A classic, cold salad made from carrots, raisins and pineapple, sometimes coconut and peanuts, and dressed with a sweetened mayonnaise.

Classic Carrot Raisin Salad

We are still in the process of moving out of our old home, while the new house is looking more and more like we have lived here for 20 years! And the garage, oh you don't even want to know what that looks like, but as I have the energy, I bring in a box and go through it.

We are moving all of the Christmas stuff, the china from the china cabinet and have a freezer and a few pieces of furniture to go and we'll be finished... finally. The Cajun and I were so tired and hungry yesterday afternoon that we stopped by Hartz's Fried Chicken and treated ourselves to their buffet for an early supper.

 

One of the easiest candies to make, this Tiger Butter Bark is made using almond bark candy coating mixed with peanut butter, topped with chopped peanuts and melted semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Tiger Butter Bark

Even if you think you can't make candy, bark candy is probably one of the easiest and most versatile candies there is. It's always a nice addition to a holiday sweets tray but even better received as a gift. Add in some of those sugared nuts with your gift bag and you've got a great sweet and salty combo!

The basic recipe for Tiger Butter is simply a thin layer of melted white chocolate or the lesser expensive vanilla almond bark, mixed with peanut butter and poured into a jelly roll pan, over which melted semi-sweet chocolate chips are poured and then swirled into the almond bark layer.

The authentic, original, original Chex Party Mix was very simple - containing only Wheat and Rice Chex cereals, butter, Worcestershire sauce, salt and garlic salt. As pictured, I've made a few changes, including substituting Corn Chex for the wheat and adding thin pretzel sticks.

Classic Oven Baked Chex Party Mix

We were talking on Facebook the other day about the many varieties of Chex Mix there are these days - seems a lot of us make multiple batches of it over the holidays because it's a nice snack to have around to keep the hungrys down and everybody out from under your feet in the kitchen.

I confess to being pretty old school with my version, and it isn't that I don't love the add-ins that everybody has put in over the years, I do! Every once in awhile I mix it up a bit, but I rarely stray very far from this version and pretty close to what I call the "Authentic Original Original 1952 Chex Party Mix" to be the version that is still my own personal favorite.

Crockpot Candy Peanut Clusters

Crockpot Chocolate Peanut Clusters are a favorite holiday candy made from a mixture of almond bark, baking chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate chips and peanuts.

Crockpot Candy

Crockpot Candy Clusters are a popular confection at Christmastime everywhere, and usually includes pretty much the same combination of ingredients - some kind of mixture of chocolate, along with almond bark and peanuts.

I wanted to use a combination of honey roasted peanuts along with regular dry roasted peanuts this time, so I decided to pair up the almond bark coating, with a bittersweet baking chocolate, instead of the German chocolate that is often typically used.

Goober Peas - Cajun Boiled Peanuts

A southern staple, raw peanuts are boiled in a salty, Cajun seasoned water - stovetop, crockpot or pressure cooker.

Cajun Boiled Peanuts

♫Sitting by the roadside on a summer's day
Chatting with my mess-mates, passing time away
Lying in the shadows underneath the trees
Goodness, how delicious, eating goober peas.

Peas, peas, peas, peas
Eating goober peas
Goodness, how delicious,
Eating goober peas.♫

"Goober Peas" by P. Nutt and A. Pindar, 1866

A good sturdy basic peanut butter cookie.

My Favorite Peanut Butter Cookies

I love peanut butter cookies and every once in awhile I get a craving for some. I can say two things for sure - that I do not like the 3 ingredient, flourless peanut butter cookie recipes, though I've included that one for those of you who do. We used to make those back in my low carb days, using Splenda. Second, I have to have the right balance between the sweetness and the nuttiness, and not too much of the one or the other. I really like this recipe because it seems to have a nice mix of the two.

A layered pudding dessert with a shortbread type crust, topped with a peanut butter cream cheese layer, then pudding and topped with whipped topping.

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Layered Dessert

I'm pretty sure the dessert was born out of the 70s, and like all the other layered desserts, it has the press in crust, the layers of cream cheese and pudding and topped with whipped cream. The one difference is that this one has peanuts and peanut butter and if you love peanut butter, you will adore this version.

Perfect for big events, parties, potlucks and the like, back in the day it was known as Jimmy Carter Cake. If you're not a fan of the namesake, don't let that discourage you from trying this dessert, because frankly it is awesome. Just name it something else!