Turtle Candies

I know, this is a horrible picture, but when you find yourself in the midst of a candy-making spree, hands covered in gooey caramel and chocolate, the last thing you think of is grabbing a camera. This one happens to be courtesy of my wonderful husband.

These turtles were a fun experiment for me. I have recently been making homemade soft caramels like crazy, but wanted to try a new spin on it. So in this post, I'll give you the caramel recipe first(which you will need to make these) and then the rest.  I recommend you read the recipe in its entirety before you start, and gather all your ingredients. When making candy there's not always time to be running around looking for things.  Be forewarned, this recipe is time consuming and a bit labor intensive, but  if you get a sort of assembly line going then it can be kind of relaxing. They make great holiday gifts, freeze well, and ship well.




TURTLE CANDIES
Raw whole pecans
Homemade caramel (Recipe Below)
Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
Coconut oil

Preheat your oven to 350. Spread your pecans on a baking sheet in a single layer.  Toast the pecans in the oven until they start to smell wonderful, usually 5-8 minutes. Set your timer, it's easy to forget about them and burn them. Let them cool.

HOMEMADE CARAMEL
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
2 cups sugar (I prefer brown, but white, brown or a mix of the two is fine )
1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cup corn syrup (light or dark is fine, i have even used real maple syrup in a bind but that's an expensive substitute)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

Equipment
4 quart sauce pan or soup pot
9x13 pan
candy thermometer(check its accuracy by putting it in water that has attained a rolling boil, it should read 212 degrees, if not then you can just compensate a few degrees one way or the other)
wooden spoon
parchment paper
nonstick cooking spray(to spray your measuring cups)

Line your 9x13 pan with parchment paper(make sure it covers the sides too, this will keep your carmel from sticking, and is much neater than cooking spray with no taste)
In the large saucepan melt the butter on medium heat, stirring constantly.  Add your sugar and stir until it becomes dissolved. Add the corn syrup and sweetened condensed milk and salt. Attach your thermometer so you can keep an eye on the temperature, make sure its in the caramel but not touching the bottom of the pot.  Keep stirring and keep scraping the sides.  Once the caramel starts to bubble you need to keep a close eye on the temperature. As soon as it hits 238 add the vanilla, it will bubble and boil like crazy for a second. When it reaches 240 take it off the heat and pour it in the parchment lined pan.*** Now you can let it cool for an hour or so in the fridge, then cut it and wrap it in wax paper, or you can dip your pecans in it. Be careful! This stuff is HOT!
     ***A great way to check the consistency of your caramel is to drop a few drops straight into a bowl of very cold water.  It should flatten out, but not disperse.  It should form a soft malleable ball between your fingers. This is called soft ball stage, and melts in your mouth. 240 has been my magic number but depending on weather, your stove, there can be little fluctuations. The water test is a pretty sure fire way to check.

Line your work surface with parchment paper.  One by one, dip and roll your pecans in the caramel to get a good coating. Lay them to cool on the parchment paper.  After your dipped pecans have cooled, melt 2 cups of semi sweet chocolate chips with 1 tbsp coconut oil in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between, until smooth.  If you need to add a teaspoon of water or two to smooth it out thats ok, but don't add more than that, your chocolate won't harden again. Now dip and roll your caramel pecans into the chocolate to get a good coating. Let them cool on the parchment paper.  If you run out of chocolate, melt some more. Let them cool, and store in an airtight container with wax or parchment paper between layers for up to two weeks. Or in the freezer for much longer than that (they never last very long in our house so I really don't know how long they will keep!)

If you have leftover caramel, put it back in the fridge to harden a bit. Then you can cut it into pieces and wrap it in wax paper. Wrap as you go, because if you cut it all it will start to melt back into itself.  The caramel also makes great gifts, but be careful about gifting this batch to anyone with nut allergies since you were just dragging a whole bunch of pecans through it.  I sliced a bunch of almonds and kneaded them into it to make it apparent that there were nuts in it!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's been a while since my last post. First Ramadan, then canning season, and now my 15 month old son has hit a stage that can only be described by his insane urge to desrtoy, knock over, throw, or hide everything in sight. But it seems, now, as it always does, life is settling back into a routine. And it's my FAVORITE time of the year! Fall is here.  Along with it comes straw bales, mums, squash, cider, apples, a chill in the morning air and PUMPKIN FLAVORED EVERYTHING! I am in love with pumpkin. Year round I love it, but in the fall it just feels right. It seems to foreshadow the warmth of a fireplace to come.  Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are one of the best ways to enjoy this yummy fall ingredient.  They are cakey and spongy, moist and spicy, and they go so perfectly with a cup of coffee in the morning.

