Easy Peanut Butter Fudge

This is another fudge I made for family this Thanksgiving and we all loved it, even me and I am sooo not a sweet peanut butter kind of person; don't like Reese's and things like peanut butter and jam, apple, honey or bananas makes me want to gag.

But this, THIS fudge is awesome. I may or may not have been eating it with a spoon straight out of the pan...

Easy Peanut Butter Fudge

1/2C butter

2C brown sugar
1/2C milk
1C smooth all natural peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
3C confectioners' (powdered) sugar

~ Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat

~ Stir in brown sugar and milk. Bring to a boil and boil for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. ~ ~ Stir in the peanut butter and vanilla. 

~ Pour over sifted powdered sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat until smooth; pour into an 8x8 inch dish - there will be little chunks of sugar left if you don't sift and mix very well

~ Chill until firm and cut into squares, keep refrigerated until a 1/2-1 hour before eating or giving to people

I actually ended up using a paper bag to remove some of the oil that seemed to collect on top of the fudge in the pan, don't worry, there was still plenty left!

Layered Chocolate Mint Fudge

Consider yourself warned: this stuff is addictive. So make a bunch and quickly send it to other people to gorge on! This fudge is really easy to make and kiddos will enjoy helping stir and spread the chocolate so get them involved!

Layered Choc Mint Fudge

12oz of your favorite semi-sweet baking chocolate

1 1/4C sweetened condensed milk; equivalent to 1 can but I use homemade condensed milk to avoid BPA

2 tsp vanilla extract

6oz white baking chocolate

1 1/2tsp peppermint extract

~ Melt semi-sweet chocolate and 1C sweetened condensed milk in a saucepan over low heat, add vanilla extract
~ Pour half of the chocolate mixture into a prepared 8x8 pan (lined with parchment paper or greased) and keep the other half at room temp. Chill for 10 minutes
~ Melt white chocolate, peppermint extract and 1/4C sweetened condensed milk over low heat
~ Pour white chocolate over first layer of chocolate, spread evenly and chill for another 10 minutes
~ Spread the rest of the melted chocolate mix on top of the white chocolate layer and chill again until everything is set
~ Once set slice into squares or reindeer ;)

To Make Sweetened Condensed Milk 

~ Boil together 3C milk, 6T butter and 1 1/2C sugar on low until reduced by roughly half. 

~ When reduced add a pinch of salt and vanilla and let sit till cooled, it will thicken even more

Linking up with Funky Junk Interiors, I Can Teach My Child

Homemade Corn Syrup & GMO Free Marshmallows

One of the things on our very long 'cannot eat list' is marshmallows. Not even Whole Foods can provide me with marshmallows that are corn syrup free! And the organic marshmallows on Amazon are $20+ a bag!

I have searched high and low, for months, maybe years now and not found a marshmallow that meets our requirements, until now! And I have a fellow kiwi to thank too! I found this recipe on Frugal Kiwi, she found it and adapted it from another blog

Homemade Marshmallows

The quantities below will make 2 8x8/9x9 pans of marshmallows - I halved the recipe

 

2T gelatin 

1/2C cool water

2C granulated sugar
3/4C water 

2T honey
1/4t kosher salt
1/2t vanilla extract (may substitute any extract here)

candy (or meat) thermometer

For dusting:

1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp cocoa, optional

Before we get started I will say that I did not use any cornstarch for the dusting of the marshmallows as I didn't have access to any that was GMO free. Doesn't seem to be required, they turned out fine without it

~ Combine sugar, water, honey, salt and vanilla in a heavy saucepan

~ Slowly bring to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, until a candy thermometer reads 238-240F firm ball stage

~ Combine cool water and gelatin in stand mixer bowl and carefully stir in the hot sugar/water mix

Your mix will start out a clear/brown color but will soon turn white. Don't freak out like I did!

