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Make Your Own Rock Candy

Make Your Own Rock Candy
Throughout my scholarly career, there were two things I was never any good at. Science and art. Fine, three things. My point is, this post is all about two things I’m horrible at. You see, I had a really bright idea to make our own rock candy for the wedding. But please know you have to be incredibly patient to make rock candy. The process is simple. Homemade Rock Candy (makes 2 rock candies):Print the instructions! 2 Wood skewers or threads2 glass jars2 C water3.5 C sugarFood coloring If you can, prepare your skewer (or thread) a day ahead of time. You should also prepare your jars before starting the process. When you’re ready to make your rock candy, start by bringing the 2 cpus of water to boil. Add your sugar in cup by cup, stirring and letting each cup dissolve before adding in another. Continue until all 3.5 cups of sugar have absorbed. See how much fun I’m having? Now, here’s where all the various sets of instructions I read varied. So, I did that. He opted for blue. Mine? Dang.

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes Updated 9/22/11 to Add: If you’re coming here to sample these delicious Cinnamon Roll Pancakes, you just might like the latest recipe that I’ve posted for Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Pancakes too. And Gingerbread- Cinnamon Roll Pancakes too. Enjoy! Here’s a short video sharing how to make these delicious pancakes: If you’ve ever thought you needed a reason to eat pancakes, today is the day: National Pancake Day! How do you like your pancakes? But recently I started dreaming about mixing cinnamon rolls and pancakes together… and this is what I came up with- my new favorite pancake: Cinnamon Roll Pancakes. I have a wonderfully fluffy pancake batter that I like to use (recipe below) so I swirled a bit of cinnamon roll filling into the pancake. And they cooked up just like a pancake- fluffy, but with craters of crusty, sugary cinnamon swirled within. You might find three of these stacked in a fancy breakfast restaurant, but I’m gonna tell you that one pancake is all you need. Oh yeah. Ingredients:

Glow-in-the-Dark Tattoos Hide During the Day, Come Out at Night « How-To News Want a tattoo that's daytime work-safe (invisible), but nighttime party-friendly (UV blacklight)? At first sight it may be hard to believe these tattoos are real, but in fact, they are. UV light tattoos are the perfect way to hide it from mom. Via Wikipedia, "The tattoos can be completely invisible in normal light, although scarring from the tattoo machine in the application process may remain, and therefore still show. Colored ink is also available, where the ink is visible in normal light (as with a regular tattoo) but the ink will glow vividly under UV light. Find out more information at tattooartists.org. Previously, Augmented Reality Tattoo: Holographic Skin Art.

Make Your Own: Candy There’s a reason why they put all that deliciously sweet candy up by the cash registers in nearly every store: if you had to find it at the back of the place, you’d likely decide against it before you got up front to pay. But you’re an adult, and once a child sets their sights on a candy bar, there’s no turning back. Instead of worrying about all of the sketchy ingredients, extra calories, additives, and possible allergens in popular packaged sweets, here are a few recipes to Make Your Own Candy right at home. Homemade Twix Candy Bar Recipe Twix bars are the best because they come in a delightful little pair. Homemade Peanut Butter Cups Peanut butter allergies aside, it’s hard to believe anyone could deny anything that combines peanut butter and chocolate. Homemade Gummi Bears Okay, so they aren’t really bears, but gummy stars sound just as cool. DIY Lollipop There doesn’t seem to be much to making a basic lollipop, which leaves the options of using natural sweeteners and dyes.

Nanaimo Bars Other than my short stint as a resident of New York City, I've never lived in a city with a "signature" food. I'm talking about claim-to-fame level: cheese steaks from Philadelphia, coffee from Seattle, Hatch chiles from New Mexico. These Nanaimo Bars are the ultimate signature food, from beautiful Nanaimo, British Columbia on Vancouver Island in Canada. Nanaimo bars are a rich, decadent, 3-layer, no-bake treat. These bars are ubiquitous in Canada. Nanaimo BarsAdapted from The City of NanaimoPrintable RecipeMakes ~50 bars Bottom Layer½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter¼ cup sugar5 tbsp. cocoa powder1 egg, beaten1 ¼ cups graham cracker crumbs½ c. finely chopped almonds1 cup coconut½ c. Melt first 3 ingredients in top of double boiler. Middle Layer½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature2 Tbsp. and 2 Tsp. half-and-half2 Tbsp. vanilla custard powder or powdered vanilla pudding mix2 cups powdered sugar Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well.

Chuckwagon Apple Fritters | Scarletta Bakes I’ve been thinking about the Good Humor truck a lot lately. Like, a lot. This happens to me almost every summer. I get super hot. Every summer when I was a kid, we would spend our days at the local pool. I was a champion eater. Around 11:19 a.m., I’d start to get excited. Waiting. And then, in the far-off distance, I heard it… Diddly ding da ding da ding ding-a-ling a ding dongggggggggggggg (Whatever. I have to be first in line. Wait – who is that chubby girl standing on curb, sobbing and clutching two melted Push Pops? Sigh. Why am I talking about the Good Humor truck? Seriously, these fritters are simple and simply amazing. I came into the kitchen and found A. sitting next to an empty fritter bowl. M.: “Hey, what’s that chile sugar all over your face?” A.: “It’s not chile sugar. For reals. Chuckwagon Apple Fritters Prepare the apples by peeling all 5, shredding 2 of the apples, and roughly chopping 3 of the apples. Meanwhile, heat your peanut oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pan. 1.

