Homemade Candy

 
                                                              Morning all!

Christmas is getting closer.  I'm definitely a lot further behind than I usually am.

But, I will catch up.  Today I plan to post some candy recipes with no pictures as I haven't started making candy yet.  These are my most prized candy recipes.

 

 

 

 

 

Caramels

 

4 cups sugar

3 cups white syrup

5 cups half and half

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup chopped walnuts

 

You must use a huge heavy pan.  I use an old aluminum dutch oven to make mine and I always use a wooden spoon to stir these. 

 

Mix sugar, white syrup and only 2 cups of the half and half.  Cream together and cook on medium high until soft ball stage (235 degrees).  It will take about 45 minutes to get to this stage.

 

After reaching 235 degrees, slowly add the remaining 3 cups of half and half, stirring as you add this. and then again cook

until the temperature reaches 238 degrees, constantly stirring.  This will take about 30 minutes.  Once at the right temp, take from heat and add the vanilla and nuts and pour into a buttered huge jelly roll pan.  I use my largest jelly roll pan, which is 17 x 11.5.  Note ... if you use a smaller jelly roll pan which is 15 x 10, you may have to have another small pan buttered and ready in case it's too much for the smaller pan.  I may try to do this when I make mine this year just so I know how the mixture fits into a 15 x 10 pan.

 

Once completely cooled, cut into 1 inches pieces and wrap in small pieces of waxed paper.  Be sure to have this cut when you start.  This takes a very long time to cut and wrap these caramels as this makes a huge batch....about 4 to 5 pounds.

 

 

 

 

 

I have entered the below Toffee candy in several contests and have always won first place with this recipe.  It is really good and everyone always asks for the recipe.

 

Chocolate Nut Toffee

 

1 cup butter (can use good grade of margarine)

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

4 Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bars

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

 

Butter a baking sheet with a lip.  15 x 10 jelly roll is big enough.

 

Mix water, butter, sugar and salt in a large heavy pan. Use medium high heat and cook until it reaches hard crack stage (300 degrees).  Stir constantly to prevent burning. At hard crack stage, remove from heat and add vanilla quickly.  Pour onto buttered baking sheet spreading quickly as far as you can....this hardens very quickly. Place Hershey bars on the toffee in various places, trying to evenly place them.  As soon as the Hershey bars are melted (about 2 minutes), spread the chocolate evenly over the entire toffee surface.  Sprinkle with the nuts and use a spatula to press the nuts into the melted chocolate.  Let sit until completely cool - about 2 to 3 hours and break into bite size pieces.

 

 

 

 

Peanut Butter Fudge is a favorite around our house, but neither of us really like peanut butter fudge made with the marshmallow cream fluff.  Even though I modified this recipe a bit and added about 1/2 cup of mini marshmallows just to keep it from being hard.

 

This is a simple recipe but do not overcook it like I did at Thanksgiving or it will be a very dry texture.(someone called me while I had just started cooking it and I turned it off and then back on later...wrong!)

 

 

Peanut Butter Fudge

 

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup evaporated milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup peanut butter

1/3 cup chopped nuts (or more if desired)

 

(Note I add 1/2 cup mini marshmallows too!  But the original recipe doesn't call for these).

 

Mix sugar and milk in a heavy pan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Once it has started to boil, boil and stir 2.5 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter and vanilla. (At this point I also add 1/2 cup mini marshmallows)  Stir just until mixed and quickly add nuts and briefly stir. Pour into buttered 8 x 8 pan.  Cool completely and cut into small pieces.

 

 

 

Once I start making candies, I will post some pictures and refer back to these recipes. 

 

 

Hope your day has been progressing smoothly.  Out on the farm, it's cold but sunny.  In a few days, we will be basking in the heat of mid-60's weather.  There will be all kinds of wild animals scampering then. 

 

 

See you soon.  Enjoy your day.

 

 



 

 

Thanks for coming to my blog!

