Caramel Corn........Week #7 of the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies

I'm a little late this week getting my post up for The 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies.  But here it is.  Not a cookie but a sweet snack worthy for any Christmas tray or Christmas food gift.  

I just love, love, love caramel corn.  Much of my childhood was growing up in Ocean City, MD and one of my favorite childhood memories is eating Fisher's Popcorn from the boardwalk.  Making your own caramel popcorn at home is easy.  Your family and friends would love to get a container of this classic favorite.  I guarantee they will ask for more.

Caramel Corn

Recipe slightly adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook

Ingredients

7 to 8 cups popped popcorn

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

6 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons light-colored corn syrup

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

1. Put popped popcorn into a 17x12x2 inch baking pan. (such as a large rimmed cookie sheet) 

2. To make caramel mixture, in a medium saucepan combine brown sugar, butter and corn syrup.  Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture boils.  Continue boiling at a moderate, steady rate, without stirring, for 5 minutes more.

3.  Remove saucepan from heat.  Stir in baking soda and vanilla.  Pour caramel mixture over popcorn; stir gently to coat.  Bake in a 300 degree oven for 15 minutes.  Stir mixture and bake 5 minutes more.  Remove from oven and allow to cool.  Store tightly covered for 1 week.

Make a foodie gift: package your popcorn in a Christmas themed box or container.  They may just return it for a refill.

The blog hop is below.  For more great cookie and treat ideas, check out the individual links below.

My husband decided to sneak a few pieces as I was trying to take my photos.  He has a huge sweet tooth and is really benefiting from all my baking.

Enjoy!

Mom's Cooking Club Lesson:  I used about 1 and a half bags of popped microwave popcorn.  Use any type of popcorn you like to make.      

  

Peanut Butter Caramel Corn

Welcome to October....can you believe it? This is one of my favorite months.  The weather is getting cooler, there's a briskness in the air, cooking my favorite fall foods like soups and stews, fall baking, getting ready for the upcoming holidays.  The first one is Halloween.  We always decorate our front yard for Halloween.  I love sitting on my front porch and giving out candy to all the kids.  


Do you like to have adult Halloween parties?  Here is a Halloween inspired menu from the Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club.  This month's theme focuses on Halloween....the spooky, orange or black.  


I made this "Devilishly Devine Peanut Butter Caramel Corn" which is in the October issue of Cooking Light Magazine.  Making caramel corn is so easy and so addicting to eat.  This one is a little different with the peanut butter and almonds but definitely a yummy treat.  A great little party snack.  


Click here for the original recipe on Myrecipes.com

Peanut Butter Caramel Corn

Slightly adapted from Cooking Light

Ingredients

Cooking Spray

2 tablespoons canola oil

2 regular-size bags of microwave popcorn, popped

1/2 cup sliced almonds

2/3 cup packed light brown sugar

2/3 cup light-colored corn syrup

2 1/2 tablespoons butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

2. Spray a jelly-roll pan with cooking spray (better idea would be to use parchment paper and spray the paper with cooking spray)

3. Microwave popcorn according to package instructions.

4. Place popped popcorn in large bowl or pot.  Add almonds.

5. Combine sugar, syrup, butter and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Cook 3 minutes, stirring occassionally. Remove from heat. Add peanut butter and vanilla.  Stir until smooth.  
6.  Spread popcorn with almonds on a large baking sheet.  Drizzle peanut butter mixture over popcorn and toss well.  
7.  Bake at 250 degrees for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.  Cool before breaking apart and placing in sealed container.  


Note:  Everytime you stir the popcorn, more pieces will be coated and the caramel will get harder.

(Print here for recipe)

The rest of our Spooky Halloween Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club menu is below.  Click on their links for more recipe details. 

Mary Ann (Meet Me in the Kitchen) - Sweet Potato and Black Bean Empanadas

Sandi (Whistlestop Cafe Cooking) - Devilish Eggs (Deviled Eggs w/Smoked Salmon and Herbs)

Val (More Than Burnt Toast) - Roasted Squash Soup with Turkey Croquettes

Jerry (Jerry's Thoughts, Musings, and Rants) - Dracula's Revenge (Baked Penne with Sausage and Garlic)

Roz (La Bella Vita) - Chocolate Spiderweb Cookies

This popcorn keeps well in a plastic container.  Great for opening up and grabbing a handful.  And another.  And another.

