homemade fruit rollups

These are great after school snacks that you can make a large batch to last for awhile. Since there is a technique to these, that is why the sugar has stayed in the recipe. I have yet to try them with any of the sweeteners.

1 1/4 pounds of chopped fruit ( see suggestions below)

3/4 cup sugar

2 Tabls. of Lemon juice

wax paper

foil

baking sheet with a rim

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. Combine the fruit , lemon juice and sugar in a blender or food processor until smooth.

Transfer the pureed fruit to a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer on medium heat. Reduce to low heat and cook, occasionally stirring until most of the liquid evaporates and the mix is very thick. This may take 35-40 mins.

Line a 12 x 17 inch baking sheet with rims with nonstick foil or a silicone mat. Use a spatula to spread the mix on the foil in to a thin layer. Bake until barely sticky…. about 3 hrs.

Let baking sheet almost cool completely and peel off of the foil. The side that was down will be moist. Lay the moist side up and on baking sheet and return to oven for about 20 mins or until dry.

Lay the smoother side down on a sheet of wax paper and use kitchen scissors/shears to cut it into strips on the paper. Then roll the strips and store in a zip lock bag.

Suggestions for fruit:

Apples: 3 large Fuji, Gala or Granny Smith apples- peeled and chopped

Raspberry: 5 cups

Grapes: 3 1/2 cups of Concord grapes

Banana: 5 medium, peeled

Strawberry: 4 cups, chopped and hulled

Mango: 2 large, peeled and chopped.

4th of july popcorn

Red, White and Blue Candied Popcorn

from The Idea Room by Amy

I have one last festive recipe for your Fourth of July or Canada Day festivities (Happy Cananda Day today!!)…Red, White and Blue Candied Popcorn (or Red and White for you Canadians)! Super easy and delicious and a fun way to celebrate your Nation.

Here is the recipe from Cooks.com.

Candied Popcorn

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 cup water

1 tsp. vanilla

6 cup popcorn (popped)

Few drops of food coloring (optional)

Boil sugar, salt and water to 235 degrees (soft ball stage). Remove from heat.

Add vanilla. Pour over popped popcorn and stir until glaze sugars.

Pour candy over popcorn that has been placed in a 9 x 13 baking dish. Mix the candy over the popcorn so that it is evenly spread out. Let cool and serve.

I made two batches so that I could share it with a lot of my friends and family. One batch red and one batch blue. Then I just intermixed some regular popcorn pieces into the red and blue mixture to make it red, white and blue.

Package it up cute or serve it in a big bowl for everyone to share.

Hope you have some fun holiday plans! We are spending our holiday with my husband’s family! We have a lot of fun things scheduled. Hope all of you stay safe and have a great holiday weekend!

caramel and chocolate drizzle chex mix

Caramel and Chocolate Drizzle Chex Mix

I'm a fan of food. Before my first semester of college, I experimented with baking and tried out some new things. One of those new things was homemade Caramel and Chocolate Drizzle Chex Mix (yes, I did just make that name up.) It's one of the recipes I've since repeated and still enjoy. I followed their recipe just for the caramel part and added in the chocolatey goodness.

Ingredients:
8 cups of Chex
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
6 tablespoons butter or margarine (but we all know butter tastes better)
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Chocolate, however much and whatever kind is up to you but you can start with 1/4 of a cup

*You should have a cookie sheet lined with wax paper set aside along with the 8 cups of Chex in a microwaveable bowl.

Here's how we make the deliciousness! In a 2-cup microwaveable measuring cup (or a bowl), microwave brown sugar, butter and corn syrup uncovered on high for 1-2 minutes. Stir after every 1 minute, until melted and smooth. Stir in baking soda until dissolved. Pour over cereal and stir. This is sticky and won't cover everything but don't worry! Take the bowl of coated cereal and microwave on high for 3 minutes, also stirring after every 1 minute. I found that using 2 wooden spoons, greased, helped mix everything and reduced spilling. Now spread the evenly coated Chex onto the cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Spread out the pieces to avoid large clumps. Break apart any large clumps.

In a small microwaveable bowl, heat the chocolate. Either dip the pieces in or drizzle over cereal with a spoon. Let everything set and cool. Then, enjoy!

(This is dipped instead of drizzle)

chex mix

Recipe: Chex Mix

from Rae Gun Ramblings by marissa

One of the musicmaker's coworkers passed this on after bringing it to the company rafting trip a couple weeks ago. She said it was a weight watchers recipe, not that it tastes health conscious at all. We were instantly addicted and I've made a batch every week since I've gotten the recipe.

What you Need
4 cups Corn Chex or Crispix
3 cups Pretzels
3 cups Honey Teddy Grahams
1/2 cup pecan pieces
Cooking Spray
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
6 TBSP light corn syrup (Karos)
3 TBSP stick butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt

The Steps

• Preheat oven to 250
• Line a jelly roll pan with foil and spray it with pam. Combine first 4 ingredient on the pan. I found it was easier too leave it mounded (not spread out) for the next step.
• Combine brown sugar, corn syrup, and butter in a small saucepan; cook over medium heat 2 minutes or until sugar and butter melt, stirring constantly. You don't want to cook it so long that it thickens because then it's harder to coat all the pieces. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla and salt. Immediately pour syrup mixture evenly over cereal mixture, tossing quickly to coat well.
• 4. Bake at 250 for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread warm snack mix in a single layer on wax paper (we used parchment paper) to cool. Break cooled snack mix apart. Store in an airtight container.

sweet chex mix

sweet chex mix

from Little Birdie Secrets by Little Birdie Secrets

1 person liked this

I love Chex mix. Pretty much every kind of it. But this sweet Chex mix that my mom has made ever since I was a kid is my absolute favorite kind. I won't pretend that it is healthy in any way, but that's why it's delicious! When you need a sweet, gooey, treat run to the nearest store and grab the ingredients for this recipe. It could be the hit of your Memorial Day BBQ!

Sweet Chex Mix
Place in large bowl:
1 (16 oz) box of corn Chex
1 can of peanuts, lightly salted (I usually go light on the peanuts for my husband's preference, so use whatever amount suits you.)

Melt 2 cups of butter or margarine in a pan. Add:
1 1/2 cups corn syrup
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
--Bring to a boil. Boil for 1-2 minutes. Pour over cereal and peanuts. Stir and pour out onto wax paper. Let sit for a couple of hours and then store in an airtight container.

softest caramel corn

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Softest Carmel Corn

This Carmel corn is so soft and yummy!

1 C. brown sugar
1/2 C. Karo Syrup
1 Cube Butter
1 Can Sweet Condensed Milk
1 Tsp. Vanilla
20 C. Popped popcorn

Add brown sugar, karo syrup, and butter. Cook it till it comes to a rolling boil. Add 1 can sweet condensed milk. Bring to rolling boil again. Add one tsp. vanilla. Pour over popcorn and mix.
*You may need more or less popcorn depending on how much Carmel you like on your popcorn!