Heading to a New Year

As 2011 is reviewed, there are goals that were met and goals that weren't met. My goal to dispose of 365 things was realized, although disposing of things each month proved difficult after the wedding. This goal will be reattempted in 2012 although the number of items will be reduced to 15 items per month or a total of 185 items for the year.

The goal to make one item a week from the family cookbook fell by the wayside as I began to put on weight and stress about the wedding caused to me lose all self control. This goal has merit, and I would like to attempt to make one new thing a month.

Additionally, in 2012, I will bring together the two 2011 goals in a new short term goal. Today I inventoried my freezers and pantry, and during the month of January I am going to do as little grocery shopping as possible. Each week I plan to report how much was spent on groceries, and I will review any cooking/baking creations that are worthy of blog space. Creations that are new to us or that use ingredients in a unique way will most likely be reviewed.

After freezer/pantry inventory, a meal plan for the next 12 days was created. There is no reason a pantry challenge can't have some sweet fun, right. Years ago I found this great recipe called Multiple Choice Bars. These are a pantry cleaning treat. The bars have four layers and each layer is limited only by your imagination. The following items were found in the pantry: butterscotch chips, chocolate chips, coconut, pecans, coconut, Rice Krispies, and Golden Graham cereal. All of these items were open packages needing to be used up. My only purchase was Sweetened Condensed milk.

The Golden Grahams were crushed, mixed with butter, and made the crust. Sweetened condensed milk is poured on that layer, then the two types of chips were added, next a coconut and Rice Krispies mix, and lastly the pecans.

These bars not only look like seven layer bars, a recipe that used to be on the sweetened condensed milk can, but this version tastes like them too. They were a bit chewy, probably attributed to the dryness of the coconut, but since I tried them while they were still warm, the chewy coconut combined with the oozing chocolate proved to be a perfect combination. I will probably zap these bars in the microwave, just a touch, each time I eat them in order to get that same texture combination.

First pantry creation earns five stars.