PEANUT BUTTER.

WOW, I posted two recipes and you guys actually kinda sorta liked them! I wish I could say that it inspired me to try a bunch of new recipes this week so that I could share them all with you...but, nope.

I do still have two more that I made last weekend, though, and have been meaning to share all week. This week has just been all of the insane...but I'm here now. And if you love peanut butter the way that I do, then you are in luck.

First up: peanut butter pie. My mom has loved this for as long as I could remember. There was a tiny local restaurant that made a killer PB pie, and Mom would order a slice every time we went, whether she was actually hungry or not. Mom is one of those tiny people who can subsist for days on three M&Ms and a sip of Mountain Dew, so eating a meal and following it with dessert is practically unheard of, for her. But she loves peanut butter pie that much.

So this year, instead of the heart-shaped cake that I usually make for her birthday, I made her a peanut butter pie. I also made one for the hubby's birthday back in January. And now my 8-year-old wants one for her next birthday. Thankfully, there's no real "cooking" involved, and you can whip this up in just a few minutes, plus chilling time.

Peanut Butter Pie

graham cracker pie crust

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup (4 oz.) cream cheese

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

1/2 tsp. vanilla

8 oz. Cool Whip, thawed

chocolate syrup (optional)

Obtain large-ish bowl. Place brown sugar, cream cheese, peanut butter, and vanilla inside bowl. Beat on medium speed until smooth. Fold in Cool Whip until everything is well blended. Spread into pie crust, drizzle with chocolate syrup if desired, cover and freeze for about 8 hours. Let thaw for about 15 minutes before serving.

And for the love of all that is good in the world, LICK THE BEATERS before throwing them in the sink. Do not waste a bit of this deliciousness!

Variation: Arrange 1 1/2 cups of sliced bananas (about two bananas) in the bottom of the pie crust before adding peanut butter mixture. Great for those who love bananas and peanut butter, and those who feel better about eating pie when they can call it "fruit."

Ready for the freezer - sans chocolate syrup for my mom, the peanut butter purist.

See? Easy. Absolutely, positively, 100% my kind of "cooking." And based on the glowing reviews and repeat requests around these parts, it's working well for me.

Want another amazingly peanut butter-y, almost kinda sorta good for you, and MULTI-PURPOSE recipe? Here's one that Rachael dug out of my recipe book and whipped up for Super Bowl snacking purposes. Don't be scared by the name. They're ugly, but they're harmless:

Monster Cookies

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup butter, softened

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 cup peanut butter

3 cups rolled oats

6 ozs. M&Ms

Preheat oven to 350. Beat sugar, brown sugar, and butter until creamy. Add eggs, vanilla, and baking soda and mix well. Add peanut butter and keep mixing...here's where you'll start to get a good bicep workout as the dough starts thickening up. Now add oats and M&Ms. Once well blended, drop by spoonfuls onto a lightly greased cookie sheet, about 2" apart, and bake 10-12 minutes until lightly browned on edges.

RESIST the urge to cook longer, even if they don't look quite done in the center - it'll sort itself out as they cool, and if you overcook, the oatmeal will dry these bad boys right out. So don't do it.

Blobs of deliciousness, ready for the oven.

Then clean up the mess that your kids waltzed off and left on your kitchen counters, if you let them attempt this recipe. Or maybe it's just my kids that do this? I guess I should consider myself fortunate that they have the kitchen skills to bake cookies for me and not complain about the clean-up, though...

Sugar, sugar, everywhere.

Now, about that multi-purpose claim, because I know you're still wondering, right? Well, first of all, oatmeal is just plain good for you. Fiber, minerals, et cetera, et cetera. So these are practically a health food, and it's a good thing, as fast as they seem to disappear.

The most awesome benefit, though, occurs if you happen to be a nursing mother. You see, I actually found this recipe on a parenting message board when my youngest daughter was itty bitty. Someone shared this specifically because oatmeal also boosts a nursing mom's milk supply. And I mean, I guess you could just go eat a bowl of oatmeal or something, but cookies. 

