Candy Corn

Halloween is just not Halloween without candy corn, and this year I decided to make my own. I learned a lot from this experience:
1. Candy Corn is bad for you, really bad for you. If you had the choice to eat a handful of candy corn or a handful of fondant, eating the fondant would be the healthier choice. Yikes!
2. What store bought candy corn is trying to be. There was this ah-ha moment of "oh, so that's what they were going for, that's what it's suppose to taste like." 

I used:
This Recipe: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/mighty-appetite/2007/10/getting_handy_with_candy_corn.html

You Need:
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup non-fat milk powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
5 tablespoons salted butter*
 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Red and yellow food coloring

* original recipe calls for unsalted, but I used salted at the advice of Cakespy at Seriouseats (Her recipe didn't call for additional salt though) and I'm happy with the results.

Sift Powdered Sugar, powdered milk and Salt together. Set aside. 

In a heavy bottomed pot* bring butter, granulated sugar, corn syrup, and vanilla to a boil. When you start seeing bubbles, reduce to medium heat and bring to 225-230 degrees F, (right before it reaches thread stage)** Then remove from heat and stir in powdered sugar/milk/salt mix being sure to it's fully incorporated. ***

* Recipe says to use a wide shallow pan, but that makes it harder to get an accurate temperature.
** Recipe suggested this would take 5 minutes, It did not! After about 3 I was there, but this could be due to my ignoring the side bubbles.
*** This is the worst part! It starts to getting really hard to stir after you just add the first half of powdered sugar mix, and you really can't "get in there" because it's so hot. I couldn't seem to get the right leverage because it's so hot and you have to hold the pot in place as you try and stir the stuff in. I made a second batch and instead of mixing in the pot I transferred it to the Stand mixer. It was so much easier that way.

After it cools and firms up a bit (but not too much) divide it into 3 parts. Leave one white, dye one yellow, and one orange. (or really whatever colors you fancy)

After this point my hands were constantly covered in food coloring and candy dough so I stopped taking pictures. Sorry.

Roll the dough into snakes and line them up in the color order you want. Use a rolling pin to flatten them out a bit.

 Cut out the pieces.

You're not even confined to making the traditional triangle shape.

Enjoy!

Some P.S.es

1.) This exists!

2.) Jack and I are doing trunk-or-treat at the Church tonight... and this is how his costume looks:

I gotta get on that!

Carnivals and Pumpkins

Friday

Corrie got pampered on Friday, she usually doesn't like baths so much, but with Jack by her side it wasn't so bad.

 And then I got a show! It was a sort of modern dance performance, hard to describe but I think these pictures capture the essence of it. 

           

Saturday:

Saturday we both slept in, it felt sooooo good! We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon reading and lounging. After lunch, we ran some errands. I spent forever trying to find some toasted whole hazelnuts, but they didn't have hazelnuts in any form. :( Jack did find some delicious ice cream though!

I expected that, like a lot of food in the US, the term "Italian" would be used very loosly but guess what?

That's pretty legit.

Later that evening we went to the carnival thing. It was a really good time.

Sunday

   This was actually a really good Sunday. Sundays happen to be my hardest day of the week. They usually start with me running around trying to get us ready for church and Jack not wanting to get ready. Then once we get to church my patience and creativity are put to the test as I try to keep a very energetic boy quiet and reverent during Sacrament. After Sacrament I fight with him to go to Sunbeams.

   But not this Sunday! I was on top of my ironing so I didn't have to do that on Sunday morning and Jack was fully cooperative.  Jack sat through all of Sacrament needing very few reminders and he Shared his toys with the baby behind us. I was able to actually hear both speakers! The first was about Facebook, the second about the Sabbath. I did have Jack hog-tied in the pew towards the end (no, really. you gotta do what you gotta do) but I still count that as a win. Jack went to primary without a lot of complaints and when I picked him up he had gotten a little pumpkin. Fun!

Then we carved up some big pumpkins. I love  being able to share traditions with Jack.

 We saved the seeds but at the very end the colander got knocked over and all of our seeds spilled. It's ok though, we still have two more pumpkins to carve which means more seeds to roast.

While we were carving pumpkins our home teachers stopped by and brought some candy! After that came, jack wasn't so interested in carving a pumpkin. So he ate chocolate and let me do the work. hmmm...I wonder where he got that from?

   

Meredith holds the pumpkins as I eat (chocolate) smarties.

