Lagniappe - Memphis City Schools' Peanut Butter Bar

In high school, nobody in my social circle ate lunch. For one thing, lunch was at some silly time, like 10:00 a.m. Second, there were about 180 people to get through the line in the mere 25 minutes they gave you in which to eat. Third, nobody took their lunch, that was considered nerdy. And lastly, no girl wanted the chance of any boy seeing her actually, eat.

The exception was peanut butter bar day (and sometimes pizza day). Years after graduating and Jonesing for the peanut butter bar, I finally came across the recipe in the Commercial Appeal recipe finder. Eureka! And to once again prove I have yet to meet a pizza I didn't like, I still crave that horrendous MCS pizza...rectangle, virtually raw, ketchup tasting, overly salty mess. If you gave me a slice today I'd scarf it down in seconds...

The PB bar is a little hard to describe...a chewy texture and not much at all like a rice crispy treat, but then again, sort of. Just try it. If you like PB, you'll love it.

These PB bars are best eaten the day-of, actually right after they've cooled. You can maybe sneak a second day of shelf life out of them, but they need to be zapped in the microwave a bit to soften before eating. After day two, toss; as they'll be like rocks, but they won't be around that long most likely. Now, if I just had some Jungle Juice...

MCS - Peanut Butter Bars (adapted from Commercial Appeal recipe)


1 cup sugar

3/4 cup light corn syrup

1 cup peanut butter

3 1/2 cups of rice crispy cereal

Tools: 9x9 pan, 2 sandwich bags and cooking spray

Lightly spray a 9x9 pan and set aside. Combine sugar and corn syrup in a heavy saucepan. Cook, over med-high heat, stirring constantly until mixture just starts to boil then turn off heat and stir in PB till it's melted and mixture is smooth. Quickly, stir in the cereal till completely coated.

Put mixture in 9x9 pan. To make them smooth on top, I double up the sandwich bags over one hand like a glove and spray the "glove" and press down the mixture. Let cool about 20 minutes then cut into squares and serve. As noted earlier, best to eat up at this point so they are at the perfect consistency...they harden the more they sit around. But if you do have leftovers, go ahead and cut into squares and wrap each square in plastic wrap, and store in air tight container. Zap in microwave a few seconds if eaten much later to soften.

Lagniappe - The Pecan Ball

Sometimes the simpler the dessert, the better. Went to the Silver Caboose Restaurant on the lovely Collierville Town Square and devoured the pecan ball. Yarnell's vanilla ice cream, rolled in chopped pecans and completely smothered in hot-fudge. No reason why this can't be done at home though. Crazy-good.

#22 Berries galore

So berries were the focus of this past weekend. It’s a great food to get locally from your farmer’s market. We celebrated my future sister-in-law’s birthday and figured a Summer Berry Trifle was perfect for the get-together. For my version, I used strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries.



You need to start this 1 day in advance, but the preparation only takes 3 minutes. Simple fill a bowl with the ice water (from recipe below) and add the pudding mix and can of sweetened condensed milk. Stir together and refrigerate overnight.

…and make sure you assemble the trifle at least 4 hours before the event. You need time for the wafers to get a little moist and the flavors to meld together.

Step #2- Whipped cream: Simply beat the cream till it’s thick. Once it gets to that stage, don’t go too much longer or you’ll make butter (seriously).



Step #3- Fold: Now using the pudding from the night before, fold it into the whipped cream. …basically, just gently stir together to you don’t deflate the whipped cream



Step #4- Assemble: start with a layer of wafers:



Then spread a nice thick layer of the whipped cream mixture:



Next is the berries – be generous:



…and now repeat:



In the same fashion, build your trifle to the top. If you have leftover berries or cream, no worries – just eat them later. You don’t want this to overflow….



Summer Berry Pudding Trifle
(an adaption from Magnolia Bakery’s famous banana pudding)
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups ice cold water
1 (3.4-ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
3 cups heavy cream
1 (12-ounce) box Nilla Wafers
1 quart of strawberries, and a mix of others: I used also ½ pint of blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries

In a small bowl, add the ice water. The slowly pour in the condensed milk and mix until incorporated. Add the pudding mix and combine. Cover and refrigerate for 3-4 hours or overnight, before continuing (the pudding needs to be completely set).

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the pudding mixture into the whipped cream until well blended and no streaks of pudding remain.

To assemble, select a large, wide bowl (preferably glass) with a 4-5-quart capacity. Arrange a layer of the wafers to cover the bottom of the bowl and a little up the sides, overlapping if necessary, then a generous layer of the berries and layer of the pudding. Repeat the layering at least twice more, garnishing with additional wafers and berries on the top layer of the pudding. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and allow to chill in the refrigerator for 4 hours – or up to 8 hours before serving.

