Kettle Corn

If you have not sampled homemade kettle corn, you are seriously missing one of life's simple joys.  My favorite time to make it is for a special treat for our kids when they have friends over, or for a family movie night.  Last time we had it, our oldest son requested it as a fun football snack.  Only problem with that?  Losing control of the popcorn bowl when celebrating a touchdown.

We're doing this on the stove top, so you'll need a big pot.  Put a little oil and just a few kernels in the bottom while it heats up.  Your heat should be about medium-high.

The thing with stove top popcorn is it can burn easily, so having everything ready from the beginning is a good idea.  If you can avoid distractions during the five minutes it takes to make, that would be good, too.  And your hand should ideally be constantly on the pot--it's all in the shake!

So while your pot is heating up, you only need a courtesy shake every few seconds.

But once those kernels start popping...

it's time to dump in the rest (by the way, these kernels are already mixed with salt and sugar) and get shakin'!

I learned a good rule:  3 seconds on, 3 seconds off.  Over and over and over.  Shake 3 seconds, rest 3 seconds.  Repeat.  Until there are 3-5 seconds between pops, and then it's time to dump before you burn it!

The bowl needs to be ready right next to the stove--get a big one so you can be hasty about your pouring.  And because who doesn't love diving into a huge bowl of popcorn??

See that?  That's burned sugar.  You don't want that.  But if you accidentally get a little, don't use it as an excuse to never try again.  Failure is a good teacher sometimes.  And trust me, it's worth it.

Kettle Corn

3 T oil

1/2 cup popcorn kernels

2 T sugar

1/2 tsp salt

Combine dry ingredients in small bowl or measuring cup and set aside.  Pour oil in bottom of large pot, drop in 3-5 kernels, and cover with lid.  Place pot over medium-high heat.  Shake frequently while waiting for kernels to pop.  Once kernels have popped, pour in remaining kernels with sugar and salt.  Shake repetitively, stopping only for a couple seconds in between shakes.  Remove from heat when popping time lengthens to 3-5 seconds between pops.  Pour immediately into large bowl.

Homemade Microwave Popcorn

Sometimes you just need something easy.  And homemade.  Right?  Let's get popping.

In a small bowl, (I always just use a 1 cup measuring cup) measure 1/3 cup popcorn kernels, 1/2 tsp salt and 1 T vegetable oil.  Mix it up and dump it into the bottom of a paper lunch bag.

Fold the top of the bag over three times and make sure you seal as well as possible while just folding.  Put it in the microwave for 2-3 minutes, or until you hear about 5 seconds between pops.

Homemade Microwave Popcorn

1/3 cup popcorn kernels

1/2 tsp salt

1 T oil

1 paper lunch bag

Combine first three ingredients in small bowl, then pour into paper bag.  Fold over top of bag three times, pressing firmly.  Microwave 2-3 minutes on high, or until time between pops lengthens to 5 seconds.

Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin pie.  A classic for this time of year.  If it's not your favorite, (some people say it's the texture) don't make it!  Otherwise, give this recipe a try.  It makes two, so you can eat one now and freeze one for later.  Just let it defrost in the fridge for a couple of days before you want to serve it.

Start out with your unbaked pie crust.

Combine the remaining ingredients in a large(r than mine) mixing bowl.  The only trick here is to beat the eggs separately so they mix in better.

Mix well, then divide between the pie crusts.

Bake until knife inserted comes out mostly clean.

Let cool at room temperature before refrigerating.

Pumpkin Pie

2 unbaked pie crusts (9"--or deep dish)

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp cloves

4 eggs, beaten

3 1/2 cups pumpkin puree (one 29 oz can)

3 cups evaporated milk (two 12 oz cans)

Combine filling ingredients and mix well.  Divide between pie crusts.  Bake at 425 for first 15 minutes, then decrease heat to 350 for 45 minutes.  Pies are done when knife inserted comes out mostly clean.

Grandma's Pie Crust

Grandma made another contribution to our feast this year:  pie crust.  Though I never witnessed it myself, I've heard many times that Grandma's slices of pie were more than generous, and if you weren't having seconds of such helpings, you weren't doing your duty to clean up the leftovers.  Also, it was quite possible you may offend the cook by refusing!  We don't want to do that.  

As members of Grandma's posterity, it's fallen to us to carry on the tradition of pie aplenty.  So this year our family of five made three pies, (we did share a little...) and they were gone Friday morning.  

Everyone knows the best pies start with a perfect crust.  My mama has an amazing recipe too, but I've only tried it once and it had to be in her presence--I was too worried I'd ruin it!  So until I master that one, we'll share Grandma's recipe.

Start by combining the flour and salt.

Cut in the shortening--you can use two knives, a pastry blender, or a fork.

The dough will be crumbly at this point...

Next, mix together your egg, vinegar and water in a small measuring cup.  Make sure everything is good and cold.  Drizzle in about half of it, then use your fork to gently combine.

