Jet Puffed Mallow Bites

I love marshmallows and I love chocolate, so when I was roaming through the aisles at Walmart the other day and happened upon this:



I just knew I had to try them.

Yum! In some ways, they are very similar to miniature versions of the chocolate covered marshmallow eggs you find at Easter, although the marshmallow texture is a little bit more like a marshmallow than the marshmallow cream like filling in the larger treats. One thing I really liked is that with them being miniature, you get a higher chocolate to marshmallow ratio - a definite positive in my book. In addition, the bite size pieces allowed me, with a great deal of willpower, to have just a couple to satisfy my sweet tooth.

I can't find anything about this product on the Kraft Jet-Puffed page, so I'm not sure if these were a limited item or around to stay. Anyone know?

The package was priced at $1 for the bag at Walmart. It has about 2 servings of approximately 24 chocolate covered marshmallows, each with 130 calories and 5 g of fat. The best part is that if I can limit myself to a couple, I can have a quick sweet treat for only a few calories. Based on 24 pieces in a serving, each chocolate covered miniature marshmallow has just under 6 calories - so 4 is under 25 calories. Yum! A quick treat that won't ruin the diet (when I'm actually managing to stay on one) and with approximately 56 pieces in a bag - that makes for 14 snacks of 4 pieces!

Have you tried Mallow Bites? What did you think? Share a comment or post a link.

Camping Treats

Ever since I was a little girl, we have camped. We did family camp outs with just my family, and family camp outs with my aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins. We even took a vacation one week to a campground near a lake.

I remember camping in a hard-sided pop up camper one time and there was a large storm that was blowing and raining. We had to sit at the ends of the camper to hold the sides up by the beds.

One of the first real vacations my husband and I took was a trip to Canada and we camped in a tent for the trip. It was a great economical way to take a vacation. We've only been adventurous enough with our kids to camp one time and it ended with me and the children coming home to sleep, so we decided perhaps we would wait another year or two before trying it any distance from home. We have talked about camping in the backyard and might need to do that for our next test.

Sleeping in the pop-up camper, and then as I got older, being allowed to sleep in the pup tent, was such an adventure. There is just something about waking early to the sounds of nature. As kids, we enjoyed camping so much that we would even sometimes park the camper in the driveway and spend the night in it as part of a slumber party.

Being able to go swimming and hiking at a moments notice was another exciting part of camping. After all, the lake or the swimming pool were just down the path. The campsites were also typically located in or near woods, which of course made the hiking that much more exciting.

But the best part of camping...the campfire! The campfire is the source of light and heat by night, the source of energy for cooking and the place to hang out and visit with family and friends with no distractions but the chirping of the crickets.

Of course, when it comes to campfires, there is the standard hot dogs, roasted marshmallows and S'mores, but our favorite was always the pie iron. There was so much you could do with it - from savory to sweet. For dinner, we would use the pie iron to make Pizzas, Grilled Cheese or Grilled Cheese with turkey or ham. For dessert, it was apple pies, cherry pies and lemon meringue pies (okay, that was a late addition to my dessert pie irons, but an absolute favorite).

Lemon Meringue Pie Irons

Butter
Bread
Canned Lemon Pie Filling
Marshmallows
Powdered Sugar (optional)

Warm your pie iron in the hot coals for about 30s - 1min.

Butter one side of each slice of bread. Place the bread butter side out in the pie iron, fill with lemon pie filling and marshmallows. Top with the second slice of bread, butter side out. Close and lock pie iron, place in hot coals to toast. Open pie iron carefully so as not to burn yourself, place pie on paper plate and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Enjoy! (Caution: contents can be very hot!)

For more camp treats, check out the Ultimate Recipe Swap Camp Food Edition at Life as Mom.

This recipe submitted for the Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap.

Tried It Tuesday - Sweet Muse S'mores Brownies

A month or two ago, I entered a contest on Sweet Muse to suggest flavors for a Special Edition Brownie.

