Cashew Brittle & Sally Anns

I made these two recipes yesterday. The cashew brittle turned out great even though I thought making brittle candy was beyond my capabilities......I once tried to make peanut brittle years ago and broke the candy thermometer, and my mom cut her wrist once while working on peanut brittle. It scared us kids half out of our wits.....she had to go to the ER for stitches; fortunately she didn't hit an artery. Anyhow, those two occurrences frightened me away from attempting brittle recipes........until yesterday. If you click the recipes, they will enlarge for easier reading......I think.

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These Sally Ann cookies are old-fashioned spicy good! I cut them out in gingerbread men shapes and am now heading to the kitchen to make the frosting which dries smooth and solid on the cookies so they can be packed and stored nicely.

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Its starting to snow again and the forecast is not good.......40 mph winds coming tomorrow, and the wind chill will be MINUS 35 degrees. Yikes.......it will definitely be a time to stay indoors, if possible. As our area is now under a Blizzard Watch for later today, we're rescheduling my friends' get-together from tonight to Tuesday night. The weather gods---having taken note of my previous whiny anti-holiday rant---are sending a blizzard my direction, saying, "Just dump a big batch of snow, wind, and extreme cold on the likes of her......that'll shut her up!!"

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P.S. - To any of you readers interested in other bloggers from Iowa, here's a cheery blog I happened to discover this morning: Ann's Quotes & Things

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Caramel Popcorn

Not often do I post a recipe. To me, cooking is the most tiresome thing on earth.......day in and day out, ya gotta do it. I figured out early in my marriage that theoretically I could spend ALL my waking hours planning and preparing meals. UGH.....and NO, THANK YOU! Fortunately, Husband isn't picky about what food I fix, as long as there is PLENTY of it. Due to the amount of physical labor involved in their work, farmers get very hungry.......Husband eats as much as several men, I think (And, he never gains a pound.....he must be immune to fat build-up......his wife is green with envy!) I pity Husband's mother, who had six sons plus a farmer husband.......that poor woman was swamped in the kitchen, and no daughters to help her. Uh......no, the sons didn't help in the kitchen.......there was too much outdoor work to keep them busy. As was the case with our four children.......even the two girls. Sigh.

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Despite my feelings about cooking, here is a recipe.........probably one you have already, but here goes, anyway........

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Caramel Popcorn:

Prepare about 6 quarts of popped corn. Dump it into a big bowl or dishpan. (I really, really like this Orville Redenbacher microwave corn popper......corn pops nicely, and with no oil involved.)

This recipe is from a cookbook....."Heavenly Dishes"..... published many years ago by the Baptist church I grew up in.

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You'd better use REAL butter, or I may have to hunt you down and give you a pound!

Bring to boil, stirring constantly: 1 cup butter, 1/2 cup white corn syrup, 2 cups brown sugar, 1 teaspoon salt. Boil over medium heat for 5 minutes, WITHOUT stirring. Remove from heat and add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

Gradually, pour the caramel mixture over the popcorn. Stir in slowly and gently. (I wouldn't lick the spoon if I were you......unless you wish to have a badly burned tongue!)

Put the caramel-covered corn in three buttered cake pans and bake in 250 degree oven for 30 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.

Ta-daa......caramel corn! Watch out for old maids!
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Apple Peace Offering

Here's my peace offering to those offended by my previous post.......and to anyone not offended.

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Caramel Apples........from scratch!! Deserthen posted this easy and delicious recipe the other day on her blog,

Gravel Roads and Daiquiris in the Dirt.

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I made these this afternoon and must confess that this is the first time I've ever made caramel apples from scratch! They weren't difficult at all, although I didn't have enough sticks and had to use nut picks for holders on the last few.

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I used small Red Delicious apples given to us by a friend and Golden Delicious from an orchard near Dubuque. We had a nice crop of what I think are Harrelson apples here at our farm, but they are a very big fruit, too large for caramel apples, in my opinion. I wish I could find a picture of a Harrelson apple so I'd know for sure if that's what ours are.


Anyhow.......jump on over to Deserthen's blog and try the wonderful caramel apple recipe!!

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Palmarum Typo & Oatmeal Cake

Sorry for the strange picture; I was goofing around with this photo of a clump of Queen Anne's Lace from our road ditch last summer:

Today is Palmarum, the Sixth Sunday of Lent, also known as Palm Sunday, the day Jesus was greeted by a crowd waving palm branches as he road into Jerusalem on a young donkey (John 12:12-15, Luke 19:28-38, Mark 11:1-10, Matthew 21:1-11. ) HOWEVER, this particular Sunday of the year is when Confirmation takes place at the Lutheran Church I attend, so very little focus is ever put on the Triumphal Entry story. The Gospel reading was from Matthew 27, relating the events of Good Friday. Idiot me has never understood why the Crucifixion story is read on Palm Sunday!

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In the church bulletin this morning, there was a typo in the Introit which we read responsively. I love typos.......the typos of life are sometimes very significant! It was in Psalm 31:1, which correctly reads....."In you, O Lord, I have taken refuge......". Our bulletin had it printed as, "In you, O Lord, I have taken REFUSE......."! The noun "refuse" means "trash" or "useless stuff".......and, in a way, you can make that fit in the verse, too. We need to give God the trash and useless stuff of our lives so He can make something worthwhile out of it! Leave your burdens at the foot of the Cross..... that's what the church of my childhood used to emphasize. Maybe that was the message we needed to hear this morning.

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I fixed taco salad for our noon meal today. While preparing that, I somehow started thinking about one of my grandmothers who had been a wonderful cook......of course, all grandmas fit that description when you're a kid. I looked up one of her recipes----for Oatmeal Cake----and quickly whipped that together for dessert. I used to watch Grandma cook.......she never measured ingredients......she just threw in handfuls of flour, sugar, etc. I find myself doing that more often as I get older.

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Here's the very easy recipe for Ferne's Oatmeal Cake......it might make good muffins, too:

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1 1/4 cup boiling water

1 cup quick oats

1 stick butter

1/2 cup chopped dates (optional)

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup flour

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1/2 cup chopped nuts

1 cup chocolate chips

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In bowl, place cut-up butter, dates, and oats; pour boiling water over this (I used hot coffee today in place of the boiling water) and mix until butter melts. Add other ingredients, except nuts and chips. Mix; pour into greased 9x13" cake pan. Sprinkle nuts and chocolate chips on top. Bake at 350 for 23 minutes.

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After lunch, my daughter and I installed the wireless router so she can connect her laptop computer to the internet here in our house.........and I will be able to use my computer at the same time. Yippee!!

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After my cursor clicks the orange "PUBLISH POST" button, I intend to motate on out the door for a long walk.

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A pleasant Palm Sunday is wished to each person who reads this!!

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Ok......I've returned from that aforementioned walk. While fast-walking to a creek bridge and back, this excerpt from a song started playing in my head, to the beat of my footsteps......."HoZanna,HeyZanna,ZannaZannaHo,ZannaHo,ZannaHey,Za-a-anna.....".

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Hey.....what's that tune from??? I ask, not because I don't know, but to see if you know.