 

See y'all

 

 



White Chili With Chicken and Chilies

Hello friends.  I've been a bit busy putting up the Christmas tree and babysitting the grandson while his mama and papa went shopping so I didn't get a chance to post here.  But the tree is up and now I can concentrate on getting things done.
It's cold here but is supposed to be in the sixties by the weekend.  Mama nature is exercising her right to do what she darn well pleases.                              

What better food on a cold winter night than something spicy and hot and filling.  From reading my posts you might have gathered that we like highly spicy foods.  I have been known to get it so spicy that I can't eat it, but someone around here always likes the over-spicy foods so it doesn't ever go to waste.

Last night our dinner was White Chili with Chicken and Chilies.  I had come cubed chicken left over from making bacon wrapped chicken from Thanksgiving.  I froze it that day so I could pull it out and make White Chili. 

I'm serving cornbread tonight with our chili, but I know some people like to eat crackers with it.  And that's just as good as having a big old piece of cornbread.  My cornbread recipe is on this blog and you can find it by checking on the right hand side.

Here's my recipe.  I adapted this from many recipes over the years.  It was try and try again until it tasted good.

Hope you like it.


White Chili With Chicken and Chilies

2 large fresh chicken breasts, cubed small
2 tablespoons olive oil or canola oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 cans chicken broth, (I used reduced sodium, fat free)
1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning (I used this to add a bit of salt to the chili - can be omitted)
1 (4 oz) can diced green chilies
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (or oregano)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon parsley
salt and pepper to taste
2 cans cannellini beans or great northern beans, undrained (I used one of each and mashed 1/2 of the great northern beans for thickening) 
water as needed



Cook the chicken with the oregano in the olive oil.  After the chicken has lost its pink, add the chopped onions and minced garlic and cook until the onion looks clear.  Add the rest of the ingredients and cook for about 35 to 45 minutes.  I sometimes let is set for a while on the warm setting of my electric skillet to let the flavors blend.  Add water as needed during cooking.

 

 

Good Food at its best!  Warms you when it's cold.

 

 

 

Thanks for coming to my blog.

 

Enjoy your day!

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving 2012

 

 

 

Baking cookies and making fudge was on the agenda this week.  The grandkids love chocolate chip cookies so I wanted to have them on hand on Thanksgiving Day.  I always use the Toll House Cookie recipe on the back of the package.  I thought some might not have that recipe and especially if a different brand of chocolate chips are used.  

Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter/margarine - softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12 oz package) chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts  (I use 1/2 cup)

Preheat oven to 375 F. 

Beat butter, both sugars and vanilla until creamy.   Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl and gradually add flour mixture to the creamed ingredients.  Stir in nuts and chocolate chips.  Drop by rounded teaspoons on an ungreased baking sheet.  Bake for 9 to 11 minutes  or until golden brown.  Cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes and remove to wire racks.  Note I cool mine on newspaper or brown sack to absorb any excess grease.



This is just a quick picture of my dining room table with a nice fall silk arrangement sitting on a dark green table cloth.  I use a plastic tablecloth under my cloth tablecloths to prevent damage to my table during the family meals.  The table is about 20 years old but looks like the day we bought it.  I think the plastic tablecloth has helped prevent any damage through the years.  On Thanksgiving Day the table will be set with stainless silverware and dinnerware.  I enjoy having our dinner using real dinnerware rather than plastic forks and knives and a paper plate.....it's just not right to use throw away dinnerware for a holiday meal.  Old fashioned I guess.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

The holiday is almost upon us and I know I will be busy today and on Thanksgiving Day.  I want to wish my readers a special holiday greeting.  Thanks for making this blog a success.  May your family and you enjoy the holiday.

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving

 

 

Thanksgiving Preparations Underway

I've been busy getting ready for Thanksgiving and I bet you have too.  I'm trying to get a lot of the things done and either frozen or in the case of cookies, in tins. 

