Berry and Roasted Almond Salad

I was pretty much trying to duplicate the Nuts about Berries salad at Zupas... one of my favorite places to eat lunch with Steve and the kids. It's a pretty close replica!

Ingredients:
1/4 c apple cider vinegar
1/4 sugar
1/4 vegetable oil
1/4 tsp paprika
1 dash Worcestershire sauce
Slivered roasted almonds (I roast my own in oven with a cinnamon, sugar, salt, egg, and almond extract mixture for about an hour or so, stirring often)
2 hearts of romaine
mix of berries - strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, etc (approx. a quart total)

Directions:
In a bowl mix the sugar, vinegar, paprika, oil, and worchestershire sauce. Cover and refrigerate at least 6 hours. In a bowl, toss berries, romaine, and almonds. Mix with the dressing just before serving.

I'll add my exact cinnamon roasted almond recipe later. This salad is so yummy and those almonds really make it, in my opinion. Enjoy! :)

Schoolhouse Peanut Butter Fingers: makes 2 pans

This recipe is from a girl named Teresa Jordan. It's the recipe that the lunch ladies used to make for us when we went to elementary. Those were the good 'ol days. Anyway, if you grew up in Utah, you know what ones I am talking about. The only thing is, it makes 2 PANS! But they're really good and are perfect to take to any family party!

Schoolhouse Peanut Butter Fingers

2 ¼ c. margarine

1 ½ tsp. vanilla

2 ¼ c. sugar

2 ¼ cup peanut butter

2 ¼ c. brown sugar

4 ½ cups flour

¾ tsp. salt

4 ½ cups oatmeal (not instant)

2 ¼ tsp. baking soda

5 eggs

Cream together the margarine, sugars, eggs, vanilla & peanut butter. Add the dry ingredients and mix well. Batter will be thick. Divide the batter between two large silver cookie sheets. Spread and pat down. Bake at 325 degrees until the top gets slightly browned (usually takes between 15-25 min. depending on your oven). Only bake one pan at a time. Cool and Frost. Cut in bars. Make sure and frost with the Fudge Frosting below! YUMMY!

THE best chocolate frosting for Peanut Butter Fingers

Well, I was just going to post a recipe for Peanut Butter Fingers, but saw that Mical did in December and it's almost the EXACT recipe that I was going to post! How funny! The only difference is instead of 1 C brown sugar, mine says 2 C. But I don't know, it may not matter! :o) But for some reason this time of year, I am loving peanut butter fingers! But here is a really yummy recipe for the frosting!

Chocolate Fudge Frosting For Peanut Butter Fingers: By Teresa Jordan

(makes enough for 2 pans)

(Cut the recipe in half if you want it for one)

1 12 oz can evaporated milk

3 C brown sugar

1/2 C cocoa

2 T vanilla

1 stick butter

7 C powdered sugar

In a saucepan on the stove, whisk the evaporated milk, brown sugar, cocoa, and butter. Let it boil for 2 minutes.

Then take off the stove and add the powdered sugar and vanilla.

After it's all mixed together, pour over the peanut butter fingers and let cool.

Just make sure to LICK YOUR FINGERS!

Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies

I got this recipe from a friend of mine, but she got it off the Food Network. They're just a different kind of YUMMY cookie! Just something to mix it up from the regular chocolate cookies!

Mix:
2 sticks butter
2 C brown sugar
1 t vanilla
2 eggs

Then add:
1 1/2 C flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg

Fold in:
1/4 C buttermilk

Then add:
1 C coconut (preferably toasted in the oven)
2 C quick cooking oats (idk what that means so I just used whatever oats I had)
3/4 C chopped pecans if wanted
3/4 C butterscotch chips

Bake at 350 on greased cookie sheets for 10-12 minutes. Yummy!!