Not Your Momma's Rice Krispie Treats

Rice Krispie treats are almost never found in our house. It certainly isn't because we don't like them, we do. It's because my husband is a vegetarian and chooses not to eat marshmallows.

I've been watching Top Chef: Just Desserts (only for the cooking, the contestants make me want to throw something at the tv) and my husband happened to catch a piece of one of the episodes. In that episode, one of the contestants made a more grown up version of Rice Krispie Treats that featured peanut butter and Nutella.

Ever since that episode, my husband has been asking me to make some Nutella Rice Krispie treats.

I can hear you wondering, what did I use in place of marshmallows? I've tried using vegan marshmallows before, but I didn't like how that came out (they don't melt the same way regular marshmallows do and I don't think I had enough of them). So, this time around I used marshmallow fluff. Yeah, fluff that weird sticky substance that I used to love on peanut butter sandwiches as a kid.

So, with the Rice Krispie treats made and cooled, I added a layer of Nutella (using a full 13oz jar) and then a layer of melted chocolate (10oz) on top of that.

The result? It's impossible to eat just one square at a time.

Girls with Glasses

I cruise around a lot of other blogs on the good ole interwebs. Mainly I like to look at cooking or sewing or crafty blogs. I find inspiration there and motivation sometimes. Plus, it's just really fun to see what other people are making.

This morning, I was catching up on This Mama Makes Stuff and a post from September 19 caught my eye. Carrie sometimes posts about her family and what they are doing and this week she's shared with all her readers (and her readership is much more vast than mine) that her daughter needs glasses. Her daughter is going into Kindergarten and she's feeling nervous about having to wear these new glasses to school.

I got my glasses in the third grade, and when I tell people that it's as if they couldn't imagine having to endure that torture so young. I don't remember it being particularly awful for me. I do, however, remember popping out the cheap sunglass frames from a pair of awful blue plastic frames I had, so that I could "practice" wearing glasses. I wanted to make sure I knew what to do with them. I'd have to ask my mom, but I remember wearing th

ose suckers for like a week in preparation for the real thing.

So, Carrie's post hit home with me. She asked her readers to share photos of themselves as "Girls with Glasses" to help her daughter see that there are tons of amazing women out there (and girls!) who rock the frames.

Without further ado, I offer up two photos of myself:

This one is a silly one. My sister is currently in Optometry school studying to become, what else, an Optometrist. When I visited her last November, she let me play around with her traveling kit that helps diagnose prescriptions.

This is my more serious photo. I love my glasses so much. I didn't mind them in third grade, but around middle school I started to hate them. My parents let me get contacts in High School and I wore those throughout High School and College. After I graduated from College I just couldn't stand wearing my contacts every day while looking at computer screens at work. I begrudgingly went back to glasses.

Now? I love my glasses. I own two pairs of contacts for "beach days" but I much prefer to wear my glasses. I finally found a pair of frames that I love, and I'm proud to be a Girl with Glasses.

Princess, I hope you rock out those frames at Kindergarten! Glasses are awesome. I promise.

If any of my readers out there are fellow bloggers or tweet and are also Girls with Glasses- please visit This Mama Makes Stuff and share a photo of yourself.

*I haven't posted in a long time, and for that I am sorry. I've done a few things here and

there, but life has been hectic. I promise to start posting more, and to explain my extended absence in another week or so (sorry, out of town this weekend for a wedding and another wedding the following weekend!).

My Dog is Awesome

Straying a bit from my typical Craft/Baking norm to post this video. Enjoy!

Icebox Cake

A few weeks ago my husband and I were watching TV on Sunday morning, aimlessly. I settled on Food Network's "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" and the theme for that episode was something like frozen/cold treats.

I don't remember much more from the episode, except that someone mentioned an icebox lemon pie. At that moment both of us started drooling just thinking about it.

My husband said "make that" so I hopped online to try and find a recipe. I didn't like what I was pulling up, but I remembered seeing a post a while back on Smitten Kitchen for an Icebox Cake.

This was super easy, but definitely worth it. It's twelve layers (the recipe over at SK calls for 11, but I wanted to use up all the cookies) of chocolate wafer cookies and sweet whipped cream goodness. One thing to keep in mind- the cake has to refridgerate overnight. That's what allows the whipped cream to soak into the cookies.

It tastes like a gigantic Oreo cookie. It's so stinking good, we probably could have eaten the whole thing in two sittings. However, we paced ourselves- because this is not a diet friendly recipe.

Anyways, if you're looking for a cool treat this summer- make an Icebox Cake. I promise you won't regret it.