About five or six times a year, the urge to cook will hit me. And since it happens so rarely and so inconsistently, I’m never sure what to do with that energy other than make the usual California Casserole or Taco Soup. I have hundreds of cookbooks with pages dog-eared for such occasions, but one look at the long ingredient list and the thought of going to the grocery store to actually search out and buy all of that, sends me back to the aforementioned less than gourmet meals. It’s not that I’m complaining about California Casserole; it’s just that I’ve been eating it for 40+ years and could use a little variety. The recipe is so simple I’m embarrassed to even share it here. It’s won me many compliments, and I’ve never really let on that even our 7 month old puppy could make it if only she had thumbs…So, one day I will post the recipe. I would hate to die and no one have any good funeral food ideas for my potluck service. And the Taco Soup recipe is that same one you’ve gotten every time you’ve joined Weight Watchers so I won’t be posting that one. (Besides, as they say at Weight Watchers, "Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels." – Right?)
The other issue with this cooking mood is that it tends to hit me when I really should be doing something else. I know that “should” is a nasty word, but I’m sure you can relate. I’m typically in the middle of a big work or school project when it occurs to me that having a dinner party would be great fun. I then spend the next 12 hours perusing cookbooks, shopping for ingredients, calling friends to invite them over, cooking, and hosting an event I have no business getting involved with in the first place. So, since we were supposed to spend the entire weekend cleaning and organizing our house in preparation for it hitting the market this week; I could have guessed the urge was coming. I woke up this morning trying to find a recipe for blueberry muffins.
See, really we should (there’s that word again) have finished the cleaning and organizing yesterday, but at breakfast I decided we would do some Christmas shopping, and then after lunch I decided we would watch some football, and before I knew it, it was time for bed. Not much Christmas shopping got done, by the way. And all of our favorite football teams lost. My friend Slade would say, “The Universe is trying to tell you something.” So when the mood to cook struck me this morning, I devised a plan. I’m proud to say I got all of my cooking done at once so that I would have the rest of the day to clean and organize. I made blueberry muffins, Taco Soup and Cracker Candy all by 10:00.
It’s the Cracker Candy we need to discuss. Good God Almighty. My friend Ashley gave me this recipe after she got me completely addicted to the stuff by bringing me a big bag of it on my last day of work at my former job. I’ve always heard that’s how the pushers do it…give it to you for free at first, get you hooked and then make you pay…So, I’m posting the recipe here for those of you who need a distraction today. And just please listen to me when I tell you this. DO NOT eat the whole pan of it at once. Just don’t.
Cracker Candy (aka Crack for the White Girls – not really, I made that up)
- 4 oz. saltine crackers
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
- ¾ cup chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line cookie sheet with single layer of saltines. In a saucepan, combine sugar and butter and bring to a boil. Boil for 3 minutes. Immediately pour mixture over the saltines and spread to cover crackers completely. Bake at 400 degrees for 5-6 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with chocolate chips. Let sit for 5 minutes. Spread melted chocolate and top with pecans. Cool completely and break into pieces. 
WARNING: It takes a while to cool. You may not be able to wait that long to dig into it and that’s OK. We couldn’t wait. I finally put the pan in the refrigerator and let it cool before I broke it up.
“My name is Mandy, and I’m addicted to Cracker Candy.” “Hi, Mandy.”
(By the way, I’m not too big to admit that the other thing I do to keep from cleaning and organizing is post to my blog.)
