Friday, April 15, 2011It's Like She's Begging Me To Mess With Her Head
"What do you want to do tonight?" I asked. I try to do some sort of project with Alexis every night. It usually involves food or her coloring in her playroom while I pretend to pay attention.
"Hmmmm. . ." she said as she tapped her chin. Seriously. SHE TAPPED HER CHIN WITH HER FINGER. Where the heck did she learn that? The Giant Book of Ridiculous Gestures?
"Can we make a bunny trap?" she finally asked.
"A bunny trap?" I repeated. There's an echo in the car. You can only hear it when I'm confused, though.
"Yeah! Let's make a bunny trap!" she confirmed.
"Do you mean like the leprechaun trap?" I asked. The odds of me repeating any sort of project like THAT any time soon are right around the same as the odds of Mario Lemieux showing up at my front door in the next ten seconds and handing me a bag of gummy bears. I figured I'd humor her for about 13 seconds before I laughed in her face.
"Noooo!" she replied in a voice that made it quite clear she thought I was dumber than an encyclopedia written by Paris Hilton. "I want to catch a REAL bunny," she said.
I lasted about 8 seconds before I laughed in her face. "And what are you going to do with a real bunny?" I asked.
Alexis explained that she wanted to trap one, build it a house, and have it live in her bedroom. I threw out all sorts of references to poop and food and smells and all of the unpleasant things that go with having pets in the house as I tried to convince her it was a bad idea. She was unfazed.
"I want a REAL bunny," she said again and again.
It was on the fiftieth or so repeat that it dawned on me.
Not the "Easter" bunny. A "real" bunny.
Does she think the Easter bunny isn't real? Because I might just need to exploit that next week. BIG TIME.
Mwahahahaha!
Magic S'mores
99% of what I cook is healthy. Seriously. That other 1%, however, is the stuff of dreams. For example, I figure if I'm going to inhale desert, I'm going to make it worth every single calorie. Forget the fat-free crap, BRING ON THE CALORIES AND CLOGGED ARTERIES.
Although, I'm pretty sure there are no calories in these. Ahem.
The original idea came from here, but then I twisted it around and sprinkled in a little extra magic and mayhem. Go big or go home, people.
Magic S'mores
You'll need:
1 pouch (17.5 oz) peanut butter cookie mix
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup butter, melted
1 bag (11.5 oz) milk chocolate chips
1 cup caramels
1 bag (10.6 oz) small marshmallows
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a large bowl, combine cookie mix and graham crackers. Add melted butter and stir until it forms a dough. Press into an ungreased 13x9" pan.
Bake the cookie dough mixture for 15-16 minutes, or until puffy and almost done. Top with caramels and place back in the oven. Bake for an additional 2-3 minutes, or until caramels are softened and the cookie dough is lightly browned.
Immediately top cookie mix and caramels with chocolate chips. Wait 3-4 minutes and then spread melted chocolate evenly across the top.
Set oven to broil (high if you have a choice). Top the cookie mix, caramels, and chocolate with the marshmallows. Broil the whole awesome mess for about one minute, or until the marshmallows are lightly browned. Keep an eye on it because the marshmallows will go from perfect to burnt to a crisp almost instantly.
Allow to cool for a few mintues before cutting into small squares.
Serve warm. Make sure you have wet wipes or something handy because SHOCKER! Melted chocolate, caramel, and marshmallows get a bit messy and sticky and ZOMG! SO GOOD!
I think these are probably going to be our picnik/potluck dish of the summer. They're perfect for sharing.