~ Beat on high until mixture becomes light and fluffy, approximately 12-15 minutes with a stand mixer

~ While your fluff is fluffing grease your baking pan/s with a little butter and dust with powdered sugar

~ When your marshmallow fluff is ready pour it into your pan and spread evenly

~ Let sit at least 3-4 hours or overnight before cutting to size with a greased knife

~ Toss marshmallows in powdered sugar/cornstarch mix (be sure to sift it!) and roll them in your hands to remove the excess

You can get anywhere from 25 large marshmallows to 100-150 mini mallows from one pan of marshmallow depending on your size preference and requirements; smaller for hot chocolate, larger for s'mores 

Keep in an airtight container for up to 2 or 3 weeks... though I doubt they'll last longer than a couple days ;) 

We got a little fancy with our marshmallows; rolling them in toasted coconut and drizzling with some melted semi sweet chocolate chips

But we can't forget the hot chocolate! In a pot I heated 1/4C sugar, 1/4C cocoa powder, 2C milk and 1C water and it was perfect, I prefer a milder chocolate taste and sweeten to taste (was trying to avoid the kiddo having his super sweet!)

They melt perfectly!

A sugary treat I don't mind Mr. 4 indulging in

We're making graham crackers tomorrow so we can have s'mores for dessert!

Homemade Marshmallows

The quantities below will make 2 8x8/9x9 pans of marshmallows - I halved the recipe

2T gelatin 

1/2C cool water

2C granulated sugar
3/4C water 

2T honey
1/4t kosher salt
1/2t vanilla extract (may substitute any extract here)

candy (or meat) thermometer

For dusting:

1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp cocoa, optional

Before we get started I will say that I did not use any cornstarch for the dusting of the marshmallows as I didn't have access to any that was GMO free. Doesn't seem to be required, they turned out fine without it

~ Combine sugar, water, honey salt and vanilla in a heavy saucepan

~ Slowly bring to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, until a candy thermometer reads 238-240F firm ball stage

~ Combine cool water and gelatin in stand mixer bowl and carefully stir in the hot sugar/water mix

Your mix will start out a clear/brown color but will soon turn white. Don't freak out like I did!

~ Beat on high until mixture becomes light and fluffy, approximately 12-15 minutes with a stand mixer

~ While your fluff is fluffing grease your baking pan/s with a little butter and dust with powdered sugar

~ When your marshmallow fluff is ready pour it into your pan and spread evenly

~ Let sit at least 3-4 hours or overnight before cutting to size with a greased knife

~ Toss marshmallows in powdered sugar/cornstarch mix (be sure to sift it!) and roll them in your hands to remove the excess

~ You can get anywhere from 25 large marshmallows to 100-150 mini mallows from one pan of marshmallow depending on your size preference and requirements; smaller for hot chocolate, larger for s'mores 

~ Keep in an airtight container for up to 2 or 3 weeks... though I doubt they'll make it past a couple days ;)

Linking up with SYS Blog Link Party, Funky Junk Interiors and...

No Carb Mini Quiche

We all love these cute little mini quiches and they're not too harsh on the hips either! 

Perfect for a light lunch, party food or healthy snack

I took my favorite quiche recipe (using only half the salt it called for) and poured it into muffin pans lined with smoked turkey and baked at 375 for 20-25 minutes

4 eggs + 1C milk with lots of chopped swiss chard made 6 mini quiches

Simple & Yummy Gift: Cake In A Mug

I made these recently for a friend's favorite thing party (because, well, cake in a mug IS my favorite thing. Along with tea of course) and think they'd make super cute Christmas and just because gifts

All you need is a mug, the ingredients and something to wrap it all in. I found these mugs for $1 at Family General, I think IKEA has nice mugs for even less!  

In each mug I put:

1/4C all purpose flour

1/4C sugar

2T cocoa

1/4t baking powder

 I'll admit, I had fun lining all my mugs up and filling them assembly line style, only took a couple minutes from start to finish!

Then I whipped up some labels in photoshop, printed them onto card stock and attached them to the mugs after placing them in colored celephone bags. I was pretty pleased with how they turned out!

You should be able to click on the image below and print these labels out for your own use :)

Linking up with Funky Junk Intereriors AND...

