I have a lot of cookbooks. Not as many as my mom, but still it's a lot. This is a couple of the shelves.
I recently decided that I really have too many. I considered following the rule of the half and try to get rid of half of them. But then I would have to count, and well, it just seemed overly complicated. So I went through and pulled the ones I knew I didn't want. This was the easy step and I found a bagful. I will probably take them to the public library.
That still left a bunch, some of which I wasn't sure about. Sometimes I buy a cookbook on a vacation--but have never cooked out of it. My next step? Go through the remaining cookbooks and tag the recipes I want to try. I started that this afternoon, looking through 3 or 4. In one I couldn't really find any to tag. Some of the recipes looked good, but I could find them in other books. That book went into the giveaway pile. I found several yummy recipes to tag in the other books, though.
The last step in determining if the cookbook can stay is to actually COOK from the book. If what I marked to try (at least a few of them) are keepers, then the book is a keeper. I had to think through this a bit too. Most of the recipes I like, and especially those I marked today, are baked goods. I cannot be making baked goods all the time for us. But I can make one item a week and share it, so that is what I did.
Today I made Chocolate Chip-Peanut Butter Bars from Pillsbury Baking. I took them to my son's playground after school and shared them with some of his friends who stayed to play. They all seemed to love them. Some of the girls even came over and asked for seconds.
The Recipe--
Base and Topping:
2 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup butter, softened (I did not have this much but it still turned out ok)
Filling:
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup coarsely chopped salted peanuts (I did not add these)
Heat oven to 350 deg F. Grease a 13x9 inch pan with cooking spray. In large bowl beat base and topping ingredients with electric mixer on low speed until crumbly, scraping bowl occasionally. Reserve 2 cups of crumb mixture for topping; press remaining mixture evenly in bottom of pan. In a small bowl, mix condensed milk, peanut butter, and vanilla with a spoon until well blended. Pour evenly over base. Sprinkle with chocolate chips (and peanuts if using them). Sprinkle reserved crumb mixture over top; press down gently. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown (center will not be set). Cool completely. Cut into 6 rows by 6 rows.
Today I made Chocolate Chip-Peanut Butter Bars from Pillsbury Baking. I took them to my son's playground after school and shared them with some of his friends who stayed to play. They all seemed to love them. Some of the girls even came over and asked for seconds.
The Recipe--
Base and Topping:
2 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup butter, softened (I did not have this much but it still turned out ok)
Filling:
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup coarsely chopped salted peanuts (I did not add these)
Heat oven to 350 deg F. Grease a 13x9 inch pan with cooking spray. In large bowl beat base and topping ingredients with electric mixer on low speed until crumbly, scraping bowl occasionally. Reserve 2 cups of crumb mixture for topping; press remaining mixture evenly in bottom of pan. In a small bowl, mix condensed milk, peanut butter, and vanilla with a spoon until well blended. Pour evenly over base. Sprinkle with chocolate chips (and peanuts if using them). Sprinkle reserved crumb mixture over top; press down gently. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown (center will not be set). Cool completely. Cut into 6 rows by 6 rows.
The leftovers. Just enough.
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