Kentucky bourbon bacon Chex mix

Happy 2013! It's been a while since I've been here. Last term was crazy--two grad classes, no plan period, selling our house, living with a friend for a few weeks, moving in to our new house..... the dust has finally settled and we have enjoyed cooking in our new kitchen!

My sister, cousins, and I got together for a cooking and craft day in December where we all brought something to make something good to eat and to make a craft. Let's just say that the food was more successful than the crafts:) We could have been hits on craft fail! Some were successes and turned out really cute, though!

This was my contribution. We first sampled this at a tailgate when my friend said "there is chex mix with BACON in it!" so we had to try. The only thing I changed was to use about half of the chili powder suggested. This is good stuff and really easy to make. I didn't find anyone who didn't like it and there definitely wasn't anyone disappointed to find bacon in their chex mix!

 

 

 

 

Kentucky Bourbon Bacon Chex Mix

15 oz bag Chex Mix traditional snack mix (have found these on great sale at Big Lots lately)

1 cup pecan halves

1/2 lb bacon, crisply cooked and crumbled

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup light corn syrup

2 tbsp bourbon

3/4 tsp chipotle chili powder (I used half and just regular chili powder)

Heat oven to 300°F. Line two 15x10x1-inch pans with foil. Spray foil with cooking spray. In large bowl, mix snack mix, pecans and bacon. Set aside.

In 2-quart saucepan, heat brown sugar, butter and corn syrup over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until bubbly around edges. Cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally; remove from heat. Cool 2 minutes. Carefully stir in bourbon and chipotle chili powder. Pour over snack mixture; toss until evenly coated.

Spread snack mixture on pans. Bake 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, to caramelize mixture. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Break into pieces. Store covered in refrigerator.

 

from Betty Crocker

"Crack"ers

Much to my husband's dismay, when I go grocery shopping, I only go down the cracker/cookie aisle about 1/20 of the time. I just think it's more fun to make my own cookies and we just don't keep crackers in the house.
I was craving something salty and crunchy and remembered these "crack"ers that I saw on Kath Eats. You can make them whatever flavor you want and they are extremely easy to make. Next time I make them, I'll be sure to have a batch of hummus, guacamole, or salsa ready to go because they are the perfect size and structure for dipping!
You've probably figured out why they're called "crack"ers--they're addictive!

"Crack"ers

from Kath Eats
(the original recipe has measurements in weight, but my food scale is at school, so I had to convert to volume. I know it's not the same and if you have a scale at home, use it! These are approximate volume conversions)
makes about 50 crackers

96 grams (3/4 cup) whole wheat flour
96 grams (3/4 cup) all purpose flour
96 grams (about 2/5 cup) warm water
38 grams (about 2/3 cup) shredded cheese (I used finely shredded Parmesan)
10 grams (2 1/2 tsp) olive oil
4 g (2/3 tsp) kosher salt
1 g (1/3 tsp) instant yeast
toppings (I used rosemary, sea salt, and Parmesan)

Combine dry ingredients thoroughly in large bowl. Mix in water and olive oil and combine. Dough will be stiff. Be sure all ingredients are worked together.
Cover and let rest for at least 30 minutes and up to 24 hours for more bready flavor. 10 minutes before working with dough, preheat oven to 400 F.
Roll dough (use a bit of flour if you need to) into as thin of a rectangle as you can get it. I rolled it on my Silpat so I could just transfer the Silpat to my baking sheet after rolling. Top them however you want.
Run the rolling pin lightly over the surface to get the toppings into the cracker.
Prick surface with fork to allow steam to escape.
Score crackers with pizza cutter---cut almost all the way through but not quite. Transfer to sprayed baking sheet or just put the Silpat on the baking sheet.
Bake in preheated oven for 23-28 minutes. (If baking on Silpat, it will take a couple of extra minutes)
Don't pull the crackers when they start to get a little light brown. Let them stay (but don't burn them). Test for doneness by pushing on the cracker--it should feel a little dense and have a tiny bit of give.

White Chocolate Peppermint Popcorn

It's been long enough since I posted that my internet history didn't even recognize my site when I was typing it in! Oops! We've been eating the basics like tacos, pizza, and pancakes, and going to some basketball games. Trying to keep the budget low and rope in the calories a little, also! (tacos with ground turkey, WW pizza, WW pancakes, you know...)
This recipe definitely does not fit under calorie control. Each Christmas, we have a faculty lunch and "snack day". Every teacher (over 100 of us!) is supposed to bring a snack to put in the library and there are snacks all day and then a catered fajita bar. I am most looking forward to the fajita bar, but liked the excuse to make a new snack:)
Every year, I make just plain popcorn coated with melted white chocolate, so I was pretty excited to see this recipe on The Rookie Chef! I was so surprised with how great popcorn and mint taste together, too! This is quick and easy to make, but hard not to snack on as you go!
any picture taken after about 5:30 PM is officially even crappier than my pictures normally are...sorry!!

White Chocolate Peppermint Popcorn

2 bags microwave butter popcorn, popped (with unpopped kernels picked out!)

6 oz (1 box) candy canes, crushed
16 oz. white chocolate/white almond bark coating

2 tsp mint extract

3/4 cup chocolate chips



Stir together popcorn and crushed mints.

Melt white chocolate and stir in mint extract.

Pour melted white chocolate over popcorn and mint mixture. Stir (your hands are the best tool here!) until popcorn is coated. Lay out in single layer on parchment or waxed paper.

Melt chocolate chips and put in sandwich baggie with edge clipped off. Drizzle over popcorn. Allow to cool.