It was then that I originally tried this recipe, and - without delving into all of the gory, sticky, damp-shirted details - by golly, that mama was right. It didn't take very long/very many cookies before my supply was noticeably increased. Poor baby Milly didn't know how to handle the surplus and may have coughed and sputtered a bit in surprise, but then she was a happy girl with (I assume) oatmeal and M&M flavored milk.

So if you're a breastfeeding mom - first of all, YOU ARE A ROCKSTAR - and second of all, whip up a batch of monster cookies and enjoy them GUILT-FREE, and tell your little one that s/he is welcome.

That's it for tonight, although now I'm behind for the whole week and still have to tell you all of the myriad ways that I screwed up my daughter's birthday this week. Spoiler: ugliest cake in the world.

Shameless plug: If you like the look of these recipes, please share them on Pinterest/Facebook/Twitter/wherever and share the joy with your friends! Also, please comment if you try them (or intend to) and let me know what you think. Who knows? Maybe one day your awesomeness will actually inspire me to try something new and blog that too. Maybe. Stranger things have happened.

This post is linked up at Family Fun Friday, Kitchen Fun with My Three Sons, and Diana Rambles. Lots more awesomeness at these links!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all of my mommy readers!

I just love Mother's Day, although it's often difficult to strike a perfect balance between pampering time for me as a mommy, and spending time with my own mom to make the day special for her. That balance was achieved today - church with my family, lunch and a much-anticipated movie with my mom, and dinner with my in-laws. The only person I missed seeing today was my stepmom (who was working) so we'll have to do a special Mother's Day something-or-other later on.

I am so grateful for the women in my life - a mother that has always been fun and encouraging and loves me no matter what, a mother-in-law who is pretty sure I can do no wrong, and a stepmother who accepted that role more graciously than anyone I've ever known (and who I'm lucky to call my friend.)

I'm grateful for the women in my church that I saw this morning, that love on me and my children and teach and encourage me along the way. They inspire me in so many different ways.

But my Mother's Day didn't really happen all in one day. It started on Friday night, with a mother/daughter dinner and dance for our Girl Scout troop. It was so much fun seeing everyone dressed up - and dancing! There are so many more moves in our troop than I would have expected! None from me, of course - I was unfortunately born without a sense of rhythm. But I was quite impressed by some of the dancing that I saw that night - from the moms and the girls too. (I was also quite envious of their energy levels. Those girls were unstoppable.)

As the girls and I drove home from the dance, I couldn't help reflecting on how blessed I've been by the moms in our Girl Scout troop. I'll admit it - I don't make mom friends easily. Or non-mom-friends, for that matter. I'm naturally quiet around people that I don't know well, and so set in our current routine that I rarely encounter people that I don't know well anyway. I'm kind of a hermit - I like to be at home with my girls, doing school and just being together. Sometimes I have to be dragged kicking and screaming out of the house to go out and do something fun already. I don't like talking on the phone, which means that I'm not always great at keeping in touch. And the more overwhelmed I feel by various life demands, the worse of a friend I tend to be.

And yet, here is a group of 26 moms - 26! - that I have come to treasure. A few of them were friends before the troop was ever formed. A few more were old friends from school that I rarely saw before Girl Scouts. But the majority of them...well, we only share the common denominator of a daughter that's interested in Girl Scouts. That doesn't sound like much of a foundation for a friendship, but it's proven enough. I see the very best of motherhood in every one of these women - devotion, loyalty, kindness, patience, wisdom, humor, and love. And they spread it around the troop, heaping it not only on the girls, but on each other. I have witnessed so many acts of kindness between the mothers in our troop, and I have no doubt that if any one of them was in need of anything...the other moms would be right there to pitch in.

I just love them for all of the above.

These are only a few of our beautiful troop moms, but you are ALL special to me. Thank you for all that you are and all that you do. Happy Mother's Day...Alicia, Amy, Angel, Angie, Becca, Beverly, Chandres, Ethel (okay, Kristie), Eve, Jane, Jill, Kristen, Lisa, Markeyta, Melinda, Nikke, Nydia, Paige, Robin, Sandy, Shannon, Shemeka, Sherika, Susan, Theresa and Traci!