Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Soup and good company




I have been very excited to try the Barefoot Bloggers recipe this week. This soup is something both myself and husband love. It brings back memories of the food we ate in Tuscany last year. It is a very satisfying, thick soup called Pappa Al Pomidoro. Natalie of Burned Bits chose this recipe and it can be found in the new Back to Basics cookbook on page 68.
My in-laws came for a week long visit and this is what I made for them. They really enjoyed it as well. We finished off most of the pot at one meal : ) I made chicken Parmesan meatballs to go along with the soup and added a crisp salad. I also wanted a little more garlic and roasted a head of garlic to add to the soup if people chose too. The topping was a mixture of croutons, basil, bacon (pancetta)and Parmesan cheese. It was perfection the way that Ina added the topping to this soup. It makes all the diffence to me! This is one of my new favorites and will be made again and again in our house! Thanks Natalie!

Friday, December 26, 2008

Warm Corn Chowder on a rainy day


Crab and Corn Chowder



This month's Barefoot Blogger's Bonus Recipe was selected by Becky of Random Musings of a Deco Lady, Ina's Savory Palmiers. This recipe appears in the Barefoot Contessa: Back to Basics, Ina's Gartens newest Cookbook. These were so good and addicting. I love Puff Pastry. It is so easy to work with. I loved the flaky pastry and layers of cheese, sun dried tomatoes and pesto. I can see why people chose to half the recipe. This made allot of appetizers.

For my Tyler Florence Fridays I decided to make chowder. Its been really rainy today and chowder sounded so good. I made his recipe for Corn Chowder and modified it by adding 8 oz crab at the end. This was a great all in 1 dinner. I made Grandma's Buns (courtesy of my friend Krista)to serve alongside it. My husband esp. loved it and ate 3 huge bowls. This is definitely a keeper. I bought aged White Cheddar cheese and grated on the top of each bowl. I loved the creamy texture from the potatoes (you boil them in the cream and chicken broth) and the crunchy corn. Check out what everyone else decided to make at http://tylerflorencefridays.blogspot.com/ This is where I found the recipe http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/corn-chowder-recipe/index.html

Monday, December 22, 2008

Coq Au Vin with Barefoot Bloggers


This weekend I decided to try to make the Barefoot Contessa recipe for Coq Au Vin. This dish is a cross between a rich stew and thicker soup. I have made this once before years ago and remember enjoying it. This time was a different experience for me. I made it for our neighborhood progressive dinner. I thought it would be a great cold winters night dish and would stay warm until dinner time. My problem was with the color of the chicken. I took the skin off the chicken in the end and all of my chicken turned deep purple. I don't remember that happening last time. I was really embarrassed with the color of the meat. We kept the lights dim for our dinner on Saturday night. I made the roasted pear and blue cheese salad (also from the new cookbook) to go along with it. I loved the salad but the soup was just ok. My husband was the only one that really enjoyed this dish and had seconds. I won't be trying my hand at this again. Coq Au Vin was chosen by Bethany of this little piggy went to market and can be found in Back to Basics on page 116. I can't wait to read about everyone else's experience! The only change that I made was to omit the pearl onions and add some roasted onions at the end. There were several people that don't like onions at the party.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Muffins Muffins and more Muffins




This week I had to make a couple dozen muffins for my sons Holiday party in the morning. I found a recipe from Tyler Florence for Banana Nut Muffins. I chose recipe for my Fridays with Tyler Florence cooking group.http://tylerflorencefridays.blogspot.com/ My daughter and I had so much fun making these together. She is quite the helper and wanted to do allot of it herself this time. These are super easy and tasted great. The only change I did was to omit nuts because of food allergies. I also made a batch of pumpkin and cranberry muffins with caramel frosting. These were also good.
Recipe courtesy Tyler Florence
Show: How To Boil WaterEpisode: The Family That Cooks Together
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 overripe bananas
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and lightly butter 2 muffin tins.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. Mash 2 of the bananas with a fork in a small bowl so they still have a bit of texture. With an electric mixer fitted with a wire whisk, whip the remaining bananas and sugar together like you mean it, for a good 3 minutes. Add the melted butter, eggs, and vanilla and beat well, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Mix in the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Fold in the nuts and the mashed bananas with a rubber spatula. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins to fill them about halfway. Give them a rap on the counter to get any air bubbles out.
Bake until a toothpick stuck in the muffins comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes before turning the muffins out. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Christmas Candy