As always, I like to try to simplify and "healthify" my recipes.  This was a delicious one I found, but as is often the case, had too much oil and sugar for my taste, and not enough kick. I like a lot of spice in my pumpkin. Cloves, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, bring on the spices! i made some adjustments and think it's better than the original, not to mention is now more fit for breakfast with your morning cuppa joe.

These freeze and ship in the mail really well.  I always make a huge batch, because as soon as I mention that I am making them I get requests to mail someone a package of some. And any left over can be tossed in a ziploc, thrown in the freezer, and pulled out to let defrost(or use a microwave) any time you get a hankering for one. You could definitely halve this batch to make less, but I have never had a single cookie go to waste.  If you're gonna make them, might as well make the big batch.

Another hink...I am big on store brands. I'm a frugal gal. I went with the store brand pumpkin when I made these last time.  Big mistake. Get the Libbys brand, or another good one. I usually ejoy eating the pumpkin straight from the can.  This stuff tasted like i was licking a nickel.  It was gross. Once I added the spices it was ok, but not great. 


PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Preheat oven to 365

One 29 oz can of Pumpkin Puree(Not pumkin Pie mix, you want just the puree)
1 1/3 cup white sugar
4 cups flour
3/4 cup applesauce(I prefer plain, unsweetened)
1/2 tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp gound nutmeg
1 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 tbsp vanilla
2 cups chocholate chips

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and stir till well mixed.  Grease your baking sheet. Drop by spoonfuls onto sheet.  These cookies are more cakey and don't flatten so they may look a bit strane when they come out.  Bake for 18-25 minutes depending on your oven.  These are very forgiving cookies.  Ive cooked them too long and they were still great. A little toughter on the outside but still delicious.  Ive undercooked them, but still YUM!

Leave finished cookies to cool on the counter. Try not to eat them all befire you can give any away.  That's it, one bowl, one cookie sheet and a few spoons for dishes.

Kale Chips

                          

Not a great picture. I admit.  But these little crisps are delicious. They will satisfy even the worst of your salty cravings. And they are healthy. So go ahead, munch away to your heart's and belly's content! 

My husband is a salt and chocolate craver.  I haven't figured out an acceptable substitute for his chocolate needs, but he is in love with these kale chips.  He took one bite and said "You gotta blog these!" Two batches were gone in two days. And he keeps asking when I'm going to make more.  I think that qualifies as a pretty successful kitchen experiment!

I decided to try these because we have an over-abundance of kale in our garden.  I needed a new way to eat it.  And yes, I want to keep those potato chips out of our house! So I headed out to the garden and grabbed an armload of the dark leafy greens. My husband eyed me a little warily, not sure what i was about to do with this strange leaf.  Half an hour later, he was pleasantly surprised....and quite addicted. 

These are so simple and there are so many varieties you can make.  I made a salt and pepper batch, and a seasoned salt batch.  You could do Parmesan cheese, paprika, curry, garlic...the list goes on. 

KALE CHIPS RECIPE

Kale leaves washed and pretty dry

olive oil or olive oil spray

salt and pepper(or other flavoring)

Preheat your oven to 300.  Use a knife to remove the stem from the leaves, so the thick hard part is cut away completely.  Tear or cut your leaves into bite size pieces.  They will shrink up so leave them a bit bigger.  Toss with olive oil and salt and pepper, or lightly spray with the olive oil spray.  You just want a very fine coating. I used too much and they were a bit greasy. Pop them in the oven for 20-30 minutes on a baking sheet until they are crispy.  You may need to flip them after 15 minutes.   Enjoy!

