Caramel Corn

My friend Amanda and I made this on Thursday. It won't last through the weekend. Yummy.

2 cups light brown sugar

1/2 pound butter

1/2 cup white syrup

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

6 quarts popped corn, lightly salted (about 1 cup unpopped)

Bring sugar, butter and syrup to a boil; remove from heat.


Add baking soda and cream of tartar.


Stir well with a wire whisk until foamy.


Pour over popped corn in a large roaster and stir until well coated.


Bake at 250 degrees for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes with a wooden spoon.


Remove from oven and turn out onto waxed paper to cool.


Store in tightly sealed container.

Granola "Bars"

This is an Alton Brown recipe that we've wanted to do FOREVER. I have been moving us away from processed foods for years, so I thought making our own granola would be kind of awesome.

However, I'm not sure how to actually get this to be granola bars. Ours fell apart after I cut them into squares, so we just ended up with granola. However, it's delicious.

Alton Brown's Granola Bars

8 ounces old-fashioned rolled oats, approximately 2 cups
1 1/2 ounces raw sunflower seeds, approximately 1/2 cup
3 ounces sliced almonds, approximately 1 cup
1 1/2 ounces wheat germ, approximately 1/2 cup
6 ounces honey, approximately 1/2 cup
1 3/4 ounces dark brown sugar, approximately 1/4 cup packed
1-ounce unsalted butter, plus extra for pan
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
6 1/2 ounces chopped dried fruit, any combination of apricots, cherries or blueberries

Butter a 9 by 9-inch glass baking dish and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Spread the oats, sunflower seeds, almonds, and wheat germ onto a half-sheet pan. Place in the oven and toast for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In the meantime, combine the honey, brown sugar, butter, extract and salt in a medium saucepan and place over medium heat. Cook until the brown sugar has completely dissolved.
Once the oat mixture is done, remove it from the oven and reduce the heat to 300 degrees F.
Immediately add the oat mixture to the liquid mixture, add the dried fruit, and stir to combine.

Turn mixture out into the prepared baking dish and press down, evenly distributing the mixture in the dish and place in the oven to bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Cut into squares and store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Notes: When it says press down, press down HARD. We used a smaller baking dish and I put all my weight into pushing down, and ours still did not retain the shape. However, we made a couple of changes to the recipe - we used different dried fruit (raisins, apricots and dried apples that I ran through the food processor) and we also used more than he says in the recipe. This may have contributed to the change in consistency. Maybe if you stick with just one cup, it would help.

Pumpkin and Sunflower Seeds

makes two cups

I got this recipe out of my Mennonite cookbook, More With Less. I get my pumpkin seeds already shelled from a local co-op and I also buy my shelled sunflower seeds there. I don't make a huge effort to look for shells in the sunflower seeds; I just kind of keep an eye out during the stirring portions of the recipes. Julia and Dax love these.

I suppose you could make them with olive oil rather than butter. I haven't. I like butter. And you don't have to use these seasonings, either. Feel free to branch out.


2 cups seeds (I use pumpkin and sunflower seeds)
1 TBS butter
1 teas Worcestershire sauce
a bit of garlic powder, onion powder and seasoned salt (I use Lawry's)


Turn the oven to 250 degrees.

Put the seeds in a bowl.

Melt butter then stir in Worcestershire sauce and seasonings (to taste). Pour onto seeds. Stir and dump onto cookie sheet. Spread into thin layer.

Cook for one hour (or until toasty brown), stirring every 15 minutes or so.

Cool and eat!