Peanut Butter, Caramel and Chocolate Drizzle Popcorn

If that title does not make your mouth water, then ignore this post. I was watching one of my favorite cooking shows a few days ago, Dinner at Tiffani's, when I saw she was making this great concoction. Since my little cousin spent to the night a few nights ago, I showed her the recipe and she immediately wanted to make it. This was no surprise because this little girl has the biggest sweet tooth. It was also a great way to teach her how to read the measurements since she is now in first grade. The recipe is really simple and does not require a ton of ingredients. I will have the step by step instructions below! I just took the recipe from the actual website! To see it entirely, here is the link! Ingredients: 1/2 cup corn syrup 3/4 cup sugar 1 cup peanut butter 1/4 cup honey 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped (The recipe calls for cashews also to be added, but I opted out of using them) I have a hot air popcorn maker, so I used one scoop of kernels for this recipe. Spread out the popcorn out on a baking sheets. In a saucepan, combine the corn syrup and sugar. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes; remove from heat. Carefully, add the peanut butter and honey. Stir until the peanut butter is melted, then add the vanilla. Working quickly, pour the mixture over the popcorn, and use two rubber spatulas to evenly coat the popcorn. Set aside to cool completely. Fill a saucepot halfway up with water; set over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat down to medium-low. Add the chocolate to a glass bowl and place the bowl over the pot of simmering water. Melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally. Using a spoon or spatula, drizzle the popcorn with the chocolate. This mixture, when left out, will harden like a caramel corn, so make sure it doesn't clump up too much! Your teeth will thank you!

Pumpkin Patch Take 1

Every year, I take my little cousins to the pumpkin patch to experience all it has to offer. We try to go to a different pumpkin patch every year, so this year I decided to take them to The Pumpkin Patch on Sauvies Island. I am not sure how I have lived here my entire life and not been to Sauvies Island, but even after going there, I don't feel like I was missing out on too much. If you are taking little ones here, make sure to pack them a snack and something to do if you are driving over 30 minutes. I made sure to pack a water bottle, but forgot granola bars, which was a mistake. We played the license plate game in the car and jammed out to music to help the time pass by. It was raining the entire drive there, so it was a regular Sunday in Oregon. Once we parked, we headed over to the main area to see where to go for our hay ride to the field. In the main area, there is a market with produce from the fields, an animal barn where you can see a variety of farm animals, and gift shop. If you are looking for food to eat there, they have the typical kettle corn, hot dogs and caramel corn, carnival kind of food. Since I have dietary restrictions, there was not anything that I could eat or that looked appealing to me at the time. Both girls had a hot dog, which was a sufficient snack while there. After looking at the animal barn (we have chickens and live semi close to the country, the girls were not too impressed with the selection of animals), we got in line for the hay ride. The hay ride was only a couple of minutes long, but takes you through the field of huge leafed lettuce. Out in the field of pumpkins, it was completely covered in mud. We all had thick layers on mud on our shoes, and both girls slipped in the mud. Eventually I had one on each side and held their hands to try and help them from falling in the mud again. The rule since I was little, was you can only choose a pumpkin that you can carry yourself. So once we were out looking for pumpkins, the girls could not find any smaller ones that they could carry. Back on the hay ride we went to head back to the main marketplace to find smaller pumpkins that the girls could carry. All in all, this was a great first trip of the pumpkin patch season! I am going again Saturday morning with my best friend to then get my own pumpkin finally.