Drawer Full of Snacks - Caramel Corn

I think a lot of people who have desk jobs have a snack drawer. I know of least 4 people in my department that have one. If you do work at a desk and don't have a snack drawer, once 3 o'clock rolls around, what do you do?! I'm usually ready to crash and need a pick-me-up. Unfortunately, with being diabetic, I don't have the luxury of keeping junk food in my drawer and I have to be a little more picky so my sugars don't suddenly spike. Also not good for a diabetic is not to have emergency snacks. I had just started my insulin shots again and I had gotten lazy about restocking. One afternoon, I started to shake uncontrollably and I had trouble concentrating. My blood sugar was too low and I didn't have anything to eat to bring it back up. I had to run to the store for some orange juice so I could feel like I could function again. It's scary to feel like you don't have control of your body and I certainly don't want to go through that again. I've learned to keep my snack drawer stocked but again, sometimes it's hard to find something to snack on.

 

So with that said, November is National Diabetes Awareness Month and I've decided to focus on some homemade snacks to keep in my desk drawer that might be slightly healthier than what you find at the market. One of the staples in my drawer is popcorn and I know that with all that "butter," it can't be the healthiest thing to eat. But then again, I also want my popcorn to taste like something. I decided to experiment this weekend with plain organic popcorn and a bottle of Sohgave that I recently found at Home Goods.

 

 

Caramel Corn

Adapted from sparkpeople.com

 

1/2 cup Splenda Brown Sugar Blend (equivilent to 1 cup of brown sugar)

1/2 cup of agave nectar (such as Sohgave)

1/4 cup of butter

1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of salt

10 cups of air popped popcorn or 2 bags of plain microwavable popcorn*

 

 

Preheat the oven to 250*F. Spray a large baking sheet generously with cooking spray such as Pam.

Pop popcorn and set aside in a large bowl.*

In a saucepan, mix together butter, sugar, and agave over medium heat and stir occasionally. Cook for approximately 5 minutes. Lower heat if the sauce begins to bubble too much or it may burn. Remove from heat and mix in the vanilla, baking soda, and salt.

Pour about 1/3 of the sauce over the popcorn and gently mix so the popcorn is coated. Continue to pour more of the caramel sauce over the popcorn and continue to mix.

Once the popcorn is coated, spread onto your baking sheet in an even layer.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Approximately 15 minutes into the baking time, stir to avoid burning or sticking.

Remove from oven and stir gently to break up any clumps. Cool before serving.

 

 

*Sueshine Notes

-I stared at all the various popcorn brands in the snack aisle for a long time before settling on plain microwavable popcorn because 1) I didn't have an electric air popcorn popper 2) Everything seemed to be either "movie theater butter" or kettle corn flavored. I went with Albertson's Wild Harvest popcorn because it was organic, unflavored, and has no trans fats or artificial flavors.

-I made the mistake of not separating the kernels from the popcorn before I started. The end result was the kernels sinking to the bottom of my baking sheet and sticking to the caramel. Talk about trying not to chip a tooth when you're distracted with all the sticky goodness! So in other words, please take the time to let the kernels settle to the bottom of the bowl then dump them out.

-Unless you have a giant bowl that can hold two bags of popcorn, I recommend mixing in smaller batches. My puppy thanks me for not realizing this earlier and dropping a few stray pieces all over the kitchen floor.

 

 

 

 

I've missed caramel corn and this was certainly a suprising treat. This was the first time I used agave nectar and it served as a great substitute to corn syrup. One new snack in my desk drawer....I can't wait until 3 o'clock!

 

 

note: I'm not a doctor or nutritionist. You know your dietary restrictions and your body so be sure to keep with your doctor's plan for you. Also, remember to eat your snacks in moderation

Springtime Sunshine - Lemon Snow Cake

Around 25 years ago, my grandfather planted this lemon tree in the family's backyard. It's definitely had its ups and downs throughout the years, with it's branches losing its leaves and producing lemons that yielded no juice. In the months approaching Spring this year, every time I came to visit my parents, I would peer through the sliding glass door to look at all the trees and plants my grandfather had loving planted all those years ago and for once, the lemon tree was showing a little sign of life.

