffalo.

Classed up mac and cheese is super easy and tasty {boxed mac and cheese / peas / smoked kippered herring / capers / parmesan / panko / red pepper flakes}.

Watching “Buffy” with Adam is even better the 2nd time around.

16Apr2013

On The Run

by Emily

This morning Adam, Webster, and I headed to the park. They went frolicking and I went running. I started the Couch-to-10k plan, again. I refuse to go back to week one (I’ve started the plan four times in as many months, it’s embarrassing at this point) so I did the first day of week two – intervals of 4 minutes walking / 1 minute running, x 8. Plus 5 minutes of straight running at the end as I hurried to find a dog and husband who are bad at following directions! I was great to be outside.

The rest of the day included schoolwork, a shift at work, and an evening of tv. In fact, we are mid-Bones right now so I’m keeping this short.

Here’s what I ate… An Alter Ego Mini Dark Velvet chocolate bar.

This stuff was amazing, the perfect blend of milk and dark chocolate. It had dark’s tang with the creaminess of milk. Total love.

Soft pretzel.

Vegan chicken nuggets with some sharp cheddar.

A Salty Peanut Awesome Bar.

This would have been awesome, but the whole flax seeds kind of ruined it for me. Nonetheless, this Yumvelope (the source of the bar and the candy) was a good one.

Hot bar (two of the wontons were Adam’s).

Two kinds of sautéed veggies plus a piece of sweet and sour chicken.

.15 lb of gummi candy.

A giant slice of Buffalo chicken pizza with blue cheese for dipping.

I am, in a word, stuffed.

15Apr2013

Today

by Emily

Some of the things I thought today –

Man, it has been a looooong time since I last blogged.

I made the right decision. Part of the reason I’ve been blogging AWOL is because I was making a giant, life-changing decision and I’m ~~pretty sure~~ positive I made the right one.

The end of this semester is going to be insane. We have two business plans to create in the next month and we were told to expect 40 plus hours of work each week on top of our clinical hours.

Some of the things I did today –

Went to my first day of clinical practice in long-term care.

Took a glorious, 70* walk on Elmwood with my husband.

Attended night class. With the curve I scored a 100% on the first exam!

What I ate today –

A mealy apple.

A packet of Artisana Cacao Bliss.

Chocolate Almond Coconut Clif Mojo Bar.

A low-fat strawberry milk.

A (salted caramel chocolate nougat) candy from the latest Yumvelope.

Veggies from Globe Market, ~.25 lb each.

Thai carrot salad,

and Greek vegetable salad.

Lays Chicken and Waffles potato chips.

Dinner.

Amy’s Alphabet Soup,

and a soft pretzel with yellow mustard.

I also thought a lot about the tragedies at the Boston Marathon today. If you or anyone you are close to were effected, please know that you are in my thoughts.

2Apr2013

No Talk Tuesday

by Emily

Tomorrow includes the last quiz of this semester. Quick, how many mg of cholesterol in 3 oz of dark meat turkey?

A: 72 mg.

P.S. Alter Ego makes the best flipping chocolate, the Dark Coconut Toffee bar blew my mind.

31Mar2013

Easter Brunch

by Emily

I hope everyone had a hoppy Easter! Our day was quite nice; tasty food, nice weather, and tons of tv.

Adam’s parents sent us $ in lieu of an Easter basket so I got to go to brunch with my handsome husband.

He took me to Left Bank, a spot he’s been to with friends (working weekends means I usually have to skip brunch, boo!) and was dying to share.

The space was gorgeous and the menu had lots of offer. Plus, they brought yummy lemon poppy-seed bread.

Adam ordered a mimosa while I went with an extra-spicy bloody mary,

but we were on the same page when it came to food.

We both ordered the Seafood Benedict,

crab cakes topped with poached eggs and [citrus] hollandaise. <– I asked for regular hollandaise, served on the side please!

The dish came with sides of fruit and hash browns and was quite good.

I saved one of my crab cakes for Adam but devoured my eggs.

Meals where you soak up yolks are my very favorite!

The rest of our day was gloriously low-key. We knew we were going to hunker down on the couch, so we made sure to take the dog on a quick walk first. I got an iced, non-fat, caramel macchiato on the way home.

Why yes, I did ask for extra caramel – it was Easter dammit and no one bought me any candy!

Minus a few hours spent on a take-home exam, we spent the rest of the day screaming at the characters on “Battlestar Galactica.” My food totally fit the tv marathon vibe… Chips.