Spicy Caramel Popcorn

January 5, 2010 – 9:43 am

The next several recipes that I have to share are all from our New Years spread. You can see world peace cookies, French bread, Gorgonzola honey toast points (which are simply slices of toasted bread with melted Gorgonzola and honey drizzled on top), and then two other items that I didn’t feel were good enough to share with you guys. I was a little disappointed in them (… we ate them anyways …). But the salted brown butter crispy treats and feta salsa more than made up for the two disappointing recipes and will be shared on another day.

We decided to take it easy and stay home for New Years only because we had been running around Dallas for over a week straight and we were tired. Staying in, drinking champagne and stuffing ourselves silly at home sounded nice. And of course that meant I finally got to spend some time in my own kitchen cooking to my heart’s content.

Deb did it again: she posted this recipe for spicy caramel popcorn and I already had all of the ingredients on hand to make it. I’ve never made caramel corn before so I thought I’d give it a go. I’m intrigued with uncommon flavor combos like salty sweet, sweet spicy, or in this case, salty sweet spicy.

Let me start out by saying that it is a lot of fun to pop popcorn on the stove in a lidded pot. I’d never done it before (only in a brown paper bag in the microwave and of course the prepackaged weird buttery stuff that we all grew up on). I will definitely be doing it again. I mean, really, I’ll be making this whole recipe again. I love how quickly it comes together and how impressive it seems. I’m finding that I really enjoy making caramels and this one is no different, although it’s fun to add the baking soda mixture to the caramel at the end because it bubbles up like a science experiment. Yes. I was the child that used to steal my mom’s baking soda to mix with vinegar so I could watch it bubble and make a mess all over the kitchen.

OK. Anyways. This is a great recipe. The outcome is really impressive and a perfect gift item. The unexpected spice comes at the end of the bite and is lovely (I used 1/2 tsp of cayenne). Make some! Pass it out to your neighbors!

Recipe for Spicy Caramel Popcorn

By Elizabeth | Posted in Candy, Recipes | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (3)

Butterscotch Sauce

January 4, 2010 – 11:13 am

I swear to you, Deb from Smitten Kitchen and I have the same taste buds. She posts things on her blog and I MUST make them. Preferably the same day. She and I have a taste for salted caramel. I love salt. And sweets. So salted caramel is perfect. Turns out that butterscotch is salted caramel that isn’t cooked as long as the candy type of caramel. It is super easy.

It is delicious. I can imagine it being drizzled over so many different things besides just ice cream, but vanilla ice cream is perfect to showcase the delicious butterscotch flavor. Bread pudding? Angel food cake? Brownies? The options are endless.

Really, how do you go wrong with butter, cream, sugars, vanilla and salt? The answer is, you don’t! Well, actually, I added a pinch too much salt, but, um, I kinda liked it that way. My salty batch aside, this is so easy! If you like butterscotch, you must try this! Maybe make some vanilla bean ice cream, hot chocolate fudge, marshmallows and crumble some toffee over top for a sundae party? Sounds good to me!

Recipe for Easy Butterscotch Sauce

By Elizabeth | Posted in Dessert, Ice Cream, Recipes | Tagged , , , | Comments (3)

the Long Thread

January 2, 2010 – 6:27 pm

I was recently featured on the Long Thread’s top 100 tutorials of 2009 for the Diana Hobo tutorial! Welcome to everyone that is stopping by from there and thanks for stopping by! And thank you to the Long Thread for featuring me! It’s gonna be a good year, I can feel it!

By Elizabeth | Posted in Crafts, Free Pattern, Sewing | Tagged , , , | Comments (9)

More Changes for the New Decade

December 31, 2009 – 9:57 am

I realize that I try to start every post with the word ’so’. Bad habit. Trying to break it. I’m starting with this post. That means I started this post with ’so’ and went back and deleted it. Hm. Change number one.

I’m realizing how appropriate it is to post this post on New Years Eve since it’s an evening filled with the anticipation and celebration of what is to come. The start of a whole new year, and even more-so for this year, a whole new decade. Our lives are on the brink of some large changes once more. It seems that having a baby, moving and my becoming a SAHM isn’t enough change in our lives. To add to the major life change mix, Jason recently quit his job. Recently as in the Wednesday before Christmas. We both knew this was coming for a variety of reasons and were both on board with the decision, but it still was a nerve-racking and difficult decision nonetheless. We are still processing through what this will mean for us as a family and for Jason as the main provider for our family. It is a tough process and we are learning a lot about ourselves and our marriage in the process. It really is challenging us to examine our hearts and to prayerfully and thoughtfully look at our finances. It is good for us to have some strain placed on us in this area as we really haven’t experienced it much previously. It is good to be challenged again to live with less, this time it’s income. We’re not too worried about him being unemployed for too long as he already has two offers available to him. We’re just praying through what the best option is and what honors God the most.

Through this challenging time, I decided to look back on last year’s resolutions. I realize that I succeeded in pretty much all of them. Not a bad feeling. I mean, the praying and spirituality part of the resolution is an ongoing process for the rest of my life, so I can’t really say that it’s been completed, but I do feel that I have grown over the course of 2009. There is still a lot of growing to be had. I will say that this year’s list is a little more ambitious!

