Halloween Treat Fun

My absolute favorite Halloween treat (okay anytime treat) is popcorn balls. Not the caramel kind, or the really hard ones that almost break your teeth off. Rather I like them soft and chewy just like my mom use to make/makes for me when I am at her house. They are incredibly delicious and pretty simple and quick to make. The only problem with them is that they are so delicious that I cannot stop eating them. I am pretty darn sure I downed about 4 maybe 5 of them last night at the Halloween party that I took them to. Anyhow I thought I should share the deliciousness.

Okay so not everybody will be able to make these because they require an airpopper to make the popcorn you can use in the recipe (some people use other types of poppers but this is the kind I am most use to using). So if you decide you need to make some of these I would be happy to lend you my trusty 20 year old popper. I am pretty sure you could also pick up a second hand one for under 5 dollars.

Enough Popcorn For a Double Batch

Prep:

Begin by popping 2 large mixing bowls worth of popcorn (sift it through your fingers to remover kernals, I also throw out the smaller pieces if you want). 

Recipe:

Syrup Ingredients-

2 C.    White Sugar

1 C.    Light Caro Syrup

1/2 C. Butter

1/4 C. Water

4 Drops of food coloring (optional but highly encouraged as it helps you tell how well if the popcorn is being evenly coated with the syrup mixture). 

After Boiling-

2 t. vanilla

Put in a large pot and bring to a boil. Boil until it reaches a "soft ball" stage, 234 Degrees F. If you do not have a candy thermometer you can test if the syrup is done by dropping a spoonful in ice cold water and if it turns into a soft stringy ball (you will actually have to put your hand into the cup and feel the syrups consistency). After this has occurred add 2 teaspoons vanilla and stir. You can now begin pouring the mixture into the mixing bowls of popcorn. I use a flexible spatula, and make sure to constantly scrap the bottom of the bowl so that the syrup does not just get stuck on the bottom of the bowl. 

Once the coated popcorn has cooled for 3-5 minutes you can begin shaping them into balls. Make sure to take off any jewelry and spray your hands with cooking spray to reduce the amount of syrup on your hands.

I either wrap them individually in wax paper or I set them on a cookie sheet covered in wax paper. 

Ta Daaaaa 

Delicious popcorn balls!

Mine looked identical to these (minus the awesome garnishing)

Cousins and California :)

I had not been out to Southern California since before G and I got married almost 3 years ago. In that my Dad had also not been out there to visit him Mom (my grandmother) I suggested we planned a trip together. So 2 weeks after we returned from Colorado Mr. B and I headed back to the airport and headed to Great Grandma's house.

Mr. B's grandpa was very smart and made sure that not only did Mr. B and I have nonstop flights, but he scheduled his flights so that he was waiting for us when we got there, and was able to see us off when we left. I was awesome to have his help as we got our baggage and on the way home he helped entertain Mr. B when our plane was delayed.

Our trip started on a Wednesday morning, the airport was pretty quiet and Mr. B was relatively well behaved there. We curb checked our bags, I put Mr. B on my back, breezed through security (thanks to family security lines, which I really wished the Denver airport had) and we strolled through the airport leisurely killing time.

Mr. was unimpressed by his binky, sippy cup and even a lollipop, leading him to find the descent miserable. He screamed 15 minutes before falling asleep for 1 minute. My little rascall considered that a nap, and went on to stay awake for another 2 hours. It was insane.

Mr. B had never met his Great Grandma, and he instantly became her friend, wanting to sit next to her.

We got to spend lots of time visiting with her, old friends, and my Aunts, Uncle and Cousins and their kids. We made sure to get lots and lots of pictures.

Summer Fun

Low and behold my camera decided to forgive my computer and they began speaking again. Okay so actually they just both decided that they like G. and his computer skills more than me. Anyhow I am so excited to finally have access to the pictures we have taken the last two months. Be prepared for a photo bomb.

Camping in Manti and Hanging out at the Zoo:

Denver Trip Part 2:

Having cousin time in Grandma B's playhouse.

 Grandma was awesome enough to get Mr. B all clean again. He though his sink shower was pretty nifty.

Last Week: Mr. B. ran a fever that left him much more cuddly and sleepy than usual.

So sleepy that 6pm was too late for him :)

October From My Phone :)

My camera and my computer are officially not on speaking terms. It is very sad I have tried to reason with them but they still refuse. (Basically my pictures are stuck on my camera until further notice). Oh well, at least I live in an awesome age where cell phone pictures are actually re-postable quality, unlike the pictures my past non-smart phones took.

Football Fun:

Denver Trip:

Last week G. and I (along with Mr. B) took a delightful trip home (to where I am from) to see family and friends. Not only did we get to take advantage of awesome 35 dollar Southwest flights, no baggage was lost, and both planes arrived on time. The trip was a blast!

Mr. B cuddling with Uncle John after getting a boo boo.

 Eating homemade ice with Grandpa

Family Fun Back at Home:

While hanging out with Grandma Sherri the other day Mr. B decided that he thought her glasses would look good on him. He loved them, and because G. wore glasses as a baby, it was fun to see just how much he looks like his daddy did as a little kid.

