misstaken

Mmmm! I love cooking. This thread is so yummy! I can't wait to try the new recipes!

Milwaukee/Waukesha/Surrounding area? My very best shopping buddy is back in Texas and we have no way to get to each other. So it looks like I'm going it alone this year...unless someone needs a buddy?

I'm trying to find the one I like for caramel corn...but here's one for caramel flan (from a restaurant in Milwaukee-yummy!) while I try to find the other one: Haute Taco's Caramel Flan Makes five (6-ounce) servings 1 cup sugar (divided) 1/3 cup water 1 cup milk 1 cup half-and-half cream 1 vanilla bean, scraped 4 large eggs Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place five (6-ounce) ramekins in a pan that will allow you to cover the ramekins three-fourths of the way up with water. Add ½ cup sugar and 1/3 cup water to heavy-bottomed saucepan. Begin to cook over medium heat. Do not disturb initially. After all the sugar begins to boil, watch carefully so that no spot is caramelizing more. You may need to swirl the pan. Once you have achieved an amber color, remove from heat and pour into ramekins. In clean saucepan, mix remaining ½ cup sugar, the milk, half-and-half and vanilla bean. Using a candy thermometer, heat liquid over medium heat to 120 degrees, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and set aside to allow vanilla to steep into milk, another 5 to 10 minutes. In bowl, whisk eggs until thoroughly mixed and slowly begin to add milk mixture to eggs to temper them. Once all milk mixture has been added and mixture is thoroughly combined, pass through a chinois (cone-shaped sieve) to remove undissolved sugar. Pour into ramekins. Pour warm water into pan holding ramekins and bake in preheated oven 50 minutes, or until custard becomes "almost" firm. (It will finish cooking in the water bath.) Remove from oven and let cool in water bath. Remove ramekins from water bath and refrigerate until cool. To serve, run knife around outside of each flan and invert onto plate. Tap and flan will fall out. Sue's Caramel Corn Makes about 6 quarts 1 cup unpopped corn kernels 2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter ½ cup light corn syrup 2 cups packed brown sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking soda Preheat oven to 225 degrees. Pop corn kernels according to package instructions to make 6 quarts popped corn. Divide the plain, unseasoned popcorn between two large, high-sided roasting pans. In 2½-quart microwave-safe bowl, microwave butter, corn syrup and brown sugar on high (100% power) 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes. Add vanilla, salt and baking soda and stir to combine (mixture will bubble). Pour mixture equally over the two pans of popcorn and stir gently to combine. Place in preheated oven and bake 20 minutes. Stir. Bake an additional 20 minutes. Turn off oven and leave in the cold oven overnight. Mustard Cheddar Crackers Makes about 120 crackers 1 pound sharp cheddar 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature 1 large egg yolk ¼ cup Dijon mustard 2 tablespoons dry mustard ¼ cup black or yellow mustard seeds 2 teaspoons salt 2 cups flour Coarsely grate cheddar. In food processor fitted with steel blade, blend cheese with butter until smooth. Add remaining ingredients, pulsing until just combined. In a bowl, chill dough, covered, 15 minutes. Halve dough, and on a lightly floured surface, roll into two 12-inch logs. Chill logs, wrapped in wax paper and foil, until firm, at least 2 hours and up to 1 week; or freeze logs up to 2 months. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. With a sharp thin knife, cut dough into 1/8-inch slices and arrange about 1 inch apart on greased baking sheets. Bake slices in batches in middle of oven until golden, about 12 minutes. Transfer crackers to racks to cool. Crackers keep in an airtight container at room temperature 1 week.

We haven't really ever done Santa either. We don't *not* do it either though if that makes sense. We don't write "from Santa" on gift tags but we also don't write "from Mom and Dad" either. We just write the name of the person the gift is for. Over the years, they've both done things with Santa at school and my mom does talk about Santa coming and things like that but they have never asked why or why doesn't Santa come to our house. I'm pretty sure that they understand that it's just a part of Christmas and they are free to believe in whatever they like.

My 11 year old dd and 8 year old ds had positive results for swine flu last week. They are still home but only because the school won't take them back. Ds is high risk so he did a round of Tamiflu and is bouncing off the walls, wanting to go back to school. Dd was a little sicker, but is coming around now-no fevers for either one for days. I also now have it. Started Tamiflu yesterday and am taking it easy at home. I had pneumonia last year over Christmas and it was MUCH worse than this. I think getting it early before it mutates is better in the long run..it will only be harder to treat then. H1N1 responds nicely to Tamiflu at this point. Also, my kids were the first two confirmed cases of swine flu at their school. However, they have not been anywhere but school and home so obviously there are some people running around untreated. Nothing we can do about it. Just have to weigh risks and rewards, I guess.

MAN! Bummer for me again! Congrats to the winners!

Applebee's has Halloween coupon books with 5 free kids meal coupons for $5. However, they will only let you use 3 at a time per adult that orders.

James and the Giant Peach...Roald Dahl Such an awesome book!

I have a Tassimo that I love. We get the coffee from Target or Macy's. I think it's a little cheaper than the Keurig but has alot of coffees, plus tea and hot chocolate.

Looks like wobble ball, giant fun house, and slide back in stock now. Also-4 individual hamsters in stock @19.99 each. No clue how much shipping is since I don't need these toys but figured someone might.

Bummer for me but congrats to the winners!:)

I haven't heard of any of these toys either! My kids never ask for anything and I'm always left to try and figure out what they want.

Stuck home with the kiddies, looking for deals too! I need a t-shirt!

Finally broke down and bought them today. Thanks for all the suggestions!

http://wishuponahero.com/forums/topic/?id=1111 Posted on a forum!

We're in WI now so it gets really cold! Not quite sure exactly how cold but it does go below zero at times. For price, I would prefer to stay below $60 for each if possible. Thanks for the ideas...keep 'em coming! I'm going to check out the JCPenny's at the mall tonight to see if they have the coats in stock too.

The only thing I have is FB so I posted there. Hope the link works.. http://www.facebook.com/posted.php?ref=sb#/profile.php?id=100000158130929&ref=profile

I'm looking for the best deal possible on two kids winter coats. One for a girl sz 10-12 and one for a boy size 7-8. I'm not concerned with name brand or color but would like them to have the zip out liner. Help, anyone?

I think they mean that you are being very generous. I think it would be tough to give up all of that time waiting to buy something and not get anything in return for it. They are very lucky to have a friend like you!

San Marcos, TX checking in!

This will be my 5th year overall and the second year that I won't be freezing my behind off!

Of course they won't come until after Christmas!

You can order the bundles (if that's what you're interested in) at the TRU site. They have them in stock right now.