These are delicious.  I would call them crispy and delicate, not crunchy per se. (So store them in a tupperware or bowl not a bag to prevent crushing.)  But they have that munchability that you want in a salty snack. They are a perfect movie snack, just plop a bowl in your lap and pop one after another. And kale has so many wonderful vitamins, as do all those dark leafy greens. So ditch the potato chips. Long live the KALE!

Yummy Frittata

The other night I was watching the movie "Morning Glory" with Harrison Ford and Rachel McAdams.  I enjoy it, it's cute, funny and romantic, and just cheesy enough to be a guilty pleasure.  But every time after watching it and hearing Harrison Ford repeatedly talk about frittatas, I want to make one.  So this time I did. 
The next morning instead of pouring cereal, I told the kids they were getting something special.  I read a few frittata recipes just to get the gist of what I should be doing, but took Harrison's advice: "The beauty of the frittata is that you can use almost any ingredient. Whatever you happen to have in your refrigerator." Or something to that effect. I knew I had eggs, so that was good.  I found some leftover, already sliced red onions, some spinach that was starting to wilt, cherry tomatoes, garlic and neufchatel cheese. Sounded good to me.
While the frittata was finishing up in the oven, I sliced up a huge plate of fresh fruit, made a big pot of coffee, and set the table outside in the garden.  When it came out of the oven, it was awesome! All fluffy and pretty.  I was so happy that it worked so well, that I forgot that I had just pulled this frying pan out of a 350 degree oven and of course I went right ahead and grabbed the handle with my bare hand.  Luckily it was nothing too bad, I just spent a few hours holding onto frozen teething rings to numb it. Not painful enough to ruin our beautiful little breakfast al fresco!
The kids loved it! Noorah had two pieces for breakfast and another piece later for lunch.  I was pretty happy myself.  It was very similar to a quiche, but faster, less dishes, and for all you gluten free folks out there, this is perfect. No crust.

FRITTATA RECIPE
7 or 8 eggs
a splash of milk
whatever other ingredients you think would go well!
I used:
3 handfuls of fresh spinach, torn
1/3 red onion sliced
1 clove garlic minced
handful of cheery tomatoes
4 oz neufchatel cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Remember: all ingredients and amounts are only a suggestion. You can easily substitute, omit or add whatever you like. As long as you've got eggs.

Preheat your oven to 350.  Spray a good stainless steel, or cast iron frying pan with nonstick spray. I'm not sure if you could use a pan with teflon or not. I think it would be ok, but you want something with a metal handle.  You're going to be putting the whole thing in the oven. 

First I sauteed the onions with just a touch of olive oil.  Then I added the spinach, garlic and tomatoes.  Just until they were wilty and soft. Beat your eggs with the milk, with a whisk or a fork.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Crank up the heat on your pan for just a second. You want a screaming hot pan, apparently that's what makes it nice and fluffy. Pour in your egg mixture.  Use a rubber spatula to lift the spinach and onions a bit to make sure the egg gets to the bottom.  I scooped quarter size dollops of the neufchatel cheese and dropped it onto the top of the frittata.  Let the whole thing cook for a few minutes, it will start to set up. Then take your pan and put it into the oven to finish.  I didn't let mine set up very much on the stove top, so it cooked for 30 minutes.  When you take it out of the oven, it should be slightly browned on top.  And the edges should begin to pull away from the pan.  USE YOUR OVEN MITT! And when you set it on the stove top or counter, leave a towel wrapped around the handle, or use an ice cube to cool that handle. You will almost surely forget, and just grab it. It's a habit. And it HURTS!

Use your rubber spatula to loosen the edges, slice and enjoy hot! It's also delicious later, cold. 

Next time, I plan on trying some brie or feta, maybe some asparagus, or even leftover hash browns. Hmmmm. 

If you have other suggestions, I would love to hear them!

Our Farmer's Market Feast!

I walked out into the garden this morning, in my pajamas, coffee in hand, to peek around and grab a few bites.  I was so happy to see more cherry tomatoes were ready, as were a bunch of yellow pear tomatoes (not enough for a salad, but definitely made this girl's mouth happy).  I also noticed another ear had emerged on one of our corn stalks-that takes us up to two. We have about 15 peaches starting to turn pink, and more zucchini, butternut and delicata squash than I care to mention. Good thing I love squash and good thing it keeps really well in a dark closet.  I think I'm going to be eating it until March.   I turned up a few handfuls of red potatoes, and munched on a few sugar snap peas.  There is no better way to start a morning, for me at least.
 