I love making candy and baking during the Holidays. I guess I love to do that all year long but during the Holidays I have a reason too. I am always on the look out for new candy recipes that are simple and turn out! You don't want to know how many batches of toffee I have thrown away in my life, because of it crystallizing on me... My sister shared this recipe with me today. She found it on a blog that she reads. After I saw the few ingredients I made it. I can see why she loved it. It has such a great flavour and is so good. It takes 3 minutes to make! What a great teachers gift this will be. I made just a few changes. I added some butterscotch chips in with the chocolate and used smooth Peanut butter instead of chunky.
Rocky Road
8x8 pan
line with wax paper
3 cups semi-sweet chips
3 T butter
3/4 cup chunky peanut butter
1 package marshmallows
Melt together chocolate, butter, peanut butter. Add small amount to pan. Fill pan with marshmallows and pour remaining melted chocolate over the top. Refrigerate 2-3 hours. Turn onto cutting board and cut into squares.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Weekend Trip to Chicago








An indoor Christmas festival at Navy Pier!
They had tons of trees decorated in themes and
Santa's from all over the world dressed in there
traditional costumes. It was very interesting reading about the Christmas traditions of other
Countries.

This last week we celebrated our 11Th Anniversary. Nothing could beat our 10 year Anniversary trip to Paris (did I mention our friends kept our kids) so we decided to take a family trip to Chicago. The last time we got to see Chicago was when we drove through on our way to Germany over 3 years ago. It was so much fun to spend the weekend in the "Windy City". We stayed downtown and enjoyed a beautiful view of the city. We had a list of places to visit on our short trip. We did make it to the American Girl Store for Anna. She loved seeing it all. We strolled Michigan Avenue along with hundreds of other shoppers. What a fun place to window shop! We also got to see Navy Pier all decorated for Christmas. On our walk to the Pier we found the coolest gourmet market called Fox & Obel Market Café Catering Gourmet Chicago. We had great Chicago deep dish pizza at Giordanos for dinner. Our picky son loved it and claimed it to be the best pizza ever. It wasn't as far as we thought and took 4.5 hours to get there. We have missed vacations since moving back to the States. It was a great family weekend.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Chocolate and more




It is now Winter in Ohio! Our kids were so excited to shovel the side walk in front of our house.
I received a special package in the mail yesterday from my Mom. Among the many goodies she sent, there was also enclosed a huge bar of melting chocolate. I guess she knows how much I love baking. I needed to make a dessert for our Home Group tonight. I chose Ina Gartens Outrageous Brownies. I halved the recipe since it makes so many brownies. This is one of the fastest recipes to make and you don't even need the Kitchen Aide! I did add the nuts to half the pan of brownies. I hope I can remember which side they are on.... I also chopped up some Chocolate covered Espresso beans and added them to the batter. I find they are best served cold with a tall glass of milk or 3 if you are my kids. I hope you enjoy these like we do : -)
OUTRAGEOUS BROWNIES
Ingredients
1 pound unsalted butter
1 pound plus 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips, divided
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate
6 extra-large eggs
3 tablespoons instant coffee powder
2 tablespoons real vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided (1 cup for batter and 1/4 cup in the chips and nuts)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 cups diced walnut pieces
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 13 by 18 by 1 1/2-inch sheet pan.
Melt together the butter, 1 pound chocolate chips, and unsweetened chocolate on top of a double boiler. Cool slightly. Stir together the eggs, instant coffee, vanilla and sugar. Stir in the warm chocolate mixture and cool to room temperature.
Stir together 1 cup of the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to cooled chocolate mixture. Toss the walnuts and 12 ounces of chocolate chips with 1/4 cup flour to coat. Then add to the chocolate batter. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake for about 30 minutes, or until tester just comes out clean. Halfway through the baking, rap the pan against the oven shelf to allow air to escape from between the pan and the brownie dough. Do not over-bake! Cool thoroughly, refrigerate well and cut into squares.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Sugar Cookies







Tuesdays come around so fast! Ulrike of KĂĽchenlatein is hosting this weeks and she chose Grandma’s All-Occasion Sugar Cookies . The recipe looked easy and I was excited to try this cookie but after hosting a cookie exchange on Sunday I was a little burnt out from making cookies. I made and sampled way too many. I decided to do them for my BS class on Tuesday morning. I loved this recipe. I had the same problem with the dough being too soft but I kept freezing it. These were easy to work with and tasted great, I thought they had the perfect balance between buttery and crisp. I made an almond butter cream and used lots of sprinkles. I hope everyone else had fun with these too!