For those of you that have read a few of my posts, you probably know that I enjoy marshmallows and S'mores, so naturally, when I was considering a suggestion, it was only natural that my suggestion of a S'mores Brownie - dark chocolate brownie with marshmallows and graham crackers was selected to be the first Special Edition Brownie and is being featured in the month of June.

The description on the Sweet Muse site of the S'mores brownie is as follows: "The first winning flavor to be featured from our brownie flavor contest. The S'mores brownie includes marshmallows, the crunch of graham cracker pieces, and a generous drizzle of milk chocolate to provide the delightful taste of that classic campfire favorite without the campfire."

As the suggester, I got a Brownie Buddy gift box of the Special Edition Brownie. I received the brownies late last week. They looked really good (much like the picture here on the lower right side of the page). Then, the other evening, I wanted a treat after dinner and decided the time was right to try the S'mores Brownie. All I can say is YUM! The brownie was amazing, moist and rich with the right balance of graham and marshmallow to accompany the chocolate.

This brownie was the first that I had ever had from Sweet Muse, but I can tell you that I would definitely buy from them again and wouldn't hesitate to send a gift box to a friend or family member.

Have you tried Sweet Muse? What did you think? Have you tried something new? Share your thoughts in the comments or link to your blog.

Summertime Means Grilltime

At our house, we will occassionally grill in the winter, but the snow sometimes gets in the way, but the summer is primetime for the grill. One nice thing about the grill is that you can excellent flavor without warming up the house with the oven or stove.

Much of what we make is very basic - Cheeseburgers, Barbeque Chicken, Steak, Hot Dogs and the like. Sometimes we will mix it up and grill Marlin or prepare a special spice rub or marinade for our chicken or steak.

One such marinade that we enjoy, primarily on chicken, but can be used on pork or beef, is Citrus Balsamic Grill.

Citrus Balsamic Grill

1/3c Lemon Juice
1/4c Worcestershire Sauce
3 Tbsp Baslsamic Vinegar
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 tsp garlic, finely chopped
2 1/2 # chicken or beef

Combine marinade ingredients and mix well. Place mixture over meat. Marinade for 2 hours or overnight in refrigerator. Grill until done as desired.

Serve with griled peppers, onions and tomatoes. If desired, split the marinade and put some on the vegetables.

Then for dessert, try these. I am a huge S'mores fan - I think it is the warm, gooey marshmallow with the chocolate that is melting that I find so appealing.

Grilled S'Mores

2 graham crackers, broken into halves
1 milk chocolate candy bars (1.55 ounces each), divided in half crosswise
2 marshmallows

For each S'more, top one graham cracker square with one candy bar half, one marshmallow and another graham cracker square. Center the S'more on a sheet of aluminum foil. Create a foil packet, leaving room for heat circulation inside. Grill 4 to 5 min over a medium grill.

I use the shelf in my grill, so that the graham crackers aren't too close to the heat source. This recipe can easily be doubled and more.

For more grilling ideas, check out the Ultimate Recipe Swap Grilled Foods. For more recipes, check out The Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap.

Marshmallow Lollipops

I love marshmallows. They are one of those snacks that I could have at any time.

I enjoy adding them to my hot chocolate. I love how they get a little melty and tend to eat them with a spoon right out of the hot chocolate.

I love Marshmallow Topping on my ice cream sundaes, alone or with some Hot Fudge. Recently, I purchased a pint of Ben & Jerry's S'more ice cream and it is in my freezer just waiting to be eaten - chocolate, graham, and marshmallow all mixed in - how can it be anything but good.

Speaking of S'mores, I am a huge fan. I love to make S'more brownies, S'more cheesecake and S'more cookies to capture that campfire taste in a dessert. Since I can't always have a campfire handy (although I did get a fire pit for the purpose of toasting marshmallows), I have been known to microwave the big marshmallows on high for 20 sec to make them puffy and gooey - a perfect treat in the evening. Even better if you have mini chocolate chips that you can sprinkle over the hot marshmallows.

So, when I came across this post with directions on making Marshmallow Lollipops at grace violet, I knew it was for me. She makes them pink for Valentine's day, but any color of food coloring could be used to make a seasonally appropriate treat. Be sure to stop by and check them out.