We are in the middle of a pretty serious drought here in Indiana, and a very big heat wave.  It's been between 90 and 108 for probably 16 out of the last 20 days. Hot! So I've been watering the garden a lot. I've left most of the flowers to fend for themselves, and the lawn too. But I'll be darned if I'm gonna let this drought kill the garden I planted from seeds I saved on my kitchen counter. I'm pretty attached. And the best is yet to come! I'm expecting a HUGE tomato crop.  Salsa, marinara sauce, salads, we eat tomatoes like apples in this house.

So after my stroll through my garden (or in arabic "janene"...which means little heaven...i think that's much more appropriate) I decided our dinner would come from there, and if not totally from ours, from someone close.  I took stock of what we had......pretty much just the basil and potatoes. That was a good start. At the farmers market we found some more red potatoes, sweet corn and the most delicious loaf of bread. It had apples and dried cherries in it, apfelbrot it was called....soooo good...it's gone!

This was the quickest, most satisfying, and healthy dinner.

RED POTATOES
Throw a couple of handfuls of red potatoes in a pan with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and coarse ground black pepper and a sprig of fresh rosemary.  Cover pan with foil, cook in the oven on 400 till a fork pierces one easily.

TOMATO SALAD(I have to admit these weren't from our garden or local farmers, but I just really wanted tomatoes and these were on the counter)
Chop three or four tomatoes into large chunks, a little salt and pepper, drizzle with balsamic vinegar. That's it. It is so delicious.

FRESH PESTO- this is sooo good on fresh, creamy red potatoes
I use about a large colander full of basil. Take the leaves off the stems and discard the stems.  Wash the leaves well and shake dry.  Lightly pack them into food processor.  I fill mine up to the top.  I usually use Parmesan cheese, but we ran out, so I used a half cup of shredded mozzarella. 1 1/2 handfuls of walnuts, a heaping teaspoon of chopped garlic.Put it all in the food processor, and turn it on.  While its going, drizzle some olive oil in.You may have to scrape down the sides once or twice to make sure you get all the leaves.  I like to leave mine with a bit of texture, some people like a creamier taste, it's all up to you and your preference.  Pulse until you've got it how you like it. 

I store mine in a mason jar in the fridge but it freezes really well too.  You can even just freeze it in a ziploc, but my mom puts it in ice cube trays, freezes those, and then dumps her pesto cubes into a bag so she can grab just a few without defrosting the whole batch.  Smart lady.

CORN ON THE COB
Tonight we shucked it and boiled it, usually we grill it-husk on. That's my favorite way, but honestly I needed a chore to keep Noorah busy while I finished the pesto. This was it.

We sliced up our loaf of bread and took our meal out to the back deck to eat. It was the perfect end to a great day.  We watched the hummingbirds and jays as we happily munched away.

Healthy Carrot Cake

Last month was our son's first birthday.  We created a tradition with our daughter that on their first birthday we just give them a HUGE. HUNK. OF. CAKE. and we let them tear into it any way they can.  It's a lot of fun to photograph, and even more fun to witness.  For my daughters first birthday two years ago I made the standard box cake mix, confetti cake with confetti frosting. It was delicious, but the part she loved wasn't the cake itself. It was really getting carte blache and tearing it to bits and smearing it all over her face.  Now, I know my kids. And I knew my son was gonna love tearing into it, but I also knew he was gonna EAT that cake.  So I decided this year, it was going to be a healthier version of a cake.  There's no saying that healthy has to taste any less amazing than junky stuff. So I resisted the urge to buy the cake mix, and googled carrot cake recipes.  I found one that had some great reviews.  But looking at the ingredients, I knew I was going to have to make some changes. A LOT of changes.  The recipe listed 2 cups white sugar. I cut that down to 1 scant cup. Also 1 1/4 cup oil....that became applesauce.  I subbed out the white flour for whole wheat (or sometimes....I make this a lot.....sometimes I do half whole wheat, half white).  The biggest shock to me was what the frosting called for.  8 oz cream cheese(that's ordinary,  I use neufchatel...easy switch.)  1/2 cup butter...I use 1/4 cup instead and then.....  4 cups of confectioners sugar.  You read that right. 4 CUPS!!!! Of SUGAR!!!! in the frosting alone. Geez Louise! I used 1/3 cup confectioners sugar and it was sweet enough.  The next time I tried a bit more and it was too sweet! So I can't imagine it with 4 cups. 