My Griffin

Jack O'Malley's Jack O'Lantern

Happy Halloween!

            

Pizza

Geez what was that last post about? Now I'm blogging poetry?? You can't even eat that (but you can devour it) This week's recipe is for Pizza. I wanted to make a few frozen Pizza's to have on hand (except I messed it up pretty bad. I found my rythem and just kept baking the pizzas. woops.)

 I am a firm believer that everybody should have a pizza in the freezer at all times, because stuff happens and they've gotten me through more than one finals week.

It's hard to give a recipe for Pizza, because it's a lot like casserole just whatever you happen to have thrown together.

Crust (see garlic knot post)

Sauce- I used http://allrecipes.com/recipe/exquisite-pizza-sauce/.

Cheese& Toppings:

When making frozen pizza you should prebake the crust @ 500 F for about 3 minutes. Then cover it in sauce, add cheese, and the toppings of your choice and wrap it up. You can't over wrap these guys. Cling wrap, followed by foil, and in a freezer bag is my standard.

When you want to eat it preheat the oven to 425 and bake 8-12 minutes depending on the thickness.

Throw it all together. Get creative.

 The best pizza I made came from me messing around a bit. I mixed some BBQ sauce with brown sugar and used that as pizza sauce, then topped with mozerella, cheddar, red onions and coriander cilantro. It was just like BJ's BBQ chicken pizza but flat and without the chicken.

Just try to keep yourself from cooking them all at once.

Walrus + Carpenter

The sun was shining on the sea,
Shining with all his might:
He did his very best to make
The billows smooth and bright--
And this was odd, because it was
The middle of the night.


The moon was shining sulkily,
Because she thought the sun
Had got no business to be there
After the day was done--
"It's very rude of him," she said,
"To come and spoil the fun!"


The sea was wet as wet could be,
The sands were dry as dry.
You could not see a cloud, because
No cloud was in the sky:
No birds were flying overhead--
There were no birds to fly.


The Walrus and the Carpenter
Were walking close at hand;
They wept like anything to see
Such quantities of sand:
"If this were only cleared away,"
They said, "it would be grand!"


"If seven maids with seven mops
Swept it for half a year.
Do you suppose," the Walrus said,
"That they could get it clear?"
"I doubt it," said the Carpenter,
And shed a bitter tear.


"O Oysters, come and walk with us!"
The Walrus did beseech.
"A pleasant walk, a pleasant talk,
Along the briny beach:
We cannot do with more than four,
To give a hand to each."


The eldest Oyster looked at him,
But never a word he said:
The eldest Oyster winked his eye,
And shook his heavy head--
Meaning to say he did not choose
To leave the oyster-bed.


But four young Oysters hurried up,
All eager for the treat:
Their coats were brushed, their faces washed,
Their shoes were clean and neat--
And this was odd, because, you know,
They hadn't any feet.


Four other Oysters followed them,
And yet another four;
And thick and fast they came at last,
And more, and more, and more--
All hopping through the frothy waves,
And scrambling to the shore.


The Walrus and the Carpenter
Walked on a mile or so,
And then they rested on a rock
Conveniently low:
And all the little Oysters stood
And waited in a row.


"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."


"But wait a bit," the Oysters cried,
"Before we have our chat;
For some of us are out of breath,
And all of us are fat!"
"No hurry!" said the Carpenter.
They thanked him much for that
.

"A loaf of bread," the Walrus said,
"Is what we chiefly need:
Pepper and vinegar besides
Are very good indeed--
Now if you're ready, Oysters dear,
We can begin to feed."


"But not on us!" the Oysters cried,
Turning a little blue.
"After such kindness, that would be
A dismal thing to do!"
"The night is fine," the Walrus said.
"Do you admire the view?


"It was so kind of you to come!
And you are very nice!"
The Carpenter said nothing but
"Cut us another slice:
I wish you were not quite so deaf--
I've had to ask you twice!"


"It seems a shame," the Walrus said,
"To play them such a trick,
After we've brought them out so far,
And made them trot so quick!"
The Carpenter said nothing but
"The butter's spread too thick!"


"I weep for you," the Walrus said:
"I deeply sympathize."
With sobs and tears he sorted out
Those of the largest size,
Holding his pocket-handkerchief
Before his streaming eyes.


