Cowboy Caviar

This is a great appetizer, snack, or side dish. 

It's fresh and healthy. 

And it's really good.

Cowboy Caviar

Ingredients

Dressing:

1 Tbs sugar

2 Tbs vinegar (plain white/ distilled)

2 Tbs vegetable oil

Juice from 1 lime (about 1 Tbs)

1/4 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Mix these together and let sit. 

After making dressing, prepare these:

4 avocados- diced

2-3 tomatoes- diced

2 cups frozen corn

1 can black beans- drained and rinsed

1 can black eyed peas- drained and rinsed

2 cloves garlic- minced

Toss allthese  ingredients in a medium/ large bowl.  Drizzle dressing over top, give it a quick stir to fully incorporate. 

Let sit in fridge for a few hours. 

Then serve with tortilla chips.

Here is a quick tip for easy avocado dicing.

Slice avocado in half, remove pit. 

While still in the peel, use knife to cut through avocado, but don't cut through the peel.

Go both directions, cutting into desired size chunks.

Use a spoon to scoop diced avocado out. 

Carmel Corn

One of my favorite treats is homemade carmel corn. 

 I'm not a BIG fan of popcorn, but if you give it to me like this, I'll never turn it down. 

This carmel corn recipe is super easy. 

You don't need a candy thermometer. 

You don't have to know what 'softball' stage is. 

What you do need is:

a glass (pyrex type) dish/ measuring bowl

popped pop corn

a brown paper grocery bag

and the actual food ingredients...

So, first pop that popcorn. 

 Sift the unpopped kernels out, those aren't so fun to bite into.

Your teeth will thank you. 

Put the popped corn into the brown grocery bag. 

In the glass bowl (should easily hold 4 cups), add the butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, and salt. 

No need to even mix it, yet. 

Pop that in the microwave for 1 minute 45 seconds. 

Stir.  Put back in microwave for 1 1/2 minutes. 

Stir.  Add baking soda and vanilla, stir to combine. 

 It will get a littke foamy and look like this:

Now, pour the carmel over the popcorn, in the bag. 

Jiggle the popcorn around lightly to help coat it with carmel. 

Roll the top of the bag down.  Now shake like crazy.  Turn the bag all around (while holding it shut) to coat all the popcorn. 

Keep the bag rolled, and put the bag in the microwave for about 1 minute and 15 seconds. 

Take the bag out and shake it again. 

Return it to the microwave for 1 minute and 15 seconds again. 

Take it out and shake it again. 

Grease a cookie sheet and pour the contents of the bag onto the sheet. 

Let cool. 

Once cooled, you can break it up and eat it!

It's so good. 

Carmel Corn

Ingredients

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter (1 cube)

1/4 cup corn syrup

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

1 gallon popcorn (that's popped corn!)

Put sugar, butter, corn syrup, and salt in microwave safe bowl and cook 1 min. 45 seconds in mocrowave.  Stir to combine.  Return to microwave for 1 min. 30 seconds.  Stir.  Add baking soda and vanilla, stir again.  Pour over popcorn.  Jostle the bag while pouring the carmel to help coat all the kernels. 

Roll the top of the bag down (to close it) and shake again.  Place the rolled down bag in the microwave and cook for 1 min. 15 seconds.  Shake the bag again.  Return to the microwave 1 last time for 1 minute 15 seconds.  Shake again, then dump out onto a greased cookie sheet.  Let cool, then break up into indiviual pieces.



Pumpkin Butter

My sister-in-law, Cathy, is so creative. 

She is going to be a contributor on this blog, so expect some great things!!

Here is some pumkin butter that she made and canned and decorated super cute. 

Who wouldn't want to receive one of these as a gift?! 

So, her recipe sounds super simple, and pumpkin butter is SO good.

So, I'm gonna have to try this one out. 

(You should too!)

Pumpkin Butter

Ingredients

29 to 32 oz pumpkin (canned)

1 T. pumpkin pie spice

¾ oz to 1 oz powdered pectin

4 cups sugar

Mix together first 3 ingredients in a 4 qt pot or larger (it splatters), heat on med high until very hot, it will not boil.

Add sugar, stirring constantly, until it comes to a boil. Boil hard for 1 min. remove from heat.

Let sit for 5 minutes. Ladle into sterile containers, put lids on.

Makes 6 to 7 half pint jars.

I put them in a water bath (boil completely submerged in water for 10 minutes) to can them. Allow to cool on a dry towel for 24 hrs. the lids will seal.

Easy, right?! 

Then you can decorate them like she did, if your giving them away as gifts. 

Happy weekend before Thanksgiving!!  ;)

Cinnamon Nutmeg Syrup

The perfect syrup for the fall and winter months,

but it would taste great any time of year, really.

