Praline Popcorn Crunch

Praline Popcorn Crunch

My mom found this recipe in her local newspaper (Contra Costa Times) back in 1985 when they lived in Danville, California. I have no idea who submitted the recipe. But boy, oh boy is it good. The popcorn is sweet like buttery toffee and the crunchy sweet pecans add a lovely nuttiness. This is one of our favorite holiday treats.

It also makes a great gift if you're looking for a little something to give to colleagues or neighbors.

Praline Popcorn Crunch

10 cups popcorn (~1/3 cup un-popped or 2 bags plain microwave popcorn.)
1 c. light brown sugar
1/4 c. light corn syrup
1/2 c. unsalted butter (1 stick)
1/2 t. vanilla
1/2 t. baking soda
1 cup whole pecans (optional)

Pre-heat your oven to 300º

1. Grease 2 cookie sheets with butter.
2. Pop the popcorn, remove all the kernels. Spread out on the baking sheets. Set aside.
3. In a medium saucepan combine the brown sugar, butter and corn syrup. Cook over medium heat until boiling. Continue cooking at a gentle boil 5 minutes - stirring constantly. VERY IMPORTANT. (Set your timer.)
4. Remove from heat.
5. Immediately add the baking soda and vanilla. Stir (briefly) until well combined.
6. Immediately pour the mixture over the popcorn and stir to coat all the popcorn. (You may notice the texture changing. That's ok. Just move fast!)
7. Sprinkle the pecans over the popcorn.
8. Bake in a 300º oven for 15 minutes. Take the pans out. Stir the popcorn to make sure all the kernels are coated and bake 5 minutes more.
9. Turn the popcorn mixture onto a large sheet of waxed paper. Cool. Store covered.

POPCORN TIP: 
I prefer making popcorn the old fashioned way on the stove. I ONLY use Orville Redenbacher popcorn. The kernels are bigger when popped.

To make plain popcorn on the stove:
1. Lightly coat the bottom of a medium saucepan with Crisco vegetable oil.
2. Add a single layer of popcorn to the pan. (Do not add more. The single layer will fill the pan completely once popped.) Cover the pan.
3. Turn heat to med/med-high.
4. Shake pan gently a few times as it's popping. Take off the stove when the popping starts to slow down - about two seconds in between pops.
5. Watch out for the hot steam when you remove the lid. Immediately remove from the popcorn from the pan and let cool. You don't want the steam to soften it. I like to open up a brown grocery bag and pour out the popcorn to cool.

Enjoy!

Crunchy Candied Walnuts

Candied Walnuts by Sante Nuts

MMMMM candied walnuts. Sweet and crunchy. A little bit salty. Roasted by hand. More, please!

We like snacks in our house. A lot.

I'm going to blame my mom on this one. She is the queen of snacks. She must think everyone looks starving all the time. The minute you walk in her house she asks if you want a snack. Cheese and crackers? Chips and Salsa? Pretzels? Nut mix? Popcorn?

I love her.

When I was young I used to steal eat all of the nuts my mom had in the kitchen. They were supposed to be for baking. I liked to snack on them. I'm sure she loved that.

I try to have nuts on hand for snacks instead of constantly carbing out on cheese and crackers all the time. (Oh how I love cheese.)

Even Elli likes them. I've started packing little containers of nuts in her lunchbox and she loves it. Peanuts, almonds, pistachios, walnuts, and cashews are her favorites.

She's a snacker in training.

They do say it's better to eat a little bit throughout the day instead of a few huge meals. So maybe my mom was on to something?

Here are some new nuts I discovered and they rock! They are flavorful, crispy, some are sweet, some are spicy and they're not greasy. You are going to love them. I got four bags of different flavors. My very, very favorite is the Candied Walnuts. The Garlic Almonds taste good with a glass of red wine and some cheese and crackers. But you better make sure your honey is eating them too. If you know what I mean.

Go NUTS and enjoy some nuts. Here's a really great coupon for 25% off if you want to buy some now.

SANTE NUTS
25% off Coupon code: 2011-Blog-072
Expires 12/16/11

I need to reiterate the "they're not greasy" part again. I'm eating these nuts as I'm writing this up and my fingers are not messy at all. I love that! These are seriously my new favorite snack.

**Big thank you to Sante Nuts for providing the nuts for me to review. They really were delish. You can send me nuts anytime!

Homemade salsa in 5 minutes

This is true. You can have homemade, restaurant-style salsa in five minutes.

 

You do need one very important piece of equipment though. And that is a food processor. I think it will work in a blender. But you might have to mix it up in batches and it will probably get messy. So if you don't have a food processor come over to my house and I'll mix it up for you. And please don't attempt to use a mini processor. You need the big daddy for this. (Don't have one? Don't be sad. Read on anyway!!)

I wish I was one of those super bloggers that give away cool stuff. 'Cuz everyone needs a food processor and a Kitchen Aid. But I'm not. Not yet anyway.  I do have a whole storage unit full of garage tools including a SNOW SHOVEL you can have. Why, oh why, I moved a snow shovel to San Francisco is beyond me. Plus it's bent. The whole corner is crumpled. sigh........

Let's get back to salsa. I know a bunch of you are buried in snow (which made me think of the shovel) and are itching to get out of the house. So throw on your boots, grab a rope, tie it to your kid's sled and drag it to the store to get the ingredients for this. Then slide it back home and in five minutes you'll have salsa. Oh. Don't forget the chips.

