The Battle of Good and Evil

  Food---oh, the battle that rages within!!!


Let's start with the Good:


I'm calling this my Clean Out the Crisper Drawer Chicken:  (excuse the cruddy night time cell phone pic...but this wasn't going to last until morning...mwahahaha!)

 First off, brown your chicken in a skillet with about a Tbs of Olive Oil.   I've fallen in love with this little packet in the ranch packets--Herb and Garlic--YUM!  I sprinkle each side when it's almost browned (last turn in the pan).   The chicken won't fully be done so pop those babies into the oven at 400 while you saute your veggies :)


Veggies...here's where it get's a bit dicey (ahahaha..seriously...).   Use whatever you have in your fridge.   Tonight it was mushrooms and a summer squash....always add an onion and a pack of grape tomatoes.   Toss your veggies in the chicken pan.   Cook until it's all gorgeous...squash is soft, tomatoes are ready to just melt into the rest of the pan.   Add a good amount of chopped basil...I probably added around 10 leaves...but we Love Basil so add to your liking.   I also threw in rosemary (1 good sized sprig).   And last, but not least...when everything is juuuuust about done...pour in your balsamic vinegar.  I just poured in what was left in the bottle..probably a couple of Tbs...but again, do what You like :)


Isn't that just beautiful?!?   Most of the time I use a bell pepper, but they were in the garage fridge and I didn't feel like walking outside...we have done this with broccoli too..   Have you ever roasted broccoli?  Fantastic!  I'll have to take pics next time and show you how :)

 Now to the evil....oh, this is sooooo Bad!


Reeses Ice Cream Cake...(one of those little monsters has been sneaking the candies of the leftover cake in the freezer!)

 Jim's a huge peanut butter cup fan...or at least he was until I made this cake ;)

Layers of peanut butter bar crust, chocolate, and Bryer's Peanut Butter Cup Explosion!

A very small slice was all you'd need.   If you're daring, here's how I did it:

Reese's Ice Cream Cake:

For the cake part I used the recipe from Here.   It was good, but frozen the bar part was a little bit too hard.  Next time I'd try more of  a cakey recipe.  I made the bars in 2 9in. round pans, but left off the chocolate filling.   

In a new pan lined with aluminum foil, I smooshed in the slightly melty ice cream (we used Bryers, but whatever you want!  1 quart was plenty).   Let the ice cream refreeze for a couple of hours.   

Melt your chocolate, butter, and condensed milk, using the bar's recipe.   Let it cool.   This is where things got messy.   The slightly warm chocolate melted the ice cream into a huge puddley mess after I set my creation in the freezer.  By that time that I caught it,  things were starting to refreeze slightly and it smooshed back into shape very easily.   Just annoying, but worked out for the best ;)

On the day of his little party, I frosted the outside of the cake with whip cream (I used cool whip, but the ice cream cake recipe I was following said to make real....by this time, there was so much processed junk in that cake that I wasn't messing with it).   Line the rim of the cake with mini pb cups, chop the rest of the bag (after previously mentioned monster children raided the bag) and sprinkle in the middle.

Refreeze until ready to serve.   Take out about 10-15 min before serving.

Alright, so go make yourselves that veggie chicken to clear your mind from all the bad peanut butter cup thoughts ;)