I have found…
that when it looks like this…
and this…
and this…
on the outside…
…it becomes quite necessary…
to find this…
and this…
and this…
on the inside.
Warm tummies, warm hearts.
It can’t possibly be helped.
Happy Birthday President Lincoln!
Caramels
We have a nursing mommy here at our place who is making a valiant effort to avoid chocolate–for Baby Chomp’s sake, and at Valentine’s season too–poor thing.
So in an effort to be supportive, we’ve been on the lookout for sweetheart treats that don’t use the dreaded cocoa bean.
This did the trick…
Creamy Caramels
Ingredients
1/2 C sugar
1/2 C packed brown sugar
6 TBSP butter
1/2 C heavy cream
1/2 C corn syrup
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
Mix all ingredients except vanilla in a saucepan. On low heat, stir constantly until butter is completely melted and sugar is dissolved. Don’t get impatient and up the heat, or stop stirring or the cream could scorch.
Once sugar is dissolved, increase heat to medium. Heat to boiling–keep stirring! Once it’s boiling, you can lay off on the stirring, just occasionally should do the trick. Let it boil (gently–again, don’t turn up the heat) until you can drip some in a cup of ice cold water and it firms up just a bit–not enough to pull your teeth out, just enough that you can eat it, and it stays intact and chewy. If it just dissolves in the water–it’s not ready.
It should take about 8-10 minutes. (I have used half-and-half when I didn’t have heavy cream, and it took more like 20 minutes cause of the extra water…they also weren’t as rich.) Remove from heat.
Update! Add the vanilla after the caramel has stopped bubbling and boiling. Just stir it in with a spoon. (Thanks Sue!)
When it’s ready, pour into a greased 8×8 pan or pie tin.
Let cool completely, then cut with a metal spatula. It works much better than a knife, trust me. Then, if you want, you can wrap individual pieces in wax paper or decorative cellophane.
Caramels
Ingredients
- ½ C sugar
- ½ C packed brown sugar
- 6 Tbsp butter
- ½ C heavy cream
- ½ C corn syrup
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla.
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients except vanilla in a saucepan.
- On low heat, stir constantly until butter is completely melted and sugar is dissolved.
- Once sugar is dissolved, increase heat to medium.
- Heat to boiling--keep stirring! Once it's boiling, you can lay off on the stirring, just occasionally should do the trick. Let it boil (gently--again, don't turn up the heat) until you can drip some in a cup of ice cold water and it firms up just a bit.
- It should take about 8-10 minutes.
- Remove from heat.
- Add the vanilla after the caramel has stopped bubbling and boiling. Just stir it in with a spoon.
- When it's ready, pour into a greased 8x8 pan or pie tin.
- Let cool completely, then cut with a metal spatula.
- Then, if you want, you can wrap individual pieces in wax paper or decorative cellophane.
Candy Ipod
I don’t actually have kids that are taking Valentines to school, but if I did–this would be the project of the year! I found it at Happiness is Homemade and it is just so dang cute.
You start with a box of conversation hearts. Wrap it in any kind of paper. I used white paper and Valentine cellophane. Be sure to print off the scroll wheel and play list that you’ll find at the site HERE.
I used clear packing tape to stick the playlist and scroll wheel on. It made the “screen” look shiny and kinda real. Next take cotton string or yarn and fix it to the top right hand corner of your “ipod” and tape two Hershey kisses to the ends of the yarn for “ear buds.”
If I didn’t believe in choice and agency–I swear, I’d force Rhen to take half a dozen of these to school Friday. Wouldn’t everyone just fall in love with him? Pretty sure that’s why he’d never do it.
Oh, and one more thing…
For my dear Daney-boy’s birthday on Friday, we were very brave and made Beet Soup–in his honor. By the way–he hates it. I guess they eat that a lot in Lithuania because he’s been served it a million times–and each person that makes it puts their own “spin” to the dish, by adding something. So far, he’s told us about hard boiled eggs, spinach, onions and sardines. Pardon me, while I gag. We left ours plain and just added cream to it. It was still pretty gross. To be fair, I’d like to make it again my own way and not by the recipe that we used. I actually like beets so I think if I tweaked the ingredients a tad then it might stand a chance.
Pretty much we were a very wasteful bunch and opted for cereal.
I need to send my son some Campbell’s Chunky. He’s really missing it.
Note: Beet soup may stain your sink too. :]
Valentine Pancakes-
My cute niece Tracy—
–did a post last week about making pancakes into shapes for her girls. They were the cutest things I’ve ever seen. Anyway–I was so impressed that I decided to try it.
First–we got a mustard and ketchup squirter bottle from the dollar aisle at Target. We washed them out with warm soapy water first. You can fill them with your favorite pancake mix–well, unless it’s blueberry or some other chunky fruit thing–your favorite SMOOTH pancake mix.
Don’t be afraid. It was really fun. Just squirt the batter onto the hot pan–make the “picture” first and then fill it in. To be honest, I was terrible at it, but laughing through breakfast prep isn’t so bad, and they were still edible. The one above looks like it has a spooky little man in the middle. It was suppose to be a heart!
So then, I tried to make a happy face and ended up with some dude with dreadlocks! I told Rhen that I made him a Bob Marley pancake and he thought I was so incredibly cool! Heh, heh…
This heart looks more like a slingshot. Tracy–I need art lessons!
And here was my attempt to make a lacy heart. Can anyone else see a squirrel in there—or is it just me? :]
Perhaps this is more a self portrait than I’d like to think. Ha ha.
To tell you the truth–I’m sure your pancakes will be fabulous if you have the least bit of artistic talent. And if not, and you’re like me, you’ll just laugh your head off and your kids will think you’re the best–or nuts.
Either way, you get breakfast and everybody’s smiling.
Beat that.
Enjoying the Moment
“Recognize that the joy of motherhood comes in moments. There will be hard times and frustrating times. But amid the challenges, there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction.
“Author Anna Quindlen reminds us not to rush past the fleeting moments. She said: ‘The biggest mistake I made as a parent is the one that most of us make. . . . I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs.
There is one picture of my three children sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.'”
