Succulent Smoothie

One word: Deliciousness! I get tired of eating yogurt all by itself and can sometimes find it hard to east just fruit alone as a snack. This is a light yet filling low-fat smoothie that is so tasty I want to make this everyday! It is under 300 calories, less than 1 gram of fat and full of nothing but good healthy stuff. It's perfect for breakfast and it actually makes enough for two if you want to share for more of a snack.

Orange-Blueberry Lassi

1 cup blueberries
1 cup calcium fortified orange juice
6 oz low-fat vanilla yogurt
1/4 tsp ground ginger
3 ice cubes

In a blender combine all ingredients until well blended. Pour into a tall glass and serve. How easy is that!

YUMMY!!!!!! I can't wait to make another one tomorrow morning :)

Pretzel Day!

Happy National Pretzel Day!!

As a HUGE fan of soft pretzels there is no way I could pass up celebrating this day. So of course I tried my hand at making real soft pretzels....ummmm. It actually wasn't as hard as I thought, however I did still manage to set off our fire alarms (in my defense there VERY sensitive and nothing was even burning or smoking!). I found out our fire alarms still work and the dogs still hate them. At least we know we're safe right?! I made the dough fairly quickly then left it to rest for an hour while I made dinner and was able to finish up making the pretzels after dinner.
Soft Pretzels
Source: Food Network, Bobby Flay

• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 2 Tbsp light brown sugar
• 1 pkg active dry yeast
• 3 oz unsalted butter, melted
• 2 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 4 1/2 to 5 cups all-purpose flour
• Vegetable oil
• 3 quarts water
• 3/4 cup baking soda
• 1 egg, beaten with 1/2 Tbsp cold water
• coarse sea salt

Combine the water, sugar, yeast and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix the dough hook until combined. Let stand for 5 minutes.

Add the salt and flour and mix on low speed until combined. Increase the speed to medium and continue kneading until the dough is smooth and begins to pull away from the side of the bowl, about 3 to 4 minutes. If the dough appears too wet, add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time. Remove the dough from the bowl, place on a flat surface and knead into a ball with your hands.

Oil a bowl with vegetable oil, add the dough and turn to coat with the oil. Cover with a clean towel or plastic wrap and place in a warm spot until the dough doubles in size, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper and spray liberally with vegetable spray. Bring the water to a boil in a small roasting pan over high heat and add the baking soda, slowly.

Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a flat surface. Divide the dough into 8-10 equal pieces, about 4 to 4.5 ounces each.

Roll each piece into a long rope measuring 22 inches and shape: take the right side and cross over to the left. Cross right to left again and flip up.

Boil the pretzels in the water solution, 2 at a time for 30 seconds, splashing the tops with the warmed water using a spoon. Remove with a large flat slotted spatula or a spider.

Place 4-5 pretzels on each baking sheet, brush the tops with the egg wash and season liberally with salt. Place into the oven and bake for 15-18 minutes until golden brown. Remove to a baking rake and let rest 5 minutes before eating.

Can't wait to eat these with some cheese sauce!!!

Caramel Corn Time

It's been many many years since I've made caramel corn and I'm 98% sure this was my first time making it all by myself. Every year my father-in-law plants sweat corn in our enormous garden. This past year along with the sweat corn, he planted popcorn! I've actually had a few people quite surprised by the fact that we actually plant and grow popcorn, I had "I didn't know you actually grow popcorn like regular corn" (it just doesn't appear in bags at the grocery store people! haha). It takes extra time and care to get it from the field to popcorn kernels. Luckily I have an awesome father-in-law who did all the dirty work for me and gave me the end product, a huge bag of popcorn kernels AND an old fashion popcorn popper...


Get a load of this beauty!! A hand crank (yes you actually have to do some manual labor). As a child anytime we made our own popcorn on the stove it was usually just in a pot on the stove which easily burned if you weren't careful. This was my first time using this baby. I was told to just throw a handful of kernels in there, apparently my first idea of a handful was extremely overdone. Take One: I put a cup of kernels (a cups a handful right?!) and as popcorn started popping through the top, it was still popping! Only about half actually got a chance to pop before I had to start dumping it out. Take Two: Let's try a 1/2 cup....success! Hardly any left over kernels! Yeah me!


For those of you who are completely oblivious to making popcorn other than opening a box and throwing a bag in the microwave, it's really quite simple. All you have to do is add a little oil to the pan to coat the bottom, add the kernels but not to much, and heat on med-low until the oil starts boiling and the kernels begin to pop. But remember to constantly move the pot so it doesn't stick to the bottom and burn and DO NOT open the lid to that a peek!! You will no doubt get splattered by hot oil or get hit my a flying popcorn kernel, trust me :) Then pour the popped corn into a bowl and all I do is sprinkle with kosher salt, that's really all it needs and it is amazingly good! You should try it!


Now on to this sweet snack food called caramel corn...

My Amish Friend's Caramel Corn
Source: Allrecipes.com

• 7 quarts plain popped popcorn
• 2 cups dry roasted peanuts, optional
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup butter
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Place the popped popcorn into two shallow grease baking pans. You can use roasting pans, jelly roll pans, or disposable roasting pans. Add the peanuts to the popped corn if using. Set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, butter and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring enough to blend. Once the mixture begins to boil, boil for 5 minutes while stirring constantly
3. Remove from the heat and stir in the baking soda and vanilla. The mixture will be light and foamy. Immediately pour over the popcorn in the pans ans stir to coat. Don't worry too much at this point about getting the corn coated.
4. Bake for 1 hour, removing the pans from the oven and giving each a good stir every 15 minutes. Line the counter top with waxed paper. Dump the corn out onto the waxed paper and separate the pieces. Allow to cool completely, the store in airtight containers or resealable bags.
   

This stuff is good ad definitely lives up to it's over 600 reviews!