3/30/12

Salt water taffy recipe

It took me a while to make this, but... it was all worth it.  The taffy was so good and had a wonderful buttery minty flavor.

Salt water taffy   recipe from here

2 c. sugar
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 c. light corn syrup
3/4 c. water
2 Tbsp. margarine or butter (I used butter)
1 tsp. flavoring oil or extract (If you want a stronger flavor just add a little more)

Prepare a heat safe dish by lightly buttering it (I used a baking sheet)  If you are making more that one flavor, prep said amount of dishes.  Also lightly butter a spatula for each flavor, and have each flavor and food color ready.

In a saucepan, sift together sugar and cornstarch.  Stir in corn syrup, water, salt and butter.  Place over medium heat and stir until sugar dissolves.  Cover pan and bring to a boil for 2 or 3 minutes.  (I did this and walked to another room, and it boiled over... not pretty.  So I would turn down the heat, put the lid at an angle to let a little steam escape, but still make sure that it was boiling.)  Uncover, place thermometer in pan and cook to 256-266 degrees F.  The lower temperature will result in a chewier taffy, the higher a more brittle texture.  Remove from heat and add food color and flavoring.  Stir gently, pour into prepared dish/pan.

When cool enough to handle, grease hands and pull the warm candy with fingertips, pulling out to about 12 inches at first.  Quickly turn candy back from fingertips of one hand to the other hand, then catch center and pull again.  This will incorporate air into the candy.  Continue pulling until taffy is light in color and has a satiny gloss, about twenty minutes.  Pull into a long rope, cut with greased scissors and wrap in waxed paper squares, twisting ends.

                                                                        My taffy...


P.S  Our trip is going great!  Flying was so much fun.  I'll have tons of pictures to share later. :)
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Photo Friday...



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3/26/12

Packing

Tomorrow my mom and I are getting on a plane (my first time!) to go down to NC to see my sister Mary, her husband Cody, and their little bundle of cuteness, Seb.  We will be there for over a week and I don't know if I will be able to blog much. :(  Hopefully I will have tons of pictures to share with you when I get back though!  Have a good week!

I took this picture at the beginning of packing.  My suitcase is full now, and mostly because I have my pillow and blanket in there besides my clothes... ;)  I just can't go on a trip without them!


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3/23/12

Photo Friday...

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3/22/12

A day of photos








Yesterday afternoon, I saw some cows in one of our fields.  We have cows, but these weren't ours. They were my uncle/neighbor's cows.  So my brother and Lucy had to go down and direct the cows to their pasture.  I tagged along to snap a few pictures... of course. :)



Looking up at our house from the corner of the field.



Then I went down to the creek since I was so close...  The picture below is my favorite.




Look what I found, an axe that we had supposedly been missing.


We had to go over the fence and Lucy didn't want to...

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3/20/12

First day of spring/spring pictures


It's looking like Spring...





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3/19/12

What I Wore





 Skirt: hand-me-down, Cardigan: hand-me-down, Cami: Kohl's, Shoes: thrifted, earrings: gifted, headband: Goodwill, Watch: gifted from Target
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3/16/12

Photo Friday...



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3/14/12

On the trampoline

In action...





This picture above is me... I don't know what I was doing.




So yesterday we put our trampoline up for the summer.  It was the perfect day to do it, the sky was clear, there was a nice breeze, and it was in the 70's.  Even Lucy wanted to get on... (we kind of forced her, but once she was on she liked it.) :)
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3/12/12

Over the weekend. Road trip!

Last Saturday we took a trip to Michigan to see my brother (who goes to college up there) and my sister (who works at the college).  It was a really short trip that was spent eating, watching basketball games (blah), and listening to wedding talk between my sister, mom, and "future" sister in law.  Here are some pictures of our road trip.  Six people in a six passenger truck was a little tight...  




Jordan (the future sister in law) making a heart shadow.



For breakfast we had pop tarts.  Not the best untoasted, but still good.


My sister Lydia in the middle of a posing.



Jordan posing for a picture!


Jordan getting a picture of me with my favorite drink.  Arizona tea.  


What did you do last weekend?
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3/9/12

Photo Friday...



On the bottom of the ocean... so beautiful!

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3/7/12

The perfect spring dress
















One of my favorite things about spring is... dresses.  My birthday is coming up (in 2 months!) and I've been looking on the internet to find the "perfect one" to ask for.  Ruche, has some of my favorites.  This is going to be so hard to decide because there are so many cute ones out there!

Happy Wednesday! :)


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