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As a side-note, I wanted to let everyone know of my recent disaster in baking. Everyone makes mistakes and this is to prove it. The goal was a luscious 4 layer strawberry cake with whipped cream and strawberries between each layer and a coating of strawberry cream cheese frosting as the overlay. …things to note:

1) do not assemble in a house with a failing air conditioner in 100 degree temperature.
2) do not make a tall 4 layer cake with a wobbly foundation.
3)do not use so much whipped cream it oozes out the sides.
4) even as ugly as something may look, it actually could be very delicious (and it was) :)

Lagniappe - Iced Mocha

I for one love an iced mocha. Please enjoy this anytime recipe that is somewhere in between the McCafe version (mine is not that sweet) and Starbuck's (mine is not that strong).

Iced Mocha Yield: 1 large
1/8 c chocolate syrup
1 heaping tsp. of instant espresso (Ferrara brand can be found at Fresh Market)
1/3 c. boiling water
1 1/2 cup of 1% milk or skim
ice (see tip)
16 oz plastic cup or glass



Pour chocolate syrup in your 16 oz. cup. Add heaping teaspoon of instant espresso powder and boiling water. Mix well.



Add milk and then the ice.


Enjoy with a pastry or on the go.


Tip: If you brew coffee normally, freeze the left over coffee in ice cube trays and use that ice for this drink. That way, when the ice melts, it won't dilute your mocha punch.

Lagniappe: Quick & budget friendly bathroom renovation

I’m a renovation addict. …well, I’m more of a penny pincher, so do-it-yourself renovating comes naturally. Instead of posting nothing else this week, figured I'd at least give you a glimpse into my life....

Long story short, I’m trying to sell my house and I’ve renovated most of the place except for the 2nd bathroom. The tile, tub, and toilet in that bathroom are perfectly fine. What’s outdated is the cabinet, countertop, and fixtures (what you can’t see is the countertop was originally a 70s yellow. I painted it as soon as I moved in 5 years ago). I’m going to show you a simple and cost effective solution for the everyday homeowner .

…so Fred (my fiancé) and I already knew that we couldn’t afford granite at the moment. It averages around $45/sf where we live and I know I’m already not going to get all my money back out of my house (due to the plummeting housing market). Here’s a word of advice that my father always tells me – “Roxane, you don’t make money on the selling of a house – you make money on the buying of it”. In even simpler words - don’t jump into buying a house and don’t think you’re going to make a ton of money off of it. Really evaluate the market and its potential before you buy it. Just because you sink money into it, doesn’t mean you’ll get it back out when you sell it.

First thing is to replace the countertop. Here’s a ‘before’ picture I took on my phone:



We’re removing the sink – so we just disconnected all of the plumbing, scored around the edge and unscrewed the sink clip underneath. From there, it will just drop down when it’s loose.

Next is the plywood top. Since I’m going to tile over it, it’s recommended you use at least ¾” thickness plywood. We cut it to the exact same size (had to sand slightly on the edge because we cut it a hair large). I scored the original top (because I had painted it) and then added a bonding agent (liquid nails, etc). Once we glued the wood down, we also dropped bolts into the countertop to make sure it’s all sturdy. …and since we want the counter to not have bumps from the top of the bolts, we countersunk all of them as well (this means we drilled one hole for the bolt, then another for the washer and head of the nail). See picture below.



Now to tiling! I chose a mosaic travertine since I really only needed 10 tiles – you could go even cheaper if you wanted to. The trowel I used is a ¼ x ¼ x ¼ …and I’m also using a white thinset to better match in case I’m messy. Before I even spread on the thinset, I cut and dry-fit all of the tiles:



Then just placed the tile sheet on top with a small squish to make sure the tiles made good contact:



Next is the grout – After you’ve waited 24 hours for the thinset to dry, you’re ready to grout. Make sure you get it into all the cracks and crevices. Then wipe off any excess. The day after, keep sponging down the countertop so you don’t have any residue left:



So we’re almost done! In addition to the countertop, I also wanted to replace the light fixture and update the mirror. For the mirror, just take a couple sticks of casing from the home improvement store and cut to length. Then with mirror glue and a caulking gun, affix to the mirror. I used a little painters tape to hold it in place while it dries. …then a coat of fresh paint and you’ve got a beautiful bathroom:



…and view of the mirror surround:



Total spent:
$5 - ½ sheet of plywood
$68 - 10 travertine tiles
$0 – Thinset (I was tiling my other bathroom and really only needed a couple scoops out of the big bucket
$15 - Grout
$65 – vessel sink
$50 – vessel sink faucet and pop-up drain
$18 - Casing trim around mirror
$30 – new light from Costco
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$234