"O Oysters," said the Carpenter,
"You've had a pleasant run!
Shall we be trotting home again?'
But answer came there none--
And this was scarcely odd, because
They'd eaten every one.

Lewis Carroll

Slightly Evil Acorn Squash and Pumpkin Soup.

It's been an exceedingly stressful week and it's taken a while getting this up but here it is.

 It's soup season! Today I combine these recipes (because I don't actually have the right ingredients to make anything.)

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/pumpkin-acorn-squash-soup-10000001924739/

and

http://www.asweetpeachef.com/entrees/roasted-acorn-squash-soup/

 Ingrediants:
1 pie pumpkin
1 acorn squash
carrots
apple
butter
honey
sage
marjoram
ginger
nutmeg
pepper
salt
onion
bouillion or consommé
evaporated milk

Cut in half the Pumpkin and Acorn Squash and gut them. brush with melted butter and some honey and roast @ 400 degrees Celcius for about 40 minutes.

Now, take it out of the oven and let it cool for about 15 minutes. **TIP: don't turn the oven off, just turn it down to 250.

Ok, now peel and chop the carrots, onion, apple. (As I was peeling and cutting the apple on the cutting board that I had just used to cut up the onion, I discovered that onion and apple are an AMAZING combo!! I started small, then graduated to this)

Sautee the onion, carrots, apple, and spices in butter. I pretty much just eyeball my spices, throw in pinches of this and dashes of that, dance around my cauldron, and pretend like I'm a witch making a potion. If you're not comfortable with black magic, you can use this as a guide: 1/8 tsp ginger, 1/8 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp. sage, a faerie's portion of salt, and a pixie handful of pepper.

I have a confession to make, while I was scraping all the loveliness out of the acorn squash and pumpkin my shoulder devil popped up and was like, "You're not really going to put that whole pumpkin in the soup right? You could make a whole batch of pumpkin cookies with that! The soup will still taste good without it, besides that's way too much soup anyway, it would be a waste."

My shoulder devil is a very convincing gal and since my shoulder angel was ignoring me for some reason. (she's apparently against my overstepping of the line between cooking and the occult. In my defense, it's a pretty thin line.) Whatever, more for me and shoulder devil. Plus, I was going to have evaporated milk left over too which is really good for icing.


Make your bouillon or consommé  as per instructions. In other news, my consommé is extremely kosher. I don't know how something can be more kosher than other things, I'm not quite sure how that whole things works but but this consommé mentions it's kosherness 8 times. I used it because it doesn't contain beef fat, chicken meat, chicken fat, soy or hydrolyzed corn protein like knorr chicken flavor bouillon does and I feel like it's kosherness counteracts the witchcraft thing. You know like how the apple and apple cider vinegar counteracts the sweetness of the squash and pumpkin, the kosherness balances out the evil. The number one rule in soup making is to always maintain a balanced chi (chi as in life force energy, not as in the tea, do not add tea to this soup, 'cus that kind of evil can't be balanced out.)


Wow, anywho, add 4 cups consommé, 1/2 tsp cider vinegar (had I not been using evaporated milk or had a more tart apple like a granny smith, I probably would have opted out of the vinegar) and the pumpkin and squash to the dutch oven and bring just to a boil.

See, that looks way less evil. Now, put a lid on it and stick it in the oven. (250 F for 3 hours)

**Fun fact, In Dutch a "Dutch Oven" is called a "braadpan" which just means a roast pan. (ok, that wasn't so fun, but it was a fact.)

Wait 3 hours (you can clean up the gigantic mess you made in the kitchen now)

 Who needs scentsy or fabreeze when you have this cooking in your oven for 3 hours? Now, add some evaporated milk (cream would be best, but I didn't have cream) and puree it (A stick blender works best, but you can also just transfer it to a regular blender or food processor)

One of the best things about making soup is that when it's ready you get to yell, "Soups on!" I'm also looking into buying a triangle to ring as I say it.

I added some more evaporated milk at the end and tried to make it swirly and pretty, that didn't really work too well. If I had a restaurant I would serve this in a roasted pumpkin shell (cut across the middle so it's like a bowl) and I would use heavy cream and do fancy cream swirls. But I don't have a restaurant, I have this:

 Oh, and thanks shoulder devil. You were totally right, cookies and soup were made for each other like Challah and Meringue.

And great was the fall of it.

 And the rain descended and the floods came

 And the wind blew and beat upon that fence

And it fell

 And great was the fall of it