A Little Craving

I crave sweets.  Let me re-phrase that.  I CRAVE sweets! I mostly love chocolate and carmel.   Either together or seperate.  But mostly TOGETHER!!  But, anyways.....here is a quick snack that is just carmel....but you will love it anyways!  Trust me this carmel corn is ADDICTIVE!  

Pop - 3-4 quarts of popcorn in an air-popper, and put in a large brown paper bag from the grocery bag.

Next, in a microwave-safe bowl, put 1c. brown sugar, 1/2c. butter, 1/4 c. white corn syrup.  Put in microwave and cook until boiling.  I stir it up before it starts to boil, just so it is all combined.  Then boil for 1 minute. 

Take it out of the microwave, and quickly add 1/2 tsp. baking soda. 

Stir with a whisk the syrup will become thicker and frothy. 

Quickly pour over the popcorn in the bag.

Stir quickly......use a LONG spoon.  Or you will have sticky hands and arms!  Make sure you stir it up so that your popcorn is evenly coated. 

Next fold down your bag, so that it will fit in your microwave.   Cook 1 minute.  Take out and stir.  Fold your bag down again, and cook 1 minute longer.   

Take out of the microwave and stir once more.....then pour onto a large sheet pan. 

 Now.... you can let it cool..... or dig straight into it!

Farmer Johnson and I can eat a whole batch in one sitting.   I wouldn't recommend it,  but it just proves how addictive this stuff is.  I don't know how many people I have given this recipe to.  And, now it is yours.  Enjoy!!



One Chicken Two Chicken

Last week when I had a million things going on Farmer Johnson thought it would be a good idea to boil up a chicken for soup.  I said, well if I am going to go through the mess might as well do two!

One Chicken

Two Chickens in a very LARGE stockpot.

Fill almost to cover the chickens.  My chickens are frozen from a local Hutterite Colony down the road.  Since they are frozen they take up more room in the pot at first, but once they start to thaw, they will settle into the pot better.

Time to season up that water and chicken!!!

I don't measure, sorry!  A few bay leaves, a dash of minced garlic, a lot of black pepper, and some minced onion.  If you have a fresh onion use it, I happend to be out, so I used the dry minced.

Cut up some celery

Like my pretty carrots from my garden??

Cut them up!

Add it to your pot!

Cover your pot and bring your goodies to a boil!

Keep it covered, and turn your heat down to medium and let it cook for a couple hours. 

It is done when your chicken will fall apart and away from the bone.  If you use a fresh chicken, this won't take near as long, maybe 30 minutes.

Carefully take your chicken out of your stockpot and put on a large sheet pan or cookie sheet.  Let cool completely.  Your fingers will thank you later!

Let your stock cool for a bit.  Then strain your stock.  Carefully.  It is HOT!!

See....you'll catch all the goodies you put in your pot!  Put them in your "scrap bucket".....that is what we call it at our house.  I think Rachel Ray calls her's a "garbage bowl."  Or discard how you like.

My "scrap bucket(s)".....they get taken outside to my garden compost pile.  Can't just throw out all those good nutrients for next years garden crop.

These are 2 - 1 gallon ice cream buckets full of chicken stock!  That is a lot of stock....imagine what you could make with that!

Chill it so you can scoop the fat off when it solidifies.

See.....yucky!  You don't need that stuff!

All cleaned off!

Ready to use or ready to freeze.  Make sure you label it, or you might think it is ice cream during one of those late night cravings.  That may or may not have happend the last time I was pregnant ;) !

BACK TO THE CHICKEN

Clean all that meat off those bones!  Look at all that meat from those 2 chickens!

All cut up......this is about 10 cups of diced chicken.  That is enough for 5 recipes! 

I used 2 cups for a chicken spaghetti recipe, and then I froze the rest in quart freezer bags - 2 cups/each.  Just take out a bag when you are ready to make dinner!

 

If my grandmothers were still alive they would be so proud of me.  They used to do this all of the time.  They would even re-boil the chicken bones again.  That is a little much for me, but still like to pay tribute to that generation and their great cooking skills. 

Until next time.

My Pizza Hut Pan Pizza

Another find on pinterest.  Oh that site will be the death of me!!!! So, this is my attempt at homemade Pizza Hut Pan crust pizza. 