Enjoy!

Mom's Cooking Club Lesson:  I did not use parchment paper on my baking sheet.  I sprayed it with cooking spray.  My popcorn did stick some when finished baking.  I just used a spatula to get most of the popcorn off the pan.  If I would have used parchment paper, I'm sure it would not have stuck as much on the pan.  The lesson.....use parchment paper.

Yoplait Whips! Giveaway from MyBlogSpark

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.  CONGRATULATIONS TO RANDI FROM LITTLE FOOD, LOTS OF FLAVOR!  (Randi was comment #7, randomly picked by Random.org)

Do you like yogurt as much as I do?  Have you ever tried Yoplait Whips!?  It's a whipped yogurt that is so light and fluffy.  How would you like a cool treat that will satisfy your ice cream cravings?  Just place your Yoplait Whips! container in the freezer overnight.  I tried this and it was a delicious way to have an "ice cream" treat without all the calories from ice cream.  

Would you like to try Yoplait Whips! for yourself?  Yoplait through MyBlogSpark is offering one of my readers a fun prize pack giveaway.  See below for the prize pack details and how to enter.

Also, check out Yoplait on Facebook and Twitter.

Flavors List

Chocolate Mousse

Chocolate Raspberry

Key Lime Pie

Lemon Burst

Orange Crème

Peaches 'N Cream

Raspberry Mousse

Strawberry Mist

Vanilla Crème

Yoplait Whips! prize pack includes:  VIP coupon for a free container of Yoplait Whips! yogurt, a canvas cooler bag and a set of four ice cream cone shaped popsicle molds. 

Isn't that a neat prize pack?  I've been using the cooler bag for lunch at work and I love it.  And you can make so many different cold treats in the popsicle molds.  Your kids would have so much fun with these molds.

(Note:  The coupon offer for free Yoplait Whips! yogurt is not valid in some states, including California, Idaho, Louisiana, Minnesota, New Jersey, Nevada, North Dakota and Tennessee.)

Disclosure:  Yoplait through MyBlogSpark provided me this prize pack and will provide a prize pack to one of my readers in this giveaway.  But my thoughts and comments are my own.. 

How to enter:  Leave a comment on this blog post letting me know which Yoplait Whips! flavor would be your favorite.  Mine would probably be the Vanilla Creme because I love vanilla yogurt.  

The deadline to enter is this Sunday, September 19th, 2010 at 11pm Central Time.  I will announce the winner next week.  If you don't have a blog, please leave your email address in the comment section.  Open to U.S. residents only. 

Enjoy!

Mom's Cooking Club Lesson:  If you are eating Yoplait Whips! from the freezer, it is a good idea to leaving it out for 5-10 minutes before enjoying.

The Kids Cook Monday with Mini-Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

It's Monday and time for The Kids Cook Monday segment.  The Kids Cook Monday program is a public health initiative that focuses on starting your Monday (and week) off on a good foot by getting your kids in the kitchen to help cook a healthy recipe.  As their logo says: "Start your week off right: make Monday family night!"  

This Monday's recipe is Mini-Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins.  What makes these muffins "better for you" is the addition of flaxseed in the batter.  Flaxseed is a natural source of ALA Omega-3 fatty acids and a good source of dietary fiber.  The flaxseed doesn't change the taste of these wonderful mini muffins.  They are moist and so good.  Kids would love them for breakfast, in their lunchbox or for a snack.  And don't forget us adults.  We love them too!

Mini-Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

Adapted from Bon Appetit
Recipe by Jamie from Mom's Cooking Club

(Printable recipe)

Yield:  36 mini muffins or 12 regular size muffins

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 large or 3 medium)

1 large egg

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

1/4 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons fine ground flaxseed (I used beveri Flaxseed)
3/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray mini muffin pans (36 mini muffins) with non-stick cooking spray.  Mix flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in large bowl.  Mix mashed bananas, egg, melted butter and milk in medium bowl.  Stir banana mixture into dry ingredients just until blended.  Add vanilla and 2 tablespoons of flaxseed to batter and mix.  Stir in mini chocolate chips.