Zayd loved his cake.  I mean loved it! The next weekend I took another one of these cakes to my in-laws.  My nephew who does not eat vegetables loved it and came back for more.  When I say he doesn't eat vegetables, I mean he really doesn't. We once offered him $10 to eat a tiny piece of a tomato. He declined. But he ate this cake, knowingly.  Even when he knew how much carrot is in there.  The weekend after that I went to my parents house, and took another cake. This one didn't last two days. They devoured it! Success all around!

 I love sweets. And this has been one of my biggest healthy eating pitfalls. So I have tried to substitute as much as I can, so I can still have my occasional sweets, without derailing my day.  Also, I know you always hear this, but the less sugar you eat, the less you crave it.  It is so true.  Now, for the first time since I can't remember when, I can have a small bite of something sweet, and easily push the rest away.  I don't feel deprived.  In this cake I subbed out what was really unhealthy and added something good in its place.  Lots of spices, applesauce and whole wheat.  The best thing about this cake too? It gets better and more moist over the next few days. And if you really can't finish it? It freezes really well!

ZAYD'S BIRTHDAY CARROT CAKE
CAKE
4 eggs
1 1/4 cup applesauce(unsweetened is best)
1 scant cup white sugar (you could use brown too)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour (whole wheat, white or any mix of the two)
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp allspice
3 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3 cups grated or shredded carrots
       (if you have an attachment for your food processor that will do this for you, by all means use it!It will save you so much time, hassle, and probably bloody knuckles)


FROSTING
8 oz pkg of neufchatel cheese, room temp
1/3 cup butter, room temp
1/3 cup confectioners sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 350.  Beat eggs, applesauce, sugar, and vanilla in a good sized bowl.  Add your dry ingredients right on the top of your wet, but don't mix it in.  When all your dry ingredients are piled together, lightly mix just the dry ingredients with your fingers or a fork.  Now mix all your ingredients together.  (i just saved you a bowl. You're welcome ;) ) Now fold in your carrots, lightly. Grease(I Prefer nonstick spray coating) a 9x13 pan or a large round one as I use.  Bake for 30-50 minutes, depending on your cake size.  Until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. 

For the frosting, Beat all the ingredients together with a hand mixer or stand mixer until its fluffy.  Refrigerate the frosting while the cake bakes.  When the cake is done, allow it to cool completely before you frost it. 

That's it. The best carrot cake I've ever had.  And its healthy-er....

My pallet project

There are so many great ideas of how to re-use pallets out there.  But a lot of them require dismantling the pallet, which is more dificult than it may look. Trust me, I've done it.  Often pallets are not in the best condition and the wood splits, cracks, breaks, easily.  Often times the nails holding it together are unneccessarily huge. Or rusted. Or bent horribly.  More often than not, a project that you thought would take an hour or so, ends up taking the whole day, most of your pride and a piece of your  dignity along with it (I found myslef pleading with an inanimate object to please, please release the nails into my custody. I promised to give them back!) So after my first project which was of the "dismantle/reassemble" sort, I decided my next one would be more of the "put it where I want and leave it" sort.  So after getting a great idea from a friend, I leaned my pallet against a nice sunny wall, and rested some terra cotta pots I found in our shed in it.  I filled the pots with a bit of potting soil and herbs, ivys and vines.  It looks great, but after our many days away, no rain for weeks and some of the hotteset weather Indiana has ever seen, it's looking a little sad.  These pictures are taken immediately after potting the plants so some may look a little wilty due to being transplanted. 

This is a great way to keep all your herbs in one area, it's a huge space saver, and it creates an interesting wall display.