 Here are the instructions for the dough: (I made alterations to the original recipe, b/c I didn't have powdered milk - and I didn't want to buy a whole box)

* 1 cup warm milk

* 1/3 cup Warm water (~105 degrees)

* 1/2 tsp salt
* 4 cups flour
* 1 tbs sugar
* 1 package instant dry yeast
* 2 tbs vegetable oil
* vegetable oil for the bottom of your pan

Get out old Bessie - your KitchenAid mixer - my best friend.  The single best purchase of my adult life.

Put the yeast, sugar, salt,  in the bowl of  the mixer. Add the warm water and warm milk and stir a little bit.  Let it sit for a couple minutes, until the mixture starts to bubble.

Add oil and stir again.

Add the flour 1 cup at a time until dough forms and the dough cleans the bowl. Then knead the dough with the dough hook on speed 2 for 4 to 5 mintues.

Turn your dough out onto a floured surface.  Roll your dough out to fit the size of the cake pan you decide to use.  I decided to use a 12x18 cake pan. 

 Yes, this is LARGE, I know!  Farmer Johnson likes pizza, as do the kiddos. 

The website where I got the recipe from uses 3 - 9" round cake pans. 

I sprayed my cake pan, and then poured vegtable oil all over the bottom of the pan.  Just enough to cover it completely.  This is what will give the crust that famous flavor and crunch.  My favorite pizza crust EVER!!

So, this is what it looks like in my pan.  I kind of pushed up the sides so there is a "well" for your toppings.

Cover and let raise 1-2 hours.  Ya, this is a big pan....and what the heck would you use to cover that??? How about one of my cake display boards?  Worked perfectly! 

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.  And get to assembling that  pizza!!

I'm lazy, and my crew happens to like jar spaghetti sauce for their pizza sauce.  So, that's what I use!

A little hamburger & pepperoni.  Farmer Johnson and I like green peppers, but the kiddos won't eat them - they call them "onions".  Anything they don't like, they think are onions.  Silly I know. 

So, there it is -  half and half.

More cheese!

Bake for about 18 minutes....keep your eye on it!  It is done when your crust is golden and your cheese is started to brown.  The smells coming out of your oven, will be making you think that you are sitting in Pizza Hut. 

Another look..............it really does taste like homemade pan crust from Pizza Hut.  As Farmer Johnson was walking up the stairs from putting Miss Ella to bed tonight he says, "Jeesh, it really does smell like Pizza Hut in here!"

I think the verdict is in!



A little tie for a little man

So, I found this pattern and tutorial on pinterest, and thought: "Oh I can do that!"  A blizzard day project.........and guess what........... it was suppose to blizzard today.  And, it did!

 So I printed out the instructions, and made my pattern.  I decided to make the newborn size.

I used an old plaid shirt that I was going to rummage.  I think I could get quite a few ties out of it.  What do you think???  What a great idea to use some of Farmer Johnson's old plaid shirts.  Another great idea is to make these bibs out of some old shirts for your little man too.  Another project for another day. 

Here is a nicer shot......

All done!  If my sewing machine wasn't a piece of junk, it would have taken a lot less time.  It turned out great, and what do you think of the little man modeling his new tie???

Until next time...from the little farm on the prairie. ~ JJ 

Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls

Yesterday while Farmer Johnson took Miss Ella to her first bull sale, I made these (not my picture - I forgot to take some)  cinnamon rolls .......divine!!!  I picked this recipe, because it makes 15 rolls, instead of an enormous 40-50 like some recipes. 

http://www.laurenslatest.com/my-cinnabon-cinnamon-rolls/ 

They really do taste like Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls.  Super easy, if you have a KitchenAid Mixer to do the work for you.  The super frugal person that I am, buys cheap cinnamon. If I had some super high quality cinnamon, they would be even better. 

I always remember my mother making homemade cinnamon rolls/carmel rolls growing up; and she still does.  She always used the sweet dough recipe from the KitchenAid mixer recipe book.  They were always sooo good.  They were gone within a couple hours.  Growing up with 2 brothers, nothing lasted long in our tiny little kitchen.  If there were any left, it seemed as though they got dry very quickly.  I have learned through researching this recipe, and others like it; the secret is to pour your frosting on your rolls when they come out of the oven.  The rolls will absorb moisture from the frosting, and will not dry out.  Makes sense to me, how about you? 

So, this was my first attempt at baking cinnamon rolls without my Mom.  Something special that we always did together.  Of course, I called her when they came out of the oven to tell her.  I was pretty proud of myself!  Farmer Johnson and the girls licked them up this morning before heading off to church.

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