Cinnamon Nutmeg Syrup

1 cup sugar

2 Tbs flour

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

2 cups cold water

2 Tbs butter

1 tsp vanilla

In large sauce pan, combine  first 5 ingredients and whisk to combine.  Bring to a boil over medium heat; cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the syrup starts to thicken. 

Remove from heat and add the butter (doesn't need to be pre-melted), and the vanilla.  Stir until the butter is melted. 

Spoon over waffles, pancakes, hootenanny, etc. 

Pumpkin Buttermilk Waffles

When I turned 15, I got a waffle maker for my birthday.  I loved waffles, and I still do. 

My 17 month old son also loves waffles.  He will ask for them. 

Boy, was he in heaven yesterday when I made these pumkin buttermilk waffles. 

Actually, all my kids liked them.  Even my daughter who SWORE she wouldn't. 

These are good. 

Just look at them, yummy. 

Pumpkin Buttermilk Waffles

1 cup plus 2 Tbs flour

2 Tbs brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 eggs- yolk separated

1 1/4 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup canned pumpkin (not pie filling)

2 Tbs melted butter

Combine all dry ingredients and stir to combine. 

 In separate bowl whip egg whites still stiff peaks form. 

In third bowl, combine pumpkin, buttermilk, egg yollks, and butter.  Beat these wet ingredients together, then add dry ingredients and beat again. 

Fold in egg whites. 

Makes 4 waffles.

Pour or spoon into hot waffle iron and cook til crisp, or desired doneness. 

Maple syrup is good, but we ate these with buttermilk syrup and cinnamon nutmeg syrup and they were fantastic!! 

Homemade French Fries

 

I like fast food french fries, just like everyone else, right? 

But, who wants to buy those all the time?

These french fries are super yummy, even better than fast food ones, if you ask me, 

Start by slicing up your potatoes.  Do them thin and they wll cook faster.  Or, if you like big, thick, fries, cut them thick and they will just have to cook a little longer. 

After you cut them, rinse them with cold water.  Then pat them dry. 

While you are cutting your fries, let some oil get HOT in a pan. 

So it will be ready when you are.

Once your fries are dried, gently place them in the oil. 

 Tip: Throwing potatoes in hot oil splashes the oil, and it burns if it gets on you. 

Just so ya know. 

Let them cook for a few minutes.  Then remove to some paper towels. 

Add more potatoes to the oil and continue cooking, and then removing them to the paper towels. 

Your fries should look like this:

Soggy, pale, not super appetizing... Yet. 

Here's the secret.  You want to fry these babies again.  Once you have taken all the fries out of the oil, let it heat up again for a minute.  Then put the fries back in.  They will turn a golden brown pretty quick, and get nice and crispy. 

See how the fry holds its shape now?

Remove the fries from the oil again and place on new paper towels. 

Dust them with some seasoned salt. 

Try at least one right away.  (Well, after it cools slightly)

Look at the difference between the first frying and the second:

We ate these with some hamburgers the other night, and everything was so good. 

My husband kept stealing them from the kitchen before dinner was ready.

He admitted that he couldn't resist them, they were SO good. 

Try these out, you will like 'em!

No real recipe here.  You cut as many potatoes as you think your family will eat. 

For my family of 6, I cut 3 LARGE potatoes, and we had left overs. 

-Heat oil

-Cut potatoes

-Rinse potatoes

-Dry potatoes

-Fry potatoes

-Fry them again

-Sprinkle with seasoned salt

-Eat

Super easy.  :)

Pumpkin Bread

So, I love pumpkin, but is has taken me a while to feel that way.  I used to really not like, at all, pumpkin pie.  (GASP!)  I know, crazy, right?  Well, I finally came around. 

There are so many pumpkin foods out there.  I gonna try and bring you a bunch of my favorites before Thanksgiving, and maybe after, because hey, pumpkin shouldn't only be enjoyed before Thanksgiving. 

Pumpkin Bread

My family LOVES this recipe, especially my kids. 

These loaves go quick at our house.

Ingredients

5 eggs

1 1/4 cups oil

1 (15 oz) can pumpkin (not pie filling)

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

2 packages 'cook and serve' vanllia pudding mix (3 oz size)

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

Beat eggs in large mixing bowl.  Add oil and pumpkin and beat til fully combined. 

In medium sized bowl stir together all remaining ingredients (all the dry stuff). 

Gradually add the dry ingredients mixture to the pumpkin mixture.  Beating after each addition to fully incorporate. 

Pour batter into loaf pans, 2 normal sized pans, OR 5 mini loaf pans. 

Bake at 325 degrees.

If using 2 normal sized pans, bake for 75-80 minutes. 

For mini pans bake for 50-55 minutes.

Use a toothpick inserted in the center to check if they are done. 

The toothpick should come out clean when they are fully cooked.