Calling all Soda Jerks!

Have you ever wanted to go back in time to, say the 40’s or 50’s? Have you ever thought about the old soda fountains they used to  have in corner drugstores? Oh, I have. My grandparents live in a small town in South Carolina, and they have  a drugstore there with a soda fountain and they make the best milkshakes you can ever taste there, right in front of you as you sit at the counter… not to mention the hotdogs.

Anyway, I came across a recipe not too long ago that I just had to try, and I’ve been trying to come up with reasons to try it out. I finally got to yesterday as I hosted a bachelorette party at my house.

Chocolate soda. Yes. I know, it sounds … funny. Some may even think it sounds gross. But I assure you, it is not gross. It’s a little different,  but it’s still … good.

All you need is some chocolate syrup, some club soda, a fun straw, and if you want – vanilla ice cream! Pour the chocolate syrup in the bottom of the glass (however much you prefer- it’s up to you!), and then pour some of the club soda in. Mix it up and put your ice cream scoops in, stick a straw in it, and enjoy!

Yum!

PS – I wasn’t calling you all jerks! That’s what the people were called who would operate the soda fountains! So bring out that inner Soda Jerk and try something new! You might like it, who knows?

No-Bake Cookies

The best thing about these cookies is probably that you don't bake them. They are so easy and simple. I made these at 10:00 last night, and there was barely any cleanup!



Ingredients:

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup cocoa
pinch salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup peanut butter
3 cups quick-cooking oatmeal

In large saucepan, combine sugar, milk, cocoa, salt, and butter and mix well. Bring to a boil and cover saucepan for 30 seconds to allow steam to wash sugar crystals down sides of pan. Stir mixture and bring it to a boil that can't be stirred down for 1 minute. Then remove from heat and stir in peanut butter until smooth. Add oatmeal and mix well. Do not use regular or instant oatmeal; quick-cooking oatmeal is essential to the success of this recipe.
Let the mixture stand for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to let the oatmeal absorb some of the liquid.



Drop mixture by spoonfuls onto waxed paper or parchment lined baking sheets or Silpat sheets. Let cool until you can touch the mixture; then reshape the cookies to make them more a ball shape. Let cool completely; store at room temperature. You can also pour this mixture into a 9" square pan that has been greased with unsalted butter, let cool, then cut into squares.

Tacer Salad

So last night I felt like cooking, but I didn't feel like cleaning up a huge mess. And honestly that usually goes hand in hand with me, because I'm a dunce when it comes to cooking. However, I was actually able to throw something together without upsetting my {newly floored} kitchen all too much! I threw together a simple, tasty taco {or, tacer if your from these parts... yes, we have heard that here!} salad!

Here's what I used:
1 lb Ground Turkey {you can use ground beef if you want. we like turkey because it is lean and tasty!}
1 can rotel
1 can sweet yellow corn
a squirt (seriously) of ranch dressing
a handful of grated cheddar cheese
a sprinkling of homemade taco seasoning {I don't know what's in it! Hubby made it}
tortilla chips {we used the remnants of three bags}

I would have loved to throw some black beans in there, but we didn't have anything like that. Maybe you could add some if you would like to try it? We just had:



{it still tasted fine}

Anyway. Here's what you do.

First things first, heat your oven to 350.

Brown your {turkey/beef} meat and sprinkle that taco seasoning on top. Turkey meat cooks out all the grease so you don't have to drain it. Put that in a bowl.

Drain your rotel and corn. Put that in the bowl with the taco meat and mix it all up.

Take your chips, crush them, and put them in a different bowl. Or the same bowl. You know, whatever.

Put the meat mix in with the chips and mix that up. Throw in some cheese if you feel like it, and squirt a bit of ranch dressing on there. Then you pull out your 9x13 pan {mine is glass} and spread it all out in there. Sprinkle more cheese on top. Stick it in the oven. Pull it out once the cheese is all melted!

And there you go!



Ole!

Oh, and just so you know, it doesn't taste as good left over, so if you're not going to eat it all... don't make as much! ha!

Enjoy!