Caramel Corn

This sweet and crunchy Caramel Corn is delicious treat and makes a fun homemade Christmas gift!

Christmas is only 3 days away--is anyone else in shock?  It's finally starting to feel like Christmas since we had our first family Christmas party in Canada on Saturday.  We had a great time with our family and Summer loved seeing everyone!

Now we are back home and it's crunch time!  I have about half my gifts left to wrap and I still have some baking to do so I can bring some treats over to our neighbors.  Since I'm a little short on time I'll be making something quick and easy.  The recipe topping that list is my dad's Caramel Corn recipe.  I made a batch last week for my co-workers.  I filled little ramkins with the treat and packaged it up in a clear cellophane bag with a pretty bow.  My co-workers loved it!

This caramel corn is a recipe I grew up making.  My dad always made it in the microwave and my brother and I loved helping him pour it into a brown paper bag and then stir it up.  As kids we couldn't believe the magic that happened in the microwave ;)  You can make this recipe in the oven too if that's more your thing, I just choose to use the microwave because it's faster!  Either way, the caramel corn tastes amazing!

Caramel Corn

Makes 24 1 cup servings

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 quarts popped popcorn

1.  Melt the butter in a large saucepan.

2.  Add the brown sugar, corn syrup, and salt and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.

3.  Allow the mixture to boil for 5 minutes without stirring.

4.  Remove the caramel from the heat and stir in the vanilla and baking soda.  It will expand when you add the baking soda, so be sure to use a large pan!

5.  Microwave directions:  Coat the inside of a brown grocery bag with cooking spray.  Pour the popcorn into the bag and pour the caramel over the popcorn.  Stir to coat.  Fold the bag over and microwave for 2 minutes, then remove the bag from the microwave and stir.  Microwave another 2 minutes and stir, then an additional 2 minutes and stir.  Spread caramel corn on a baking sheet to cool.

6.  Oven directions:  Place the popcorn in a large bowl and pour the caramel over it.  Stir to coat.  Spread on two cookie sheets and bake at 250 for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.  Remove from the oven and cool.

When the caramel corn is cool, break it apart and store in an airtight container.

Peanut Butter Oreo Popcorn

Popcorn with a peanut butter and white chocolate coating.  And Oreos.  What's not to love?

I am a big snacker. What can I say? I just love food :-) The worst part though, is when I get in a snacking mood, I want to eat everything. Everything.  Maybe that's why this baby weight is still hanging on...

One of  my favorite snacks has always been popcorn.  I'm a sucker for a bag of freshly popped buttery popcorn, but I also love the air popped stuff.  We have a variety of flavors that we use on our popcorn.  Even homemade flavors like apple cinnamon! I haven't always been a fan of Oreos, but when I was pregnant I craved them.  I remember telling a friend how I ate an entire sleeve in one sitting (a big deal for me!) and he laughed and said he could eat a whole package!  Apparently everyone loves Oreos.

Then I saw this idea combining popcorn, peanut butter, and Oreos.  It was a pregnant snacker's dream come true!  I still love in now.  In fact, I'm off to make a batch...and put on my stretchy pants...

Peanut Butter Oreo Popcorn

Ingredients:
1 bag microwave popcorn
8 ounces almond bark (or white chocolate chips)
1/4 cup peanut butter
16 Oreos, coarsely chopped

1.  Pop popcorn according to directions on the package.

2.  Pour the popcorn into a large bowl and remove all the unpopped kernels.

3.  Place the almond bark in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1 minute.  Stir and add the peanut butter.

4.  Microwave in 30 second increments, stirring each time, until the chocolate mixture is smooth.

5.  Pour the peanut butter mixture over the popcorn and stir.  Add the Oreo pieces and stir again.

6.  Pour the popcorn onto a baking sheet lined with waxed paper.  Allow the chocolate to cool until set.

Store in an airtight container.  This popcorn is best eaten the day it is made.

