Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars

Oh, my goodness, these are sooooo good. I made them for Dinner Group tonight and simply loved them. They have a rich, creamy, almost pudding like chocolate filling, surrounded by tender peanut butter cake, that is still gooey, and not too peanut-buttery. They were super rich and but, oh, so good. And you can't beat how easy they are to prepare. It only took me 15 minutes to put them together. These were so good, that I had to instantly give 3/4 of the pan away. Or I would have finished them by myself.

Recipe Source: The Girl Who Ate Everything

Cake:
1 pkg. Yellow Cake Mix
1 stick melted butter
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 eggs

Filling:
1 12 oz. pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 8 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
2 Tbsp. butter

1. Preheat oven to 325°F, and lightly grease a 9x13 pan.

2. Combine melted butter, peanut butter, and eggs. Mix until combined.

3. Add in cake mix and stir until incorporated. It will be a stiff, almost crumbly mixture. But it should still be moist.

4. Set aside 1 1/2 cups of the crumb mixture and press the reminder into the bottom of the 9x13 pan.

5. In a medium saucepan, melt chocolate, condensed milk and butter over medium heat, and stir until smooth.

6. Spread chocolate mixture over the crumb mixture. (It will be a very thick chocolate layer.) Crumble the reserved crumb mixture over the chocolate.

7. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool completely before cutting.

Rotel, Sausage and Cream Cheese Dip

There's no way to sugarcoat it... this stuff does not look appetizing. It doesn't matter how you photograph it, what light you use, or how much parsley you use to garnish it with. But don't let the pictures fool you. It's good. Real good. Super simple, super fast, and super tasty makes this a great appetizer or dip. It packs a little kick, and somehow the combination of tomato and cream cheese is oh, so tasty. It's also the perfect snack for those Sundays when I don't really feel like cooking. Not that that ever happens...

Recipe Source: A Year of Slow Cooking

8 oz. cream cheese

1 can tomatoes and green chilies (like Rotel tomatoes), drained

16 oz. cooked, and well crumbled breakfast sausage (I've made this twice and we definitely liked it better with the sausage broken up really well)

1. Brown the sausage on the stove and drain. If it's too chunky, put it in the food processor to break it up a bit more.

2. Place your cream cheese in the bottom of the crock pot.

3. Add the cooked sausage and top it all with the drained tomatoes.

4. Cook on high for 45 minutes or low for 90 minutes. Stir well and serve with tortilla chips.

(I imagine you could do this without the slow cooker. Just soften your cream cheese in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Then add the tomatoes and sausage and microwave again, until completely warmed.)