Barbie Butz is an independent columnist for The and Paso Robles Press; you can email her at [email protected].
My good friend, Maureen Marquis, sent me an email last week with instructions for hugging after the pandemic is behind us. She knows that hugging is one of the things I really miss. If you were raised in a family of “huggers,” it is hard to greet your friends on a computer screen!
The email included adorable pictures of adults and children shown hugging animals. In some cases, it was the other way around.
The Hugging Instructions read:
Hugging is healthy.
It helps the body’s immune system.
It cures depression.
It reduces stress.
It’s rejuvenating.
It has no unpleasant side effects.
It is all-natural; it contains no chemicals, artificial ingredients, no pesticides, and no preservatives!
Hugging is practically perfect.
There are no parts to break down, no monthly payments, non-taxable, non-polluting, and of course…it is fully returnable!
I do believe that, whether you are into hugging or not, human contact is vital to your health, both mental and physical. As my good friend Dyann Shepard put it, “hugging is essential to our human well-being.” So, hug on, dear friends, hug on!
I hope you were able to celebrate Valentine’s Day and Presidents’ Day in a way befitting the occasions. I spent some time baking, nothing too exciting, just simple stuff. I found an old recipe for using cake mixes to make cookies and went for it.
It was fun to be creative with something so easy to do. Here’s the recipe in case you have one of those days when you want to just create a cookie. These are cookie-bars and are, of course, cake-like and can easily crumble. But who doesn’t like to spoon-up the crumbles?
Cookie Bars with Cake Mix
Ingredients:
1 (15.25 ounce) box yellow or chocolate cake mix
2 eggs
½ cup ( 1 stick) butter, melted
2 cups M and Ms or chopped chocolate candies, or chocolate and/or white chocolate chips
Powdered sugar for sprinkling
Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 X 13-inch pan with aluminum foil and coat with cooking spray. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, eggs, and melted butter. Stir in choice of chocolate. Bake 15-20 minutes until lightly golden at edges. Check with a toothpick if needed. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before cutting into bars. When cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar using a fine-mesh strainer and cut into squares.
Note: Be creative by adding chopped nuts like walnuts or pecans to the batter. Serve a cookie bar topped with cherry pie filling. Make a glaze with 3 ounces of white chocolate, coarsely chopped, and 1 tablespoon shortening—mix chocolate and shortening in a small heavy saucepan. Heat on low until melted, constantly stirring—drizzle hot glaze over the cookie bars.
For a chocolate glaze, combine 1 package (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips with ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons butter and heat on low until chips are melted. Stir constantly until shiny and smooth. Glaze will be thick, so immediately drizzle over bars. Sprinkle a few chopped nuts on top of the glaze. Just have fun! Let the kids in on this. Let them frost the bars with store-bought frosting and top with sprinkles according to the holiday. Remember that St. Patrick’s Day will be here in March, so get out the green sprinkles!
Here’s another easy recipe for Buttermilk Ranch Dressing to serve with crisp Romaine and sliced celery.
Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
Ingredients:
¼ cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar 1 small garlic clove, minced
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt
A small handful of minced fresh chives
Directions:
In a large bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, mayonnaise, vinegar, minced garlic, garlic powder, salt, and chives. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve over a salad made of torn leaves of Romaine and sliced celery. Sprinkle with coarsely ground black pepper.
Enjoy the weekend.
Cheers!
Like this:
Like Loading…
Related
Getting through this together, Atascadero
Barbie Butz is a freelance columnist for The and Paso Robles Press; you can email her at [email protected].
My good friend, Maureen Marquis, emailed me last week with instructions for hugs now that the pandemic is over. She knows that hugging is one of the things I really miss. Growing up in a “hugging” family, it’s hard to greet your friends on a computer screen!
The e-mail contained cute pictures of adults and children with stuffed animals. In some cases, it was just the other way around.
Statement of Distinction:
Kissing is healthy.
It supports the body’s immune system.
It works against depression.
It relieves stress.
It rejuvenates.
It has no unpleasant side effects.
It is completely natural and contains no chemicals, artificial ingredients, pesticides or preservatives!
The embrace is just about perfect.
It has no parts that can break down, no monthly payments, no taxes, no pollution, and of course it is…. fully refundable!
I sincerely believe that whether you like to hug or not, human contact is vital to your health, both mental and physical. As my good friend Dianne Shepherd said, “Hugs are essential to our human well-being.” So, hugs, friends, hugs!
I hope you were able to celebrate Valentine’s Day and President’s Day in the best way possible. I spent some time baking, nothing too exciting, just simple things. I found an old recipe for cookie dough and tried it out.
It was fun to get creative with something so simple. Here’s a recipe for those days when you feel like making cookies. It’s cookie bars, which of course are cake and can crumble easily. But who doesn’t like sprinkles?
Cookie bar of cake mixture
Ingredients:
1 box yellow or chocolate cake batter2
eggs ½
cup (1 stick) melted butter2
cups M and Ms or chopped chocolate or
chocolate chips and/or
white chocolate
Powdered sugar to sprinkle.
Preparation: heat
the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9 X 13 inch aluminum pan with baking spray. In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, eggs and melted butter. Stir in the chocolate selections. Bake 15-20 minutes, until edges are light brown. Check with a toothpick if necessary. Remove from oven and let cool completely before cutting into bars
. Once cool, sprinkle powdered sugar over the chocolate with a fine mesh sieve and cut into squares.
Note: Be creative by adding chopped nuts, such as walnuts or pecans, to the dough. Serve the cookies with the cherry pie filling. Prepare the glaze with 3 ounces coarsely chopped white chocolate and 1 tablespoon shortening – mix the chocolate and shortening in a small heavy sauce pan. Heat the glaze, stirring constantly, until melted – pour the hot glaze over the cookie bars.
For the chocolate glaze, mix 1 packet of semi-sweet chocolate chips with ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons of butter and heat until the chips are melted. Stir constantly until the mixture is glossy and smooth. The glaze will be thick, so drizzle it over the bars immediately. Sprinkle the glaze with a few chopped nuts. Have fun with it! Get the kids involved. Have them frost the bars they bought and sprinkle them with nuggets that match the party. Remember, March is St. Patrick’s Day, so get out those green nuggets!
Here’s another easy recipe for buttermilk ranch dressing, served with crusty gypsy bread and celery slices.
Buttermilk Vinaigrette
Ingredients: ¼
cup buttermilk2 tablespoons
mayonnaise2 teaspoons
red wine vinegar 1 small clove of garlic, chopped ½ teaspoon
garlic powder ½ teaspoon
kosher saltta
small handful of chopped fresh onions
Directions:
In a large bowl, whisk together
the buttermilk, mayonnaise, vinegar, chopped garlic, garlic powder, salt and chives. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve over a salad of torn gypsy leaves and chopped celery. Sprinkle with coarse black pepper.
Enjoy your weekend.
Cheers!
Here’s how:
How to load…
Related page
We’ll get through this together, Atascadero….
