Peanut Brittle

I realize everyone probably has their favorite recipe for this, but this is ours:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 1 cup water
• 2 cups raw peanuts
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 2 tsp. baking soda

Heat and stir sugar, syrup and water in a heavy 3-quart saucepan until the sugar dissolves. Add salt. Cook over medium heat to soft ball stage (234 degrees). Add peanuts at 250 degrees. Cook to hard crack stage (290 degrees), stirring often. Remove from heat.

Quickly, stir in butter and soda. Beat to a froth for a few seconds. Pour at once onto 2 well-buttered 15-1/2x10-1/2x1-inch pans, spreading with spatula. If desired, cool slightly and pull with forks to stretch thin. Break up when cold.

Yield: About 1-1/2 pounds of peanut brittle.

Rosemary Pasta in Roasted Garlic Sauce

I made this recipe last night to have with some steaks that Daddy grilled. It went over very well!

• 6 Tbs butter, divided
• ½ cup of finely chopped onion
• 6 cloves of coarsely chopped garlic
• 1 cup of chicken stock
• 2 Tbs chopped fresh rosemary (we didn't have fresh, but dried worked fine)
• 1 (16 oz.) package of spaghetti (we use vermicelli in place of spaghetti usually)
• ¼ cup of grated Parmesan cheese
• kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Melt 4 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over low heat. Add the onions; cook and stir until they turn a deep brown, about 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic, and cook for 2 minutes, until fragrant. Mix in the chicken stock and rosemary, and increase the heat to medium-high. Cook until reduced by ⅓, about 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the pasta, and cook until tender, about 8 minutes. Drain, then add noodles to the sauce in the skillet. Stir in the remaining butter and Parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve in a large bowl family style, or place about 1 cup of pasta in a large mug or small bowl. Insert a dinner fork in the center of the pasta and twirl the fork around, holding the mug steady. The pasta will wind up tighter and tighter as you turn. Remove the fork and immediately turn the pasta out onto a dinner plate of shallow bowl. Garnish with extra cheese and rosemary sprigs.

Link

Christmas Jam

• 12 ounces of fresh cranberries
• Two 10 ounce packages of frozen strawberries
• 4 cups of sugar
• 3 ounces of liquid pectin
• wax (optional)

Slightly chop the cranberries in the food processor. Mix chopped cranberries, strawberries, and sugar in bowl on the stove top. Bring to a boil, and boil for 10 minutes. Add pectin, and boil additional 1 minute. Put jam into warm jars and boil in a water bath for 5 minutes. As an alternative to the water bath let the jam cool after being placed in the jars and pour hot wax over the top. This does just as good a job of sealing it as the water bath (sometimes better), and it doesn't cook the jam any more. Yield: 6 half pints.

This stuff is GREAT! We make more batches of it every year, but we always run out before we can make it again. It is very pretty, and we like to give it away as gifts. I would be more likely to joyfully give it away if we knew for sure there was plenty for us (Yes, I like it that much)! Around here you can only obtain cranberries (at a reasonable price) around Thanksgiving and Christmas, thus the name: Christmas Jam.