It's time to get your fat, I mean sweatpants on....

I am not known for my recipes. My mom is known for her amazing chocolate chip cookies that are perfectly chewy and melt in your mouth thanks to the Crisco. My MIL, Debi, makes the best meatloaf you have ever tasted. She puts this ketchup, mustard, brown sugar concoction on top that browns and forms a delicious crust on top of the juicy meatloaf. My friend Amber, makes the best homemade bread I've ever put in my mouth. I'm not even a bread person, but this stuff is so good! My friend Angela is a southern girl so everything that comes out of her kitchen is amazing. My favorite is probably her lasagna. It's known at our house as "Mrs. Angela's lasagna." It's that good.

Another one of my friends, Kara, is also an amazing cook. You see, I just surround myself with people who don't occasionally light their kitchen on fire and they feel sorry for me and bring me their yummies. Case in point...Kara. She makes these Breakfast Bars that will not only get your motor running in the morning, but can easily be consumed all day long, hence my 2 lb weight gain. They are the perfect combination of sweet and crunchy. So I mentioned the other day that I was craving her Breakfast Bars and before you know it, she had made me a batch. We had literally not even made it a mile down the road and Josh and the boys were in my stash of bars. 6 were gone within a mile of her house. I was forced to hide the rest. She did make them for ME. Anyways, if I knew all the cool things on a blog like how to link websites then I would just do that. I don't. I can barely publish a post. Kara has a recipe blog (yah, she has that many great recipes). Its called "The Recipe Box." You can find it on my page, bottom left. Loads of yummy things.

Breakfast Bars

1 1/2 c chunky peanut butter

1 c honey

3/4 c brown sugar

5 c bran cereal

1 c raisins (or other dried fruit)

Combine peanut butter, honey, and brown sugar in large saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, quickly stir in cereal and raisins, mix well. Using a buttered spatula, press mixture evenly into a 9x13 pan sprayed with non stick cooking spray. Cool 15 min before cutting. Makes 18 bars.

Ok....so by the title, I have one more recipe. I mean really, just go get into your sweatpants while eating these. I was over at Lisa's and she made a Banana Pudding. Yah, I had it growing up. You know the one, banana pudding with those wafer cookies. Ehh..it's ok. She pulled it out of the fridge and it sure didn't look like the banana pudding I've ever had. It was beautiful. At first bite, I was in love and I don't even like bananas people! It was cool, light, fluffy, crunchy and oh so sweet. I had to have the recipe. I actually made it tonight and everyone had seconds. It is the best banana pudding I've ever had. Maybe because it's made with French Vanilla pudding, cream cheese, and sweetened condensed milk. Here's the recipe. Go to the store and try it now. It's that good.

Banana Pudding

2 bags of Pepperidge Farm Chessman Cookies

6 to 8 bananas

2 cups of milk

1 (5 ounce) box of instant French Vanilla Pudding

1 (8 ounce) package of cream cheese, softened

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 (12 ounce) container of whipped topping, thawed

Line the bottom of a 9 x 13 dish with 1 bag of cookies and layer bananas on top. In a bowl, combine the milk, pudding mix and blend well using a mixer. Using another bowl, combine cream cheese and condensed milk together and mix until smooth. Fold the whipped topping into the cream cheese mixture. Add the cream cheese mixture to the pudding mixture and stir until well blended. Pour mixture over the cookies and bananas and top with remaining cookies. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Let me know if you try either of these. Yummy! Oh, the picture has nothing to do with recipes. Spiderman accompanied me on my errands today :)