PSA, No Bakes, The Truck, Thursday, 03/04/2021

Good morning all! First, the PSA... I posted this on social media this morning as well.

Sharing this..
A friend of mine is a small business owner. A couple of years ago, she took the step and opened her own small business. With the pandemic, like many other small business owners, she is struggling. Please remember to support local small businesses.
Thanks!!

I didn't realize until I talked to her a week ago, but they also hold online auctions. They do small to large things. I don't know what platform she uses or anything on shipping, so please feel welcome to reach out to her. And yes, I also sell a few items at her shop - not the reason I'm sharing but because of her concerns of her livelihood.

A couple of days ago, we felt we found The Truck. It was out of state, not too far, about a 2 and a half hour drive to Kentucky. We went, we looked, we liked. Made the purchase but need to sell our Dodge Ram 1500 here as they weren't willing to give what we wanted in trade. Probably going to try to get it taken care of today. Hubby had to go into to work yesterday morning and our plan was to go look after he got home. In the interest of time and money, I packed our lunches. Wished I would have realized that this trip would be lasting into the evening and made more for a dinner, but hind sight and all. Made a couple of sandwiches, packed apples, water, sodas, made some popcorn and a new batch of no bakes!! Today, less than half a batch left. Guess the household tore into them while we were out. Here's what I made:

Chocolate Peanut Butter Reduced Sugar No Bake Cookies

1/2 stick salted butter (I use salted so I don't need to add additional salt for flavor)

2 C blended sugar/sweetener (for this, to get the cookies to set better, I used 1/2 C sugar and 1/2 C of my sugar blend - equal parts sugar, Splenda or Swerve, NOW Erythritol, NOW Xylitol ((or preferred brands)).)

1/2 C milk

1/4 - 1/3 C unsweetened cocoa, based on preference (I add this as I like Dutch process cocoa, which I only need 1/4 cup for a great flavor)

1 tsp vanilla

3C quick oats

1/2 - 3/4 C peanut butter, based on preference

Take the butter, sugar/sweetener, cocoa and milk and cook over medium heat until it comes to a boil, stirring frequently. Allow to boil for one minute. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Then add the peanut butter, stir, add in oats and mix until all combined. Drop onto a sheet to preferred size of cookies and allow to cool. If making larger cookies, I get about a dozen, if using a cookie scoop, I get about 32 cookies.

This is a basic recipe that I got from my mom, who got it from Lord-knows-what cookbook and I morphed it to what works for me. I've heard some people put them into cupcake cups, but my advice on this is to use the foil type as the butter leaches into the paper cups.

But with the new truck to be delivered Monday, I'm anxious now to get out camping! I can't wait to see how she takes the hills. We wanted to visit a couple of campsites in Kentucky, but as we didn't get home until 10:00pm, we wouldn't have been able to see the sites very well. Our vacation this year again will be a camping vacation (imagine that!). We haven't decided where yet, but I'm thinking either Ohiopyle in PA or northern Ohio. Oh, and will share pictures of the new truck when it gets here.

Okay folks, I guess I have to get our stuff out of the Dodge from our trip yesterday and get some cleaning done. Have a great rest of your day and God Bless!!

***UPDATE!!!***

With the recent release of possible links to cancer, I cannot recommend using my sugar blend. I have been working more with Splenda, Stevia and sugar and will make a post in the future of my updated blend.