Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites

I love peanut butter and my husband loves pretzels so when I saw a pin from TwoTinyKitchens.com for Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites I couldn’t wait to make them and knew they would be beyond delicious. I adapted one of my favorite recipes for Peanut Butter Balls from Terry Walters’ cookbook, Clean Start, to make this a healthier recipe:

1 cup fresh ground peanuts

½ cup pure maple syrup

½ cup crispy rice cereal plus more if needed

12 ozs dark chocolate

1 bag small round pretzels

Place peanut butter and maple syrup in a food processor and pulse to combine. Fold in crispy rice cereal. If your peanut butter is particularly runny, add more cereal until mixture holds together in balls. Use a teaspoon measure to scoop the filling.  Roll each portion into a small ball, then sandwich them between two whole pretzels.  Place on a cookie sheet covered w/parchment paper. When all the balls are rolled and successfully sandwiched, stick the whole tray in the freezer for about half an hour. Melt chocolate in double boiler or in small pot over very low heat. Remove the pretzel sandwiches from the freezer and quickly dip each half-way into the melted chocolate.  Return to the tray and repeat with remaining sandwiches.  When all are dipped, return the tray to the freezer to set up completely.  Store the sandwiches in the refrigerator until serving time.

Salad in a Jar

A whole shelf in my fridge is dedicated to delicious ready to eat salads!

   I found Salad in a Jar on a Pinterest board from LifeHacker.com and I couldn't wait to  try it. I love salads, they are so healthy, and this idea will get me to eat more of them. According to LifeHacker.com, "Here's an ingenious way to make sure you eat salad everyday: Make jars of salad on Sunday night that you can just grab to bring to work. If you layer the ingredients correctly, the salad stays fresh for up to four days. Julia writes on the Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body blog that the most important part of the layering is keeping the dressing and the salad leaves from touching. She layers her ingredients with the dressing on the bottom, then onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, quinoa, and spinach. Naturally, you would adapt her salad recipe to your own tastes". 
   I have been making Salad in a Jar for the last several weeks and it is true, the contents have been fresh and the lettuce crisp for up to five days! There are never any jars that go to waste because my hubby and I love eating them. I brought some to my son's house and he immediately shook one up and ate it right out of jar before I even had a chance to get them in his fridge!
    PS I don't buy canning jars, I just re-use glass spaghetti sauce jars! PS

Welcome to Grace's Interests!

A couple of months ago my daughter introduced me to Pinterest, an online bulletin board where you "pin" your interests and "repin" other people's interests. Since becoming a "pinner" I have seen fabulous new recipes and wonderful craft projects, have found new books to read, new styles to love and have learned many clever tips to make life easier. Pinterest has inspired me in so many ways that I have decided to blog about my pinning adventures. Welcome to Grace's Interests!