Fill muffin cups 3/4 full with muffin batter.  Bake 15 minutes until tops are pale golden and toothpick inserted into muffin comes out clean.  Transfer muffins to rack and cool.   

My girls had fun baking these muffins as well as eating them.
  

Marissa and Mariah sampling their freshly baked muffins.

Enjoy!

Mom's Cooking Club Lesson:  This recipe also makes 12 regular size muffins.  Use muffin baking liners or spray muffin cups with non-stick spray.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.  You can use regular size semisweet chocolate chips but we like using the mini ones in these muffins.

Blueberry-Almond Granola featuring Beveri Flaxseed

One of my goals for 2010 was to try new ingredients that I have never had or cooked with before.  Flaxseed is one of those ingredients.  So, when I was contacted by Deirdre from beveri to sample their flaxseed products, I was excited for the opportunity.  The company is also offering my readers a sample of their beveri Organic Golden Flaxseed Fine Milled variety.  See the widget on my left sidebar to request your sample.

Here is a very good article on the WebMD website about the benefits of flaxseed. 

For my first recipe using flaxseed, I chose to make a Blueberry-Almond granola.  I added 1 tablespoon of the Golden Flaxseed Fine Milled with Blueberries to the oats and almond mixture before baking in the oven.  I am hooked on granola baked from scratch.  It was so easy and it tasted so good.  I put the granola in my vanilla yogurt, my husband added it to his cereal and one of my daughters liked taking it to school for lunch and a snack.  It made it even more special knowing that we were getting the added benefit of flaxseed.

I found the granola recipe in the Eveyday Food magazine.  Click here for a printable version of the recipe.  Remember to add 1-2 tablespoons of flaxseed to the granola before baking.  You can also change it up by adding different dried fruits like dried cranberries, cherries or raisins.      

beveri Flaxseed comes in a variety of combinations such as: 

Organic Golden Flaxseed Whole

 Organic Golden Flaxseed Fine Milled

 Golden Flaxseed Fine Milled with Cranberries  

Golden Flaxseed Fine Milled with Blueberries

Golden Flaxseed Fine Milled with Mixed Berries 

Photo courtesy of beveri Flaxseed website:
http://www.beverinutrition.com/

Here are some great tips on the beveri website for easy ways to add Flaxseed to your food and daily life.

Store your beveri Organic Golden Flaxseed next to the granola, cereal, or oatmeal in your cupboard to remind you to sprinkle a tablespoon (or 2 tbsp if you prefer to get an efficacious dose in one serving) on it in the mornings.

You can use beveri Organic Golden Flaxseed to replace eggs in recipes. Combine 1 tbsp of beveri Organic Golden Fine Milled Flaxseed with 3 tbsp of water to replace 1 egg in a recipe. 

Stir 1 tbsp of beveri Organic Golden Fine Milled Flaxseed into a yogurt for a tasty, filling mid-afternoon snack.

Mix 2 tbsp of beveri Organic Golden Flaxseed into low fat cottage cheese and spread on crackers for quick filling lunchtime snack.

Make salads more interesting (and filling) by sprinkling a mixture of 1 tbsp of beveri Organic Golden Fine Milled Flaxseed and 1 tbsp of beveri Organic Whole Golden Flaxseed on top, to give a geat “nutty” flavor.

Kids love cookies! Add 2 tbsp of beveri Organic Golden Fine Milled Flaxseed to the cookie dough and sprinkle some beveri Organic Golden Whole Flaxseed on top of cookies before baking to add some extra crunch!

Disclosure:  I was sent a bag of each flaxseed listed above courtesy of beveri Flaxseed.  They are also offering a free sample of their Organic Golden Flaxseed Fine Milled to my readers. (see widget on left hand sidebar) 

Homemade granola - Crunchy & Toasted

Once slightly cooled, mix in dried blueberries

Store in plastic container.  Ready to munch on any time of day.

Enjoy!

Mom's Cooking Club Lesson:  I will be sharing other recipes in the near future using beveri Flaxseed as I continue to add flaxseed to our diets.  Thank you very much beveri!