It is Vacation Bible School time at our church and, as always, I am helping teach. This year, I am teaching the fifth-graders (who are going to sixth grade), and it is somewhat intimidating to me because they are smart. Real smart!
I have learned all the things we are teaching, but it was quite a few years ago, and I have forgotten the little details surrounding the stories. Well, guess what – they want to know the little details.
Last night, we were discussing a story in the Old Testament, about how God stopped the over-flowing Jordan River so the Israelites could cross over, and happened to mention Aaron in passing. One inquisitive young man stopped and asked us a roadblock question: How did Aaron die?
Thank goodness for iPads! I found the answer to his question – and other similar ones – in a matter of seconds. And that was just the first evening. We have four more to go. Needless to say, I am learning too!
Anyway, along with the learning, music and fun that VBS always provides is the tasty dishes that women in Sunday school classes supply for the teachers to munch on during their breaks. They are delicious, and I always find something I have never heard of or tasted, and the first night didn’t let me down.
If you are a “health foodie” or counting calories, then you can pretty much stop reading now because this recipe goes against everything you are about. However, I am not going to ruin it for the non-health foodies by pointing out all the bad stuff. It is just too good!
The first recipe might sound really strange, and you might even turn your nose up. If you do, you are missing out. Take my word for it, they are great! One person even said that he didn’t like Cheetos. Once you taste this, however, you will change your mind!
Also, I have another recipe for a cake that was made for us last night. It is one of my favorites! It might be a tad bit healthier, but nothing to go on about. But boy is it good! I think I have printed this sometime in the last dozen years or so, but this is so good I have to re-print it.
Next week, I promise to do a healthy article!
Caramel Cheetos
2 cups light brown sugar
1 cup margarine - you must use margarine
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 - 21 oz. pkg. crunchy Cheetos
Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Mix sugar, margarine and corn syrup in pan. Bring to a boil. Boil five minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat and add soda. Stir until light in color and foamy. Spray a large, deep pan (10 x 14) with non-stik cooking spray. Put Cheetos in pan. Pour the mixture over Cheetos and stir, coating each piece. Place in oven. Bake for one hour stirring every 15 minutes.
Immediately, pour mixture onto wax paper or cookie sheets, sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. (This is the tricky part.) VERY QUICKLY spread the mixture out as thin as possible. After about five minutes, pull/break these apart even more and loosen them from the wax paper. They will stick to it also.
If you need more, which you probably will, then the best thing to do is to make a separate batch. You can double the recipe in one batch, but it is harder to work with when you are trying to get them spread out on the cookie sheet.
Peanut Butter Texas Sheet Cake
Here is the cake recipe, which is super simple and doesn’t have any tricky parts to it!
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. soda
2 sticks margarine
1 cup water
1/3 cup smooth peanut butter
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk (or 1/2 cup milk + 1 T. vinegar)
chopped peanuts (optional)
Sift first four ingredients together and set aside. Bring margarine, water and peanut butter to a boil and add to flour mixture. In another bowl, combine eggs, vanilla and buttermilk. Add to peanut butter batter. Pour into a greased 10x15” pan and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
Ice cake (see below) while still warm and sprinkle with chopped peanuts if desired.
Peanut Butter Icing
1 stick margarine
1/3 cup smooth peanut butter
1/3 cup + 1 T. milk
1 lb. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
Bring margarine, peanut butter and milk to a boil, remove from heat. Add powdered sugar and vanilla.