Source: Crazy for Crust

White Chocolate Popcorn

My weekend in numbers:

20 hours spent in the car

3 states travelled through

1 entire book read

5 meals at restaurants

hundreds of hugs, kisses, and laughs

95 family members all together to celebrate

Mike and I went to Kentucky for our family Christmas party this weekend.  It was quite a whirlwind trip, but we haven't gone for Christmas since before we got married, so this trip was long overdue.  It was so good to see so many of our family members (can you believe that 95 didn't include everyone?!).

Of course, driving for so many hours means that there were plenty of opportunities for snacking.  When I was growing up, my mom always packed a huge box full of "road trip treats".  My favorite was (and is) Twizzlers.  It's a good thing my parents rode with us this year, because my mom brought along a bag packed with goodies.  I, on the other hand, brought water and a small plate of cookies.  Silly me. 

If I had been thinking ahead, I would have made up a batch of this white chocolate popcorn.  It's insanely easy to make--you probably don't even need a recipe.  I added in some Christmas colored sprinkles to make this popcorn more festive.  You could omit them, or use any color you want to match a holiday or special occasion.

White Chocolate Popcorn

Serves 8

Ingredients:
1 cup of popcorn kernels
1 cup of white chocolate candy melts
sprinkles

1.  Pop the popcorn according to the directions on the bag.  Remove any unpopped kernels.

2.  In a microwave safe bowl, melt the white chocolate candy melts.  I begin with 30 seconds, then stir. Then continue on 15 second intervals, stirring until the chocolate is smooth.

3.  Put the popped popcorn into a large bowl.  Drizzle the melted white chocolate over the popcorn, stirring gently until the popcorn is evenly coated.

4.  Spread the popcorn out on 2 cookie sheets.  Top with sprinkles.

5.  Allow the chocolate to harden before breaking the popcorn apart.

This is best eaten the day it is made.  If you have leftovers, store them in an airtight container or Ziploc bag.

Apple Cinnamon Popcorn

Early this week I had the honor of attending the first ever Online BlogCon, a fabulous online blog conference put on by Dorothy and Ashton.  The best part about the conference was that I could attend on my on time.  There was no travelling required and I could read the posts in my pajamas if I wanted to!  The speakers were so informative and I met a lot of new bloggers through the Facebook Group.

I learned a lot from the conference and I'm still trying to absorb all the information.  I'm trying to implement some positive changes around here, and I hope that you'll find them to be positive as well.  One change that's already in place (and has been a long time coming) is my Recipe Catalog.  It's the new tab up at the top and I've categorized every recipe on this blog.  I hope that makes it easier for you to find recipes!

 

Mike and I don't go to the movies too often, but when we do, we try to go on a Saturday morning so we can get the matinee pricing.  Then we don't feel too bad about splurging for a popcorn and pop!  The movie theater we go to has a flavor station where you can add your own flavors to your popcorn--anything from ranch to white cheddar to caramel to apple cinnamon.  I love sweet popcorn so it's no surprise that I tend to sprinkle the caramel and apple cinnamon on our popcorn. 

We often have movie nights at home on the weekend, and that means popcorn!  One night I decided that I wanted flavored popcorn.  I ground up some apple chips until they were like powder.  Then I mixed in some cinnamon and sugar and sprinkled it over our popcorn.  It was delicious!  I kept the leftovers in a glass container and now I find myself craving popcorn even when it's not movie night!

 

Apple Cinnamon Popcorn Flavoring

 

1 (2.5 ounce) bag crispy apple chips

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 Tablespoon sugar

 

1.  In a blender (I used our bullet), grind the apple chips until they resemble a powder.

 

2.  Add cinnamon and sugar and blend to mix.  (Feel free to add additional cinnamon or sugar to suit your tastes.)

 

Sprinkle flavoring over popcorn.  Store in an airtight container.

 

Monster Munch

Last week, we entered Champ into a costume contest.  We had 3 categories to choose from and ended up choosing "Best Pair", which meant I had got to dress up as well.  My mom gave us some awesome costumes to use (so I didn't have to have the dog wear one of my t-shirts), and we set out for some fun.  Both sets of our parents came to watch their "grand-dog".  Unfortunately, we didn't win, but we still think our puppy was the best in the show! 

