Family Chow Hall

Most people these days maybe don’t realize that you don’t need a microwave to make popcorn.

I don’t buy microwave popcorn for two reasons: 1. It’s more expensive than do-it-yourself popcorn and, 2. It doesn’t make enough for a big family.

We use a Stir-Crazy popcorn popper and love it. It makes 6 quarts, which is plenty, although if we are all in the mood, I might make two batches of it anyway.

A while back my 6-year-old asked if I could make some caramel popcorn sometime. It took me a while to get to it, but I finally made him some last Sunday. Sundays are this family’s lazy, I’m-not-gonna-do-anything-I-don’t-wanna-do day. I don’t usually cook much on Sunday and once church is over we all kick back and relax. This Sunday I did muster the energy to make caramel popcorn and we all really enjoyed it.

Here’s the recipe, which comes from Betty Crocker, but I use the same amount of syrup for a lot more corn, since I don’t think it needs to be heavily coated with caramel. I also leave out the nuts that Betty suggests.

Old-fashioned Caramel Popcorn
makes 24 cups

1 batch of popcorn (6 qt. or 24 cups)
1 stick of butter
1 c. packed brown sugar
1/4 c. light corn syrup
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. baking soda

Make the popcorn and set aside. In a saucepan, heat all the remaining ingredients EXCEPT the baking soda. Keep stirring as it all melts together and when it starts to bubble, turn the heat down (you still want it bubbling, though) and stir and boil for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat. Add the baking soda and stir until it gets foamy. Now you can pour it over the popcorn and toss so that it’s coated as evenly as possible.

Heat your oven to 200 degrees. Spread the sticky popcorn out on two baking sheets or jelly roll pans. Bake for 1 hour, tossing gently every 15 minutes. At the end of the hour, you will have delicious, sweet, crunchy popcorn that the whole family will love.

Happy Crunching!

Hi folks! Today’s post is going to be quick and simple, as is the recipe I’m putting on the site today.

Straight from a freebie magazine that I rather enjoy — Kraft Food & Family, this recipe was a fast, throw-together meal. The Kraft company likes to mail out this magazine full of recipes requiring their products. The food is usually pretty good, if you like taking prepared foods, adding a twist, and ending up with something new.

If you want to get the Kraft Food & Family magazine, click this link, it will take you straight to their website and you can sign up!

Generally I am more of a do-it-yourself-from-scratch type of a cook, but it’s nice to have some quick and simple meals in your plan for busy days, times when you are letting your kids cook, and times when you just don’t feel like being in the kitchen.

This Italian chicken casserole is a good one:

Bruschetta Chicken Bake
makes 6 servings

1 can (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 pkg. (6 oz.) Stove Top stuffing mix
1/2 c. water
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts (3 breast halves)
1 t. dried basil
1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

Preparation is a snap — In a large bowl, combine the tomatoes, stuffing mix, water and garlic. I like to use petite diced tomatoes, the chunks are smaller. Set aside. Cut the raw chicken breasts into bite-sized chunks.

In a greased 9 x 13 pan, place the chicken and then sprinkle it with the cheese and basil. Top the chicken with the stuffing.

Heat your oven to 400 degrees and put the casserole in for 30 minutes. I sprinkled a little parmesan cheese on top of everything, since we are a cheese-loving family.

(Special note for Sophie and Tina - no one in my family minded the tomatoes - even Jake! - making this a good one for picky eaters. I’m sure Andrew would go for this one.)

The problem I have with making brownies is that I very rarely have baking chocolate on hand. Brownies are not something I plan ahead for… they are one of those spur-of-the-moment foods that I suddenly realize I MUST have and the sooner the better.

That’s why it’s necessary for me to have a brownie recipe that calls for cocoa instead of baking chocolate. I have cocoa on hand. Baking chocolate I will buy for a specific purpose, use it all, and never have extra in the cupboard.

Besides, cocoa is easier to work with. With baking chocolate or chocolate chips, you have to melt it down before adding to the batter. With cocoa, you just mix it in along with the other dry ingredients.

On Saturday I baked four batches of brownies because I had promised to bring three to a church BBQ. The fourth was for us, of course. You can never count on getting your own food at potlucks and BBQs. Well, I’d thought that I would do it the easy way, so I bought four boxes (on sale) of brownie mix for $1 each. What I realized when it was time to bake was that each box was only going to make a teeny-tiny 8×8 pan of brownies.

At our house, a 9 x 13 pan of brownies has a very short life expectancy and baking an 8 x 8 pan is just asking for trouble. So I ended up making up some of my own brownie batter and combining it with the purchased boxes. It worked out well, but I didn’t save myself any effort by buying those boxes after all!

Homemade Fudgy Brownies
makes one 9 x 13 pan

2 sticks butter (1 cup) OR 1 stick butter and 1/2 c. light oil
2 c. sugar
2 t. vanilla
4 eggs
6 T. cocoa powder
1 1/2 c. flour

Melt the butter in a large bowl in the microwave. Cream in the butter and then also stir in the vanilla and eggs. Then add the cocoa and flour and stir just enough to moisten everything.

Pour this into a greased 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.

Enjoy!