Oct 20, 2011 Posted by Jennifer on Oct 20, 2011 in dessert | 4 comments

Homemade Caramel Popcorn

So last night I was checking e-mail and realized that I had volunteered to make something for the Teacher Appreciation Dinner at my son Mark’s middle school. Anytime there is a request to make food for something I ALWAYS volunteer. Luckily I had a reminder, although last minute. It was 8:00 p.m. and I was supposed to make a dessert. I didn’t have any chocolate chips or eggs, so cookies were out…and it was super windy and rainy outside, so I didn’t feel like going to the store either.

So I was looking in my pantry when I saw I had popcorn kernels and I thought – what if I make caramel corn?? So my son Mark started googling it and we found a lot of recipes that asked for corn syrup- which I didn’t have either. Then we came upon this recipe from Cooks.com

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cup sugar
1 cup butter
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp. vanilla

Pop the popcorn and place it in a large bowl.

One reason I liked this recipe is that I didn’t have to worry about getting the caramel to a certain temperature with a candy thermometer, you just stir constantly until it thickens which is just a few minutes.

Melt the butter in the pan, add the sugar & honey and on medium heat keep stirring for about 2-3 minutes until it thickens. Take it off the heat, add the vanilla and stir. Pour over the cooked popcorn and stir until it’s all coated.

This turned out great and my kids loved it!

Have you ever made caramel corn?

Apr 23, 2011 Posted by Jennifer on Apr 23, 2011 in dessert, eggs, holiday foods, kid friendly | 8 comments

Rice Krispy bars

I actually re-vamped this recipe from a Vegetarian Times magazine. Their recipe had dried fruit in it, which I didn’t have so I substituted mini chocolate chips instead. I followed the rest of their recipe, however, even after freezing for 30 minutes, they never really formed like bars, so the kids just spooned some out into a bowl and ate it with a spoon instead – either way, they tasted great!

7 cups rice krispy cereal
3/4 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup honey
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup ground flax seeds
1/4 cup wheat germ
mini chocolate chips

In a big bowl add everything except the cereal and melt in the microwave for about 1 minute. Add the cereal and coat all the cereal with the peanut butter/honey mixture.

In a 8×8 or 9×13 dish, flatten out and sprinkle with chocolate chips. Freeze for 30 minutes. After that you are supposed to be able to cut them into bars, however that really didn’t happen. I thought about adding more honey, but decided they still tasted good, so I left it alone.

So, it’s been a busy week for me. I’ve started some spring cleaning going through my closet and getting rid of some old clothes. Why did I have not one but two denim shirts and why in the hell did I have a denim jacket?? I bagged up 3 garbage bags of clothes that I will never wear again – it felt great doing that! Now I have so much more space in my closet.

What are your Easter plans? I bought a huge ass ham today – only the 2nd time I’ve cooked a ham, so I am excited by that. I’ve got eggs in a big pot to decorate tonight. I’m using a new technique which promises easy removal of the shell. You bring them to a boil, then turn off the heat and let sit for 16 minutes. Once they are done, cool in an ice bath until they come to room temperature. I hope that works! I hate it when I have to fight to get the shell off.

And, there are signs of spring in Chicago. A few of my tulips are now up. It’s been sunny and 60 today, so much better than gloomy rain and 40′s around here!

Have a great Easter – I’ll leave you with my favorite Easter cartoon

Mar 4, 2011 Posted by Jennifer on Mar 4, 2011 in bread, dessert | 11 comments

Nutella Ring

I was so excited when Zoe from Zoe Bakes left a comment about my artisan bread! She’s the author of the book Artisan Bread in 5 minutes, which is available on AMAZON HERE. Not only did I make her Artisan bread recipe, I made the other recipe that was in this Months Cooking Club of America Magazine.

It’s made with the same master dough recipe that I made the Artisan bread from (CLICK HERE TO BE TAKEN TO THAT RECIPE).

If you made the whole recipe of the basic dough recipe, it makes 4 (1 pound) loaves of bread. Just take a grapefruit size handful of dough. (use flour on your hands because it is sticky!). On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough into a 10×15 rectangle.

Take 1/2 cup of Nutella and put that all over the dough. Roll the dough up into a log, and re-shape into a circle and pinch the ends together, making a 6 1/2 inch or so circle. Using kitchen shears or a serrated knife, cut the bread about 1/4 inch deep all around the edges.

Mix an egg with 1 tablespoon water and coat the outside of the dough with that. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of sugar. Bake in a preheated oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for about 30 minutes.

