Bake Sale Caramels

 

We love these!

And there is a football bake sale tomorrow so guess what is being made at our house!

Grandma's Microwave Caramels

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup light Karo syrup

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

Opt: nuts you can add these if you want in the last stirring

Combine all ingredients in a big microwave safe bowl. 

Cook 6 minutes in the microwave on full power stirring every two minutes.
Pour into a lightly greased or buttered 8 inch or 9 inch square baking dish.

 Let cool.

 If you want, after they are cool you can cut them and wrap in wax paper. 

Store in an air tight container.

Pineapple Dream Dessert

 

I love finding old recipes I made

 a million years ago and forgot all about.

This is that recipe.

 

 

It is so easy you won't believe it.

 

And it looks good done!

 

And tastes even better!

 

Crust:

2 1/2 cups graham crumbs (2 sleeves)

1/2 cup unsalted butter

 

Layers:

2 cups of powdered sugar, sifted

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

4 oz cream cheese, softened

8 oz container Cool Whip

20 oz can crushed pineapple, drained well

 

*Preheat oven to 300 F.

 

*Melt butter in the microwave and allow to cool. Combine the crumbs and butter and toss together until incorporated. Press 2 cups of the crumb mixture firmly into an 9×9 square pan and bake for 8-10 minutes. Place on wire rack to cool.

*Beat the cream cheese and butter together until creamy. Turn the mixer down to low and add the powdered sugar one cup at a time until incorporated. Turn up and beat well for a minute or so. Add a heaping tablespoon of the drained pineapple and stir in with a rubber spatula. Spread the cream cheese and pineapple mixture over the crust.

*Fold the remaining pineapple into the Cool Whip and spread on top of the cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle the remaining graham cracker crumb mixture on top. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.

I had forgotten all about this recipe and when I found it I had so many fun memories of my kids when they were small and being so excited over desserts! lol so funny!

Island Farm House Shrimp

We love Shrimp at our house so I thought I would share a very yummy recipe.

Since it doesn't have a title I just made one up.

Island Farm House Shrimp

1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil

4 Cloves garlic chopped up

1/2 cup fresh chopped basil or 1 tablespoon dried

1/4 cup white wine

1 cup chicken or vegetable broth

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

4 Lbs shrimp ( I use same recipe for clams)

fresh ground black pepper

Heat oil when hot add garlic and saute for 1 Minute. 

Add chopped basil, wine, broth, butter and bring to a boil.

Add Shrimp and cover with lid and cook until it turns pink.

Remove shrimp to a really cute serving plate and add salt and pepper to broth  to taste.

Pour some over Shrimp to keep moist.

You can eat it like this with cocktail sauce or I also serve it over noodles with lemon and more basil.

It is so yummy so make lots its also great on salads!

Enjoy!

Spicy Carrots

We had so much fun doing Carrots!

And it was so easy I thought I better share the recipe.

We did a few jars with onions too and they were so good we are going to do it again 

and this time add other veggies.

We used Ball electric canning pot so we followed the directions for the water bath it came with. I love this pot. I got mine from the Ball Canning website.

Spicy Pickled Carrots

Ingredients:
5 pounds of full-sized carrots, peeled and cut

4 jalapenos peppers, with seeds, halved lengthwise down the middle
14 whole cloves
2-1/3 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
7 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed slightly

5 cups distilled white vinegar (5% acidity)
2 cups apple cider vinegar
1-2/3 cups granulated sugar
5 Tbsp. pickling salt

Method:
You will need 7 pint jars (or 3 quarts and 1 pint), preferably wide-mouthed. Into each pint jar, put 1/2 a jalapeno pepper, 2 whole cloves, 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper, and one clove of crushed garlic.

Peel and trim both ends off the carrots. Cut them into carrot sticks that are one inch shorter than the pint jars. Pack the carrots sticks upright in the jars and fairly tightly. Put odd lengths and bits of carrots into one jar so the rest of them are as uniform as possible. (Or, if you have large carrots, you might like them cut into diagonal round slices.)

In a large pot, mix the vinegars, sugar and salt. Heat to boiling, stirring to dissolve sugar and salt. Carefully pour the hot vinegar into the jars over the packed carrots, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. (You might have extra vinegar if you did a nice job packing the carrots tightly.) Wipe the rims of the jars with a damp paper towel. At this point, if you aren’t canning these, add lids and put your refrigerator pickles in the refrigerator. Eat within four months.

For canning: Add lids and rings and process in the boiling water bath for 15 minutes (20 for quarts). Then, turn off the heat and let the jars sit in the bath for an additional 5 minutes before removing to the counter (onto a dish towel). Let sit un-disturbed for 24 hours. Check seals. If any jars failed to seal, store in the fridge. Otherwise, store in a cool, dark place for up at a year.

Peaches and Cream French Toast

We love this recipe! And it is perfect for guests who are visiting.

Two things I love about it is this recipe is its something that is very easy to make and something special you guest probably have never had and will rave about forever.

I got this recipe from Taste of Home's website.

Give it a try you won't be sorry.

• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, cubed
• 2 tablespoons corn syrup
• 1 can (29 ounces) sliced peaches, drained
• 1 loaf (1 pound) day-old French bread, cubed
• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, cubed
• 12 eggs
• 1-1/2 cups half-and-half cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

• In a small saucepan, combine the brown sugar, butter and corn syrup.
• Cook and stir over medium heat until sugar is dissolved; pour into a
• greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish.
• Arrange peaches in dish. Place half of the bread cubes over peaches.
• Layer with cream cheese and remaining bread. Place the eggs, cream
• and vanilla in a blender; cover and process until smooth. Pour over
• top. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
• Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Bake,
• uncovered, at 350° for 50-60 minutes or until a knife inserted
• near the center comes out clean. Yield: 12 servings.

Welcome

Hello and welcome to my blog! I hope you will return once I have had a chance to fill it with our adventure of turning a tiny little house on San Juan Island into our dream cottage. See you soon!