Mix It Up Friday - December

from Tracey G

Here it is again! Another Mix It Up Friday! One of my favorite things we do - because while it's always fun (usually, lol) to bake from scratch, there's something equally fun about a mix as well! I love trying them and seeing if they can pass for homemade, even if it's not my intention, that is always my underlying ulterior motive, lol. I may not even do it consciously, but that's always something I'm looking for regardless. So far, King Arthur Flour has yet to disappoint!

Every mix I have tried would pass the homemade test, and this one this week is no exception. The Essential Goodness Cinnamon Sugar Puff Muffin Mix is wonderful! It really does remind me of a cinnamon sugar doughnut! I think there is just the right combination of nutmeg (once again they are putting one of my favorite spices to use!) and cinnamon in the muffin that combines wonderfully with the cinnamon sugar topping.

The extra ingredients you bring to the party for the muffins are eggs, butter or vegetable oil and milk. The only additional ingredient needed for the coating of cinnamon sugar is melted butter. Since I am watching my cholesterol intake these days, I used the vegetable oil option in the muffin mix instead of the butter, and they were still yummy as can be. I imagine the butter would add an extra layer of flavor (or just that little something you can't quite put your finger on), I do hope to try that variation one of these days, lol. And the other thing I did, was only dip the tops of the muffins in the cinnamon sugar mix. That is because I used foil liners for the muffins, and didn't feel like peeling them all off for the coating, lol.

 So, bottom line is this is another winner in the Essential Goodness line of mixes from  King Arthur Flour. And don't forget, that for every Essential Goodness mix purchased,  King Arthur Flour will donate the cost of a meal to Feeding America! And that's something you can feel good about!

If you're like me and have limited places to shop, you can purchase any of the Essential Goodness mixes right from King Arthur Flour's website. Here's a link right to the purchase page: Cinnamon Sugar Puff Muffin Mix


from Kris B

My taste buds and the scale say that I have had enough sweets lately.  I was surprised to discover that King Arthur Flour carries soup mixes.  The Indiana Harvest Sausage and Lentil Soup Mix is manufactured by Frontier Soups and sold by King Arthur Flour as well as on the company's own website.

As Tracey said, most of the time we are committed to cooking from scratch. but every now and then it is handy to have a "mix" on hand.  The Indiana Harvest Sausage and Lentil Soup is described as a hearty meal and has a made from scratch flavor.  The "mix" contains the lentils and a spice packet.  So really, the convenience is in not having to forage through the spice rack and measure everything out.  The package instructions call for you to brown and add a pound of Italian sausage,  broth, three diced zucchini, and a couple of cans of petite diced tomatoes.  Since this was my first time to try this mix, I made it exactly as was instructed, but now having done that and eaten it, I can see the potential for lots of variations.

Though the name is sausage and lentil soup, I think that the Italian sausage could be omitted and vegetable broth substituted for the beef broth without compromising the overall flavor of the soup.  And, as is the case with almost any soup homemade or otherwise, whatever vegetables that you happen to have on hand could be added.  The next time I make this, I am going to try adding some spinach and or kale.

I do have a warning...this recipe makes A LOT of soup!!!  The package says 8-10 servings.  I'm not sure what they consider a serving size, but Weber and I had a dinner and two lunches with generous portions, plus I froze several containers for lunches once I go back to school.  It's a good thing we liked it! lol!

And what goes with soup?  Of course...a nice loaf of hot out of the oven bread!  I made the Everyday Whole-Grain Bread from the King Arthur October Bakealong Challenge.

I have not seen this soup mix in any of my local grocery stores, but as I said above, it is available on their King Arthur Flour website.  It is the prefect meal for these cold winter days ahead!

*****

On a completely different note,  we want to let you know that this will be our last post to Pixels, Plates, and Lols.  No, we did not have a falling out over crumbs and drips or no crumbs and drips in our food photos, or over Times verses Arial (We both have that argument with Blogger!), or PS over LR.  All is good with us!  With a new year comes  new things.  Watch for new things from us with the dawning of 2017  We love all of you who have followed us from the beginning or who just stop by occasionally.  

