Avalanche On Jupiter Bars

So you can actually see the floor of my room at the moment.  Such a major accomplishment in my life.  I mean don’t que the fanfare quite yet, there’s no need for a standing ovation, but a nice little pat on the back would totally suffice. My bedroom is what you’d call a work in progress…for the rest of my life.

Today I was productive, but sometimes (if you’re me, then most of the time) you just don’t feel like being productive at all.  Throwing the next load of laundry into the washing machine seems like such a chore and I don’t even want to think about folding the mountain of clean clothes I just pulled out. Then there’s the dishes…do we even need to talk about the dishes? Who wants to do those? Really, how many days is too many days to leave a sink full of dirty dishes? 2…3…5? Don’t act like you’ve never left some dishes in your sink.

Good news is I’m here to help you out. Unfortunately not with your house work, but I’ve got a little something to distract you just long enough to forget about the dust on your blinds and the fact that your rug needs to be vacuumed…again. Remember the chocolate chip cookie on steroids? Well, today I’ve got a little variation of a rice krispie treat that is out of this world. I’m not sure it’s even fair to call it a rice krispie treat, because it’s so much more. My friend Natalie discovered this little gem at a coffee shop in Denton Texas called The Jupiter House. She brought me a sample once and since then I’ve been trying to recreate it.  A few months ago I happened to stumble upon a recipe for Avalanche Bars that looked awfully similar to the Jupiter Bark, so I gave it a try. Bingo. Since Denton is a good hour away from here and soon to be around 950 miles from Natalie I thought I’d share this recipe here so we all can enjoy it. These are so easy you’re going to be thanking me for days (hopefully not in your bathrobe because all of your clothes are dirty).

1. First things first, let’s gather those ingredients.

(Yeah, yeah, Great Value…don’t judge. My marshmallows couldn’t even turn around to get a decent picture with the rest of the ingredients…such a diva)

Here’s what we’ve got:

12 oz bag of White Chocolate Chips

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

3 cups Rice Krispies, or whatever generic cereal you might choose

1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips + 2 Tbsp for garnish.

 (As you can see from the picture I used regular sized chocolate chips)

2. In microwave-safe bowl dump in the white chocolate chips and heat until melted. Being careful not to burn the chocolate, heat in 30 second increments.

3. Combine the peanut butter with the melted white chocolate chips

(Isn’t this the cutest little measuring cup you’ve ever seen?  She’s part of a whole set of nesting dolls gifted to me from a friend for my birthday. I adore them)

4. Add the Rice Krispies, stir

5. Let cool approx 15 – 20 minutes stirring every 5 minutes or so to help cool.

6. Add the marshmallows and the chocolate chips and stir to combine.

7. Dump mixture into the prepared pan and spread evenly.  Pressing lightly with the back of your spoon, but do not compact too much otherwise they will get hard.

8. Press the remaining chocolate chips into the top for garnish.

9. When the bars are completely cooled cut into squares and enjoy!

Seriously, how easy was that? WAY easier than scrubbing the tub. So get to it. Get done whatever it is you need to get done. Then make these Avalanche On Jupiter Bars, because you deserve it. See what I did there? I just took the liberty of renaming these treats.  Sometimes I think I’m so clever.

Enjoy!

Nothing…

Man oh man, seems as if I’ve got myself a case of Blogger’s Block. Didn’t know that existed? Well, let me just tell you, it’s alive and well around here.  Over the past week or so I’ve found a few spare minutes to blog, so I sit down with my computer and…nothing.

Nothing from that little brain of mine.  There are no signals being sent from that creative orb in my skull to my stubby little fingers to do any kind of tapping on these keys.

Nothing.

I’ve tried to think about what I could share with you, something…anything, but there isn’t much interesting that’s happening around here.  Although now that I say that, I probably shouldn’t. Things are happening around here for sure, things such as my best friends moving their family from Texas to Kentucky within the next two weeks. That’s happening. I wish I could make it unhappen, but that’s not possible, so we’ve been trying to make the most of the time we have left here together before they pack it all up. On Monday we went for a late lunch/early dinner, call it what you’d like, at Urban Taco. I’d never been, but was pleasantly surprised. I’m kicking myself right now (see that, the brain still works just fine to sends signals to kick myself) for not taking a picture of my ever so aesthetically pleasing entree. It was Latin America in all it’s glory!

After food we did a little shopping and stopped for coffee at Oak Lawn Coffee. I had a Lavender Mocha, no one else appreciated it like I did, but that’s ok. I’m totally fine with that. We gathered on a couch for this photo op.

We finished the night/wee hours of the morning off with Boston Coolers,  (ooh…if you don’t know what those are you’re missing out and maybe since I’m in the midst of this blogging block I should write about those!!) chips and homemade salsa (Jeremy…really it wasn’t that bad!), a cheese and crackers plate with real ham, and MOST importantly Natalie and I officially earned our title of Euchre champions. This time was for keeps. A card laid is a card played….and we played those cards like a boss  errr…like bosses??

A year in Instagram review

Here’s a look at 2011 through my Instagram pictures (in semi-chronological order)…

12. Cupcakes to celebrate my sister’s birthday

11. Road trip to Nashville

10. This little post about Joy, tried to work on that this year

9. Remember this cupcake party?

8. A trip to Austin with best friends to see the Railroad Revival Tour

7. Coffee, LOTS of coffee

6. Cornerstone Festival

5. Feathers, who can forget this summer full of feathers?

4. Leaving on a Jet plane (to celebrate my birthday!)

3. Kayaking

2. A Fresh Coast walk over the holidays

1. Bringing in the New Year with all night worship

So it’s rather difficult to review an entire year in 12 photos when there are so many to choose from. 2011 was a great year, but I’m looking forward to making 2012 count! This year I’m going to try to create more and buy less. Step outside my boundaries. Be positive. Be adventurous. Be healthy. Not be too hard on myself. Discover new things I love doing. Not procrastinate as much as I did last year. And focus on facing some of the things that make me anxious. What about you? Here’s to the start of something new…