Don't over mix this dough!!  Just keep splashing in a little liquid at a time until the dough holds together.  You'll probably use most of the liquid mixture.

Now, my hubby (who will heretofore be referred to as "Mr. Pots," explanation later) uses two sheets of wax paper or plastic wrap to gently roll out his dough without using extra flour and ruining the flaky and tender, melt in your mouth wonder that is a perfect pie crust.  However, I'm here to tell you you can still have (almost) perfect by using the flour method, if you're gentle and loving with your dough.

So sprinkle your work surface lightly with a little flour.

Roll it out carefully.  Be warned:  it will stick to the work surface and to your rolling pin.

To pick up the crust and move it, this is the easiest way I've found:  fold it in half first,

then in half again, so it's folded in quarters.

Carefully pick it up and transfer to your pie plate.

Then gently unfold it.  If it tears or has holes, just patch with a little extra dough.  This is a gorgeous, rustic, old fashioned piece of art, not a store-bought freezer pie crust.

Use a sharp knife to trim excess if you want.  My sister-in-law LOVES the crust, so she leaves it and pinches it into the fluted edges.  I'm not as talented as she is, so I go ahead and trim it.

To flute the edges, pinch with one hand and form a little barrier with the other, using thumbs and forefingers like so:

Sorry about the angles--self photography is not easy.

If your recipes calls for an unbaked pie crust, don't bake it, silly.  Otherwise, place the pie crust in a 400 degree oven for about 8 minutes.  It will still be very pale--you want it like that.

See?  Still that layered flaky crust.  You'll have to take my word for it on how tender and wonderful it was.  It literally melted in my mouth.

Grandma's Pie Crust

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 cup shortening

1 egg

1/4 cup ice water

1 T vinegar

Combine flour and salt in medium mixing bowl.  Cut in shortening.  Combine egg, ice water and vinegar in small measuring cup and mix well.  Sprinkle liquid a little at a time into mixing bowl, using fork to gently pull dough together.  Do not over mix. You may not use all of the liquid.  Divide dough into three balls.  Gently roll out using two layers of wax paper or a lightly floured work surface.  Place in pie plate and flute edges. For prebaked crust, bake at 400 for about 8 minutes, or until tips and edges are very slightly toasted.

Grandma's Butter Rolls

There is a pre-requisite to every celebratory meal in our home:  Grandma's Butter Rolls.  In my home growing up, we usually used a particular take & bake variety of roll because my Grandpa loved them so much so my mom always made sure they were at our holiday meals!  But in my husband's family, Grandma was famous for her rolls, so they were always present for special occasions.  These rolls were something you just didn't do without.

The first time I sampled them was at a holiday dinner shortly before marrying into my husband's family.  The rolls were there in abundance, and I was shocked at how many were consumed--especially by the grown men.  My soon-to-be hubby was no exception to this rule!  So I knew when our first Valentine's Day came along a couple months after we were married, the rolls had to make an appearance.  

One of the wonderful things about Grandma's recipes is that most of them are very simple and straight-forward.  I've only been in the family for six years, so my experience with this recipe is so limited in comparison to the many, many other members of Grandma's posterity.  After she passed away, part of the memories included how this recipe has been passed around, taught to many, and used as a way for Grandma to share her love with literally hundreds (probably thousands) of people all over the world!  Some very sweet ladies prepared them for the dinner following her funeral services, just another small way to show how much love can be had just by sharing a recipe.

So without more from me, (because I'm just one recipient of a wonderful gift) Grandma's Butter Rolls...

Combine warm water and yeast in large mixing bowl and let sponge.  This should take about 10 minutes for some good, frothy bubbles.  You can dissolve the sugar in the water at this stage to help the yeast along if you want.

Add in remaining wet ingredients, making sure your butter is melted but cooled to about 100 degrees and your eggs thoroughly beaten before adding to the mixture.

Add in the flour and mix, mix, (knead) mix!  You can do it by hand, but a stand mixer with dough hook attached is lots easier!

You may need to add a small amount of flour, but don't overdo it.  The dough will pull away from the sides of the bowl but still be pretty sticky to the touch and on the bottom of the bowl.

Remember to spray the edges of your bowl and smooth out your dough before placing it back into the bowl, misting with some cooking spray, and covering with plastic wrap to let rise.  

I always do this the night before I want to make them because rise time is invaluable with this recipe!  At room temperature, it's about 8 hours total!!  Don't skimp on the rise time.  It's what makes these so light, feathery and perfectly fluffy.

For the first rise, (at room temperature) let rise 3-4 hours or until doubled.  Watch it towards the end so it doesn't deflate.

If it's been in the fridge, take the dough out at least 2-3 hours before rolling out.  You'll probably still want 4-5 hours though, depending on how cold your weather (and your home) is that day.

When your'e ready to roll out the dough, get your station all set up with greased baking trays, a rolling pin, pizza cutter, flour, softened butter and a rubber spatula.

