Popcorn has always been one of my favorite treats, but when it’s combined with buttery caramel it’s irresistable!

My mom gave us this quick and easy recipe for microwave caramel corn in 1988, and it’s been a favorite ever since. Be sure to keep a close eye on your caramel when you’re cooking it. I hadn’t made it since we got our new microwave, and ended up burning the first batch because our old microwave wasn’t as powerful as our current one. Oops!

Microwave Caramel Corn Recipe

• 16 cups popped popcorn
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

- Divide the popped corn between two 4-quart microwavable glass containers.
- In a separate 2 1/2-quart microwavable glass container mix the brown sugar, butter, corn syrup and salt. Microwave 2 to 2 1/2 minutes. Stir. Microwave 30 seconds to bring to a boil. Boil 2 1/2 to 3 minutes. Remove from microwave and stir in baking soda.
- Divide between two bowls of popped corn and stir. Cook one bowl in the microwave 30-60 seconds while you stir the other. Alternate bowls until they’ve each cooked an additional 2-3 minutes and the popcorn is coated with caramel.
- Cool, stirring frequently. Store in an air-tight container.

Microwave caramel corn make a great gift too! Simply fill a holiday container with microwave caramel corn and add a pretty ribbon and card. Voila – done!

When I was a kid Seashell Salad was my favorite pasta salad, and now it’s my girls’ favorite pasta salad too. Like most of the things I make it’s really easy and doesn’t take many ingredients.

Our family recipe for Seashell Pasta Salad calls for:

• 1 package seashell macaroni – the medium size
• 2-3 stalks celery, chopped
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• Peas*
• Cheddar cheese – we usually use medium but you can use whatever you like best

*My mom uses a small can of tender baby peas but I can’t stand canned peas so we use frozen peas. I guesstimate the amount then microwave them, run them under cold water until cool, then add them to the seashells little by little until it looks good to me.

 

1. Cook the macroni according to directions, drain, and run under cold water to cool. Drain again and put into a large bowl.
2. Add the celery, onion, and peas* see note above.
3. Cut the cheese I heard you snicker! into cubes – I prefer larger cubes but Tom prefers smaller ones so we usually make them smaller for him.

To make the dressing for Seashell Pasta Salad you’ll need:

• Miracle Whip
• Sour cream
• Mustard
• Milk
• Sugar

This is where it gets tricky because I don’t have measurements, I just keep adding and tasting until it tastes good. There is no wrong way to do this; as long as it tastes good to you you’re golden!

 

1. Mix some Miracle Whip with some sour cream – use a ratio that’s almost half and half but is a little heavier on the Miracle Whip.
2. Add a squirt of mustard and a dash of sugar.
3. Stir in a small amount of milk to help thin the dressing.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.

 

5. Mix the dressing into the pasta/cheese/pea mixture. The pasta soaks up the dressing like crazy so I’ll either make extra dressing and set some aside to add just before serving, or I’ll wait until just before serving to mix it in.

My mom’s recipe says to serve chilled but I prefer it a just a little cooler than room temperature. Mmmm, I’m getting hungry for some seashell pasta salad now – I wonder if we have any sour cream in the fridge?

I hope your family loves this recipe as much as mine does!

A few months back Amy surprised me with a subscription to “Every Day with Rachael Ray.” Part of my surprise was that she would actually allow me to have a magazine with pictures of one of my top ten fantasy women throughout. Unfortunately, the magazine is geared more toward her female audience than the guys who love admire her, but I manage to page through it every month to be “inspired” (in the kitchen). Amy also pages through it which may explain why some of Rachael’s pics now have a mustache and a goatee and why some of the recipes have the rather large note, “MAKE THIS FOR ME!!!!” Always looking to please my number one fantasy woman, tonight I tried the recipe from Rachael’s June/July 2010 Grilling Issue, A Better Burger.

When I first read the recipe, I couldn’t understand why she wanted me to make this. After all, I’m pretty creative when it comes to burgers and this makeover really didn’t save a huge number of calories. It was just a double cheeseburger recipe after all. Since it was my first time making it, I followed the directions to a T (okay, so I added a little bit more adobo to the sauce for heat and only made six patties instead of eight) but it wasn’t until I started to put everything on the table that the light went on. Hamburgers, check. Sauce, check. Lettuce, check. Cheese, check. Pickles, check. Wait a minute! This burger is a kicked-up Big Mac! Sure enough, when I took that first bite it was a Big Mac, only much better. Amy doesn’t even like Big Macs, but she loved this burger. So, if you love a good Big Mac, you’ll want to try this and if you’re not a Mickey D’s fan, give this a shot. You might just be surprised (without the pictures of Rachael Ray).

Tom

I don’t remember how old I was when Mom came home from that choir picnic ranting and raving about the wonderful calico beans she’d just eaten four servings of. I do remember that she made them within the next week and they were as good as promised. We must have had calico beans more than a dozen times that first summer. I’m sure I thought of them as our congregation’s own little private recipe especially since it showed up at every potluck we had, but lo and behold, my future mother-in-law made them in her home for Amy’s and my rather informal rehearsal dinner. When Uncle Jon invited us to a brat cookout for this afternoon and I was in the grocery store trying to think of something to bring for Amy’s family’s less exotic taste buds, calico beans came to mind once again. Since I can’t make a recipe without adding my own personal touches, you’ll have to check out my comments below and decide if the changes are for better or for worse.

From St. John’s Cookbook 1978, St. John Lutheran Church, Grand Haven, MI as submitted by Eileen Ritter

1 lb. ground beef

½ lb. diced bacon

1 c. chopped onion

1 can kidney beans

1 can butter beans

1 can pork and beans

½ c. brown sugar

½ c. white sugar

1 T. vinegar

1 tsp dry mustard

½ c. catsup

salt and pepper

Brown ground beef, bacon and onion. Drain off grease. Mix with remaining ingredients. Bake at 350° for 40 minutes.

Changes for today’s version:

Since the girls and Diana do not eat beef or pork, I went with 20 ounces of ground turkey (what’s a little extra meat among friends?) browned with 1½ teaspoons of Penzey’s smoked Spanish paprika and turkey bacon. Amy grabbed the pinto beans off the grocery shelf to replace the kidney beans. I used up leftover red onion from last evening’s lime shrimp tacos a la Rick Bayless (a post for another day) to add more color and apple cider vinegar. Finally, since we were out of brown sugar I replaced it with 3 tablespoons of molasses and used crushed brown mustard. It’s in the crock pot now waiting for dinner at five, but I think I’ll sneak a taste now for quality control reasons.

Tom