Mmmmm! Today's yummy recipe is for gooey Carmel Popcorn! This has been a yummy family recipe for years and is one of my favorite treats! Sorry I didn't really take any pictures of this or of the process.


Carmel Popcorn

2 batches of air-popped popcorn
1/2 Cup Butter
2/3 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup Karo Syrup
1/2 tsp Vanilla

Pop popcorn and set aside
Bring butter sugar and Karo to boil.
Add Vanilla
Pour over popcorn and stir to coat evenly

ENJOY!

Tonight I came home to this:


YUP! The hubs had spent all day in the kitchen making me some De*Lic*Ious Korean food items. We got to eat a couple bites before bathing A and putting her down. Anyway, I was stunned by his loving guesture (not because this is out of the ordinary or anything...) and after tasting the dishes, I knew I had to share them with you!

Bulgogi (lettuce wraps):

Ingredients

1-1.5 lbs. of thinly sliced rib-eye steak purchased from a Korean market. Or you can slice your own rib-eye or sirloin steak across the grain in paper thin slices. Partially freezing the beef helps with cutting clean slices.

1/3 cup of soy sauce or for a Gluten-Free variation, use San-J Organic Tamari Wheat Free Soy Sauce found in the health food section of your local grocery store.

3 Tbl white sugar

1 Tbl sesame oil

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1/4 of a medium yellow onion, halved and sliced into medium moon shaped slivers

2 green onions including the white parts, finely sliced into small pieces

2 Tbl toasted sesame seeds

1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes

2 pinches of black pepper

*optional 1/4 tsp. of ginger, finely minced

Directions:

Whisk all the ingredients together in a medium bowl except beef and onions. When most of the sugar has dissolved, add beef and onion slices to the bowl and massage the marinade with your hands into each slice of beef. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. To pan fry, place a few slices of beef in single layers and completely flat on a hot oiled frying pan and fry each side until cooked. Some people prefer to cook the bulgogi until some of the edges have turned dark brown and crispy. Serve with a bowl of hot rice or wrap in lettuce. Enjoy!

Gyedan Malyea:

Ingredients:

3 large eggs
1/2 tsp salt
pinch of sugar
1/2 chopped medium sized onion
ground pepper
vegetable oil

1. Crack 3 large size eggs and put it into a bowl.
2. Make egg mixture by adding and beating these ingredients: ½ ts salt, a pinch of sugar, ½ chopped medium size onion, ground pepper
3. Heat up a non-stick frying pan over medium heat and spread a little vegetable oil.
4. Pour about 1/3 of the egg mixture on the pan and spread it thinly by tilting the pan.
5. When it’s cooked, lift the right side edge of the omelette and roll it with a spatula from right to left.
6. Repeat this step of 4 and 5 until the egg mixture runs out.
   *tip: To make nice yellow rolled omelette, lower the heat and cook it slowly
7. Make a long rectangle box shape by cooking 4 sides.
8. When the omelette cools down, cut it into bite size and serve it with rice

Kamja Jorim:

Ingredients:

2-3 medium sized potatoes
onion
2 cloves garlic
soy sauce
1 Tbsp corn syrup
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 Cup water

1. Peel the potatoes, wash, and cut them into 1 inch dice and make 2 cups.
2. Rinse the potato using colander in running water to remove starch.
3. Cut half onion into bite sized pieces.
4. Heat the pan and add 1-2 tbs olive oil and pour the potato into the pan.
5. Add 2 cloves of minced garlic and sauté it until the potato look a little translucent, then add the onion and keep stirring it.
6. Add half cup of water into the pan, 2 tbs – 2½ tbs soy sauce (depends on your taste), 1 tbs of sugar, 1 tbs of corn syrup and mix it and simmer it over medium heat for about 10 minutes until the liquid is evaporated.Tip: Keep checking and stirring not to burn it and to cook evenly, if it needs more water, add some.
7. When the potato is cooked, turn off the stove and add 1 tbs of sesame oil and sprinkle a pinch of sesame seeds.

I love these potatoes. They are sweet and, well, amazing!
Thanks to the hubs for such a gourmet meal and a night off planning dinner!

Get excited for next week! I'm gonna make my Gooey Carmel Popcorn! And maybe some refreshing Orange Julius to go with it. What do you think?

Today's recipe is CHEESECAKE POPS! Don't they sound and look delicious? Well, I've got news for you... they ARE delicious! I pulled the recipe from a book the hubs gave me last year called "Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey" by Jill O'Connor. Thanks babe! After the success of this recipe, you'll probably see Jill's other goodies pop up a time or two.

