Merry Christmas to All !

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and hoping you are blessed beyond measure. Enjoy the day with family and friends.

The "Way-Back" Attic

This commercial was one of the most popular for a very long time. How many remember this?

Necklacing

A favorite method of execution by Mandela's African National Congress where a tire soaked in gasoline would be placed around the body of victim and then set ablaze.

Necklacing sentences were carried out by "people's courts" against victims who were deemed to be white collaborators. Often times, the families of the one sentence were often sentenced to death by necklacing.

Winnie Mandela, wife of imprisoned Nelson Mandela, endorsed the practice. Nelson Mandela, fully aware of the practice, never spoke out against it.

Know the real Mandela.

Christmas Crack Recipe

The name of this recipe makes it sound sketchy but trust me, it is heavenly.
I love Christmas Crack for three reasons. 1) It’s Yummy.  2) It’s the easiest dessert that I’ve ever made.  3) You kinda feel gangsta.
So what is Christmas Crack? It’s a super simple dessert that has a toffee layer on bottom covered in chocolate with optional toppings. Why is it named Christmas Crack? I’m guessing it’s because it is super addictive but I didn’t name it so don’t blame me.
To make it you will need;  

• 1 cup of butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 sleeve of Saltine Crackers
• 1 bag of chocolate chips
• assorted toppings such as pretzels or m&m’s

  First preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Next line a sheet cake pan or jelly roll pan with foil that has been well oiled. You need a pan with sides so a cookie sheet won’t work the best.

 

Lay out the crackers in a single layer in the bottom of the pan.

I made a double batch so you should only have one pan, not two like I have layed out. It will take about 40 crackers (1 sleeve). I filled in the edges with broken crackers.

Next put the 1 cup of butter and 3/4 cup brown sugar into a pan and bring it to a boil.  You need to stir it constantly until it is well blended and you can’t see the butter on the top anymore. Once it is blended  let it boil for 5 minutes while stirring.  Make sure you have the crackers done before this step is done.

When it is ready the toffee will pull away from the edge of the pan easily.

Now you need to pour the toffee over the top of the crackers and spread it out.

Straighten up any wayward crackers with a fork. Then immediately place this in the oven for 5-6 minutes. During this time you might want to wash the pan you used to make the toffee because once it sets up, it is really hard to get out of the pan.

After the 5-6 minutes pull out the crackers and let them cool for about 5 minutes.

This pan and the toffee will be extremely hot. Be careful not to let children touch it, or yourself if you are like me.

After it has cooled for 5 minutes sprinkle the top with the chocolate chips.

Slowly they will start to melt but if they don’t do it fast enough, just pop it back in the oven for a minute.

When they are soft spread the chocolate around with a spatula until it’s smooth across the top.

Now is a great time to add some more toppings if you wish. I added broken pretzels to mine but many people add nuts or candy to the top.

Let the pans set for 4-5 hours. If you don’t have that much time then just pop the entire pan in the freezer for 30-40 minutes.

When the chocolate is hard set turn the pan over and let the candy fall out. Now break into pieces and eat!

Yummy and easy… does it get any better? Oh yeah it does… you get to offer all your super conservative friends some crack.

 

 http://www.clumsycrafter.com/2011/12/christmas-crack-recipe/

PHILLY CHEESE STEAK SLOPPY JOES

1 lb ground beef
1 small sweet onion chopped
1 green bell pepper seeded and chopped
1/4 cup steak sauce (like A1)
1 cup beef broth
provolone cheese
buns

Crumble the ground beef into a skillet and add the chopped onion and pepper. Begin to cook, when the beef is about half cooked, add the broth and steak sauce. Cook until all items are done and allow to simmer and cook down/thicken.
I used hoagie buns from the bakery. Slice them open and filled 6 with the meat mixture. Then each was topped with a slice of provolone cheese. This was placed under the broiler for 3 minutes.