Please don't go away!  we will be right back!  

Until then, drink lots of coffee, take lots of photos, and laugh, laugh, laugh!

We wish all of you and those you love a happy and healthy new year!

XOXOX Tracey and Kris

Food Friday - A is for Apple

from Tracey G

The minute I saw this recipe it intrigued me - my immediate thought was, "what a neat way to do a pie!" I'd never thought to make one in this style, and it was fun and easy to eat too - you could either do it the "proper" way, with a plate and fork, or you could just grab a napkin and eat it like a piece of pizza! This week, I present Apple Pie Bars a King Arthur Flour recipe.

I'll admit that pie pastry and I have never really had a good relationship, lol. In fact, I'd just buy mine in the refrigerated section (you know the ones, the rolled-up-like-a-scroll crusts), and I absolutely love them, so there was never a reason to venture into a territory that has never been very hospitable to me. Then I read this recipe, and thought I'd give it another go - but with a little help. So, in addition to some of the other ingredients I bought (more on those later), I took the step and ordered the King Arthur Flour Pastry Flour Blend. Of course you can make this without it, it says you can use either it or all-purpose flour - but I wanted to see if using a pastry flour would  help out my efforts. I must report that this was the first time I've created a crust I was happy with! So, I guess for those of us (ok, me!) who are pie pastry challenged, it doesn't hurt to have a little ace in the hole by way of pastry flour!!

Among my previous ingredient purchases, I was happy to have a reason to finally use the Boiled Cider (it's apple cider boiled down to a lovely and yummy syrup) I'd also ordered from the KAF website, as this recipe called for it. But from what I've read with other recipes that use the boiled cider, apple juice concentrate (thawed) can be used as a suitable substitute. But I have to say I am so glad I bought that stuff, the flavor is amazing, it's definitely going to be a regular item in my baking pantry! There are a lot of things you can use this wonderful product for, you can even reconstitute it to make regular cider! I've all kinds of plans for this item, from cake glazes to a meat glaze - so many possibilities!! I can't say enough about the boiled cider!

The recipe also calls for their Pie Filling Enhancer. It's a thickening agent (ClearJel) with a couple other things added, some superfine sugar and ascorbic acid. I'd been wanting to try that as well since it was something I'd bought when I got the boiled cider and so forth, so it was fun to have the chance to break it out and put it to use! They also do have other ideas for thickening the filling if you don't want to use this. Their Pie Thickener Ingredient Guide has loads of information.

The only problem I had with this recipe - and it was totally my fault - was the apples I used. Every fall, I buy a bunch of apples, get the apple peeler out (well, Jeremy and Harry do!) then peel, core and slice (all one step with the peeler!) up as many as I can, and then package in about 6 cups per freezer bag which is generally the amount called for in many pie recipes and cobbler recipes. That way, during the winter, an apple cobbler on the fly is easy peasy, since the time consuming stuff has already been done! But, I didn't even think when I made this, that frozen for this sort of not-in-a-dish pie might not be such a wise choice, lol. They do get much more juicy as they thaw of course, so as I'm trying to get the filling made and on the pastry, it was running like crazy and I found myself mopping up juice off the bottom pastry with paper towels so it would seal properly! It was in effect, a mess! Next time, I will make sure I drain them well if I am going to use them for a recipe like this!!  

Other than all of that, this is a wonderful and yummy recipe - it most certainly did not last long around here at all. I had no troubles rolling out the dough, although it did seem like it wasn't going to make it to the sizes needed, but it did. I can definitely say this will be made again - and has given me, once again, ideas on other fillings at some point!

Do try it - I don't think you'll be disappointed!!!

Link to the recipe:

Apple Pie Bars

Useful links to the special ingredients:

King Arthur Flour Pastry Flour Blend

Boiled Cider

   

Pie Filling Enhancer

from Kris B.

