Cracked out corn

Ok...my dear friend Mandi raves of this recipe and I am pumped to make it! She had it and went home and made it, lol. I love her.

Caramel Puff Corn
Prep Time:  10 minutes Cook Time:  45 minutes Chill Time:  30 minutes Yield:  5 quarts 1 bag (8 to 9 ounces) puff corn (also known as hulless popcorn) 1 cup butter (no substitutes) 1 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup Karo® Light OR Dark Corn Syrup 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon Spice Islands® 100% Pure Bourbon Vanilla Extract From: http://www.karosyrup.com/recipe_details.asp?id=1701		Preheat oven to 250°F. Spray a large roaster with cooking spray. Pour puff corn into the roaster. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add brown sugar and corn syrup and mix well. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly, and cook for additional 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda and vanilla extract; the mixture will foam and expand. Carefully pour syrup over puff corn and toss to mix. Bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Pour onto waxed paper or foil that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Let Caramel Puff Corn cool at least 30 minutes. Break into bite size pieces and store in closed container. Note: Puff corn is found in the snack/chip aisle of the grocery store.

Pumpkin Spice Cereral Treats

If there is one thing in the whole wide world I love, it's fall. And one of the best things about fall is pumpkin. You have complete license to add pumpkin to anything and everything this season, and no one thinks you are nuts. I fully support this, and to contribute to the madness I made these.

First, I didn't use "puffed rice cereal" because I have a Costco size box of Cinnamon Cheerios that the daughter decided she doesn't like (which is nuts, because that stuff is amazing; it does mean more for me, and I'm totally fine with that.). And when you have enough cereal to feed an army and only two adults, you need to make sacrifices. Like mixing them up with pumpkin and marshmallows.

I think that if I did this again, I would:

• 1.5x the recipe; the bars were thinner than I would have liked. I did use a 9x13 pan, and the author of this recipe used 8x11 (where do you get such a thing) so I understand why mine weren't as tall.
• Perhaps try it out with Golden Grahams, as that would also be tasty. But that would be on the third time I make it, not the next time.

What I did different:

• I used parchment paper instead of buttering the pan, in an effort to justify eating more treats later on. It worked pretty well. (see amazing photo to left)
• I used Cinnamon Cheerios, and I'd try it with the Rice Krispies next time to see if there is a big difference.
• Because life is short, and browned butter is delicious, I browned the butter for a deeper, nuttier flavor. 

Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispie Treats

serves 12

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup canned pumpkin puree

1 (10 ounce) bag mini marshmallows plus one cup

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Pinch of allspice

Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

Pinch of kosher salt

6 cups puffed rice cereal

Butter a 9x13-inch baking dish (or a smaller dish — see Note below).
In a heavy saucepan or Dutch oven, melt butter over medium-low heat. Add the pumpkin puree and continue to cook until it is warmed through. Fold in 10 ounces of the marshmallows, stirring frequently until almost completely melted. Stir in vanilla, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and salt, and remove from heat.

Allow the marshmallow mixture to cool 10 minutes; fold in the remaining cup of marshmallows. Continue to cool the mixture for another 20 to 25 minutes until it is room temperature (failure to cool the mixture will result in soggy rice crispy treats.) Add the puffed rice cereal and stir, using a silicone spatula, until combined.

Press the mixture into the greased rectangular baking dish. Let set for 30 minutes before cutting and serving.

• Note: I call for a 9x13-inch dish here, but I often use an 8x11-inch because I like taller treats. Any size in this range should do.

Recipe found Apartment Therapy's Kitchn

Chicken, Pesto & Veggie Pasta

So I have no clue what to "name" this. I had been wanting a pasta with a pesto sauce so I just threw some veggies and chicken together. Toward the end I figured a pure pesto sauce might be a bit too rich of a taste (for my one year old) so I ended up making a pesto cream sauce. The meal took about 40 minutes total to prep and cook. I expected it to take a bit longer - I was pleasantly surprised. This recipe makes a lot. I realized it was going to make quite a bit once I got started, but just went with it because we love having leftovers. Thankfully so because my daughter absolutely loved it and ate her whole bowl. I love when that happens - it's rare.

Chicken, Pesto & Veggie Pasta

2 tbs. EVOO

2 chicken breasts, diced

1/2 yellow onion, diced

1 bunch asparagus, chopped

1 14 oz. can artichokes, chopped

4 oz. sun dried tomatoes, julienne sliced

3 oz. black olives, sliced

Sauce

3 tbs. butter

2 tbs. flour

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1 cup Parmesan cheese

6 oz. jar pesto

1 package Trader Joe's Vegetable Radiatore

Saute the chicken and onion in the EVOO. Add preferred seasoning to taste (I used garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper - kept it simple, would have preferred fresh garlic, but was hurrying). Once chicken is cooked, add in asparagus, artichoke, sun dried tomatoes, and olives. Let simmer.

In a saucepan, melt butter and then add flour. Once blended, add the heavy whipping cream. Stir until warm. Add Parmesan cheese. Once the Parmesan cheese is melted whisk in pesto.

Add pasta to boiling water.

You could toss everything together, I chose not to. This makes way more sauce than is necessary for the amount of chicken, veggies & pasta. Even after storing the leftovers in the fridge, I still had plenty of sauce left to freeze.

We loved it - hopefully you will too!