School's in session.....

This past week, my youngest started her senior year of high school - What?????? When did she grow up? My husband says that our daughter and I are exactly alike - she's got a healthy dose of my stubborn side.  I say she is more like him as she is witty, sarcastic, sporty, and academically smart like him. She and I don't have much in common when it comes to school. My favorite classes were Foods 101, Home Economics and working in the cafeteria. Her favorites are Creative Writing, Lacrosse, and Orchestra. She even mentioned she enjoyed Physics once or twice - a class you could not pay me to understand or enjoy!  But the two of us do have one thing in common - we like to eat.  She's not much on the school cafeteria food, never thought it was worth the cost or the time waiting in line.  I, on the other hand. loved our cafeteria food.  Everything was scratch-made each morning. Nothing was brought in. I lived on pretty much the same thing for lunch every day. A hot ham and cheese pocket (remember, scratch-made), a chocolate milkshake and a peanut butter chew bar for dessert. Before you leave a comment about how unhealthy those choices are, remember, I was also a teenager.

I still remember the year I got to work in the cafeteria for extra school credits.  My job was to cut and bag those freshly baked peanut butter treats while they were still warm to ensure they stayed chewy. The only thing I could kick myself over is that I never got the recipe for them.

Thanks to the internet and Facebook reunion sites, I found out that I was not the only one in my school who loved those bars. One of the former students had gotten the recipe and posted  it.  Right off I noticed that some of the measurements were off (1/4 cup of Vanilla? I went with 1/4 Tsp.) so I made a couple of adjustments without ruining the integrity of the recipe.  After one bite, I was instantly transformed back to the halls of high school.

I'm not sure what memories will stand out the most for my daughter this year, but I'm fairly certain food, whether it be on campus or at home, will always give her good memories. I'm jus' sayin'!

Peanut Butter Chews adapted from the original cafeteria recipe of  John Muir Junior High School by a fellow alumni student Juaquina Thorpe Twidwell

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PEANUT BUTTER CHEWS
1/2 c.   white sugar

1/2 c.   brown sugar

1/4 t.    salt

1/2 t.    baking powder

3/4 c.   rolled oats

1/2 c.   flour (sifted)

3 T.      butter

1          egg

1/4 c.   peanut butter

1/4 tsp.   vanilla

1.     Mix dry ingredients together.

2.     Cream in butter and eggs.

3.     Add peanut butter, flour and vanilla.

4.     Mix just enough to blend all ingredients (do not over-mix).

5.     Put mixture in a parchment lined square 8x8 cake pan.  Press down with fingers to make level.  Make sure mixture is well into corners.

6.     Bake 375° for about 13 minutes or until golden in color.

7.     Chews will be quite soft when removed from oven but will firm up as they cool.

8.     Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

9.     Cut while still warm into squares.

Butter Mint Ice Cream

When I was a kid, I thought that if a restaurant had a dish of butter mints near the door on the way out, then it was a sign of fine dining. After dinner mints still come in a wide variety of styles and flavors. Party mints (those cute little pastel colored mints), fancy jelly mints, and the rare but equally delicious black anise mints. However, my favorite of all time has to be butter mints. I'm not sure if it was because of the name and that they looked like little pats of butter to me or that they had a tinge of salty butter flavor mixed with that melt-in-the-mouth mint flavor. Either way, they have always been a favorite of mine.

Once in a while, when I was quite young, I would go with my Mom to visit elderly relatives. You could always bet they would have a shiny cut glass candy dish sitting on a coffee table filled with something interesting. I would eye it with anticipation in hopes that they would notice and offer me whatever was in that dish. There were times when the mint was old and perhaps stale (based on how hard they were) but I would savor it in my mouth and let it melt slowly - which sometimes took the duration of the visit and kept me well behaved!

Now that I am all grown up, I still crave many of those flavors from my childhood. Butter mint being no exception to that rule. Here, I mixed cool, creamy ice cream with a light butter mint flavor followed with crushed party mints swirled around. A perfect way to take your "everyday" meal and turn it into a fine dining experience... I'm jus' sayin'!

Butter Mint Ice Cream

1 1/2 Cups of milk
1 1/8 Cup of sugar
3 Cups of heavy cream
1 1/2 TBSP of Butter extract
1 Tbsp Of Mint Extract
~ Crush in at the end of ice cream process 3/4 Cup of Crushed Party Mints or Butter Mints

Combine all until sugar is dissolved. Then follow manufacturer's directions for the ice cream maker.