It's a bacon kind of day

I had a dream last night about popcorn, I tried to get some at a concert and they wouldn't let me have any.  I woke up this morning craving popcorn.    The triple digit heat finally broke today, so I think I'm going to make some.  A new recipe, I found it on another food blog, but I wanted to tweek it, for better flavors!  I'm ready to get in the kitchen and start making some magic!  Bring on the Spicy Caramel BACON Popcorn!


In the original blog post the blogger noted that this tends to be a quick recipe, and taking pictures needs to be done carefully...so at her suggestion, and keeping with my tradition, I got all my ingredients out and ready to go!

Once everything was in place the first order of business is to get the bacon cooking. 

The original recipe has you do the bacon in the oven, but I wanted to use the bacon renderings to pop the popcorn, and to add that little bit of extra bacon flavor.  Cook the bacon over Medium heat.  Once the bacon is nice and brown, let it drain on a plate with paper towels, then chop it up into little bits.

Turn the heat up on the drippings to Medium-High

Add one or two kernels, and wait for them to pop

Add the remaining kernels, 

Pop the lid on, and shake it constantly until almost all the popcorn has popped.  

You can tell because you won't hear much popping.  Takes 2-4 minutes.  Pull it off the heat and let it finish popping.

Mix up the baking soda and cayanne...next time I'm going to add a bit less (original recipe called for 3/4 teaspoon...but I'm a sissy and only added 1/2 teaspoon, and that was almost too much.)

Then in a large saucepan throw in the butter, sugar, and water along with the salt.  I used The Spice Agent's Vanilla Bean Salt...because I can, and because it makes it that much better.

Put it on the stove on high heat, and let it do it's thing...seriously, put the spoon down and let it just boil and brown on it's on...

While that is browning (takes about 8-10 minutes) I put my huge silpat baking mat on the counter, non stick, and easier to clean up than a baking sheet that has been sprayed with non stick spray...

Once it's nice and brown dump in the baking soda mix, followed by the bacon.  The dump it all over the popcorn.  Use a spatula to stir the mix as best you can and spread it out on the baking mat.

Let it cool, otherwise you will end up with chewy bits of the caramel stuck in your teeth...I am speaking from experience.  After it's cool break it up into smaller chunks and share with friends. Regardless, make sure it's in an airtight container and keep it in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Trials and the Errors of My Ways

Creating any new dish or desert is definitely Trial and Error.  I found a yummy looking recipe for my Christmas treats on a blog with a similar title.  Cream Mints, the kind you find at weddings, baby showers, etc.  I really LOVE those things.  So of course I had to add them to my list of “to-do.”  Today was that day.  I read the recipe three times, went back to the blog, and read through the comments.  Their recipe calls for 3 Tablespoons of Cream cheese, mint extract, food coloring (optional) and 4 - 4½ CUPS of Powdered Sugar.  After just one and half cups my mixture was more of a powder…ugh, and no I didn’t take a picture of that particular disaster.  One of the comments on the blog said the commenter added a total of 3 ounces instead of Tablespoons.  So I promptly dropped the remainder of my cream cheese in my mixer, and another cup and a half of powdered sugar.  This is the consistency I was thinking when I read the blog,

I also didn’t have any superfine sugar, but being soooo ingenious I remembered that you can put regular sugar in a coffee grinder or food processor and make your own.  I also added some colored sugar so it  was pretty like the mints!

And then finally, once I QUIT eating the dough, they were done!

After taking some mints to my neighbor for testing I decided to make popcorn, using a new method, brown bag in the microwave! Sounds great right? EPIC Failure, I had a major blowout in the microwave! 

I left it in and waited for the popping to slow, bad idea, the middle somehow burned and filled my kitchen with smoke.  And to top it off I had company witness the disaster.  I will try this again, but with 1/4 cup...but I need to go get more popcorn.

After a “quick” trip to the store, and let’s face it, no trip to the store is EVER fast…I am back home, and popping popcorn in the microwave once again!  Using just a 1/4 cup this time!  And in true male fashion, my boyfriend comes in and asks “So, what’s for dinner?  Do you have a plan?” Oh yeah…dinner…um…and in a flash of brilliance I remember that pound of hamburger I have in the fridge…the mushrooms we just bought at the store.  So we are having what I’m going to call “Not a Shepherd’s Pie”. 

You will need:
Tater tots (oven bake these, don’t fry)
1 lb hamburger
8oz fresh sliced mushrooms
12 oz jar savory Beef Gravy
Minced Garlic to taste
Onion powder (or fresh chopped onions) to taste
Cheese, whatever flavor, whatever quantity makes you happy

Put Tots in the oven to bake.  In the meantime, combine mushrooms, hamburger, garlic and onion in an microwave safe dish and cook until hamburger is brown.  Drain. Add beef gravy and microwave for another 2 minutes or until gravy is hot.  

Once tots are done, put on plate or in a bowl

layer beef and mushroom mixture, 

top with cheese and enjoy!   

Hooray!  FTW!

Back to the popcorn, surprise mom!  I’m making some Cinnamon popcorn for you!!!  3/4 cups of kernels later I had enough popcorn (with un-popped kernels removed) to move on to the next step.  Mixing the ingredients, being VERY careful with the Cinnamon Oil, yes oil, you have to go to the Pharmacy and request this, it is not on the shelf.  It’s between $10-15 depending on where you get it and the quality.  It goes a long way, we have had ours just over two years, and still have PLENTY!  Click here for the recipe.

 

And on that note, I’m going to eat some popcorn, and get off my feet.  Tomorrow expect more wonderful desserts, and hopefully no disasters!