Friday, December 5, 2008

Fridays with Florence

Chicken salad with chunks of celery, apples, and finely diced onion.
I decided to join yet another cooking group called Tyler Florence Fridays! I get to choose the recipe each week and post about it. I have lots of his cookbooks and need to start using them. I thought this would be a good way for me to try new recipes from his books. I am hosting a cookie exchange on Sunday and was looking for a good recipe for the chicken salad. I found this and couldn't wait to try it. I didn't poach the chicken with his recipe but used my own recipe. I made the cranberry sauce and chicken salad (am adding nuts on Sunday) but will finish these before my party.
Poached Chicken:
3 chicken breast
1 quart water
Bring to boil and then put lid on pan and turn off burner and let sit for 30 minutes.
For the Chicken Salad:
1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
Kosher salt
About 1 cup mayonnaise
1 heaping tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 celery stalks, small diced
2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley leaves plus sprigs, for garnish
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper
2 cups shredded chicken meat, roughly chopped
8 slices sourdough bread, cut 1/2-inch thick
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup cranberry sauce
1/2 pound brie
1 green apple, thinly sliced
For the Poached Chicken:
Directions
Shred the chicken meat.
For the Chicken Salad:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Roughly chop the walnuts and then gently toast in a dry skillet over medium heat until they brown and are slightly fragrant. Season walnuts with salt once they are finished toasting. Add the walnuts, mayonnaise, mustard, lemon juice, celery, parsley, olive oil, and salt and pepper, to taste, in a large mixing bowl and combine. Fold in the shredded chicken and set aside while you prepare the bread.
Toast the bread in a hot oven until golden. Smear each piece with a little butter and then a tablespoon of cranberry sauce over 4 of the pieces. Lay the 4 cranberry-smeared pieces out on a sheet tray and top each piece with 2 to 3 slices of thick-cut brie. Pop this back in the oven for a minute or 2 so the cheese is slightly melted and creamy. Remove from the oven and top with a few slices of green apple. Top with a scoop of the chicken salad and cover with the other half of the bread to complete the sandwich. Serve.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Mexican Soup

The Mexican Soup from Barefoot Bloggers was a keeper. Our family enjoyed the flavours of this soup. Judy of Judy’s Gross Eats chose Mexican Chicken Soup for this weeks recipe. I am so glad it was a soup after all the heavy foods that I have eaten over the last week. The only major change that I made to the soup was to leave out the jalapenos and the cilantro. We had it on the side. My brother-in-law doesn't like spicy foods. Thanks Judy for the great recipe. We loved it!
Mexican Chicken Soup (serves 6 to 8)
4 split (2 whole) chicken breasts, bone in, skin on
Good olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cups chopped onions (2 onions)
1 cup chopped celery (2 stalks)
2 cups chopped carrots (4 carrots)
4 large garlic cloves, chopped
2 1/2 quarts chicken stock, preferably homemade
1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes in puree, crushed
2 to 4 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander seed
1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
6 (6-inch) fresh white corn tortillas
To serveSliced avocado
Sour cream
Cheddar cheese
Tortilla chips
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the chicken breasts skin side up on a sheet pan. Rub with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until done. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, discard the skin and bones, and shred the meat. Cover and set aside. Meanwhile, heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven. Add the onions, celery, and carrots and cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes, or until the onions starts to brown. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the chicken stock, tomatoes with their puree, jalapenos, cumin, coriander, 1 tablespoon salt (depending on the saltiness of the chicken stock), 1 teaspoon pepper, and the cilantro, if using. Cut the tortillas in half, then cut them crosswise into 1/2-inch strips and add to the soup. Bring the soup to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 25 minutes. Add the shredded chicken and season to taste. Serve the soup hot topped with sliced avocado, a dollop of sour cream, grated cheddar cheese, and broken tortilla chips.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Thanksgiving is over?

We have been very busy in our house. I am behind on everything including blogging my recipes this month. I can't believe that December is in a couple of days. We have had company since last Monday. It is great having my sister and her family staying with us. I did make the Tuesday with Dori Twofer pie this month for our Thanksgiving dinner. I did not like the texture at all. I cheated and used a store bought crust. There is a big difference in homemade crust versus storebought! It didn't turn out like I had pictured. I thought it would have the texture of pumpkin pie on the bottom and pecan pie on the top. It mixed together and was too sweet for us. I guess I prefer warm Apple Pie with ice-cream instead. Vibi from La casserole caree chose this week's recipe. You can find the recipe on her blog. And please check out what the other TWD bakers thought as well. We had a lovely Thanksgiving with family and friends! Our neighbor made the most amazing Pumpkin Cheesecake. I think he needs to share the recipe. I also bought a 21 pound turkey and we are still eating the leftovers.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Barefoot Bloggers Roasted Onions

cornbread, soup and roasted onions for dinner





We added some parmesan cheese to the onions at the end.


