Peanut Butter Bars

I realized about 2hrs. before ballet practice that I was supposed to bring a treat for all the kids to share. I looked at my ingredients and looked online and found these gems. They're delicious and super easy. They taste a lot like Reese's peanut butter cups. Yum!

1 cup butter or margarine melted,
 2 cups graham cracker crumbs,
 2 cups confectioners' sugar,
 1 cup peanut butter,
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips,
4 tablespoons peanut butter

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the butter or margarine, graham cracker crumbs, confectioners' sugar, and 1 cup peanut butter until well blended. Press evenly into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 inch pan.
2. In a metal bowl over simmering water, or in the microwave, melt the chocolate chips with the 4TBLS. peanut butter, stirring occasionally until smooth. Spread over the prepared crust. Refrigerate for at least one hour before cutting into squares.

Frozen Burrito Casserole

Just made this for dinner and it turned out great!

- Make a white sauce from cream of chicken, sour cream and milk. You can add some seasonings like cumin, curry powder, chili powder or whatever your kids will eat

- In a 9X13 pan, dump corn and black beans into the bottom, then put the frozen burritos on, pour the sauce over everything.

- Top the casserole with cheese and olives.

- Bake on 375 for 45-50 minutes or until the sauce is bubbly. (I had to cut the burritos in half after 20 minutes in order for them to get cooked all the way through).

You can also use whatever you have to make the sauce. I ended up using mayonnaise, the veggies I had in my fridge for the sauce and that worked as a replacement.

Chicken Costa Vida Salad

In a crock pot, put a few breasts of frozen chicken and cover it in salsa. Cook it on low all day. Then, just build your salad with a tortilla, rice (I put taco seasoning and diced tomatoes in it) black beans, chicken and lettuce. You can also put salsa, tomatoes, parmesan cheese - whatever you like for topping on it. The key to making it taste the same is to get the Costa Vida ranch. I used to just go buy the ranch, but last time I found this recipe and it works pretty good.

1 pack (1oz) Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix
ignore directions on the packet
1C mayo
1/2 C milk
2 tbsp lime (or to tast)
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 C roughly chopped cilantro
1/4 C green salsa (opt)
hot sauce (opt)

Place milk, mayo, and ranch mix and 2T juice in a blender. Toss in the garlic, cilantro and green salsa. Blend 'er up. Sample it and add hot sauce to taste. Make it several hours ahead of time to allow it to thicken in the fridge.