Salted.Bacon.Caramels.

This is inspired by Burning Pasta.  I've seen several recipes for caramels and wanted mine to be somewhere in between uber chewy and hard candies.  I did a little research and developed my own formula.  Every cook in the South knows that all good things begin with a can of sweetened condensed milk.  So it is with these caramels. 

First, cook eight to ten slices of bacon hotel style on a rack over a baking sheet in a 410 degree oven, turning once until crispy.  You need the bacon well done for this.  You want the bacon to be on the thinner side, not thick cut and you want it without extra pepper or maple.  This is a time when you want the straightforward bacon flavor.  I used Farmland and it was just right.  The bacon will take around twenty minutes and you need to have it ready when the candy is ready to receive it so make it completely first.  When it's done, drain on paper toweling and crumble into bits.  Anywhere between 7-10 slices is just right.  (I cooked nine and ate two...what can I say).

In a large, deep, heavy non-reactive saucepan, heat the following over medium heat stirring often until the mixture reaches 245 degrees on the candy thermometer you have clamped to the inside of your pot (which cannot touch the bottom).

1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. light Karo syrup
4 T. butter
1/4 c. heavy cream

As the candy heats up, you need to be stirring it almost constantly.  When it has reached temp, remove it from heat and stir it for a minute until it stops bubbling.  Stir in 1-2 t. vanilla and the crumbled bacon.  Pour it into a WELL BUTTERED 8 x 8 glass dish.

After five minutes, sprinkle the surface liberally with the coarse sea salt of your choosing.  I had this Hawaiian stuff on hand, so that's what I used.

It takes a few hours to cool.  When it has cooled completely, cut it into 64 squares and wrap in waxed paper.  I started cutting and decided they needed to be bigger, so I shifted to a 48 pieces plan..then back to the 64 piece plan.  Do not do this.  They are rich and this recipe makes 64.  They will probably keep about a week unrefrigerated.  The most time consuming part is cutting up the waxed paper.  If you put all the wrapped candy in a gallon ziploc bag, every time you open the bag, the aroma hits you like a religious experience.  Unless, of course, you are vegetarian.  Then, I just don't know what to say to you.

Yeah, baby.  Get yer bacon on.

Notes: if you are in quilt club, yes I will be bringing a batch to the party and again to the retreat.

UFO's

If you are a quilter, you will recognize the allusion in the title of this post...unfinished objects...currently, I have the following ufo's in my house:

1 Easter quilt that has been in process for around four years

1 oversized charcoal fleece scarf

3 handbags that I'm trying to decide if they need clasps

2 pillow forms awaiting sweaters

1 set of supplies for a specialty pillow for my sewing room

Here is a picture of the detritus:

This blog is challenging quilters to finish all their UFO's by January 1.  This idea is really appealing to me as I'd like to start the year with a clean slate and I love deadlines (freak).  I'd love to start the new year fresh with no projects hanging over my head and see where my instinct takes me next. 

Found Time

Sometimes, friends ask me where I find the time to do projects and I tell them that I am a big believer in found time.  I also usually have multiple projects going at once, so I just work on whatever is most appealing at the moment.  In five to ten minutes, you can stage supplies for a project.  Maybe you only have twenty minutes to give it one day, that's okay.  You just make steady progress.  You have to be comfortable walking away from things that are undone.  I have the luxury of dedicated space and I can just leave it in tatters and close the door.  Even if you don't have that luxury, it can be done.  Don't be afraid to tackle big projects. Found time is your friend.

What's next?  I think about making a quilt for my MIL and one for my aunt.  I think about making a charity quilt.  I think about making this really cool bathrobe pattern in an Amy Butler book.  I want to learn felting and knitting this year.  I think about doing a scrap exchange (that someone else hosts) ;).

Hmmm...can I do it?  Can Frank the Easter quilt find completion this year?  (If you like Echo and the Bunnymen and you haven't seen Donnie Darko, run, don't walk to Blockbuster.)

Anyone want to join me in the challenge?

Beef and Mushroom Stew with Dumplings

I thought it was high time for a food post.  I mean, it's been a whole week since Thanksgiving and all. ;)

This was the first dish that I made in my new Le Creuset dutch oven.  It is adapted from a cut out I had from a magazine, but it's old and I can't tell which magazine or I would give proper credit.

olive oil

2 lbs beef stew meat

flour

1 lb cremini mushrooms, crumbled or chopped

1 med/lg portobello mushroom, crumbled or chopped

2 onions, chopped

2 T. tomato paste

1 T. fresh thyme

1 c. sherry

4 c. beef stock
1 c. water
1 sm (Jiffy) box biscuit mix
2 T. mixed herbs

Season some flour with salt, pepper and paprika in a shallow dish.  Dredge the beef in the seasoned flour and brown in batches in a small amount of olive oil. Reserve meat on a plate.