My friend Jeni sent me this for Thanksgiving.
I love it so much I wanted to share a picture of
it!
Kelly from Baking with the Boys has chosen Herb Roasted Onions which can be found in Barefoot Contessa at Home on page 156. This recipe looked so amazing to me. I love roasted/caramelized onions and one of my favorite soups is French Onion Soup. I kind of lost track of time while cooking the onions. They got a little overdone but we added them to the soup that I had made. It all turned out in the end. These would be great with a pork loin or pot roast. This is definitely on my to make again list. Thanks Kelly!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Chicken Corn Chowder



All cozy by the fire!

We are a soup family! As soon as the weather turns the slightest chilly I am ready with the soup pot and grabbing all my soup books to see what I want to make. We had some flurries last night and that got us in the mood. I love Cuisine at Home magazine. I have had a subscription since 2001. They come out with cookbooks every few months and one of the books that I bought was called "Splendid Soups and Spectacular Sides." There are so many soups in this book that I want to try. I couldn't decide between Corn Chowder, Roasted Tomato or Tortilla Soup. I ended up combing a couple recipes to make Chicken Corn Chowder. It was so good!
Saute in 2 T butter
1 cup onions.
2 cloves garlic,
2 skinless boneless breast cut into chunks
add 2 cups corn
4 cups chicken broth
cook about 10 minutes then add
4 corn tortillas cut into cubes.
cook these another 5 minutes until absorbed into soup. It gives the soup a great texture.
add 1/2 cup cream
1 ts cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste.
We sprinkled this with cheese and chopped tomatoes. It simmered on the stove for about 30 minutes on low until my husband got home. He ate a couple bowls last night and took the rest to work today. My daughter ate a bowl and loved it as well. We will be saving this recipe to make again. Happy Fall!

Rice Pudding or Rice Soup?




Is it ever going to thicken?
This week I had the chance to make Arborio Rice Pudding with my Tuesdays with Dorie group. This recipe didn't look all that great to me. I don't really like the texture of rice pudding to start with but this is about trying new things so I went ahead with it. It always sounds better then it tastes. Maybe that is because I enjoy pudding and custards so much? I decided to make the vanilla version and added cinnamon, nutmeg and raisins. After parboiling the rice I added the other ingrediants and stirred and stirred some more. 45 minutes later it was still runny. I gave up and stuck it in the fridge to cool. The next morning I checked on the rice pudding and it was still very wet. It never absorbed all of the milk/sugar mixture. My daughter enjoyed hers but I don't think I will make this again. I am sure that others had better experiences then I did.
Thanks Isabelle of Les gourmandises d'lsa for the interesting Arborio rice pudding.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Mini Orange Cakes




This weekend we had guests over for dinner. I couldn't decide what to make for dessert and then remembered the chocolate orange mini cakes from Barefoot Contessa Parties. I watched an episode of Ina make these and they looked amazing. I have mini bundt pans and this was the perfect opportunity to use them. Lisa from Lime in the Coconut won the challenge for choosing our new BRC Avatar. I still can't figure out how to add it to my blog.... These turned out so moist and delicious. My favorite part was the orange syrup that you pour over the warm cakes and gets absorbed into the cake. It added just the right amount of moist texture without getting soggy. I will be making these again. I like the idea of making them into muffins for breakfast. I can see eating these warm out of the oven with my coffee.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Cookies with Tuesdays with Dorie






Grace of Piggy’s Cooking Journal chose the Rugelach this week! I have been wanting to try this type of recipe forever. I had a friend give me plate of them last year for Christmas. They always seemed too complicated or hard to make. The dough was lovely to work with. I made the filling ahead of time and let it all sit until I had time today to roll them out. I love this cookie. I am hoping to make some for a cookie exchange this year. It will be my first time hosting. My friend Ellyn started it in Mt many years ago! I am looking forward to trying lots of great Thanksgiving and Holiday Recipes in the next couple of months. I am going to continue to run and hope that helps balance the holidays out. I have been working on Thanksgiving cards all morning. We are having warm weather for November it really doesn't feel like winter is anywhere close.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Leftover Halloween Candy





My kids had such a great time trick or treating. They ended up with 3 gallon bags of candy. I let them sort through it then we donated over 2 gallons. I did end up making Butterfingers Chunkies with the Butterfingers. We have a Veterans Day Celebration Dinner at the school tonight. I volunteered to make cookies and thought this would be a good way to use up my favorite candy bar. Here is the recipe below! I am so excited about Thanksgiving. We are having our first family members come and stay at our new house : )
Butter finger Cookies
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 egg whites
1 1/4 cups chunky peanut butter
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 Butterfinger candy bars (2.1 ounces each), chopped
DIRECTIONS
In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars. Add egg whites; beat well. Blend in peanut butter and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in candy bars. Shape into 1-1/2-in. balls and place on greased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire racks.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Barefoot Contessa Vegetable Pot Pie


My cute skeleton!

