Happy New Year!

I can't believe another holiday season has flown by! There's been such a flurry of activity at my house since before Halloween even, that it's so nice to sit quietly on this first day of the new year and sip a LARGE cup of coffee and just "chill"! My "big girl" (who's almost 3) actually stayed up till midnight last night - what a trooper! She'd been practicing her "Happy New Year" all day!

We hosted a New Year's Eve get-together (of course, you're saying right now...), which has almost become an annual tradition.  We have quite a few friends with little kids; what else can you really do on New Year's Eve with babies and toddlers? Last year's theme (of course I have to have a theme!) was Mexican, so this year we had an Italian-ish theme: "Italian" cheeseball and crackers, chicken alfredo pasta, "Olive Garden" salad, garlic bread, pepperoni pizza "triangles", a cheesecake assortment (thanks, Lisa!) and some "Frosted Chews" (see below). Oh, and of course there was champagne! And some impressive fireworks out in the street (an apology to my neighbors...)!

Frosted Chews (courtesy of www.kelloggs.com)

1 cup corn syrup

1 cup sugar

1 cup peanut butter

6 cups Rice Krispies cereal

12-ounce package semi-sweet chocolate chips (2 cups)

Combine corn syrup and sugar in a medium-sized saucepan and stir.  Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until mixture begins to bubble.  Remove from heat.  Stir in peanut butter.  Add cereal and stir until evenly coated.  Press mixture evenly into a buttered 13 x 9-inch baking dish.  Cool.  Melt chocolate chips in a small saucepan over very low heat, stirring constantly.  Spread evenly over cereal mixture.  Cut bars when cool.

* I found an AWESOME tip online: instead of melting the chips in a pan, pour them straight from the bag onto the cereal mixture and set in a 200 degree oven for 10 minutes, then spread out the melted chips with a spatula. It worked perfectly!