Sprinkle your work surface with a good amount (about 1/4 cup) flour.  I usually dump the whole bowl full of dough out onto the table and turn it once to lightly coat it with flour.  Then I divide the dough into balls.  

For a single recipe, divide the dough into 2 balls.  Since you're probably making more than that though, divide it proportionally--2 balls for every single recipe (so if it's doubled, four balls).  If you're serving more than 4-6 people, a single batch of dough is not enough.  You've been warned.

Just FYI, my 7 quart mixer bowl can mix and knead a triple batch of dough, but needs to be divided in half to allow for enough room to rise.

Set aside your extra dough balls and put one in the center of your floured work surface.

Now don't ask me why I didn't think of this myself, but don't be like me and try to do crazy geometry to get perfect triangles for rolling into crescent rolls.  My first few times, I rolled out a rectangle and divided it.  No joke.  And then I saw my mother-in-law do it, and it was an epiphany for me to roll it out into a circle and cut pie pieces.  Duh!  

So roll it into a circle.  Think pizza.  Use the pizza cutter to remind yourself.  

Spread with a generous coating of butter.  

Whip out the pizza cutter and slice into 16 semi-equal-sized pieces.

Roll from the large end to create crescent roll shape.

Place the tip underneath the roll on your baking sheet, lest they unroll during rising.  You can curve the ends in a little to really make that crescent shape, but I always make them too squatty to do that.  Operator error.

Mist tops with spray oil, (or butter generously using pastry brush) cover and let rise for 3-5 hours.  Watch carefully so they get nice and big but don't let them deflate!!

By the way, you can do everything up to this point and refrigerate the raw rolls.  Just pull them out of the fridge in the morning 4-5 hours before baking time.  I've done it before, and it works great!  It saves SO MUCH time on the big feast day if you're busy with other things.  But finding room in the fridge is a little tricky.

Let them get nice and plump while rising.  Loosen up the plastic wrap a few times if you need to.

When you're ready to bake, preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Check them after 6 minutes, bake for up to 10.  The rolls will be very pale, with only the tips and edges getting very lightly golden.  Serve fresh and hot!!

Grandma's Butter Rolls

1 cup warm water
1 T yeast
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
3 eggs, beaten
3/4 tsp salt
4 cups flour

Combine warm water, sugar and yeast in large mixing bowl.  Let sponge for 10-15 minutes.  Melt butter and let cool to 100 degrees (lukewarm, like a baby bottle).  Beat eggs.  When butter is cool enough and sponge nice and frothy, add all but flour to yeast mixture.  Stir in flour and mix well, adding in flour 1/2 cup at a time as needed.  Dough will still be sticky--it should pull away from the edges of the bowl, but still stick to the bottom.  Knead for 8-12 minutes.  Spray sides and bottom of large bowl, add dough, cover and let rise for 3-5 hours.  Optionally, refrigerate at this point.  If refrigerated, remove 3-5 hours before rolling.  When ready to roll, lightly coat work surface with flour.  Divide dough into 2 balls.  Roll ball into large circle.  Spread dough with generous amount of butter.  Slice dough into 16 even pie pieces.  Roll from large end to create crescent roll shape and place on greased baking sheet, tip side down.  Grease tops of rolls with spray oil or butter, cover and let rise 3-5 hours.  Optionally, refrigerate before rising.  While rising, watch carefully so rolls do not deflate.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Bake 6-10 minutes, watching for very light toasting on tips and edges.  Serve hot, and share the love!

Creamy Fruit Salad

This recipe is so simple, you could have thought of it yourself.  But since I couldn't think of it myself, I thought I'd share, just in case!  

Just combine your favorite fruits with your favorite creamy things and put it in a bowl.  Seriously.  I first remember trying it at a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner with my in-laws, and I was so blown away by how delightful it was, that when I asked for the recipe, I had to be a little embarrassed by the answer!  

Another fun tidbit:  when my husband's grandma was living with his parents, Mom started mixing in a little instant pudding with the dressing to add some extra calories and sugar since Grandma was a bit of a picky eater!  Once they started doing it, they enjoyed it enough to keep on adding the instant pudding to the dressing.

So.  There are many variations, and you can keep it simple (fruit and vanilla yogurt) for everyday consumption or spice it up (fruit with cream, pudding, etc) for holiday meals.  Either way, enjoy it!

Creamy Fruit Salad

1 cup fruit per person--a variety, chopped or sliced into bite-sized pieces

2 T creamy dressing for every 1 cup fruit

options for the dressing:

• vanilla yogurt
• heavy cream, whipped with a little vanilla and sugar
• half yogurt, half whipped cream
• any of the above, with a spoonful or two of instant vanilla pudding powder
• or try coconut pudding!
• or lemon.
• or coconut pudding with shredded coconut mixed in
• Mom's favorite combination is pina colada yogurt with real cream, a little pudding and shredded coconut
• or make up your own!

If mixing up a dressing, use the bottom of your serving bowl to mix it up first.  Then add the chopped fruit and toss gently to coat.  Chill before serving.