The kids and there dog!

I am glad I cooked this on a baking sheet or I would be cleaning
my oven right now!

My potpies were so good! If only the photography had turned out better....
I am very late in posting this recipe. I have had the best of intentions to make it over a week ago but my husband went on a couple work trips. I thought it would be too much for just the kids and I. Deb of Kahakai Kitchen chose the recipe for Vegetable Pot Pie. I made this last night for dinner. I loved the pastry crust in this recipe. It was very easy to work with and rolled our so nicely. I did allot of substituting in the mixture of vegetables. I also had to make chicken stock so I ended up adding some chicken breast as well. It was very tasty but will not be a weekly stable since it has so much butter and crisco in the crust. 3 out of 4 of us ate it. I still have 2 of my pies left for my husbands lunches this week.
Vegetable Pot Pie -
Barefoot Contessa Parties
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks)
2 cups sliced yellow onions
1 fennel bulb, top and core removed, thinly sliced crosswise (substituted celery)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups good chicken stock
1 tablespoon Pernod (I left out completely)
Pinch saffron threads forgot to put in
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons heavy cream
1 1/2 cups large-diced potatoes (1/2 pound)
1 1/2 cups asparagus tips substitued brocoli
1 1/2 cups peeled, 3/4-inch-diced carrots (4 carrots)
1 1/2 cups peeled, 3/4-inch-diced butternut squash
1/2 cups frozen small whole onions (1/2 pound)
1/2 cup minced flat-leaf parsley
For the pastry:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced1
1/2 to 2/3 cup ice water
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash
Flaked sea salt and cracked black pepper
Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions and celery and saute until translucent, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the flour, reduce the heat to low, and cook for 3 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Slowly add the stock, Pernod, saffron, salt, and pepper, and bring to a boil. Simmer for 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the heavy cream and season to taste. The sauce should be highly seasoned.
Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water for 10 minutes. Lift out with a sieve. Add the asparagus, carrots, and squash to the pot and cook in the boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain well. Add the potatoes, mixed vegetables, onions, and parsley to the sauce and mix well.
For the pastry, mix the flour, salt, and baking powder in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Add the shortening and butter and mix quickly with your fingers until each piece is coated with flour. Pulse 10 times, or until the fat is the size of peas. With the motor running, add the ice water; process only enough to moisten the dough and have it just come together.
Dump the dough out onto a floured board and knead quickly into a ball. Wrap the dough in plastic and allow it to rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Divide the filling equally among 4 ovenproof bowls. Divide the dough into quarters and roll each piece into an 8-inch circle. Brush the outside edges of each bowl with the egg wash, then place the dough on top. Trim the circle to 1/2-inch larger than the top of the bowl. Crimp the dough to fold over the sides, pressing it to make it stick. Brush the dough with egg wash and make 3 slits in the top. Sprinkle with sea salt and cracked pepper. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 1 hour, or until the top is golden brown and the filling is bubbling hot. Enjoy! Thanks Deb for a great Fall Dinner recipe.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Caramel Caramel Corn





I decorated 1 of my Chocolate Chocolate cupcakes. I figured
it could be the teachers cupcake at the party.
It has been a busy morning in my kitchen. I got the kids off on the bus and then got busy. I needed to make a double batch of Caramel Popcorn and 2 dozen cupcakes this morning. I also need to get to the gym and to the school to help with the book Fair by 11:00. This is my favorite recipe for Caramel Corn. It is simple and and always turns out great.
Caramel Peanut Popcorn
1 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 bags butter flavoured popcorn
Place popcorn in a very large bowl.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar, corn syrup and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil without stirring 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in soda and vanilla. Pour in a thin stream over popcorn, stirring to coat.
Place in two large shallow baking dishes and bake in preheated oven, stirring every 15 minutes, for 1 hour. Remove from oven and let cool completely before breaking into pieces.
I always make a double batch! Enjoy.

Trying New Things

This past year has been a year of change. We moved from a huge running community to an area that does not have the biking and running trails...