I am a firm believer in "an apple a day..."  I take an apple in my lunch almost every day.  There are those times, however, where I want it as a dessert rather than as a side.  Unfortunately, when I have those dessert cravings, it is rarely when I have the time to stop what I am doing and whip out an apple pie.  For this reason, I was happy to find the Apple Tortilla Bake recipe by King Arthur Flour.

Being from Texas, anything that has tortillas as an ingredient catches my attention, especially when using tortillas means that I can have an apple pie type dessert without having to make a pie crust!  Though King Arthur does have a recipe for homemade flour tortillas, this recipe does not guilt you in to making your own tortillas though you certainly can if you want to.  Because I have so many sources for fresh homemade tortillas that are much better than any that I could make, I bought mine locally,  If you've never made homemade tortillas, it is something to try when you are feeling adventurous!

The tortillas form the "crust" for this dessert which has a custard and spiced apple filling.  Cinnamon is the star player here.  Cinnamon and apples...it's got to be good!  The 6 oz. ramekins are lined with pieces of cut tortilla, filled with the custard mixture and the spiced apples are mounded in the middle.  The processing of putting this together is quick and easy.

Though the recipe does not include this instruction, I placed the individual ramekins on a baking sheet before placing them in the oven.  I am SO glad that I did this because they did bubble over.  I may have been a lot less impressed with this recipe if I had had to clean my oven after making it . Lol!  I did find that I had to increase the baking time to 38 minutes from the recipe's suggested cook time of 28 - 30 minutes.   I'm not sure if this increase in cook time was necessary because of using the baking sheet or if my oven temperature needs to be calibrated.   Doneness is based on the custard being set.  After thirty minutes in the oven, mine were still runny.

I chose to place my tortillas in the ramekins with the small (pointed) ends up because I like the sunflower look that doing this gives.  In the photo on the King Arthur recipe, it looks like they placed the smaller end in the cup and the bigger end formed formed a higher edge all the way around the ramekin.  If I had done this, perhaps my cup would not have runneth over. Lol!

I made this recipe for the first time for my husband and me.  He had one "complain."  It was so good that eh wanted more than one.  The recipe makes four 6 oz. servings.  I made the Apple Tortilla Bake again for a luncheon and doubled the recipe for eight servings.  It worked perfectly.  Again, I placed the individual ramekins on a baking sheet.  I did not have to increase the cooking time beyond the 38 minutes necessary when cooking only four servings.

Enjoy this while the fall apples are still delicious!

Link to the recipe:

Apple Tortilla Bake

FOOD FRIDAY - Bake for Good with King Arthur Flour

from Kris B.

And so it is fall...long jeans and sweaters are starting to fill the racks in the department stores, the produce stands around town are dominated by big bins of orange pumpkins, and as I enter the grocery store, I am now being greeted by the overwhelming smell of cinnamon coming from the bags of cinnamon infused pine cones in the floral department.  That is not a complaint; I live the smell of cinnamon!  I think that is why I was drawn to this week's recipe for whole wheat cinnamon scones from King Arthur Flour.  Though everything around me says fall, there is a little part of me that is still missing the afternoon scones that I had for the two weeks that I was in England over the summer.  Perhaps making this recipe was a way for me to bid summer a final farewell and fully embrace the beauty of fall.  That really shouldn't be too difficult since fall is my favorite season.  I love everything about it - the weather, the clothing, and the food!

Throughout the month of October, Tracey and I are going to be sharing recipes from King Arthur Flour.  We are doing this to help support King Arthur's Bake for Good Month.  This initiative asks bakers to pledge to bake and share their creations.  For every pledge received, King Arthur will donate the cost of one meal to Feeding America, an organization that helps local food banks across the United States.  They will also send those of us who pledge  on the King Arthur website a 75 cent coupon good on King Arthur flour.  One of the things that you are asked on the "pledge" form is, who will you feed?  I often take my baked goods to school and share them with my students.  I know that many of them don't take the time or have the resources to eat well.  They are always hungry and most appreciative of a fresh blueberry muffin, peanut butter cookie, coffee cake, or whatever else I happen to come up with.  I have learned that I also need to make enough for my colleagues.  Once word gets around that there are treats in my classroom, everyone stops by for a mid-morning snack.  This scone recipe only makes twelve scones so I'm going to have to make multiple batches to get everyone fed!