This makes 12 servings and each serving is only 155 calories!! For the article from Cooking Club – CLICK HERE.

Yeah, my kids thought this was pretty deluxe. My son Mark suggested we sprinkle powdered sugar on too, but I thought it was perfect without it.

*********
NOW, the winners of Sargento Cheese Coupons are:

ROZ!

LESLEY!

And Nancy from Mass!

I’ll contact you or you can e-mail me your address and I’ll get those out to ASAP. My e-mail is slim-shoppin@comcast.net.

Have a great day everyone! Happy Friday!! Any fun plans this weekend??

Feb 23, 2011 Posted by Jennifer on Feb 23, 2011 in dessert, holiday foods, kid friendly | 7 comments

Chocolate Covered Chocolate Chip cookie dough balls

This isn’t a usual healthy eating recipe that I normally post, but after seeing it on several blogs I couldn’t stop thinking about them and had to try it!

This recipe seems to be sweeping the blogosphere right now, so when I saw it, I knew I was going to make it. Last week I saw it on Year on The Grill. Also Gary from TV Food and Drink made them as well as Joanne from Eats Well With Others, who got the recipe from Annie at Annie’s Eats!!

The cookie dough part I kept the same the only thing I did differently was use a candy chocolate called Almond Bark instead of dipping them in melted chocolate chips.

Ingredients:

8 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 lb semisweet (or bittersweet) chocolate (I just used Almond bark instead)
1/2 cup white chocolate chips (I didn’t use that)

Combine butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes on high speed. Add flour, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla. Incorporate until smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm enough to form balls, about 30 minutes.

Take the dough out of the refrigerator and roll into balls. This makes a bunch! I ended up using half the dough and I made 32 balls! I placed them on a cookie sheet covered with foil for easy clean up.

Melt the almond bark in the microwave in a big plastic bowl. Dip the cookie dough ball in the chocolate and swish it around to cover the whole thing. Lift up with a fork and shake off any excess chocolate.

These turned out so great! And the best part is that they are so rich, you can’t keep eating a ton, just one is perfect!

*****
On a separate note – please take a moment to vote for Mara @ I Made Dinner – she’s entered a cupcake contest with POM Wonderful and the voting is open. CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR MARA!

Jan 12, 2011 Posted by Jennifer on Jan 12, 2011 in a day in the life of me!, dessert, salad | 11 comments

Biggest Loser recap/creative dessert

I thought it was a really good show tonight, at some point I thought I would need a tissue! I think the highlight of the show was Arthur (the biggest contestant ever on BL) dancing on the scale after losing 13 pounds and his team winning the challenge AND immunity.

For those of you who don’t know or aren’t watching this season, the teams got to choose to workout with Bob & Jillian, or work with 2 trainers they didn’t know (and who we don’t know either because they haven’t shown them yet!).

The first week, the group who was working out with the unknowns lost the most weight, and this week, they sent the message they were going to win again. One person on their team lost 41 pounds their first week!
If only I could do that, then I would be done

The part that always makes the contestants cringe is when they meet Dr. H and find out everything that’s wrong with them. Arthur (the Biggest contestant) has 370 pounds of fat AFTER losing 150 pounds!

The Dr. pointed out that the twins who are cops are killing themselves slowly with sugar, chocolate, cigarettes and corn chips! One of the twins said which stuck with me, is that they were nonchalant about the things they were doing, not really worrying about it!

In the end, Bob and Jillian’s team won the weigh in. Some of the numbers:

Arthur -13
Jessie – 8
Dan -8
Don – 5
Olivia -6
Hannah – 6
Jen – 8
Jay – 10
Courtney – 10
Marci – 8

Courtney was 298 and when Ali asked her when was the last time she weighed under 300 pounds, Courtney said it was Middle School! Can you imagine trying to fit in a desk at school at 300 pounds?

What was the highlight of the show for you? Any favorites yet?

*****
Today was also good because it was SALAD day at work! To be honest, I couldn’t even eat the whole thing!

And, after dinner, I was looking for something sweet to eat. I had a couple of marshmallows (45 calories) 1/2 a tortilla (40 calories) and a schmear of chocolate peanut butter (30 calories)

Cut the tortilla in half, put a dab of chocolate peanut butter and 2 marshmallows, roll up and microwave for 10 seconds.

The chocolate peanut butter melted and the marshmallows got soft and gooey and it was delish! All for 115 calories and it satisfied my sweet tooth!

My brother and his family gave us this in our Christmas basket. It’s SO GOOD!

Have a super day!