Sundays

I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Sundays.

 Sometimes I've wondered what it is that I like about Sundays so much.

 Is it all the time I get to spend with my family?

Is it the long, leisurely walks?

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Is it Sunday afternoon naps?

Whatever it is, I love me some Sundays.

Strawberry Cake

I've been trying to get Ma to join a CSA for years. No exaggeration. We love fresh produce and go through a lot of it. We also enjoy trying new things and finding new recipes. It seemed like a great idea. Fresh produce for less, all of it locally grown and picked just for you at the perfect time. What about this isn't a good idea?

Her answer: "No."

Not even an "I'll think about it," or an "That might be fun, but not right now."

After years of fruitless badgering and enthusiastic "Hey, won't this be a good idea!"'s, I couldn't take it anymore. I gave up. I resigned myself to not joining a CSA till I was grown enough to do it on my own (not that I couldn't now--it's just very likely that the position I am in life right now, were I to join a CSA on my own, much of the food I got would go bad before I got a chance to eat it).

Ma's dear friend Yinda has been exploring the different options you can get with a CSA for several years now. Recently, she switched to getting her produce through Bountiful Baskets. You sign up at the beginning of the week (instead of signing up for a season or a year with a CSA), and pick up your bountiful basket at the pick-up location of your choice on the weekend.

It was only a couple of Mondays ago that I wandered downstairs to find Ma and dear friend Yinda hunched over the computer discussing the pros and cons of sticking with the regular basket or getting the add-on basket.

I was shocked. I couldn't believe it. Here was my Ma, getting herself a bountiful basket. I told her I found her behavior somewhat traitorous.


Her response: "I don't remember talking with you about this."

Hm.

I loved our bountiful basket. So many delicious things. We still haven't used it all and it's been two weeks. I just managed to use up the five pounds of strawberries we got. I made this. And it was even more delicious than it looks. I definitely recommend.

Yay for bountiful baskets!

How To Change Your Life Forever

Raspberry Bread Pudding

• 1 1/2 loaves white bread, aged

Tear bread into 1 1/2 inch chunks. Set aside in large bowl.

• 1 quart half & half
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla

In a medium bowl, whisk together the half & half, sugar, egg, and vanilla. Continue stirring until sugar is dissolved.

Pour half & half mixture over bread. Stir gently to coat all bread chunks. Let stand for half an hour stirring every 5 minutes.

• 5 cups raspberries
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup apple juice

In a medium mixing bowl (I rinse out and use the same bowl from the last conglomeration), gently stir together the raspberries, sugar, and apple juice until the sugar is dissolved.

Fill a 9x13 baking dish half full with the bread mixture. Spread the raspberry deliciousness over the bread. Top with the rest of the bread mixture.

Bake 40 minutes in a 375° oven.

Vanilla Cream Sauce

• 1 1/3 cups butter
• 5 tbsp flour

Melt butter in medium saucepan. Stir in flour. Cook over low heat until it starts to smell a little nutty. Do not cook long enough for butter to brown.

• ½ salt
• 3 cups heavy cream
• 2/3 cups sugar

Add salt, cream, and sugar. Stir continually until mixture thickens to a nice saucy thickness. (This is personal preference. Some people like their sauce thin and runny. I like my sauce thick enough that it stays where I put it.) Remove sauce from heat.

• 2 tsp vanilla

Stir in vanilla.

Is there anything better than a biscuit?

Nope. Definitely not.

Which is why I will be doing this in the coming weeks.

This is gonna be good.

Christmas Time = Caramel Time

I made my first batch last night. Yummy, yummy, yummy. Tell me again why winter is not the best season ever?

PS don't be intimidated by the notes. I just wanted to make sure you had all the information you needed to make your first batch of caramels a success.

Caramels

4 c sugar

4 c corn syrup

2 cubes butter

1 pint heavy whipping cream

1 can evaporated milk

1 tbsp vanilla

Put sugar and corn syrup in a pot. Cook on medium until it comes to a good, hard boil. Add first stick of butter and let it completely melt. Add second stick of butter and let it completely melt. Alternately add cream and milk (four or five times). Clip on candy thermometer and cook until 238 degrees. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

Pour into buttered cookie sheet. Let cool. Turn out onto buttered cutting board and cut into delicious, eatable pieces.

NOTES:

I always butter my cookie sheet either before I do anything else, or while the sugar and corn syrup are trying to get hot enough to boil. My method usually involves tearing half of the paper off a stick of butter and then, using the wrapper that is still there has a handle, slathering it on. More butter is always a good idea. You will hate your life if your caramel sticks to your cookies sheet.You can also use this same butter to butter up your knives before you cut the caramel to pieces.

Make sure you use real butter. Margarine just doesn’t work.

I stir with a wooden spoon. Some people say you need to stir constantly while the mixture is getting up to temperature (after everything is added except the vanilla). I don't. Though I do increase my stirring as the temperature rises.

Make sure you use a tall pot. The candy boils up pretty high. It is also important to have a thick pot. The candy burns easily. I use a pressure cooker. Thick and tall.

You can cook the sugar and corn syrup at a higher temperature. I don’t. It takes longer but it is safer. You can also leave the temperature on medium, but it is far more likely that your caramel will burn. So I start on medium and then turn the burner down to medium low. I’d rather take a little longer to get to delicious caramel than go super fast to burned caramel.

Sugar boils differently than water. It boils slower, but there will be lots and lots of bubbles and they will build on each other. That is a good, hard boil in sugar terms.

When you are turning out the caramel, you need to be committed. If you tip it, and you have buttered it well enough, the caramel will start sliding and bunching. Yay! for not sticking. Sad face for bunched up, smashed caramel. Ready, set, flip!

It took me four and a half hours to do the whole process, from putting the sugar in the pot to wrapping up the last caramel in wax paper, including the cooling time. (I did run to the store for bread, heat up dinner, eat dinner, do dishes, and a few other things during different parts of the process. Don't feel like you will be chained to the stove for four hours, cause you won't be.)

Enlist people to help with the cutting and the wrapping of the caramels. Your life will be so much happier. Promise.

I have no idea exactly how many it makes. With the size pieces I made (most people eat them in two to three bites), I got at least 200. Maybe even closer to 300.