  • Make a full size quilt for our family.
  • Continue learning more about removing chemicals from our lives.
  • Sew a garment.
  • Fully enjoy the time I have with Jude.
  • Build up the inventory in the etsy shop.
  • Learn to live with even less and become more open-handed.
  • Create a few more free patterns/tutorials (the Krista apron being one of them).
  • Start a square foot garden in our backyard.
  • Tap in to art again. I miss sketching, painting and linoleum printing. (Maybe add some prints to the etsy shop?)
  • Learn how to jar foods.
  • Begin consistently prayer journaling.
  • Visit the farmer’s market more frequently.
  • Become more active – maybe yoga, jogging, bicycling?
  • Make it a priority to spend time outside everyday.
  • Continue to cook healthy meals and make even more things from scratch. (Maybe learn how to make yogurt or cheese this year?)
  • Cook meals in advance (and in season) and freeze them so I spend less time in the kitchen each night and more time with family. I think this is as simple as doubling things that I make that I know we like.
  • Become better at clipping coupons/saving money (focusing on purchasing items that we actually use).
  • Focus on having quality date nights with Jason (even if that’s at home).

What are your resolutions this year (and you can’t just say exercising – we all say that every year!)?

By Elizabeth | Posted in Faith, Life, Random | Tagged , | Comments (15)

No-Knead Pecan Caramel Sticky Buns

December 30, 2009 – 7:37 am

Our church recently rallied together to cook a hot, holiday breakfast for the homeless. Since I couldn’t be out there in the cold with the babe, I decided I would make a bunch of hot, sticky buns for those that were going to take with them. I’m pretty fascinated with no-knead bread doughs and I saw this recipe awhile back and knew I wanted to try it. It makes quite a bit of dough, so it seemed silly to make for just me and Jason, but it wasn’t silly to use to feed as many homeless people as we could.

I made two batches of the no-knead dough and let them rise in the fridge for several days. Talk about easy – all you do is mix all of the ingredients together, cover and refrigerate. Then whenever you’re ready for it, you pull of a pinch of the dough to bake off. Pretty awesome! I rolled out and cut the sticky buns and placed them in the aluminum trays then stuck them in the freezer so I could bake them off as close to the actual feeding time as possible. I mean, I wanted them to be super fresh. I took them out of the freezer after Jude’s 6am feeding and let them thaw before sticking them in the oven. The two batches made approximately 120 sticky buns and they were dang good (I snuck a bite to make sure they were tasty)!

You just flip them over to show their caramel goodness when you take them out of the oven. Delicious and very sticky! I’m pretty sure I will be returning to this recipe if I have to do a brunch anytime in the near future. Super easy as long as you allow for a couple of days of rising in the fridge.

Recipe for No Knead Pecan Caramel Sticky Buns

By Elizabeth | Posted in Baking, Breakfast, Dessert, Recipes | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (6)

Some of the same sewing. . .

December 29, 2009 – 9:31 am

My sewing machine recently kicked the bucket beyond repair. Stinks, right? I just got her in February and she did some good sewing but she was a refurbished machine. I think I’ve learned that you should not buy a refurb. Thankfully the machine is still under warranty and we’ll be contacting the seller to get all of this straightened out.

Before she died, I did a little sewing, some of which is already in the shop, and some were presents. The first bit of present sewing was a nursing cover and sling for a friend at church. The fabric is Recipe for Friendship designed for Moda by Mary Englebreit. Here is the nursing cover:

Sadly, the photo of the sling disappeared in transfer between the camera and the computer, but it was the same fabric and you’ll just have to take my word that it was very cute. :)

In making those items, I decided I would indeed make ‘new mama sets’ for the shop. I have three ‘new mama sets’ cut out and ready to sew up and add to the shop (hopefully very soon). The sets will consist of a nursing cover, sling, two burp rags and a bib – all in the same fabric. What do you guys think that I should call the set? Is ‘New Mama Set’ a good name? ‘New Baby/Mama Set’? I’m kinda drawing a blank on naming this.

And the one and only gift that was sewn this Christmas was a Diana Hobo that I sewed for my sister-in-law. I modified my free pattern just a little bit by top stitching the bottom to create more of a flat base instead of a rounded one. I really like this simple modification.

I have one bag in each style in the shop right now – with the bottom rounded and the bottom squared off by top stitching. I’m not sure which I like more so I’ll do both for now!

By Elizabeth | Posted in Baby, Purses, Sewing | Comments (5)

Seared Mahi-Mahi with Green Gazpacho Sauce

December 28, 2009 – 9:42 am

For my birthday, Jason cooked me dinner. Now, if you know anything about Jason, you know he is not comfortable in the kitchen. I do the cooking, he does the cleaning. It works out well that way! For this special occasion, he researched recipes, trying to find something relatively ‘gourmet’ while also being easy enough for him to take on. He found this recipe from Bon Appetit that seemed well within his skill set but also had such good reviews that it was guaranteed to taste delicious.

I was honestly super impressed with this recipe – it’s simple but the flavors are great together. There is a subtle heat but a sweetness from the tomatoes. And, really, the green gazpacho and the red tomatoes are quite festive! Quick and fresh recipe!

Seared Mahi-Mahi with Green Gazpacho Sauce

By Elizabeth | Posted in Fish, Recipes | Tagged , , , , | Comments (3)