Rollie Pollie! - StumbleUpon Looking for hours of entertainment? Meet, The Rollie Pollie bean bag chair. It’s a chair, it’s a toy, it’s your favorite pillow. Made of durable cotton twill or soft vinyl, each bag is actually a slip cover (with another Rollie Pollie inside) then filled with mounds and mounds of soft cluster stuffing. So if it gets dirty, just zip it off and throw it in the wash. Now, pick your favorite…. Drag it around, Dive right in! Or take a little nap. Build a Rollie-Pollie-man: kick off your shoes: Or do what I love best….find a yummy treat, and just relax, watching your favorite show. Who said you were a couch potato? Cinnamon Vanilla Almond Butter Banana Pops These Banana Pops are a fun treat to serve both kids and adults. The cinnamon vanilla almond butter is a treat in itself and then sandwich it in between two banana slices makes it even better. Adding antioxidant rich dark chocolate to the mix makes the whole thing out of this world resulting in a really yummy, healthy treat. I love almonds and almond butter, but you’ve probably noticed that I don’t bake very much at all with almond flour. Some of the main reasons I don’t usually bake with almond flour are: Baking with almond flour causes oxidation to the high level of polyunsaturated fats in the almonds. Even though it may seem a little expensive, you never need very much coconut flour at all in baked goods – usually just a half cup or less so a large bag like the link above will last you a very long time. Enough about the almond versus coconut flour – just make these yummy pops! *If you are allergic to almonds, you can use sunbutter. Cinnamon Vanilla Almond Butter Banana Pops Ingredients:

Strawberry & Chocolate Nachos I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: sometimes the best creations are the ones you don’t set out to create! This might be my new favorite thing. It’s the perfect easy, throw-together, family style dessert for summer. I did a local tv segment this week and made my Baked Cinnamon Chips and Fruit Salsa. When I got home I had a bag full of cinnamon chips left over and started snacking. Then my boys walked in from the back yard with handfuls of strawberries from our garden and I started thinking about how chocolate covered strawberries sounded so good right then because my first thought when I see any sort of food product is how it would taste covered in chocolate. So I chopped up those berries and let them sit in a spoonful of sugar for a bit. Then I sprinkled them all over those crispy cinnamon-sugar coated chips. I grabbed some chocolate chips, and ate a few. Adding just a touch of vegetable oil or shortening to your chocolate makes it nice and smooth for drizzling. Holy Frijoles.

Peaches & Vanilla Cream Pops « The Craving Chronicles Uh, it’s hot. Really hot. Like excessive heat warning, face melts when I walk outside, can’t eat anything but frozen foods hot. So I made popsicles. All of my waiting paid off. Printable RecipeAdapted from Bon Apetit Makes about 4 popsicles Ingredients 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoons granulated sugar 1/4 cup water 1/2 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise 2 cups pitted, sliced and peeled peaches (about 2-3 medium peaches) 3 tablespoons heavy cream 3 tablespoons plain greek yogurt (I used Chobani 2%) 1 tablespoon bourbon (optional) Directions Place sugar and water in a saucepan over medium high heat. Add peaches and vanilla syrup to a food processor. Pour into popsicle molds, add sticks and freeze until firm. Like this: Like Loading...

How To: Transform Old Books Into Holiday Pumpkins Whenever I write an article about cutting up old books to recycle them into a new use, part of me cringes. I know that books are becoming more obsolete, and especially if they are damaged, many people throw them away or toss them in the recycle bin anyway, so I usually try to remind myself that giving them a new life should be a happy experience, not a sad one. We’ve seen this style of recycling books before. When I saw this, it reminded me of an article Richard wrote about book origami typography. The pumpkins below were created by Jacki, the very creative and talented crafter behind Crafting Mom. Via: [Incredible Things]

Individual Monkey Breads. Biscuits, butter, sugar, cinnamon. I think that’s all I need to say about this one. This stuff is astoundingly good. I grew up with monkey bread, but have never made it with this method - it works wonderfully. Monkey Breadfrom Ryan via The Pioneer Woman 3 cans Buttermilk biscuits (not the flakey kind)1/2 cup brown sugar1 cup sugar2-3 teaspoons cinnamon2 sticks butter Preheat the oven to 350. Open up all three cans of biscuits and cut each biscuit into quarters. Next, combine the white sugar with 2-3 teaspoons of cinnamon. 3 will be really cinnamon-y. Drop all of the biscuit quarters into a bundt pan (or jumbo muffin cups). Melt the butter with the brown sugar in a sauce pan over medium-high heat until combined. Bake for 30-40 minutes (or 20 minutes for the muffin cup ones) until the crust is deep brown on the top. I should now say that you should let it cool for about 15-30 minutes, but that’s practically impossible. Oh man, it’s good.

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