The recipe comes from the Pioneer Woman. I guess it's kind of Pioneer Woman week here at the blog. First the pistachio cake, then last night salsa and chicken and vegetable enchiladas.

Now, I do have to confess, I ran into a bit of a problem at Safeway. They were out of Cilantro. And my lazy butt didn't want to go to another store. So I bought this.

Don't do that. Get your lazy butt to the store. Just like I eventually did for the second time. Plus I forgot the chips. Ay yay yay.

Fresh cilantro. You need a lot of it. The stuff in the tube is just wrong for this.

Now here's what you need to do. Make the salsa today. You can have it with your Friday night margarita and chips. Then let it sit in the fridge until Sunday when you watch the Super Bowl game. It tastes better on day two. I know that for a fact. And this will taste A-mazing with Houston's spin dip and enchiladas.

I don't know about you, but my favorite part of any Super Bowl party is the snacks. I can thank my mom for that. She's the queen of snacks. Oh, and of course hanging with friends. And the cocktails. And the commercials. I am aware that I have not mentioned the game yet. Unless my team is in it - - well, what's the point?

Restaurant Style Salsa (adapted from The Pioneer Woman)

1 can (28oz) whole tomatoes with juice
2 cans (10oz) Rotel tomatoes (or the store brand of diced tomatoes and green chiles)
1/4 of an onion chopped (approximately 1/4 cup)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 whole jalapeno, quartered, seeds removed, sliced thin.
1/4 t. sugar
1/4 t. salt
1/4 - 1/2 t. ground cumin
1/4 t. Southwest seasoning
1/2 cup fresh cilantro (large stems removed)
juice from 1/2 a lime

1. Combine all ingredients in a food processor. Pulse until you get the salsa consistency you like. 10 to 15 pulses. Test seasonings and adjust accordingly.
2. Store in a Tupperware container.

Yield: 4 cups of salsa
Prep time: 5 minutes

PARTY SPREAD

Here's what you can serve with your fabulous salsa. Make everything ahead so you can have fun too.
1) chicken enchiladas
2) guacamole and chips (make it yourself. Or buy the ready-made stuff)
3) mexican rice
4) roasted tomatillo dressing
5) cheese quesadilla's (flour tortillas and a mix of cheeses)
5) fresh veggies (healthy, crunchy stuff)
6) Margaritas (make a big pitcher and serve it on the rocks)
7) Beer

ENJOY!!!

Oh, we're available to attend a party. 'Cuz we still don't have any cushions on the couch.

Wah wah. We'll bring salsa!!!

Oooey Gooey Cheerios Treats. Yum.

Here's a little something that will cheer up everyone - young and old. 
 
This recipe, Cranberry-Oat Cereal Bars, came straight from watching Everyday Food on TV last Saturday morning.

The three of us were watching the show when Elli said "Let's make those! We have Cheerio's. We have marshmallows and let's use our dried strawberries instead of the dried cherries."

Well, ok, little missy. Let's do it! And so we did. Right then and there. And here they are. And I must say they are tasty.

Instant satisfaction. That's how we roll around here.

Homemade Olive Oil Granola

This weekend I made homemade granola for the first time. Wow, was it good. I found the recipe on TheKitchn, one of my favorite sites for recipes and kitchen ideas. They got the recipe from Melissa Clark, a New York Times columnist. Now here I am sharing it with you!

It is so easy and tasty. And you can totally make it your own with whatever ingredients you have, or with what you like. Because that's what I did and it works. It's sweet, crunchy, and full of yummy flavor. Don poured himself a bowl and we had to pry it out of his hands.

It tastes great on it's own, and it would be delicious with some yogurt or with some milk in a bowl. So far all we've done is snack on it right out of the jar. Even Elli's friend thinks it's good and she said she doesn't like granola. So there you go. It passed the picky 7 year old test.

This recipe is a keeper!

Olive Oil Granola
adapted from Melissa Clark

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
3/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 small bag of mixed dried berries (cherries, blueberries, cranberries, )
1 cup raw pistachios, hulled
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup coconut flakes

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a large bowl, combine oats, pistachios, walnuts, coconut flakes, maple syrup, olive oil, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon. Spread mixture on a rimmed baking sheet in an even layer and bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until golden brown and well toasted. (I lined my baking sheet with parchment paper for easier clean up.)

2. Transfer granola to a large bowl and add dried fruit, tossing to combine.

Super easy and super yummy. You can click on Melissa Clark's name at the top to go to her recipe. You can see what I left out - cuz I didn't have it.  Stuff like cardamon and pumpkin seeds. I figured it would be fine without it and it was!

Enjoy.

PS. This is not a quiet snack. And it can be messy. The girls left a trail like Hansel and Gretle. So beware!

Crispy Chickpeas

I'm looking for some new snacks to eat while watching the Superbowl next weekend. I don't know about you, but I'm getting tired of Sausage Balls. I know you can't believe that. But it's true. Don't worry Don, we'll still have sausage balls. But maybe we can add a few new things this year too.

So here I am, flipping through Food and Wine magazine when I come upon a recipe for Crispy Chickpeas by chef Jason Travi.

I don't know about you, but anytime I use chickpeas in a recipe I can't resist snacking on them. So I figure fried chickpeas could be pretty darn tasty, right?

Here's how they look on the Food and Wine website. We'll see what happens when I make them. Ha! 

I'll post pictures tomorrow. 

Happy Saturday everyone!