Favorite Things Friday - 11/25/11

Every Friday I am going to share some "favorite" with you.  Maybe a food, a tv show, a movie, or a product.
Today, I want to share my favorite cleaning product with you.

Norwex is a line of cleaning products that designed to reduce the amount of chemicals we use. This is important to some, not to others. Important to some for a greener way of life and helping the environment, or to others for health reasons.  For me, it is both. 

I have only been to one Norwex "party", which is where I purchased my Norwex Enviro Cloth and Window Cloth. 

I have loved them since the day I brought them home.  I now use my Enviro cloth to dust off that bottle of Windex collecting dust in my cupboard! I only purchase paper towels for covering food in the microwave. So, despite the financial investment of the Norwex clothes, I am sure that in the year and a half that I have owned them, I have already got my money back out of them, and I am not breathing in all the chemicals from cleaners, and throwing away countless paper towels.  My windows and mirrors always turn out perfectly streak free..... I never had that much success with any cleaner or deluxe paper towel.  I would constantly fight streaks. So, that is the second bonus of these clothes..  less irritation from streaks! 

If you have the opportunity to try them, I highly recommend them!

Thanksgiving Day

We enjoyed a quiet Thanksgiving Day at home.  Before enjoying our very Non-Traditional meal, we went for a drive and were just in time for a picture perfect sunset down in the river valley.

Fall Baking has begun!

My mom turned me on to the wonderful world of Penzeys Spices.  For some time, I hadn't been impressed with the quality of spices I was buying in the store, and I knew how she always looked forward to her Penzeys Spice shipment.  So, earlier this year I asked her to order a couple of spices for me the next time she ordered.  I have been hooked ever since.  

Penzey's Spices is a great Wisconsin based company that offers a huge assortment of quality spices.  I have so many new spices that I look forward to trying.  I have also found another bonus of being a Penzey's shopper is their catalog.  Yes, you can order online as you can with most companies today, but they also send a hard copy catalog, periodically, that is full of idea's, pictures, and....  Recipes!!! I hadn't paid much attention to the recipes until the Fall 2011 issue.  I was really craving sweets the day I was reviewing the catalog, as I hadn't baked in some time.  I stumbled across a recipe for Oatmeal Chip Bars.  The next weekend, I made them for my first time.  I wasn't sure if they really were that "out of this world", or if we were that over due for a baked yummy treat.  We decided that they really were that good!  

Today, I made the second batch of these bars.  I did make a couple of changes.  When I had first told my mom about how good these were, she didn't want to make them because of the amount of butter, but wondered about substituting in some peanut butter.   I made that change, as well as omitted adding butterscotch chips, since I never seem to have those on hand.  I hope this pan doesn't disappear as quickly as the first pan did!!

Oatmeal Chip Bars

1/2 c. Butter

1/2 c. Peanut Butter

1 1/4 c. Brown Sugar ( I used 1/2 dark, and 1/2 light)

3/4 c. white sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. Vanilla Extract

2 c. flour

2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

2 c. oats (quick cooking or regular)

2 c. miniature chocolate chips

Preheat over to 375.  In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter, peanut butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla.  In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture.  Fold in the oats and chocolate chips.  Spread in a greased 10 x 15 rimmed metal pan, using a spatula or your hands to press into place.  Bake for 20 minutes at 375.  Cool, but cut the bars while still warm, as a knife will go through them more easily.

Enjoy! ! !

The Beginning...

I have become quite a fan of following blogs, I enjoy reading others stories and of course recipes!  I hope to be able to share some cooking success's as well as maybe a failure or to.  I am sure to have lots of cute animal stories to share, the occasional ride along in the Peterbilt.  Of course, once morel mushroom season is here, I look forward to sharing the excitement of the hunts!  Now, just to be sure I understand how to publish the blogs and add pictures, all the fun stuff!