After getting excited about making the cinnamon scones, I ran in to a bit of a problem.  The recipe calls for cinnamon chips and I could not find any locally.  I went to four different stores in my area, one of which I have to be very desperate to enter.  No cinnamon chips to be found anywhere.  I looked online and discovered that Hershey's makes them as does King Arthur.  Unfortunately, I didn't have time to wait for them to be delivered.  So, I had to punt.  I used salted caramel chips instead of cinnamon.  Caramel is a fall flavor too, right?  Think caramel apples.  In my defense, the recipe states that you can substitute any chips of your choice.  The caramel chips taste just fine, but I have ordered the cinnamon chips and will makes this recipe again so that I get the full effect of the cinnamon.  I want my scones to have that same aroma of cinnamon that I get from the pine cones at the grocery store.

Here is the recipe for King Arthur Flour's Whole Wheat Cinnamon Scones.

We enjoyed our scones plain.  No butter.  No nothing.  But, I'm sure with a little cinnamon butter, or if you're feeling a bit decadent, brown sugar cinnamon butter, they would be supper delicious!

On a photography note...watch your own shadow when you are photographing, particularly up close.  Lol!  My schedule has been such that I don't have much natural light time for photos.  Artificial light and foam core boards have been my saving grace.  This means I can bake and shoot photos into the wee hours of the night.  I must say that this is not the ideal way to do things, but in a pinch it works! Lol!

Happy baking, eating, and photographing!!!!



from Tracey G

As Kris said, we decided to bake all King Arthur Flour recipes this month in honor of and to help promote their Bake For Good campaign - which we both think is a pretty great idea! I love to bake - and even though I do occasionally like to eat the items as well, I more enjoy sharing! I think it's a fun thing to do, which is why I usually make myself crazy during the holiday season - I love to bake and share so I generally have a "to bake" list that's much too long, and end up scratching off a few items to save my sanity, erm, I should say what's left of my sanity! ;-)

I am always interested in working with modified diets for many reasons. My mom, during the last few years of her life, was on a Kidney/Renal diet AND a Heart Healthy diet - and believe me, lol, balancing the two was not easy! I made bread like it was going out of style, 4 homemade loaves a week that would get frozen because my mom loved taking sandwiches to dialysis since her set time was around lunch time every day. Commercially prepared bread is crazy high in sodium and if I remember correctly was the number one food item listed on the list of foods to stay away from when we were getting information from the doctors on her various dietary restrictions! 

I myself have worked with a restricted diet, I was diagnosed with Interstitial Cystitis back in November of 2004, and I immediately learned to use the IC Diet to manage my symptoms along with the medications, but I said it then - and I still say it now, the diet was my one of my biggest tools for managing my symptoms. It was just as important as my medications! Even though, now a days, I've been in remission for the most part, if I have a troublesome day, I immediately revert to the diet - which is a low acid diet. So, as you can see I've had my fair share with special diets, and one that I find I'd like to learn a few things about and how to adapt to is gluten-free. I'm always on the lookout for a gluten-free baking mix to try and now recently, I've been wanting  to try my hand at from-scratch gluten-free baking.

When Kris gifted me with my Spring 2016 issue of Sift magazine, put out by King Arthur Flour, this recipe for gluten-free lemon bars caught my attention. I ordered the King Arthur Almond Flour right away, but then the weather never cooperated for baking! It was always WAY too hot, and I wasn't about to add to the heat by firing up the oven, lol. So, when Kris suggested we bake all King Arthur recipes this month, I knew immediately which one I was going to make first!

The recipe is delicious and easy. Harry and Jeremy have both put their stamp of approval on it, and no one was the wiser that it was made with an almond flour crust. And honestly, what's not to love about almonds anyway, so it can only be good! LOL Unless you don't like almonds, but even then you don't taste "almond" so I say try it anyway I don't think you'll be disappointed! 

