By: Terry Hicks
The Parsons Advocate
I was watching our local news the other evening and the weather reporter was on with the weekly weather and he said something that almost had me rolling in the floor. From his lips to your eyes he said, “Moisture is the juice for rain.” WHAT!!! I could not believe he used that analogy and where did he pull that out of anyway, Momma Said, “He has a 50/50 chance of getting the weather right to begin with and he comes up with that.”
Our weather here is just a month late, we are getting April showers in May and the temperatures have dropped low again. I will say after it decided to stop frosting, everything is flourishing. Trees, grass, flowers, everything is popping. Still having to wear a light jacker to work but it is warming up quite nicely by time to go home. Momma Said, “We can live with that before the 90’s kick in.”
I hope everyone had a beautiful Mother’s Day and spoiled your mother if she is still with you. She deserves everything you can give her, but most of all, she just wants your love. I wish mom was still with us and it is hard to believe if she were she would be celebrating her 93rd birthday in July. It is still hard for me to comprehend she has been gone for so long. Just do me a favor and give your mother a hug for me and just whisper in her ear that you love her.
Caramel Corn
Ingredients
• 7 quarts plain popped corn
• 2 cups slivered almonds (Can also use dry roasted nuts, honey roasted peanuts, cashews, Macadamia nuts, or pecans)
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1⁄2 cup light corn syrup
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup butter
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Dash of cayenne pepper
Instructions
• Cook 2 bags of popcorn in the microwave.
Two 3.5oz bags of microwave popcorn equals 7 quarts of popped corn.
• Place the popped popcorn into (2) shallow greased baking pans. Sprinkle the slivered almonds or nuts of your choice on top. Set aside. You can also use roasting pans if you prefer, which makes it a bit easier to stir without any popcorn falling out.
• Preheat the oven to 240 degrees F. While the oven is heating, combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, butter, and salt in a saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring enough to blend. Note: It’s important not to get in a hurry and bring everything to a boil too quickly. You want a nice SLOW bubbling boil.
• Once the mixture begins to boil, continue boiling for 5 minutes while stirring constantly.
• Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the baking soda and vanilla. Immediately pour over the popcorn in the baking pans. Stir to coat.
• Bake for 1 hour. But be sure to remove them from the oven and give them a good stir every 15 minutes.
• After it’s done baking, line the countertop with waxed paper. Pour the
popcorn out onto the waxed paper. Allow the popcorn to cool completely. • Store in airtight containers. It can be kept for up to 3 months.
