Can’t claim it as my own, but I will be trying this recipe this coming weekend! My youngest loves Broccoli Cheese soup and so do I!
Peas and Crayons: Sketch-Free Broccoli and Cheese Soup: Oh yes. Last week I threatened promised that I’d share one last soup recipe from my soup-a-palooza recipe testing. You can pr…
This is what happens when you’re really craving something and the store bought stuff just won’t do. You make it yourself and think, “Why don’t I do this more often?” I was craving a salad this past weekend and well, no store bough crouton would do! Continue reading
So I was a little bored in the kitchen this past weekend…staring into the pantry and wondering what the heck to make for dinner when my mom suggested Fettuccine Alfredo. Now, while that sounded good, I always like to change things up for the family, so they don’t get bored…okay, so I don’t get bored with the same old food. I also didn’t have fettuccine noodles so I improvised and the family gobbled it up.Here’s what I did to make this yummy creation: Continue reading
There, I’ve said it and already I feel much better.
Now mind you it’s just not any caramel that I have an addiction to, no. I’m what one would call a Caramel Diva. Those Kraft caramels, well they just won’t do. The gooey running caramel in candies… yuck. I will except nothing else but the highest quality caramel readily available at my local Cash & Carry warehouse and I blame my sister-in-law for this addiction.
It started out simply enough. She talked me into trying a caramel frappe from Starbucks. I’ve never been much of a coffee drinker, didn’t for many years really care for the stuff. But I didn’t want to hurt her feelings so I caved… that was day that my life changed.
It was a life changing event for me, as that was the day I started licking the creamy goodness from the lids. Yes, another confession… I lick the caramel from the lids on my caramel frappes. You have no idea the looks I’ve had to endure over the years, the ridicule that has fallen upon me for my actions… the caramel that has stuck to the tip of my nose. Sigh… but yet I endure.
Not only did my sister-in-law introduce me to those sinful delights, she also brought me a five pound brick of caramel many years later. I’d love the caramel on my frappe, however, eating caramel chewy candies straight or from the liquid stuff they sell at the grocery stores–I’d not touch them with a ten foot pole. But this, this was like a gift from the caramel gods themselves. You have not tasted caramel until you have tasted the caramel from Peter’s. You will have thought you died and gone to heaven.
She is evil I tell you–pure evil and I love her dearly because if she’d not have dropped this on my counter I wouldn’t have known what heaven tasted like. Now with this said… I only allow myself to purchase one five pound brick per year. Why you ask? Because within a weeks time, if I’d allowed it, I would devour the entire brick completely by myself. I don’t share, I’m the Caramel Diva, if you come within a foot of my caramel brick I will bite your fingers off. No really, but then again….
So, when my allotted brick has been used up for the year, I switch over to what I would call a lesser evil. Caramel apple suckers. I call them the lesser evil because it takes me longer to eat them. I can’t chew through them, they have to be savored, enjoyed. I snack on them when I’ve hit that afternoon sugar low and I’m sitting in my writing chair and needing something to make my brain engage once more.
And of course I mustn’t forget the original. My morning frappe. Now mind you I don’t drizzle the caramel on it everyday (mostly because I can’t find a smooth enough caramel that doesn’t taste like plastic). This is more of a once a week treat, but I do make my vanilla frappe every morning with the leftover coffee from my hubby and I do put whipped cream on it.
I’m odd I know… but it’s that oddity that makes me unique, one of a kind, special. Now if you were to ask my family what they thought of me being unique or special… I somehow think our definitions would greatly differ. = )
~The Caramel Diva
Yes, it’s that time of year again for me to go all out and overwhelm myself to the point of complete exhausting. It’s a tradition by now… a Lisa-ism if that’s what you’d call it. It always starts out innocently enough, just a little bit of Christmas celebration to share with friends, family, co-workers and neighbors… and possibly whomever seems to cross my path between now and December 24th.I fight to keep it under control, really I do, but somehow it just always seems to grow and grow and grow… It could overtake if I allowed it to, but my sweet, compassionate, loving husband seems to know when I can’t handle anymore and throws me the life preserver or parachute… whichever seems most appropriate at the time of course.
It starts with the popcorn… evil popcorn.
It doesn’t just pop itself either. Oh no, I have to use the hot air popper and then burn my fingers on the old maids and un-popped kernels so nobody will break a tooth or choke on them.
If you thought popcorn was evil, you just wait till you meet the caramel… oh my. Yes, this stuff comes from the very depths of all that is sugary, sticky and so stinking yummy (yes I said stinking) you’re willing to take the third degree burns that come with the job just so you can lick the spoon, pot or anything with the addicting substance still attached to it!
Alrighty then, third… the caramel and popcorn meet and instantly bond with one another in a chemistry match that can only be described as unbreakable!
By the time it’s all said and done, Mandi ponders…
