Busy Morning in the Kitchen

Today Kyle had the day off from preschool since it was parent-teacher conferences for the special-ed kids. Last night we rented "Monsters vs. Aliens" and invited his neighbor-friend, David to come over this morning to watch the movie, have lunch with us, and some playtime with Kyle. I promised Kyle that I would make them some homemade caramel popcorn to have while they watched their movie. Well, that fell through since I didn't have the ingredients, but my mom made a run to the grocery store and we were still able to make the popcorn, just not in time to have it while watching the movie.

Homemade Caramel popcorn is such an easy thing to make. It is a big hit at parties and a great gift to give to a neighbor or friend at Christmas or just because. I actually made 2 batches today. I made enough for our family enjoy, plus some to send to my brother in a college-care-package, and plenty to share with my neighbor.


Caramel Corn
6 Quarts Popcorn
1 Cup Butter
2 Cups Brown Sugar
1 Tsp Vanilla
1/2 Tsp Baking Soda

1. Pop popcorn and set aside.
2. Over medium heat, bring last 4 ingredients to a boil and boil for 5 minutes stirring constantly.
3. Pour over popcorn and mix well.
4. Spread onto baking sheet and bake in the oven at 250 degrees for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

While I was in the kitchen, I also took the time to do a little meal preparation for our dinner. Our menu for tonight is Venison roast, boiled potatoes, green beans, and homemade applesauce. I may make some biscuits as well, but that will depend on how much time I have. Wednesday's are Awana nights which means I have to have dinner on the table earlier than normal. I prepared the roast and have that ready to pop in the oven, and I also cooked the homemade applesauce.

Homemade applesauce is another one of those things that is just so easy to make and tastes 100 times better than anything you'll buy in a grocery store. I usually like to make several batches of applesauce at once and freeze some of it, however I haven't been to the orchard to pick apples yet so I only had enough apples on hand to make one batch. Just enough to have with our dinner tonight. I know there won't be any leftovers because we all love homemade applesauce!


Applesauce
2 lbs apples
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cloves
1/2 cup sugar

1. Peel, slice, and core apples and place in saucepan.
2. Add cinnamon and cloves. Bring to boil and then allow to simmer for 10-20 minutes. Simmer until apples are soft and easily mashed with a masher. The time varies depending on the variety of apples used.
3. Add sugar and cook for another minute.
4. Serve warm, refrigerate for later, or put it in freezer containers and freeze for future use.

If you've got a favorite recipe please post it in a comment, or post a link to it in a comment. I love to try new recipes, especially when I know they are tried and true.