It's hustle and bustle for sure.
I have all of my Thanksgiving meal shopping done!  YAY

Our meal will be have a huge selection of food so that everyone can find something they like.

I will be taking some pictures and posting as I start cooking. 

The noodles were made yesterday and dried.  I always put mine in the freezer just for safety sake in case a single noodle didn't get dried out all the way.  These will be popped into boiling broth on the big day.

Here's a shrimp appetizer recipe in case you need just one more appetizer to serve on the big day:

Southern Style Shrimp Appetizer

1 bag shrimp and crab boil  (I actually use a can of old bay seasoning which I buy at Dollar General)
2 cans of beer or 1 1/2 cups of water
1 Tablespoon sirracha sauce or hot sauce
1 Tablespoon worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
pepper to taste
3 Tablespoons lime or lemon juice
4 to 5 pounds of medium shrimp - shelled and deveined
1/2 cup unsalted butter or margarine

Bring crab/shrimp boil mix and all ingredients from the beer through lime/lemon juice to a boil and then simmer for 10 minutes.  Put shrimp in a big lightly sprayed casserole dish and pour the boiled liquid over them and then spoon melted butter over all.  Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes.  Stir at least two times.

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Hope your preparations go smoothly

and your dinner is great.

 



To Brine a Turkey or Not Brine a Turkey

The question is "to brine or not to brine".  Poor old turkey doesn't know if brining will make him better or not any better.

I have cooked a gob of gobblers in my life, and have brined and not brined.  I used to brine almost every time, until I needed to cut my sodium intake....that did away with the brining.  Brining is typically done with salt to allow the turkey to hold the moisture content while cooking.

Most people add a bit of sugar and pepper to the salt and water to give it a better taste.  You have to make sure you get the right salt content and the most important thing when brining is that YOU MUST KEEP THE TURKEY COLD!  Preferably in the refrigerator but who has a refrigerator big enough to hold a big bucket with a huge turkey???  So the next best thing is to put it in a large cooler with the brining liquid fully covering the turkey and put ice filled freezer bags in the brine.  I always put water in freezer bags and freeze them ahead of time.  If you're short on freezer bags, fill and freeze those one quart plastic bottles you might have or any other tall slim plastic (do not use glass for fear of breakage when freezing).  These tall slender bottles will sit perfectly in the corner of the cooler.  (I do this when we are going camping to help keep the cooler items cold so it does work!)

The length of time to brine varies according to the size of the turkey.  It's best to underbrine than to brine too long.  This bird will get salty and more salty the longer it's brined.  I usually only brine overnight.  It's best on your first try to brine only for a short time and then the next time you can brine longer if the turkey wasn't quite right.  Brining will allow the bird to be juicy but sometimes just cooking the turkey with the breast side down or lower heats will keep the turkey more juicy.  

To help you learn more about brining, I'm including a link to a really good site about brining. 
 
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Poultry/BriningPoultry.htm
 

And whatever you do, don't salt the bird after you have used the brine technique. 

It's about time to go buy the old turkey for you special day.  If you are buying a frozen bird, be sure to thaw it in your refrigerator to thaw....most of the time it will take a two to four days to thaw a bird in the refrigerator.  Happy Turkey Shopping and Cooking.

 Here's something for you:


http://images.businessweek.com/ss/05/11/egreetings/image/01.swf

 

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See Y'all

Spicy Bacon Wrapped Chicken

Holidays are coming! 

I love the holidays.  It means good food and things I don't normally make through the year.  I call these recipes my "special recipes". 

I've been making the lists for Thanksgiving Dinner.  I normally don't have the holiday meals at our house, but due to one of my daughters recovering from a serious surgery, I'm taking her turn.

I always try to make a couple of appetizers to have when people first get here.  Of course, everyone eats and eats and are they too full to eat the meal.....Not our family.  We have some big guys who are huge eaters.  So they eat the appetizers and then eat the meal too.  Lots of the meal!