Pretzel Bites

These pretzel bites were awesome!! Perfect for a day of football and appetizers--we all loved them. They are also from Pennies on a Platter. She also has a version filled with ham and cheese, which sounds like something you can't possibly go wrong with!
They are even easy to make! It's a yeasted dough, but there isn't any kneading required. I made the dough the night before, refrigerated it overnight, then rolled, cut, boiled, and baked the morning of. They reheated perfectly, too. Norris wanted some ballpark/concession stand cheese, so I put that in the middle, and they were gone in no time! The only thing I would change for next time (and there will be a next time!) is brushing a little less butter on them. I melted the 1/4 cup called for, and used about 3 Tbsp total, and feel like I should have used more like 2 Tbsp total. I didn't have pretzel salt, so I used sea salt, and it did the same trick.

Pretzel Bites

(I followed her directions exactly, so I'm just linking you!)

Refrigerator Dill Pickles

Earlier this summer, I needed a couple of mason jars. Norris brought home a case. I was kind of excited about the excess so I could try something new in them. I spent Saturday morning at the Old Town farmers' market with my grandma and aunt and finally found some tiny pickling cucumbers! This recipe comes from Delicious Meliscious. They taste just like those deli pickles you get with sandwiches! (the ones I always like to steal off your plate if you don't want it :)

Refrigerator Dill Pickles

3 cloves garlic, minced
fresh dill
cucumbers cut into spears or cute little pickling cucumbers

Brine:
3 cups water
6 tbsp white vinegar
3 tbsp kosher salt

Combine brine ingredients and let dissolve. Place some dill in the bottom of the jar, then fill jar halfway with cucumbers. Lay more dill on top and finish packing. Pour the brine over the top, making sure it covers all of the cucumbers. Sprinkle garlic and whatever other seasonings you like on it. Store for 2 days in refrigerator before eating.

**I love these, but Norris doesn't like them. I love cucumbers; he doesn't. (so if you don't like cucumbers, you might not like these. I learned this deductive reasoning in 9th grade geometry:)

Easy Popcorn Snack

Another great snack that doesn't need cold or heat. Simple: pop three bags of light butter microwave popcorn (or go all out and pop your own kernels on the stove!). Melt one package of white almond bark. Toss with popcorn, lay out to cool, and consume! Mix in some M&M's or nuts if you like. Cheap, easy, great snack that everyone will enjoy!

Microwave Caramel Corn

We are headed to the Chargers/Chiefs game this weekend (let's go SD!!) and we are tailgating with a group of fifty plus! It should be a good time. The hosts are bringing all the main stuff and we were asked to bring a snack/side of some sort. I decided on caramel corn and used the recipe one of the other Foods teachers at schools uses with her Food 1 students-- easy and quick and really good! I made three batches, check out the ridiculousness:

Microwave Caramel Popcorn

15 c popped corn (unsalted)
1 c brown sugar
1/2 c margarine or butter
1/4 c light corn syrup
1/2 tsp baking soda
brown paper grocery sack

Spray paper sack with cooking spray.
Pour popped corn into sack.
In a microwave safe dish, heat sugar, syrup, and butter on high for 5 minutes, stirring after the first and third minutes.
Remove from microwave and stir in soda.
Pour syrup mixture over corn in bag.
Close and shake.
Microwave for 1 1/2 minutes on high (yes, in the paper bag!).
Shake well again.
Pour out on large pan to cool.

Pumpkin Dip

We hosted a baby shower for a friend and coworker. I needed to bring something that was snack/dessert-ish since we decided to have it right after lunch on a teacher work day. This recipe is from Erin's Food Files, adapted from some other places, and eventually made it to me. I didn't have any pumpkin pie spice, so I made my own mixture, and put those ingredients here also.

Pumpkin Dip

16 oz canned pumpkin (my can was 15 oz..I didn't want to open another can for 1 more oz.!)

8 oz cream cheese (used light)

1/2 t cinnamon

1/4 t ground ginger

1/8 t ground allspice

1/8 t ground nutmeg

(or use 1 t pumpkin pie spice in place of all of these spices)

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar



Mix the pumpkin, cream cheese, and pumpkin pie spice until smooth. Add sugar to taste until desired sweetness is reached.

I served with sliced green apples and graham cracker sticks.

Eat your veggies!!

I am normally good about eating my veggies, but have been a little bored with them lately and need to increase my consumption. I tried a simple variation in them, and it's working so far!

This isn't really a recipe-- I just cut up a bunch of veggies to store in a bowl in the fridge, then each morning before work, I pour a little fat free Italian dressing plus a little Italian seasonings on them, keep them in the fridge at work all morning, then pull them out for lunch and the flavor is great! I used broccoli, cauliflower, green peppers, and carrots this time...would be really good to add in some green onion or red onion for a little bite.

Pumpernickel Chips with Dill Dip

Our grocery store sells day old baked goods for super cheap, so I sometimes pick up something from there, and they had pumpernickel bagels out. We were headed to the lake where we snack like crazy (umm...couldn't hardly eat dinner because of 5 o clock snack attack if that tells you anything!!) so I decided on some bagel chips with dill dip. I used this recipe for the bagel chips, but used sea salt instead of garlic powder and oregano, and pumpernickel bagels.

Here's what I put in the dill dip. We really enjoyed this.

Dill Dip

1/2 cup light mayonnaise
1 cup fat free sour cream
1 T dill
1 1/2 t minced parsley
salt to taste

Just combine and chill! Great with pumpernickel bagel chips.