Favorite Peanut Brittle Recipe

Old Fashioned Peanut Brittle

A little work, but creates a thick, golden, opaque brittle. Baking Soda makes small bubbles while it sets giving it an open texture.

2 cups Salted Peanuts                                1 cup light corn syrup

1/4 cup Butter                                            2 Tbls. baking soda

2 cups Sugar                                              1/4 cup water

1 Tbls. vanilla

You need a candy thermometer for this recipe

Spread the peanuts in a singel layer in a 9 x 13 pan or cookie sheet.

 Coat a wooded spoon and the inside of a medium sazed saucepan with vegetable spray.

Add the sugar, corn syrup, vanilla and water into the saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Stir onle enough to dissolve the sugar.

 Cover and let boil another 3 minutes. Remove the cover and use a pastry brush dipped in cool water to "wash down" the sides of the saucepan.

 Combine to boil stirring only enough to keep the mixture from scorching until the boiling point reaches 280 degrees (soft-crack stage) Remove from the hear, add the butter, stirring until melted, then return to the stove top. The syrup may become a golden color.

Continue to boil stirring only enough to keep the mixture from scholring until the boiling point reaches 293 -295 degrees (hard-crack stage)

Remove from the heat, stir in the baking soda (the mixture will begin to foam.) Immediately pour over the peanuts and let cool.

When cool enough to handle, left the brittle and begin pulling on it trying to make it as thin as possible. Return to sheet and let cool to room temperature. Fragment into pieces.

Caramel Corn!

Here is my favorite Caramel Corn recipe - it is really easy

Baked Caramel Corn

6 qts popped corn                                    1 tsp. salt

               1 cup butter                                              1/2 tsp. baking soda

   2 cups brown sugar - packed firmly           1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup light or dark corn syrup (I use dark)

Preheat oven to 250 degrees ( I use a roaster because I usually make a double batch & it just works better for me, but I am sure the oven will work fine.) Coat bottom and sides of large roasting pan with vegetable coating spray.

 Place popped corn in pan.

 In a heavy saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Stir in sugar, corn syrup and salt. Bring to a boil stirring constantly.

 Boil without stirring for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda and vanilla.

 Gradually pour over popped corn and mix well. Bake for 60 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes - I set a timer just so I don't foget because it will only take a few extra minutes for it to burn! Remove from oven or roaster and cool completely. Break apart and store in a tightly covered container.

This recipe appeared in the magazine Our Ohio and was submitted by Mrs. Richard Shaferly from Alvada

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Fall Favorites!

http://www.allrecipes/I am making Vegetable Soup & homemade bread for supper tonight with Apple Dumplings for dessert!
Here is my favorite apple dumpling recipe from All Recipes


Old Fashioned Apple Dumplings By: MICKI WOOD

"These are the ones my grandmother used to make: warm, flaky, apple-y sweet and drizzled with a sauce that bakes right with them. These are not difficult to make, just a little time-consuming. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream." 


Original Recipe Yield 6 servings

Ingredients

1 recipe pastry for double-crust pie

6 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3 cups water

2 cups white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Butter a 9x13 inch pan.

2.On a lightly floured surface, roll pastry into a large rectangle, about 24 by 16 inches. Cut into 6 square pieces. Place an apple on each pastry square with the cored opening facing upward. Cut butter into 8 pieces. Place 1 piece of butter in the opening of each apple; reserve remaining butter for sauce. Divide brown sugar between apples, poking some inside each cored opening and the rest around the base of each apple. Sprinkle cinnamon and nutmeg over the apples.

3.With slightly wet fingertips, bring one corner of pastry square up to the top of the apple, then bring the opposite corner to the top and press together. Bring up the two remaining corners, and seal. Slightly pinch the dough at the sides to completely seal in the apple. Repeat with the remaining apples. Place in prepared baking dish.

