The last few holiday seasons, my mother has talked about making large batches of chocolate drizzled popcorn to give away as visiting teaching treats, for neighbors, or just to people she thinks are wonderful. I've sampled it, and while it's okay, I'm just not a chocolate person, even when it's on popcorn. BUT...I bought a couple of bars of peppermint bark a few days ago when I was wandering the Dollar Tree...I figured I could try making popcorn with it. It is AMAZING!
I melted 2 bars in a double boiler (about 9 oz total) and gradually drizzled it over freshly popped corn (old maids removed). When it seemed evenly distributed, I would drizzle more, that way it worked out that I didn't have big chunks of peppermint bark in there. I ended up doing 20 cups of popcorn to the 9 oz of peppermint bark. If you were doing white or milk/dark chocolate I'm guessing you'd want more. The flavor of the peppermint is a strong one so it went a long way. It was lightly coated, but I loved it! In fact, I went back to Dollar Tree today and got 20 more bars so I can do this for our wonderful people around here...it's FAR faster than baking bread or cookies.
If you try it, let me know what you think!
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Cottage Cheese Pancakes
I LOVE these cottage cheese pancakes! You can use pretty much any fruit puree for the egg or oil, though I'm not sure I'd swap it out completely-I'd leave at least one egg OR the oil. Today, I halved the recipe and used 1 egg, 1/8 c pumpkin and applesauce in place of the oil. I added some cinnamon and they were divine! Lots of protein and not too many carbs even-something I'm aware of as I try to take my fitness to a new level. =) (Totally thinking of Anne, Julie, Wendy, Beth, MaryAnn and my other virtual workout buddies there.)
http://guyerfamilyblog.com/2012/04/15/great-for-kids-pancake/
The texture is a little different than a normal pancake, but that's not really surprising given that they are mostly cottage cheese and egg/fruit instead of flour and water, right?
http://guyerfamilyblog.com/2012/04/15/great-for-kids-pancake/
The texture is a little different than a normal pancake, but that's not really surprising given that they are mostly cottage cheese and egg/fruit instead of flour and water, right?
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
DIY Dry Brownie Mix
I put one batch, which makes a 9x13 pan, in a quart size jar.
For the jar:
1 1/4 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2/3 c baking cocoa
2 c sugar
Then when I'm ready to bake, I put the dry ingredients in a bowl and add:
1 c butter (actually, I usually use 1/2 butter or oil and 1/2 applesauce)
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
I bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes...tonight it was 20, but they were in a jelly roll pan so they were thinner than usual. These taste a whole lot like a boxed mix, but without all the preservatives and junk they add!
For the jar:
1 1/4 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2/3 c baking cocoa
2 c sugar
Then when I'm ready to bake, I put the dry ingredients in a bowl and add:
1 c butter (actually, I usually use 1/2 butter or oil and 1/2 applesauce)
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
I bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes...tonight it was 20, but they were in a jelly roll pan so they were thinner than usual. These taste a whole lot like a boxed mix, but without all the preservatives and junk they add!
Mom's BBQ Sauce
This is one of my all time favorite comfort foods. It's a little sweet n soury for a BBQ sauce, but I love it! It's easy enough that when I was expecting Rialyn, Cam made it like twice a week for a long time. I got a little burned out on it, but my love is rekindled. It's easy to make a big batch and keep it for multiple meals, and with a little cornstarch and cold water added to just the sauce, it'll thicken nicely.
Combine:
1 c ketchup
1 c sugar-we like brown these days, but the recipe says white
1/2 c onion-we usually do about 1/2 an onion, so a little less
1 tsp prepared mustard
6 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 c apple cider vinegar-white works in a pinch but does change the taste a little
That's it! Treat it like any BBQ sauce. We prefer to cook chicken in it-often in the crockpot-and then thicken a little additional sauce. Then we serve it with rice. I like it over my rice, my family likes it on the side so they can eat their rice like cold cereal, with milk and sugar.
We like it with cornbread and honey butter too. Here is the recipe we usually use for that.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/grandmothers-buttermilk-cornbread/detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=grandma%27s%20buttermilk%20cornbread&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page
Only thing we do different is use whey with a scoop of greek yogurt when we have it to replace the buttermilk.
Combine:
1 c ketchup
1 c sugar-we like brown these days, but the recipe says white
1/2 c onion-we usually do about 1/2 an onion, so a little less
1 tsp prepared mustard
6 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 c apple cider vinegar-white works in a pinch but does change the taste a little
That's it! Treat it like any BBQ sauce. We prefer to cook chicken in it-often in the crockpot-and then thicken a little additional sauce. Then we serve it with rice. I like it over my rice, my family likes it on the side so they can eat their rice like cold cereal, with milk and sugar.
We like it with cornbread and honey butter too. Here is the recipe we usually use for that.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/grandmothers-buttermilk-cornbread/detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=grandma%27s%20buttermilk%20cornbread&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page
Only thing we do different is use whey with a scoop of greek yogurt when we have it to replace the buttermilk.
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