Well On My Way To Making The Bar FUBAR

Well, kids, since this week you are at the mercy of our whims and desires as to what we are serving up, I thought I would get us started with a bang. Last week I showed you how perfectly capable I am of tossing out bits of random information so you will nary be surprised once you lay your eyes upon my crock pot o' whatever's in the freezer of my brain:

*Since two of my co-workers celebrated birthdays last week, I was a snack making fool. (We don't turn down any viable reason to celebrate with tasty treats, you see.) I used four recipes from my arsenal, three of which came from All Recipes, my very best go-to site for cooking inspiration.

The recipes, possibly with my slight variation:

Mini Cheesecakes

• 1 (12 ounce) package vanilla wafers
• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese ROOM TEMPERATURE
  
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 (21 ounce) can cherry pie filling
  

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line miniature muffin tins (tassie pans) with miniature paper liners.
2. Crush the vanilla wafers, and place 1/2 teaspoon of the crushed vanilla wafers into each paper cup. OR you can leave them whole and place on wafer, flat side down, in each cup.
   
3. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy. Fill each miniature muffin liner with this mixture, almost to the top.
4. Bake for 15 minutes. Cool. Top with a teaspoonful of cherry pie filling.

Dill Dip

• 1 and 1/3 cup mayonnaise
• 2/3 cup sour cream
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
• 2 Tablespoons grated onion
• 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons dried dill weed
• 3/4 teaspoon seasoning salt
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Let flavors blend overnight. Serve with veggies, chips or with bread (beer bread or Hawaiian sweet bread bowl).

Bacon Wrapped Li'l Smokies
(Omg, how can you beat bacon wrapped anything, let alone Li'l Smokies?!)

• 1 pound sliced bacon, cut in half
  
• 1 (14 ounce) package beef cocktail wieners
• 1 cup brown sugar, or to taste
  

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. Wrap each cocktail wiener with a piece of bacon and secure with a toothpick. Place on a large baking sheet. Sprinkle brown sugar generously over all.
3. Bake for 40 minutes in the preheated oven, until the sugar is bubbly. To serve, place the wieners in a slow cooker and keep on the low setting.

The other recipe that didn't come from All Recipes, well, that's the gold standard, wow 'em every time, make you sweat butter just by looking at them But Oh Are They Worth It:

Caramel Bars

1 stick plus 5T butter, melted
1 and 1/4 C self rising flour
1 and 1/4 C oatmeal
1 C brown sugar
3T butter
1 (14 oz) bag of caramels
3T milk
1 C semi sweet chocolate chips, if desired
chopped pecans, if desired

Mix first six ingredients and pat 2/3 of the mixture into a 9x13 pan and bake 10 minutes at 350. You may try to not eat any of the remaining 1/3 mix, but you can't. So don't bother.

Combine caramels with 3T of butter and 3T milk and melt in the microwave, stirring occasionally until smooth (mine took 2 1/2 minutes).

Pour caramel over baked crust. Mix chocolate chips or pecans, if desired, with remainder of oatmeal mixture and sprinkle on top of caramel. Bake 15 minutes at 350. Let cool to form bars or just eat with a fork if you are as impatient as me.

* I'm still using the lamper and experiencing that feel good moment when I take all of the recycling to the collection center. One of the bags in the lamper has been devoted solely to beer bottles and Diet Coke cans. CLEARLY I HAVE A PROBLEM.

* Friday night I got Trick or Treated standing by my vehicle in my friend's driveway. Lazy kids, don't even want to go to the door anymore! I could hardly hide the contempt on my face as I looked at those little 15 year old shits and told them I don't have anything, you've got to go to the door. I thought of you, Bj, wishing my friend would hand out parmesan cheese and soy sauce packs like you do to the ones that are too old!

* I watched a little football this weekend. And that's all I want to say about that. (Except for Yea to Sheila and her Red Raiders!)

* Time change positive: An extra hour. Time change negative: It's Too Damn Dark Too Damn Early. I'm pretty sure it could stay light until 9 o'clock all year long and that would be okay with me.

* I plan on going to vote early today and keeping that I Voted sticker near and dear until Tuesday when I will slap that puppy on my chest first thing. If we have anything good on our sticker, like Andi's Georgia Peach, I'll be sure to report back. But I'm pretty sure not.

* Still having trouble with the internet at home. It's a leetle bit scary how much I go through withdrawal without it... especially over the weekend when I can't check email for two days! I know, the horror, right?!

* Since I didn't have the internet to goof off with, I decided that it was high time I took a look into the grey hair situation at the top of my head. I immediately found three hairs, which I plucked, and then stopped. I'd rather be a old grey head than an old bald head (which I surely would be if I carried on). Made a mental note to call the salon so that I can get this shiz covered up, pronto.

* Ahem. Bj has divulged some very interesting information regarding some readers that we may have that don't comment. Belle, Trish and Sunny, are you there? Because we'll pretty much do all sorts of party tricks to get comments. Or at least I will. Speak up ladies! What's the price I have to pay to get your comment love? If you think this sounds a bit like comment whoring, you would be absolutely correct.

And there you have it. My contribution to to WTFever Week. But don't think I'm done, ooooh no. I'm pretty sure I have yet to make good on a promise to display a certain photo of myself apres first kiss in all of my sixth grader glory. Fabulous!