Am I at the fair?

Am I at the fair? Oh wait...no. It's just me cookin' up some deliciousness. (-:

Adlai (my [nearly] three year old son) and I were sitting on the couch watching "How To Train Your Dragon" and he said he wanted popcorn. We don't keep microwave popcorn in the house, so I went to get out the pot and make some stovetop popcorn and decided, instead, to make kettle corn. (-:

I LOVE the combination of sweet and salt in the same dish. And this has the perfect mixture. Here's my recipe:

1/3 cup Vegetable (or canola) Oil
1/2 cup popcorn seeds (I use Orville Redenbacher)
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
Popcorn salt to taste

Heat the oil in your pot (or really big pan) over medium high heat. Put in 4-6 "test" kernels. Put the lid on. When those test kernels have all popped, you know that your oil is hot enough. Take your lid off long enough to put in your sugar and popcorn kernels. Put the lid back on and shake your pot over the heat for 3 seconds, hold it still for 3 seconds. Alternate shaking and holding still for the three seconds until popping slows to a few seconds between pops. Remove from heat, carefully take the lid off, and VERY carefully transfer the popcorn to a large bowl. The popcorn will be very sticky at this point and touching it could lead to some BAD burns. Shake it around in the bowl for a minute until it's cool enough to touch. Start breaking the popcorn up by shaking and using your fingertips. Once it's not sticking too much anymore, add your salt (to taste) and shake it around a bit to distribute. Once it's completely cool, you'll be able to break it up into individual pieces easily. ENJOY!

Thanksgiving Coma

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. It's all about family, friends, and food. No expectations of gifts. Just getting together and having a good time.

My family is notorious for going overboard at holidays......food-wise. Yesterday, our feast consisted of:

Two types of cranberry sauce, turkey, ham, baked beans, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, whiskey glazed sweet potatoes and apples, crackers and cheese, relish tray, dressing, gravy, jalapeno cornbread, deviled eggs, 7-layer salad, Hawaiian rolls, and probably some other things I'm forgetting about. Oh, and that was just the main food. For dessert we had cherry almond cookies, lemon cookies, fudge, chocolate pecan pie, pumpkin pie, sugar free chocolate pie, a trifle, pumpkin roll, and some other odds n ends.

How many people did we feed, you ask? Oh, 8 adults and 3 kids. Well, really 7 adults and 1 kid....the other adult and 2 kids ate somewhere else before coming here. Hahaha. Yes. We go a bit overboard.

So I have to say, my favorite things from yesterday were the mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, green bean casserole (which I made from scratch....no cream of mushroom soup for this chica), and the chocolate pecan pie.

All of this to say, it was a ridiculously good meal....and I'm still stuffed. :-)

I'm entering the blogging world.

I'm not a chef. I'm not a food critic. I'm not a wine connoisseur. I'm really nothing special. I just like food. I like to cook. I like to bake. And I really like to eat. :-)

If you know me personally, you know that all of the above statements are true.

I'm a stay at home mom of a darling (read: destructive) almost 3 year old boy. I'm a former music teacher. And I am a sales consultant for one of the oldest direct sales companies in existence. I can't mention the name of that company here, but I can tell you that they sell some of the world's most popular cookware, cutlery, and kitchen tools. :-)

My husband is a farm hand. I live in a 130 year old farm house surrounded by corn/bean/wheat fields. My nearest neighbor is about half a mile away. Aside from the long hours my husband works at the farm a lot of the time, I love this life. This is what I was meant for.

So, about my food choices, I don't really like a lot of red meat. I actually just don't like a lot of meat. I'm far from a vegetarian. And I'm light years from being a vegan. I am pretty sure I would die without milk products and eggs.

So, I've decided to start this food blog due to several friends prodding me to do so. It's going to be a blog about my food experiences. Eating, cooking, baking, and things I want to make. (-:

My blog name is Mangiare Benne! This is Italian for "eat well!" Italian is one of my favorite cuisines. And rightfully so because my DH is Italian.

I hope you enjoy reading and looking at the pictures I'm going to post here. I think I'm really going to like this blog.