Smore bars

I want to give a disclaimer that these are yummy and messy!  Just like smores!

What you will need: 
Brown sugar dough cookie recipe
Jar of marshmallow creme
Chocolate chips

Brown Sugar Dough:
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups rice flour
1 1/4 cups brown sugar packed
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup corn, tapioca, or arrowroot starch
1/4 tsp salt
3 TBSP milk (or use an alternative milk beverage)

1.  In a food processor, combine all ingredients.  Pulse until the mixture resembles cornmeal.
2.  Remove dough from processor and divide in half.  Wrap each half in waxed paper and chill until ready to use. 
This recipe comes from the book Allergy Proof Recipes for Kids by Leslie Hammond and Lynne Marie Rominger.

For our recipe today.  Whether you have chilled the cookie dough or not, doesn't matter much.  In my case, I had chilled it for a few weeks, so I found it to be a bit crumbly.  Which is why I made a bar cookie out of it instead of individual ones.  I also used a small bar pan from Pampered chef, which is 1/2 of the batter.  I also used some spray butter in order to get it to soften up in order for me to flatten it, but again, if you do not wait as long as I did, I doubt you will have the same problem I did.  I set the oven temp to 350 and while it was preheating I covered the bar pan with the dough.  I baked the cookie for approximately 8-10 minutes.  As soon as I took it from the oven, I began to spread the marshmallow creme on top of it.  It only required about 1/2-3/4 of a small jar, but you can used your own personal discretion here.  Once the creme was spread, I sprinkled about 1/2 cup of chocolate chips on top of the creme.  I didn't want the chocolate to be overwhelming, so I spread them out over the creme.  About 5-10 minutes later, they will be cool enough to cut and let me tell ya, they are yummy!!!  It's like a smores party in your mouth! For those of you who haven't had smores in forever, try this recipe and let me know what you think.  I hope you enjoy it!   

Oh so yummy pasta!

Ok, so I was completely experimenting tonight when I came up with this dish.  I am trying to be heart healthy and low-fat, but I was craving creamy cheesy stuff with pasta.  What to do? What to do?  Well, here's what I came up with. 

4 cups of gluten free pasta, cooked.
1 yellow squash, sliced about 1/2 inch thick
4 small bell peppers, sliced
2 TBSP fat free sour cream
1/4 cup cooking wine, I used Marsala
1 laughing cow wedge, I used the sun-dried tomato flavor
1/4 cup fat free half-n-half
2 TBSP Mrs. Dash salt garlic seasoning

While the noodles were cooking, I warmed up, on medium, in the iron skillet for the veggies.  I sprayed the pan with non-stick spray and added the veggies and sprinkled the seasoning on the veggies.  As the veggies were cooking, I added the cooking wine.  I would give the veggies a little stir about every minute or so.  After about 5 minutes, I added the sour cream, the laughing cow, and the 1/2-n-1/2.  Now, here's where I'm going to let you know that I think I should've added the laughing cow when I added the cooking wine.  This is because it took it a little bit longer than I would've liked to melt down.  Make sure you turn the temp down to low at this point as to not burn the milky products.  About 5 more minutes of cooking and occasional stirring and you've got a yummy topping for your pasta! 
Drain the pasta, add the veggie mix right from the pan and get ready for your cravings for a creamy pasta dish to be satisfied!  You can top it with Parmesan, I just happened to be out of it!
I hope you enjoy this dish!  I know I did!  To quote Winnie the Pooh (well sort of), "It all comes from liking pasta so much!"