As we were heading back to our cars, we passed a popcorn stand and I made a comment to my dad about it being the best kettle corn around.  He bought a bag and shared it with us after dinner.  I think it's the perfect mix of sweet and salty.  I could eat the entire bag by myself!

One of my favorite fall treats is mixing candy corn and peanuts.  It tastes like a Payday candy bar, and I try to keep a bowl of candy corn and peanuts out during the fall season.  One afternoon as I was eating the kettle corn I thought about mixing it with peanuts and candy corn to see how it tasted.  Turns out, it was pretty delicious!  I'd recommend just mixing enough popcorn, candy corn, and peanuts to be eaten immediately as the popcorn will become stale if you let it sit out.  Though, if you're anything like me, it won't last long enough to grow stale!

Monster Munch

Ingredients:
2 cups kettle corn
1 cup candy corn
1 cup peanuts

Mix ingredients together and serve.

I didn't have a "monster" to put by the Monster Munch...maybe I should rename it Scarecrow Munch :)

Churro Popcorn

When I was in youth group, every fall we would go on a work trip to Chicago.  While the projects we did varied from year to year, one thing stayed the same: a visit to the Hispanic foods store.  It was the part of the trip that a lot of us looked forward to the most...well, that plus a trip to Lou Malnati's!  Both were our rewards for some long days of hard work!  A trip to the store just wasn't complete without a fresh churro, or two, or three...

One of my favorite snacks is popcorn, so when I saw this churro popcorn, it called my name!  And then it said, "make me...now".  Luckily for me, I actually had cinnamon chips in the house, so I was able to quickly whip up a batch.  While the popcorn is obviously a different texture than an authentic churro, the flavor is definitely there.  This was great snack, and was perfect for our movie night!

Churro Popcorn

Serves 6

6 cups popped popcorn
1/2 cup cinnamon chips, melted
2 Tablespoons powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

1.  In a small bowl, combine powdered sugar, sugar, and cinnamon.

2.  In a large bowl, drizzle the melted cinnamon chips over the popcorn. Toss to coat.

3.  Immediately sprinkle sugar mixture over popcorn.  Toss again to coat.

Let the popcorn cool completely before serving.  Store in an airtight container.

Source: Family Kitchen

S'mores Popcorn

One of my absolute snacks is s'mores.  There's something so irresistible about the golden brown marshmallow melting a piece of chocolate on a graham cracker.  However, I'm not always around a campfire to roast marshmallows, so I have to turn to other ways to enjoy s'mores.

Another one of my favorite snacks is popcorn.  When I was growing up, Friday nights were always popcorn nights at our house.  My dad would pop a huge bowl of popcorn, pour melted butter over it, and sprinkle it with salt.  Then we'd settle down to watch a movie and munch on popcorn.

I decided to combine two of my favorite snacks into one: S'mores Popcorn.  I found it absolutely delicious and irresistible and I hope you will too!

S'mores Popcorn

Makes 10-12 servings

You will need:

6 quarts popped popcorn (3/4 cup kernels)
3 cups brown sugar
1 cup water
1 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup margarine
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons vanilla
12 graham crackers
2 cups mini marshmallows
1 cup chocolate chips

1.  In a medium saucepan, combine brown sugar, water, corn syrup, margarine, and salt.  Stir constantly until brown sugar dissolves.

2.  Use a candy thermometer to monitor the temperature, and boil the sugar mixture until it reaches 270 degrees.  Stir occasionally.

3.  While sugar mixture is boiling, break 12 graham crackers into bite-sized pieces.  Put in a large bowl with the popcorn and marshmallows.

4.  When sugar mixture has reached 270 degrees, stir in vanilla.

5.  Pour over popcorn, graham crackers, and marshmallows.  Stir until everything  is coated in the caramel.

6.  Pour caramel covered popcorn mixture onto cookie sheets lined with wax paper.  Sprinkle with chocolate chips.

7.  Allow caramel to harden and then break into pieces.  Store in an airtight container.