This year one of the appetizers on my list consists of a modified version of one of Paula Deen's appetizer recipes.  Mine are called Spicy Bacon Wrapped Chicken.  I put these together the day before and then bake them that morning and put them in one of my several crock pots to keep hot.... I always keep several crock pots on hand.  Here's my recipe...you can cut it down too if you want fewer appetizer pieces.    If you like less spicy, I recommend that you not use the cayenne pepper as well as the cumin.   I also make one of my own dipping recipes which really go well with these.  I took this picture long ago so it's not really too good.

Spicy Bacon Wrapped Chicken

6 boneless and skinless chicken breasts
1 1/2 pounds bacon - cut into thirds- do not use thick cut
1 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon cumin
salt

Cut bacon strips in thirds (do the whole package at one time and then half of the other package if you buy pound packages) .  Cut the raw chickens in about 1 1/4 inch cubes. 
Mix the spices and the brown sugar.  Salt the chicken cubes fairly heavily. (Note if you don't salt at this time, taste them after cooked and salt then - I find they need salt unless the bacon is really salty).    Wrap the bacon around all of the chicken cubes and secure with a toothpick and roll in the remaining spice/sugar mixture.  Put these in a bowl with a cover or a freezer bag to let them marinade for at least 4 hours (overnight is really best).

When ready to cook, use a rack in the bottom of a pan with a lip to catch the bacon grease.  Lining your pan with foil helps clean-up.  Bake at 375 for about 35 minutes.  Due to temperatures varying in different ovens, be sure to check these to prevent burning.  Most of the time I turn them half way through the cooking time and then at the end, I put them under the broiler to brown and crisp the bacon a bit more if needed.
Put these in the crock pot to keep warm.

My special remoulade dipping sauce recipe is:

1/2 cup mayo
1/8 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon horseradish mustard
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire
garlic powder to taste (I use about 3/4 teaspoon)
1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1.5 teaspoons sirracha sauce
Mix ahead and let chill.  Sprinkle dried chives on top at serving time.
 

 

A few more special holiday appetizers will be coming soon on this blog.  Watch for them!  (Whiskey Meatballs, Jalapeno Roll Bites and Gulf Style Shrimp appetizers)

 

 

 

My Grammy would be proud.  She always had the holiday dinners and now her legend is carried on. 

 

 

 

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See y'all!

Don't you hate it when using an old recipe and it has a term in it that you have no idea what it means?  I have lots of recipes which say put in a moderate oven.  What the heck is a moderate oven. 

I knew that Grammy had an old book which had lots of good things in it and sure enough there was this wonderful list of things everyone should know.  Of course I didn't know these but now I do.  I thought what better way to start the new month than to share these with my blogger friends.  Hope these might help you.
 

 

HINTS FOR THE KITCHEN
What is a moderate oven? About 360 degrees F. Slow oven is about 300 degrees F. Hot oven is about
400-425 degrees F.

2. What is "butter the size of an egg equal to? About 1/4 cup. Butter the size of a walnut is 1 tablespoon.

3. What is "a teacupful" equal to? About 3/4 cup.

4. What is "a tumbler" equal to? About 1 cup.

5. What is "a peck" equal to? Two dry gallons/8 dry quarts. Four pecks equal a bushel.

6. What is "a saucerful" equal to? One cup.

7. What is a dash or a pinch? The amount that can be picked up between the thumb and the first finger....less than 1/8 teaspoon.

8. What is "a gill" equal to? 1/2 cup

Grammy also told me about cutting fat into flour when making biscuits. She told me if you didn't do it right, the result would be biscuits as heavy as a rock. Here's how to do it according to grammy: "Cut the fat (shortening) into the flour quickly and lightly. Do not press down and mass the fat. Cut in the fat.  Use two knives or a pastry blender.  A pastry blender is the best and they are really cheap.

Grammy also told me to always spoon flour into the measuring cup rather than dipping.  It changes the volume.  And always sift before measuring flour as this changes the volume too.

Hope these kitchen hints help you manage your kitchen.

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See y'all!