{Jill has a great cheesecake recipe that even I could get right!}

What you need:

Five 8 oz packages of Cream Cheese, at room temp
2 Cups Sugar
1/4 Cup All-Purpose Flour
1/4 tsp Salt
5 Large Eggs
2 Egg Yolks
2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
1/4 Cup Heavy Cream

Boiling Water as needed
30-40 8-inch lollipop sticks
Dipping Chocolate and Toppings

• With hand mixer on low, beat cream cheese, sugar, flour and salt until smooth.
• Add the whole eggs and then egg yolks one at a time, beating well {on low} after each addition.
• Beat in the vanilla and cream.

• Lightly grease a 10-inch baking pan {or 9 x 13}
• Pour the batter into the cake pan
• Place the cake pan in a large roasting pan {or cookie sheet}
• Fill the roasting pan with boiling water until it reaches half-way up the cake pan

Bake until cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top {35-45 min}

{remove cheesecake from oven and cool to room temp}
{refrigerate at least 3 hours, or up to over night}

{when cold and firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls}

{place balls on parchment paper and carefully insert lollipop sticks}
{freeze the pops, uncovered, until very hard- at least 2 hrs}

{while pops are freezing, prepare any wanted toppings}

{we used oreos, butterfingers, graham cracker crumbs, mini m&ms, and reece's}

{when cheesecake pops are frozen, prepare chocolate coating as directed on package}
{quickly dip frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate}
{shake off any excess}
{dip or sprinkle with desired toppings}
{place on clean parchment paper}

{we made 35 pops with plenty of cheesecake to spare}

{Mmm... don't they look tasty?}

{sorry, couldn't help myself}

{what toppings would you add?}

NOTE: If the prospect of making your own cheesecake from scratch is intimidating to you, you could easily make these with a cheesecake purchased from the store! Just scoop the cheesecake into balls and pick up from there on the recipe!

Okay, I didn't take enough pictures through this process, but I had to share this yummy recipe! I'm sure many of you have seen Bakerella's cake pops. Now obviously, I don't profess to have abilities in any league of Bakerella's, but I do love desserts! These Cake Bites are super easy to make and even easier to eat!

Ingredients:

• One completed cake, any kind- I have made Devil's Food, White, and I am hoping to try red velvet soon!
• One tub of cream cheese frosting (I have also used peanut butter with a little powdered sugar for sweetness)
• Dipping Chocolate
  

{bake your cake}

{crumble to pieces and mix it with frosting}
{form balls and chill}

{dip in chocolate and devour!}

Now, obviously if you are an over-achiever, you are welcome to make a cake from scratch and make your own frosting. I am not a dessert snob so this way works great for me! :) I did drizzle some with mint chocolate (not pictured) though and would highly recommend it for the mint lover!

This recipe is one I found on the Kraft website last year and Brian has been requesting it ever since. It's not super hard and we had tons of leftovers. The recipe says it yields 8 cups, but that doesn't seem like that much to me, and I'm sure there were tons of leftovers for the hubs to take for lunches. Anyway, the kraft recipes have usually proved worth trying and this one was definitely a big hit for our family!

Cheesy Chicken & Salsa Skillet

2 cups penne pasta, uncooked

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

1-1/4 cups Salsa

1 cup frozen corn, thawed

1 large green pepper, cut into short thin strips

1 cup Mexican Style 2% Milk Finely Shredded Four Cheese

• Cook pasta as directed on package.
• Heat large nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook and stir 2 min.
• Stir in salsa, corn and peppers. Bring to boil.
• Simmer on medium-low heat 10 min. or until chicken is done, stirring occasionally
• Drain pasta. Add to chicken mixture; mix lightly.
• Top with cheese. Remove from heat; cover. Let stand 1 min. or until cheese is melted.

Makes 8 Cups

This past year for Christmas I decided to go for a more homemade look with our tree by adding gingerbread men. Brian supported this idea whole-heartedly since it not only looked homey, but was easy on our bank account. I had fun cutting out the gingerbread men and women and Brian put them up on the tree.


Gingerbread:

6 Cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
4 tsp ground ginger
4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves/allspice
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks butter, softened (12 Tbsp)
1 1/2 Cups packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 Cup dark molasses
1 Tbsp

• Mix dry ingredients together in large bowl and set aside
• Using an electic mixer, beat butter & brown sugar until fluffy & well blended
• Beat in eggs, molasses & water until well mixed
• Beat half flour mixture into molasses mixture until well blended and smooth.
• Stir in remaining flour. Knead until well blended (or use your handy dough hook).
• If it's too soft, add more flour.
• Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours (better if overnight) and sit 10 min at room temp before rolling. Roll 1/4" thick

Bake at 350 for 11-15 minutes for large pieces and 6-8 min for smaller pieces.
Rotate cookie sheet halfway through.
Let cool on rack for 15 minutes.

Yield: A LOT!