4.In a saucepan, combine water, white sugar, vanilla extract and reserved butter. Place over medium heat, and bring to a boil in a large saucepan. Boil for 5 minutes, or until sugar is dissolved. Carefully pour over dumplings.

5.Bake in preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes. Place each apple dumpling in a dessert bowl, and spoon some sauce over the top.

Here is the pie crust recipe I use:
Also from All Recipes


Grandma's Secret Pie Crust By: Felicia Bass


Original Recipe Yield 2 crusts

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups shortening

1 egg, beaten

1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

4 tablespoons water

Directions

1.In large bowl mix flour and salt. Cut in shortening with two butter knifes.

2.In separate bowl, mix together egg, vinegar, and water. Drizzle wet mixture into dry mixture, cutting it in.

3.Roll out dough, and fit into two 9 inch pie pans.

4.Bake at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) for 12 minutes.

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Past Halloweens

We have always loved halloween! We started going to the halloween campout at the local state park sometime in the 90's. The second year we went, we started building decorations. It started with the pillars, cemetery sign and "Barry" in his coffin. We either built from scratch or bought it and modified it to suit what we wanted. We won every catagory at least once in the 6 years we went, except "overall".






Second year at Halloween Campout

 


Added a flying ghost this year - on right side




the "come here" guy on pillar, spider in background. this was the last year we did the halloweeen campout - 04




Cemetery fence set up




Barry - one of the first decorations we built (1999)




"Sit-up guy" he was powered by air, he would sit up and talk when we hit the switch




The spider - his eyes lit up, he raised up and he spit!




Our witches, they stirred the pot and talked. Fog machine hooked up to the cauldron for fog

 We bought the masks & hats, but made everything else. Foam wig heads were the foundations for their heads. I will put up more pics as I find them.

Happy Halloween!

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World's Best

This is, in my humble opinion, The World's Best Lobster Bisque! From The Upper Deck on Put-in-Bay!

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growing out of a rock!

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Scenic Rock Ledge Inn & Cottages (Tuesday Tourist)

                                          Tuesday Tourist

We went to Lake Erie for a few days recently for a mini-vacation. We stayed at Scenic Rock Ledge Inn Cottages It is a great place to stay, we highly recommend it! They have 5 cottages to rent. The Inn is now a private residence. We have stayed in hotels in the area in the past and this was much better! There is a small kitchen with the necessities should you choose to cook - which we didn't ; )
Here are a few pictures taken during our stay:


View from deck




View from cottage porch




Sunset from porch







Rock Ledge Inn (now a private residence)




Cottage #5



Here are a few other places we visited:


The beach at Crane Creek State Park




This use to be the picnic area




Driftwood on the pet/wildlife beach




Looking the other direction on same beach




Marblehead Lighthouse



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Waters of the World

On the many shores



Our Pond


 From standing on the shore of our small pond, to the many other shores on which I have stood, there is just something about standing at the edge of the water in the wind. Be it a small fluttery breeze to a full whipping, almost knock you down wind. I have stood on the edge of water in 4 states and 6 countries. From small ponds & creeks, to lakes, channels, rivers, canals, seas & oceans, the feeling is still the same. Sandy beaches to rocky shores. What is the facination with wind & water?

A lake in Crans-Montana, Switzerland

On the shore of Lake Geneva, Switzerland

Catawba Island State Park, Lake Erie, Ohio

On the shore of the Thames River London, England



Aegean Sea, Greece



Laurel Falls Smoky Mountains, Tennessee

A canal in Venice, Italy

River Seine, Paris, France





Laguna Veneta, Venice, Italy

 



She comes by it naturally, this is my favorite spot when we are on a boat. That day though, it was over 100 degrees outside, so I was inside in the air conditioning! I did start outside on the top deck for a few hours though. This was late in the day on our way back to Athens, so we had been out in the sun & heat most of the day.
On the Jet Express to Put-In-Bay you will find me on the very top, front & center for the entire ride over & back if I can manage it!