This was also the first time I weighed out all my ingredients as they were added. All except the liquids and eggs of course. I recently got a handy kitchen scale, so I decided I was going to give it a shot. I did notice though, that the online version of the recipe doesn't have the weights listed, so I will type out the ingredient list as well as link to the recipe online instead of just linking! I read through some of the first few comments listed on the recipe's webpage, and I didn't have any of the issues the commenter's seemed to have had - so in my opinion and experience it was perfect as it was! And using my handy little ruler I keep for baking/cooking, I got exactly 16 2"x 2" squares out of my pan!

Gluten-Free Lemon Squares with Almond Flour Crust

Courtesy of King Arthur Flour, can be found here: Gluten-Free Lemon Squares with Almond Flour Crust

Makes 16 Squares

Crust

2 cups (6 3/4 ounces) King Arthur Almond Flour

6 tablespoons (2 5/8 ounces) sugar

3 tablespoons (3/4 ounce) gluten-free cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons (3 ounces) cold butter, diced

Filling

2 large eggs

1 cup (7 ounces) sugar

1/3 cup (2 5/8 ounces) lemon juice

2 tablespoons (1/2 ounce) gluten-free cornstarch

pinch of salt

confectioners' sugar for dusting, optional

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease an 8" square pan or 9" round pan.

To make the crust:

Combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl, whisking to blend. Add the cold butter, working it in with your fingers or a pastry blender until the mixture is evenly combined and crumbly.

Dump the mixture into the prepared pan, shake to distribute, and press the crust into the bottom and about 1/2" up the sides of the pan.

Bake the crust until it's light golden brown, about 8-10 minutes. While the crust is baking, whisk together the filling ingredients.

Remove the pan from the oven and pour the filling over the hot crust. Return the squares to the oven and bake for 14-18 minutes, until the filling appears set.

Remove the squares from the oven, and cool in the pan before cutting into 2" pieces. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving, if desired.

Nutrition information: (1 square, 48g): 199 calories, 3g protein, 22g carbohydrates, 4g fat, 2g fiber, 4g saturated fat, 35mg cholesterol, 64mg sodium, 18g sugars, 2mg vitamin C, 1mg iron, 36mg calcium

Food Friday - Breakfast On the Go

from Kris B.

Tracey and I do our best to share recipes on Food Fridays that we both enjoy making and eating and our hope is that you will find a few that you like as well.  There is no question that we both enjoy the cooking, photographing, and then eating whatever it is that we share in these posts as well.  But honestly, often the “behind the scenes” conversations that we have about what we are doing is the most fun of it all!  I am going to share a bit of this week’s text messaging about our progress toward getting this week’s post done.  You guys will either lose complete respect for us (assuming you ever had any, LOL!); or, you will wish you were part of our circus!

One of my favorite things to think about is text messages that are sent that if were read and of context are either hilarious, frightening, or grounds for a stay in a mental health facility.  Here is one such exchange between us this week.

Me: I need to go shoot muffins.

Tracey: “And what did you do on Saturday?  I shot some muffins!”

Me: It is hunting season, right?

Tracey: Small game I think, so that would be mini muffins…

Me: Uh oh!  I am shooting jumbo muffins…without a license!

Tracey: I won’t tell the DNR!

I am so glad that I have a friend who has my back!  Oh, and this whole conversation was going on amidst another conversation about cup sizes…and not measuring cups!!!  You are going to have to wait for Tracey to share that one with you!!!  Trust me.  You won’t want to miss it!

Now for this week’s recipe, which I believe originally came from Taste of Home…

I have been trying to get up early enough on school mornings to have a nice, calm slow breakfast that involves multiple cups of coffee.  (Nope! Not coffee cup sizes either.)  This works fairly well on the days when my first class is a 9am.  Tuesdays and Thursdays when class starts at 7:30, it’s a once cup morning, with that cup being a travel mug, and sometimes a grab and go breakfast.  These Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Muffins are a great compromise when my taste buds want oatmeal and my schedule say, “Not today, sweetheart!”