Mr. B has not handled teething well, and yesterday he just did not seem to want anything. Thankfully his Aunt had a great idea. Cuddle time with mommy's sling. By this morning it was all good, as long as he was in the box of fun (ie the toybox).

Forget Not

On Saturday I went to the LDS women's (Relief Society) meeting worldwide broadcast. Not only was it awesome to get to go with my awesome mother in law and sister in law, it was so great to hear such inspiring words.

Now I know there was amazing messages given by the presidency, but I was not even a fraction as touched as I was by the talk given by President Uchdorf's talk. His talk was centered around the beautiful Forget Me Not flower. I would love to summarize his entire talk but my darling little Mr. B. wants me off the computer asap. So I borrowed this gem (I found it uncited on facebook so if you know who did it let me know).

My favorite (not the most significant though) was when he gave examples of good and foolish sacrifices.
He talked about a mother who sacrifices sleep to comfort a child who has had a nightmare is an example of a good sacrifice. Whereas someone who spends all night staying up to make handouts for her Sunday school lesson did not choose the more worthwhile sacrifice. I loved this because every time I taught I never ever ever made a handout.

Likewise I loved how he reminded us that we too often as women compare our weaknesses to someone else's strengths. I am so super guilty of this. In my mind every sews better, parents better, cleans better and cooks better than I do.

Pretty much the entire talk was amazing and I plan on listening to it again and again.

Adventures in Clothing Alteration

How to take in "Stretch Fabric" clothing:

I have always been picky about how clothes fit. I get so uncomfortable if something is too tight or too baggy, or if it just does not sit right. Two of my problems are dresses being too large in the bust and tank tops have too long of straps or being too loose at the hip (which makes them look funny under other clothing. Two separate pet peeves include wearing tank tops under dresses and the hem line shows through the dress, and wearing t-shirts that look baggy and have an uncomfortably high neckline.

Today I successfully finished tackling all of these problems. I had tried before but I always seemed to lock up my sewing machine or get ripples and messed up stitches. Little did I know that their was such a thing as a ball point needle made especially to prevent problems like these when sewing stretchy fabrics. Anyhow once my awesome mom informed me of my mistake I set off two alter the top 3 offenders in my wardrobe.

Tricks of the trade:

100% Polyester Guitermann (sp?) Thread

Once you have the thread ready, set your machine to a triple stitch that looks like this (and when sewing make sure to not stretch the fabric or push it through the machine.

An article worth reading:http://everythingyourmamamade.com/2008/07/30/sewing-machine-straight-stretch-stitch/

The end result (prepare to be photo bombed):

I took in the chest portion of this dress. Gappyness be gone.

Tank top straps shorten, I hemmed it shorter, and I angled in the sides from the armpit down to make it more of a sports bra than a tank top.

Last but not least I took in my BYU t-shirt. Voila!

Okay so I kinda suck at rotation.

Kitchen Copycatting

Does this picture bring joy to your heart and cause your mouth to water? Does it leave you wanting to drive to a certain local restaurant, bitter you are too far away, or thinking something along the lines of "what in the heck is she talking about?"

Anyhow what I am talking about is the iconic (Utah wise) Cafe Rio dressing. I could pretty much drink this Creamy Cilantro Lime Ranch Dressing. I use it on quasadillas, tacos, burritos, salads, heck I am pretty sure it would go well on anything. In the past all of this had to be done only when I had leftovers of this stuff available. I had pondered over many an internet recipe, but many of them left me thinking that it was not worth the effort. Until I found this beauty:

Creamy Lime-Cilantro Dressing
Recipe by Ourbestbites.com

1 pack (1oz) Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix (regular or buttermilk, and ignore directions on the packet)
1C mayo
1/2 C milk (or buttermilk depending on which packet you buy)
1 lime
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 C roughly chopped cilantro
1/4 C green salsa*
hot sauce

 Place milk, mayo, and ranch mix in a blender.   Juice the lime in there too, you should get about 2T juice.  Toss in the garlic, cilantro and green salsa.  Blend 'er up.  Sample it and add hot sauce to taste.  Make it several hours ahead of time to allow it to thicken.

*A note about green salsa:
There are several brands of green salsa available in most supermarkets and they have various degrees of heat.  One of the most commonly seen brands is Hernandez.  Hernandez brand is a lot spicier than any of the others I've tried.  Even their medium green salsa is way too spicy for my liking.  I like to buy La Costena because their  medium is actually really mild.  That way I get all of the flavor of the tomatillos but I control the level of heat with the hot sauce.  If you're not used to buying green salsa, make sure to sample it first before you put it in the dressing so you know what you're getting into!

My ingredients looked like this (okay so the tortillas are for pouring it on :)

When I made this today I used the Herdez Salsa Verde because it was cheapest. I even made the whole batch in my Magic Bullet. I poured it into an old bottle of Ranch and now I have this wonderfulness in my fridge.

You should make some, it is so yummy and so easy. Total ingredient cost was about 3 dollars for everything other than the Mayo I already had, and it is worth it.