Springtime is a time to celebrate life and new beginnings. Spring has always been special to me because of my birthday, Easter with my family, the birth of my blog, and just this week, my first steps without a crutch since my fall in January.  Now that it has become easier to move around the kitchen, minus the crutches, I knew it was time to really come back with something good and something to celebrate Spring. I wracked my brain trying to think of a good recipe that was Easter related and all I kept coming back to was carrot cake or some kind of eggy dessert like a custard. I bounced the idea of carrot cake off my mom and she made that face (she hates carrot cake), I knew I needed to go in a different direction. She mentioned that in the south, coconut cake is very popular and that the coconut is supposed to represent a nest. I instantly knew what I wanted to make.

When I was a little girl, my family use to buy this cake called Lemon Snow from George's Wonderful World of Cakes. Unfortunately, the bakery has since closed. The taste is strictly based on my childhood memories so this is my variation of one of my favorite cakes.

Lemon Snow Cake

White Cake
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups heavy cream

Lemon Curd
3 eggs
3/4 cups sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon lemon zest
6 tablespoons cold butter

3 cups of sweetened shredded or flaked coconut




1) Preheat oven to 350*. On a piece of parchment paper, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, beat the eggs and vanilla together with a fork. Set aside.
2) In a separate bowl, beat the heavy cream with a mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form (thick whipped cream). Lower the speed and add the egg/vanilla mixture until blended. Slowly add the dry ingredients in thirds until the batter is smooth.

3) Spray two 8 or 9 inch round pans with cooking spray. Divide the batter evenly into the pans. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Check the cakes by poking with a toothpick and if it comes out clean, remove and cool. Remove from pans after 10 minutes and cool on a wire rack.





4) Cut the cold butter into chunks and set aside. In a double boiler or in a medium saucepan, bring water to a simmer. In a heatproof bowl over the saucepan, combine the lemon juice, sugar, lemon zest, and eggs. Whisk the mixture frequently for 8-10 minutes until thickened.  Remove from heat and add a chunk of butter, one at a time, whisking until melted. Allow the lemon curd to cool to room temperature.

5) Level the cakes with a knife or cake leveler. Place the bottom layer on a cake plate, add a generous layer of lemon curd on top, then add the other cake on top. Add an additional thin layer of lemon curd on the top and sides of the cake. Sprinkle the top of the cake with coconut. To add coconut to the sides, take a small piece of parchment paper, place some coconut on the paper, and gently press the coconut against the cake.

Sueshine Notes about this recipe

*Double Boiler: Do not be intimidated by the double boiler section of this recipe. I don't own anything fancy and all you need is a tall saucepan and a heatproof bowl that will fit snugly at the top of the pan. Make sure the water is not touching the bottom of your bowl.

*Lemon Curd: Do not walk away from the bowl! You have to keep on whisking or you will end up with scrambled eggs.

*Coconut: Believe it or not, adding coconut was probably the most difficult part of this recipe. It's going to get messy so make sure you lay down a towel under your work space for an easy clean up.

*Shortcuts: Say you don't want to mess around with the double boiler or you do end up with scrambled eggs, not to worry. Lemon curd is available in most grocery stores in the jam/jelly section. Not into making cake from scratch? Use white box cake and I won't judge!

*Substitutions: I of course wanted to try this cake so I substituted the sugar with Splenda's sugar blend. If you do use the sugar blend, be sure to read the label for conversions. If you go cup by cup, your cake/curd will be too sweet. I also tried this recipe with both cake flour and all purpose flour. I prefer the cake flour because the cake is softer and smoother and reminded me more of the lemon snow cake at George's. Remember, there is a conversion for the flour too: 2 1/4 cups of cake flour = 2 cups of all purpose flour. 

I hope you make this cake and enjoy a little sunshine on a plate this Spring. If you're a little scared to tackle this one, stay tuned for my next post to find out when and where you can get a bite of this cake (already made for you) and help a great cause!