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 Cups quick cooking oats

 1 1/4 Cups all-purpose flour

1/2 Cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp  baking soda

3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 Cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 Cup milk )I used almond milk)

3 TBS canola oil

1 egg white

For the topping:

1/4 Cup quick cooking oats

1 TBS brown sugar

1/8 tsp ground cinnamon (I probably used closer to 1/4 tsp)

1 TBS melted butter

Mix together all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl, excluding those used for the topping.  In a second bowl, combine all of the wet ingredients.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring just until incorporated.  *Fill greased muffin cups 3/4 of the way full.  

Mix all of the topping ingredients together and sprinkle evenly on the tops of the muffins.

Bake at 400 degrees for 16-18 minutes.

This recipe yields 10 regular muffins, 6 jumbo muffins, or 20-24 mini muffins.  Choose responsibly depending on whether or not it is muffin hunting season in your area!  

And, using muffin liners negates the need for greasing the tins. :-)

One more thing...There is great debate in food photography as to whether drips and crumbs should be left in photos.  I am a realist.  I think they should.  And, I can't get muffins in the tins without dripping somewhere. So, I left the burnt on drip.  That is me!  If you are a perfectionist and secretly, or not so secretly, want to be Martha Stewart, clean your pans carefully before you bake and photograph.  Or, become a Photoshop whiz!  I have neither the real skills of Martha nor the PS skills to make me look like a fake Martha. Therefore, drips it is.  

Enjoy!

from Tracey G

Ok, I'll admit it - after reading through my friend's post first, before I sat down to write mine, I realized I am a drip-wiper-upper before I bake! LOL! There's never really been any thought to it, it's just something I do, whether I am photographing it or not! Now I wonder if it's not some other manifestation of my tendency toward the perfectionist regime...something to think about for sure as to my motives to do so! Ha!

My post has been quite the project for me this week - not the making of or photographing of, but the getting-it-done-and-all-put-together done kind of thing. I've had a nasty cold and other another illness, involving needing antibiotic, that's been making me feel yucky as well. Geesh, when it rains it pours! So, my attention span has been really shallow, due to feeling tired and just plain blah and icky. It's hard to think when you just want to vegetate and sleep! So, I apologize now for it being later than usual!! Unfortunately, it now seems to have morphed again into a sore throat thing, which is not pleasant at all to deal with and making me rather annoyed, I just want to be back to normal healthy! LOL And here I thought I was starting to feel better....silly me! I should have known better!

I am still in my mode to find things that can be convenient to eat and convenient to store - preferably in the freezer until they're needed and can then be heated and eaten. No muss, no fuss. I found a few recipes for breakfast items that can be an individual serving right out of the oven or the freezer. This one is my own version of a few breakfast-in-a-muffin-cup kind of things. I adjusted ingredients and amounts to suit  my tastes, so that should tell you that you too can do the same thing. Adjust it, add to it - make it yours. Among the variations in my research, things like chopped onion or chopped green pepper can be added to change it up. I am thinking I am going to try a "Greek Version" using feta and spinach, and possibly chopped tomato in the egg mixture. I've lots of ideas for this one, and decided that if the child didn't like them, it didn't matter because I did - and this is something that can help me be on the healthier eating straight and narrow. It's quick and easy to make, and to reheat to eat later - especially if it's one of those times I'm rushed and would be tempted to turn to something either processed or not-so-healthy! And they even are good for brunch/lunch, not just for breakfast, I tested that out as well, lol.

So, here we go, here's the super simple recipe that could potentially have quite a few variations! Let me say here though, that I had a heck of a time getting them out of them out of the muffin cups, even though I sprayed them well. I am thinking that next time I make them, I may use the foil cupcake liners. I'd just have to make sure to remove the foil liner BEFORE I reheated in the microwave!

Egg and Sausage Muffins

Makes 12

1/2 lb bulk pork sausage

12 eggs

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese (or more to taste! Or even a different cheese if you prefer!)

1) Preheat oven to 350°F. In a skillet, cook sausage, breaking into crumbles, until no longer pink; drain.

