Hello again!

I’m going to pretend like we’re just getting through the weekend (and not already starting the second workday of the week) and ask how everybody’s weekend was.

I spent the weekend in Minneapolis, reunited with my two best friends from college and it was just what you’d expect when three close girlfriends get together—an awesome time…with lots of chatting. Since we all live 4+ hours away from each other now, we’re starting somewhat quarterly visits with each other. Our last visit this past spring was in NE Iowa, and this time we headed up North. We talked and laughed so hard I knew I was getting a good, solid ab workout in, we ate amazing food (sorry, no pictures, but just trust me on this one), and even had an afternoon photo shoot to help Sarah and Alex practice their talented and developing photography skills. I enjoyed being the one just standing and smiling…new pictures up on my Facebook page and on my About Kara page!

Don’t I have such talented friends? Yeah, I thought so, too. :)

This weekend was much needed after the week I had last week. Busy, busy, busy! I barely had time to grocery shop—and for those of you who know me at all, that’s just plain ridiculous. ;)

Even though I felt like my days and evenings were blurring past me all too quickly last week, I wanted to make sure I made something for Philip to take to our church’s 5 year anniversary picnic celebration on Sunday. I knew it had to be fast and simple for me, yet still appealing for the picnic.

That’s when I thought of Homemade PayDay Bars. Well, and the fact that I had an almost entire bag of leftover marshmallows from our one evening of having s’mores during our anniversary week helped sway my decision in the direction of PayDay Bars. Oh, and because one of Philip’s favorite candy bars is PayDay also helped my decision…but mostly it’s because I could make these bars in under a half hour.

I know there are so many kinds of recipes out there for PayDay bars, but these are probably the simplest since there’s no crust that needs baking in these. It’s just a light layer of peanuts on the bottom, an amazing peanut-buttery-caramel-like melted goodness (practically the same as liquid gold, in my opinion) mixed together with marshmallows that’s added on top of the peanuts, and then another layer of peanuts. It seriously tastes just like a PayDay Bar!

Not to mention, they make for the perfect fall treat, too. And with the weather we’ve been having, I think we can safely say fall treats can start making their appearances now.

Whether you’re tailgating, going to a fall picnic, or just have a craving for a PayDay Bar, these make for the tasty, simple treat.

Homemade PayDay Bars

Adapted from: Cookies & Cups

Ingredients: 

• 1 (16-ounce) jar lightly salted dry-roasted peanuts
• 2 cups peanut butter chips
• 3 Tbsp butter
• 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 (10.5-ounce) bag mini marshmallows (or quarter large marshmallows into pieces)

Directions:

1. Spray a 9×13 pan with baking spray. Sprinkle 1/2 of the jar of peanuts in the bottom of the pan, reserving the other half for later.
2. In a medium saucepan, heat the peanut butter chips and butter on medium-low heat, stirring frequently to prevent burning.
3. Pour in the sweetened condensed milk and stir until smooth and combined.
4. Pour the marshmallows and the peanut butter mixture into a large bowl. Gently fold in the marshmallows to the peanut butter mixture the until they are completely coated. Pour mixture over the peanuts in the pan.
5. Press the remaining nuts into the marshmallow mixture. Chill before serving.