 

Meal Plan 11/7-11/14

Our meal plan for this week is fairly flexible; we pick up our CSA share tomorrow and don't know what we're going to get so things might change a little between now and then!

Our meals for the week look a little like this:

~ Bolagnaise (meat sauce) over rainbow shells, steamed cauliflower and green beans. Have to brag on the sauce for a second, I made it in the crockpot today with local pork and beef, shredded eggplant, carrot and pak choy. The little monkey had no idea what he was eating!
~ Crockpot eggplant lasagna using eggplant as the noodles, homemade cheese sauce and bolagnaise sauce
~ Cottage pie made with bolagnaise sauce, frozen veggies and mashed potatoes
~ Zucchini taco boats
~ Breakfast for dinner; eggs, bacon, maybe a couple whole wheat pancakes
~ Leftovers! lots of leftovers this week!

Scrappy Shape Scarecrow

This is a great fall project for practicing shape recognition and cleaning out the scrap bin at the same time! Credit goes to P's teacher for coming up with this one :)

Linking up with:
1+1+1=1
No Time for Flashcards

Goodbye Halloween, Hello Thanksgiving!

And Christmas! 

In fact, our big family Christmas is at Thanksgiving this year but Santa will come at his normally scheduled time ;)

October was a great month, we had a lot of fun! Lots of pumpkins, festivals, yummy food (too much yummy food!) and lots of crafting

We made plenty o' pumpkins!

Processed 60lbs of apples into applesauce, applebutter and  spiced applesauce cake!

Made spooooky footprints

and some new friends

Organized a couple healthy Halloween parties

And lots of spiders for the occassion!

Tasty tasty spiders

And helped my little dinosaur prepare for trick or treating!

What a blast October was!

DIY Dinosaur Tail

 Make a dino tail to go with your dino hoodie! 

Our 4 year old was a dinosaur for Halloween and proudly wore his mummy made costume to all our Halloween activities as well as for trick or treating. We both got a lot of compliments! 

I found the tutorial for the tail over at Running With Scissors and followed it pretty closely though I decided on an elastic waistband and felt spikes. It took me maybe 2 hours to make, it was much easier than I thought it was going to be! I was pretty pleased with myself and he was a VERY happy little 2 clawed dinosaur (t-rex, though t-rex didn't have spikes lol)

Go on, you know you want to, it doesn't need to be Halloween for your kiddos to play dress-up, we all know that!

This Week's Meal Plan - Food From The Farm!

I picked up our second CSA share today as well as an order from our farm, so I have a lot to work with this week and am determined to not let anything go to waste!

Our CSA share contained 3 eggplant (someone help me!), 3 yellow crookneck squash, arugula, okra, various peppers and a bunch of pak choy. I also picked up some ground pastured pork and beef, beef cutlets, 2 dozen farm eggs and a gallon of raw milk (our first time trying it! A little nervous but very excited to try it tomorrow!) -- don't worry, they are state inspected regularly ;)

Tonight I picked 10lb of eggplant from our own garden and a medium sized purple bell pepper. We're going to turn purple!!

Dinners this coming week:
- ground beef/pork & pinto bean crockpot chili, cornbread, fried okra for the hubby
- quiche with cheese, swiss chard, onion, pepper?, baked/roasted pipian squash and sweet potato
- eggplant lasagna or pizzas, arugula/pear salad
- ground beef/black bean tacos, homemade tortillas, avocado, lettuce from the garden, sour cream, cheese etc
- yellow squash taco boats, carrots, sauteed chard and pak choy
- eggplant and assorted veggie yellow curry over brown rice (awesome for odds and ends from the fridge and garden)
- leftovers, probably chili with lettuce and brown rice

Lunch ideas, along with fruit, leftovers, veggies or baked goods:
- curry pumpkin bisque already made in the fridge
- sandwiches on homemade french bread
- pasta fagiolo
- mini quiche using bacon or ham as a 'crust'

If all goes to plan I only need to buy some ham or bacon this week, some bananas and some creamer for DH's coffee. Should be about it!