2) In a large bowl, beat eggs. Add garlic powder, salt, onion powder and pepper. Stir in sausage and cheese.

3) Prepare muffin tin by spraying with cooking spray. Spoon egg mixture into muffin cups, about 1/3 cup in each. Bake for about 20-25 min, or until a knife inserted near center comes out clean.

Freeze Option: Cool baked muffins completely. Place on wax paper lined cookie sheets and freeze until firm. Transfer to a resealable plastic freezer bag (or another tightly covered freezer container) and store in the freezer. To use, place in greased muffin pan, cover loosely with foil and reheat in a 350°F oven until heated through. Or microwave each muffin on high 30-60 seconds or until heated through.

Nutritional Information (approximate), per muffin: 160 calories, 12g fat, (5g saturated) 207mg cholesterol, 346mg sodium, 137mg potassium, 1g carbohydrate, 11g protein

Food Friday - Our Husbands' Special Request Popcorn

from Tracey G.

Jeremy and I were chatting about popcorn the other day, it's been a hot topic since I bought myself a hot air popcorn popper, about a flavored microwave popcorn we'd loved years ago. It was by Orville Redenbacher, it popped up cinnamony and sweet and then you drizzled an "icing" packet on it once you got it in the bowl. Oh. My. Gosh. It was fantastic, and the funny thing is, I thought there was no way this stuff could be good, I mean, come on! Cinnamon popcorn?? Yuck! I was never more wrong, ever!! Well, I don't think you can get it anymore, so we were discussing how sad that was, because it was a yummy occasional treat - and back then by "occasional" I mean an every evening treat!

That led to Jeremy stating it would be nice to find a recipe to make it homemade, which actually meant, "hey, will you look for a recipe for it and make it now that you have that popper?"! It was pretty good timing too since Kris and I had just talked about doing flavored popcorn sometime in the near future as a fun project/recipe to do. And so that's how this week's treats came about. Not exactly "diet" food - but we aren't doing the traditional "diet" kind of thing anyway - we've decided to eat mindfully, and that means everything in moderation. There is room for the occasional treat when you want - we just generally build them into our day. So, that means the real deal is allowed! And honestly, after I plugged in the numbers/ingredients into SparkPeople's recipe calculator, this treat (not counting the powdered sugar-cinnamon icing drizzle) clocked in at 149 calories per 1 cup serving. That's not too bad at all!!

I found this recipe on Pinterest - that place has become a s source of all things fun for me, and there's no shortage of recipes, one of my first true loves! But I do notice that I'll have a tendency to pin a bunch of recipes then start pinning exercise - as if that will negate all the calories I just pinned I guess... ha! But, anyway, this recipe came from another blog, called Bake Then Eat (baketheneat.com) and can be found here: Cinnabon Popcorn 

I can't thank her enough for creating this recipe! It's easy and yummy and well, just perfect as far as we're concerned! Jeremy and I discussed today the addition of nuts and whatnot and they would work so well in this recipe that it's definitely going to be something that will find its way into future renditions of the stuff! And I told Jeremy today that I do believe I've found another treat to add to my holiday baking food gift repertoire! And that is always a good thing!!

Without the icing drizzle this should keep pretty well in an airtight container for about 5 days. As you can imagine, with the drizzle it would get a bit soggy, so only drizzle your current servings etc. for non-mushy popcorn!!!

 And now, the recipe...

Cinnabon Popcorn

from: Bake Then Eat (baketheneat.com) and can be found here: Cinnabon Popcorn

16 -1 cup servings

1/2 cup popcorn kernels, popped via your desired method to attain 16 cups popped. (I  air-popped mine)

1 stick unsalted butter

1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp baking soda

Glaze:

3 tbsp powdered sugar

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon (I used less, about 1/8 of a tsp for my personal taste)

1 tsp water

1) Preheat oven to 300°F.

2) In a medium sized sauce pan, add the sugar, butter, corn syrup, vanilla extract and cinnamon. Melt the ingredients together - but do not boil. You just want to melt and dissolve things gently. You could also melt them together in the microwave.

