Operation Baking Gals

My friend, Kara, is always finding the coolest blogs and making the coolest foods and such. Well her latest find is Operation Baking Gals. Since I'm always looking for an excuse to bake and emulate the greats like Betty Crocker and Duncan Hines (LOL!) and of course SAMPLE (the most important job of all), I decided to join the cause. Sometimes you really just have to sacrifice yourself for the good of man kind.

All joking aside, it is pretty cool. We bake yummy goodies from home to send abroad to the WONDERFULLY COURAGEOUS AND DEDICATED men and women who serve in our armed forces. A plate of cookies or other goodies from home is the least we can do to say thanks! I've never met the recipient of my goodies, but he's my neighbor. The one that helped during the Tsunami relief effort, has been deployed several times since 2004, and who is dedicated to his country and service! Thanks Colin!

As per Kara, she asked that we take pics of our goodies! I have to admit, this isn't something I tend to do, so I kept forgetting to take pictures. But I did at least capture a few during the process. I made some Caramel Bars, another great recipes thanks to Allrecipes.com

The super yummy oat and butter mixture!!!!!!!

Melted caramel with milk...it was supposed to be heavy cream, but I didn't have any!

The final result, a sea of melted caramel and chocolate chip, buttery goodness!

The recipe was REALLY easy and makes plenty! I changed it up a bit. I did a 9x12 and a 8x8 pan, so I tripled the oat flour mixture and added an extra 12 caramels and 2tbs of milk. Otherwise I sprinkled as many chocolate chips as I wanted (half cup? WHATEVER) and just dropped the left over oat mixture all around, lightly pushing it into the caramel. I highly recommend not cutting until they cool completely. It's really messy otherwise. If you want warm bars, cut them when they are cool and heat them up individually.

ENJOY!

Great day!

I'm getting some flack for not keeping up with my blog! (I love you dearly!) So I figured I would post a couple of different things.

A couple of weeks ago my friends Kevin and Kristen got married! It was a beautiful wedding and despite a brief thunder storm, was a spectacular day! The highlight for Wood and I, of course, was not being a part of the wedding or even watching Kristen walk down the isle, but our little, or grown up cutie.

Their photographer was incredible and took some great shots! You can check out his blog at Love Life Images.

The following weekend my mom and I went to see the Lion King at the Kennedy Center. I'm still speechless! Fate has had a way of keeping my mom and I from seeing it. FINALLY all the stars came into alignment. We had a fabulous lunch at a T.H.A.I. Shirlington, where we happened to run into Megan, Brad and Ashley. By far some of the BEST Thai food I have ever had! It was super yummy! We headed off to the Kennedy Center to our AMAZING seats, Center Stage front row box seat! UNREAL! If you haven't seen Lion King yet, I highly recommend it!

After the Lion King, I got to spend a great night with my family. The weather was great and so we went up to a local shopping area and let the girls play.

It's been a great couple of weeks!