Busy day

I am going to apologise in advance for the lack of photos at the beginning of this post. I only thought about taking photos when I was busy in the kitchen after my house cleaning blitz.

 

I can't believe it - this is a first for me. The presents have all been bought, wrapped and are waiting under the tree. Normally I am still rushing around doing last minute shopping and the presents only get wrapped late at night. I must say it is a good feeling. It is only Chez, myself and Caelen at home. Kyle, my eldest lives in England and Ciaran - the "middle" child as he calls himself, is in the Seychelles for two weeks where he is combining a holiday and being a groomsman at his friend's wedding. I am very happy for him and also a teeny bit envious!

This morning Chez anad I opted not to go for our walk. Every morning we have been going for a walk on the Promenade at 4:30am. This morning was very hot plus we had a late night so we decided to watch the finals of X-factor USA which Chez had taped the night before. I know, a feeble excuse but missing 1 day won't harm us!

Then after breakfast I went on a cleaning blitz. Madness but when the mood is right you gotta go with the flow! I got stuck in to Ciaran's room first, stripped off all the bedding and put it in to wash then tidied, vacuumed and mopped the floor. Feeling inspired I also got stuck in to the bathrooms, the living area,Caelen's room and finally our bedroom. Inbetween I was also adding new loads of washing to the machine and hanging up the previous load.This took the whole morning and continued well into the afternoon. I did also have a short trip to the local shop to pick up the last food items I needed. I didn't want to buy cream too far in advance because it goes off quickly in this heat and today was exceptionally hot! Chez, bless his soul, made a yummy lunch - tuna and salad - just right for this hot weather.

Cleaning over it was time to make some Rice Crispie treats. This will be my third batch in the space of 2 weeks. I made the first batch for my fellow Grade 1 teachers as Christmas presents. They each got a glass jar filled with the homemade treats and when they are finished I thought the jar could be used as a sweetie jar in the classroom - of course they can decide for themselves what they want to use it for.

Each year I try to make something personal for them. Two years ago I bought diaries and personalized them for each teacher - they were a big hit and much admired. Last year I made altered clipboards - another big hit. This year the Rice Crispie Treats made up the homemade part of the present. I received calls to say how yummy they were and definitely not for sharing!

Again, I only thought of taking photos a bit late! Here are the made bars. This time i cut them into long strips in the baking dish then removed them before spreading melted chocolate on top. I melted the chocolate in the bowl in the microwave then spread it over each bar.

The bars covered in chocolate.

 

 

Next I cut each bar into individual bite sized pieces.

 

 

Trust me, these are seriously good.

 

 

I keep them in the fridge so that they stay hard, otherwise they can go soft. The hard chocolate on top and the chewy toffee, marshmallow, butter, rice crispie mix make a very nice treat. I used to make these when the boys were little and they often appeared at birthday parties. Now the boys are grown up but they still enjoy them. They were very happy to have them reappear.

If you would like to try making them yourself here is the recipe - it's very easy.

Ingredients:
1. 100g butter
2. 100g toffees
3. 100g marshmallows
4. 100 g  Rice Crispies
5. 2 x 100g bars milk chocolate

Put ingredients 1, 2 and 3 in a pot and stir on high until melted .
Add ingredient 4 and mix well.
Pour into a greased baking dish or tray and spread smoothly.
Leave to cool slightly then you can either:-
a) spread melted chocolate on top before cutting into squares OR
b) cut into strips and remove from dish. Spread with melted chocolate then cut into squares/ bite size pieces.
Keep in the refrigerator.
Enjoy!

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