3) Cool to the touch and add the baking soda. Your mixture will bubble up and become a bit foamy and that's ok.*

4) Coating the popcorn: I put some coated freezer paper down on my island, dumped the popcorn on it and then drizzled the coating on it. I sprayed my hands down with a little cooking spray and mixed it all by hand - and it worked really well in getting the coating evenly distributed. I suppose you could do it on a cookie sheet too - whatever works best for you! I just know, for me, it was easier to mix by hand than trying to toss it all together in a bowl.

5) Spread the coated popcorn in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes stirring every 10 minutes.

6) Take it out of the oven and allow to fully cool, about 15 minutes or so. This will allow the coating to harden.

7) To make the glaze, combine the ingredients in small bowl and mix well. Adjust the ingredients according to your taste - more powdered sugar for thicker and more water if you want it thinner! Drizzle over popcorn per serving.

*My mixture did not foam or bubble. I'm not sure if it was less-than-active baking soda, or if my mixture was cooler than it should have been when it was added - I'm not sure. But I do know it turned out just fine even if it didn't!

Nutritional information (popcorn only), serving size 1 cup, as per SparkPeople Recipe Calculator: Calories 149; Total Fat 6.1g (saturated fat 3.7g, polyunsaturated fat .4 g, monounsaturated fat 1.6 g) Cholesterol 15.5 mg; Sodium 92.2 mg; Potassium 74.8 mg; Total Carbohydrates 28.8 g; Dietary Fiber 1.3 g; Sugars 22.5 g; Protein 1 g


from Kris B.

Today is Weber’s birthday.  We tend to do non-traditional birthday treats at our house.  When I asked him what he wanted for his birthday, his first response was apple pie.  Then we started talking about popcorn.  And then came the possibility of making Apple Pie popcorn.  I was surprised to see that there are quite a few recipes on the Internet for Apple Pie popcorn; none of them did exactly what I wanted, so I set out to create my own recipe by taking various ideas that I found in different recipes.  I wanted something that had actual apples, the “correct” spices, and maybe something that even hinted at a crust.  Eventually I was successful, but I had one dismal failure along the way!  My first attempt had a decent flavor, but was a soggy mess; its consistency was much like those dissolvable packing peanuts!  Not to be defeated by popcorn, I tried again.  The second attempt was much better!

INGREDIENTS

1/2 Cup uncooked popcorn (to yield 15 cups popped)

1 Cup chopped pecans

4 graham crackers

1.2 oz package of freeze dried apples

1 tsp. apple cider mix

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 Cups brown sugar (dark or light)

12 TBS butter

1/4 Cup plus 2 TBS corn syrup 

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp baking soda

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees.  Butter a large roasting pan.
2. Pop the popcorn using your preferred method.  I used an air popper.  Place the popcorn in the buttered roasting pan  Add the pecan pieces.  Set aside.
3. Combine the graham crackers, apples, cider mix, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a food processor.  Process until you have a course powder.  Set aside.
4. Place the butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup in a heavy saucepan.  Over medium heat, bring to a boil.  Stir occasionally until the sugar has completely dissolved (4-5 minutes).  Once the mixture begins to boil, allow it to boil for 3 minutes.  Do not stir.  Remove from heat.
5. Whisk in the vanilla and the baking soda.  The caramel mixture will double in volume.  Fold in the dry mixture from the food processor.  Stir just long enough to incorporate.
6. Pour the caramel mixture over the popcorn and nuts.  Using a rubber spatula, gently stir to coat all of the popcorn. Place on the middle oven rack and bake for an hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
8. Regardless of how tempting it may be, do not eat the entire pan of popcorn at once!

Nutritional information: serving size 1 cup, as per SparkPeople Recipe Calculator: Calories 226; Total Fat 14.4g (saturated fat 5.9g, polyunsaturated fat 2.1 g, monounsaturated fat 5.7g) Cholesterol 23.3 mg; Sodium 108.1 mg; Potassium 102 mg; Total Carbohydrates 30.4 g; Dietary Fiber 1.2 g; Sugars 27 g; Protein 1.1 g