Add onions and mushrooms to the pot (and a little more oil if needed) and saute on medium until softened, about five minutes.  Turn the heat to high.  Add the sherry and scrape the brown bits from the pan.  Cook one minute.  Add the stock, water, reserved meat and tomato paste back to the pot.  Return to a boil.  Remove from heat, cover pot and put in a 350 degree oven for two hours, periodically checking and stirring.

Mix the biscuit mix according to package directions, adding the chopped fresh herbs.  Drop the dough as dumplings on the surface of the stew.  Return uncovered to oven for fifteen minutes.  Let stand for ten minutes before serving.  You may need to adjust the thickness of the stew.  If after the two hours before you add the dumplings it is too runny, make a small amount of slurry and stir it completely into the stew.  If it is too thick, add a little water.

Yum.  This was a hit at our house and will be making return appearances.  Bon Appetit!

snippets

Is it wrong that I was a little pleased to see small holes all over my camel cashmere sweater???  Ooooh, a decorative pillow.  This time, it has burgundy stitching and is right at home with the chocolate one on my dark salmon bedding.  I love the contrast stitching and how deliberately imperfect it is.  I have two more larger pillow forms in my sewing closet just waiting for the right hole-y sweater to come along...

Before Thanksgiving, I alluded to organizing linens.  About five years ago I inherited my great grandparents' dining room set.  Table with six chairs and four leaves that can seat twelve and a sideboard.  It is walnut and approaching 100 years old.  It was in our home when I was growing up and I remember playing under it and doing my homework at that table.  Yes, that is a cat box in the corner.  Addy, our elderly spinster cat, has decided that she is going to make our dining room her toilet and we can either put a box in there or clean the carpet every day.  We chose box.  It's charming though, isn't it?  Hubby has the job of taking it out when we use that room...

 Anyhoo, my mother gave it to me.  It came with a host of antique linens that I have always struggled with.  Generally, my system consisted of a forest of dry cleaning bags in the coat closet and a frantic search for the right tablecloth at the last minute.  Finally, this year, I gave my mom back the lace ones as I'm not a lacey kind of gal and the rest I sorted through, measured and packaged up.

My system consists of one and two gallon ziploc bags.  On the front they are labeled with the number of leaves that go in the table to accommodate the tablecloth or if it is a bag of napkins, the number within.  The ziplocs get stacked in the drawer and I'm all good.

Six Months and Counting

Well, as of yesterday I've been on this sahm adventure for six months.  I've learned a lot and had some surprises...

Surprise #1: No Job
Even though I knew what the economy looked like when I was laid off, I guess deep down I thought I'd be fighting them off with a stick. I thought someone from my network would just call me out of the blue and make me an offer or that somehow something would just fall into my lap.  To date, I've only had one interview and I've probably applied for around a hundred jobs.  I suppose looking back that I thought it would be fun to be home for the summer, lounging around, but that at the end of the summer I would be back at work. I feel sort of forgotten like I've fallen off the face of the earth.  I try not to think about it too much.  It is what it is.  I have my unemployment and though we aren't buying new cars or going on vacation or remodeling something, we still get dinner on the table every night and manage the occasional babysitting splurge.  The other surprise is that I have value beyond my professional life.  I'm still a whole person even without a job.  weird.  I guess a lot of my self worth had been wrapped up in my credit score, 401k, and ability to bring home the pancetta.

Surprise #2: I'm Happy
Everyone I know is surprised when they see me.  I get a lot of  "you look so relaxed".  Nobody (including me) thought that there would ever be a time when I would cherish the opportunity to be home focused on taking care of my family.  Sure, I have this blog and I cook and do my sewing and crafts and whatever, but my job is to take care of my husband and kids and home.  and I like it.  it's enough.  for now.

Surprise #3: This Blog
I don't think my blog knows what it wants to be when it grows up.  It is so much more Martha Stewart than I ever thought it would be.  But, it's my outlet.  It's important to me.

Surprise #4: I Live in the Moment
It only took me 39 years, but I have finally learned to live in the moment.  I spend less money.  I'm not constantly planning a home renovation or escape vacation.  I am changed.  I'm happy now and I try not to think too much about what's around the corner because I've lived a lot of my life like that and frankly, it's exhausting.  I didn't make this change happen.  It just happened to me.

I had a totally precious moment this morning.  Big Red stumbled downstairs with bed head, dragging a teddy bear, still warm and sleepy.  He crawled into my lap and promptly fell back to sleep.  We sat like that with no sound but that of his shallow breathing for about thirty minutes.  From my spot on the family room sofa, I watched the bare branches of trees against a sky that became lighter and lighter.  I held a blanket around him tightly and didn't dare move for fear of breaking the spell.  Very soon, frighteningly soon, he will be too old for such snuggling so I have to soak up as much as I possibly can. right now.

I don't know where I'll be six months from now.  Maybe I'll still be here.  Maybe I'll be back at work.  I'm just taking it one day at a time.