Caramel Nut Bars

http://www.publicradio.org/columns/prairiehome/sundberg/2013/07/05.shtml

Well...early into the kitchen to fire up the oven before the humidity and heat affect the comfort zone of an air conditioned house. It has been wicked hot here, and never having been much of a hot weather kind of person, I figured I had better get these bars done in the cool of the morning.

I have to say, I LOVE salty and sweet. My Mister does as well, but he is off in the Pacific somewhere for 6 weeks, I know not exactly the location, but we have some contact still. He called yesterday and asked if I had made these bars yet, because he loves that combination as much as I. The Supremes are missing out as well, because I will not be going south to the office to share these. But I have two hungry boys next door, off for summer vacation, and I know they will be more than willing to step up to Supreme status and eat these.

My potato masher comes in handy for lots of things, and this is one of them. I did warm the butter a bit, and after blending the flour and brown sugar, this handy kitchen utensil made short work of incorporating the butter.

I did make one substitution, using agave syrup for the corn syrup, because we stay away from corn based sweeteners. The conversion was to halve the amount of corn syrup with agave. It worked just fine, and for two boys next door, 10 and 13, they will never know!

I wondered if there was going to be enough of the topping to cover, (my more-is-better sensibilities kicking in), but there was plenty to cover the crust and peanuts, so I need to stop imposing my thoughts on what is already a great recipe. Mrs. Sundberg said any type of nuts were fine, and I think when the Mr. is back home, I will do this again, using a mix of cashews, almonds and walnuts. Mmm.

They are cooling now, and when I can cut them up, I will deliver them next door and report back on the comments from the Junior Supremes.

Thank you, Mrs. Sundberg.  :-)

Back with Grandpa's Wings

Recipe: http://www.publicradio.org/columns/prairiehome/sundberg/2013/06/27.shtml


Finally. I am back. If anyone out there missed these posts, I apologize for the big blank space. I had quite an adventure in late February, visiting the cardiac intensive care unit, and it has taken me a while to get back to everything I left behind after that trip. Which included a very cool ambulance ride, a glow in the dark nuclear heart mapping and a chemical stress test. I am better...back to my old self, and ready to begin again.

I have eaten wings in my life, but never have been this up close and personal with them. Having to cut them apart was a wrestling match, and I think the wings might have won. Although they turned out fine, tasted wonderful, and in the end it didn't matter that I really didn't know what I was doing! I chose to bake them, because that is what I do with most foods when I have the choice over frying. I also peppered them before baking, because we like pepper, and I broiled them at the end to crisp up the skin and bring them closer to the fried version. Worth it, in the Mr.'s opinion, as he is a wing-eating expert.

This butter/hot sauce was very good, extra hot sauce for the Mr., again, because he has eaten a LOT of wings, and goes for the spicy, hot flavors in just about everything. He could not stay out the the kitchen while this was going on, so it's his hand doing the mixing. The only reason he did not cut the wings is because he was on the phone when I was ready to prep them. I needed to do the work in order to share this, so I had to wait for my chance. :-)

The Super Buffalo Blue Cheese Sauce was amazing. I grew up in a home that used Miracle Whip®, so mayo is not my go-to, but when the recipe said "real mayo", I used Duke's® which is a staple in this area. I've never made blue cheese dressing before, but love it, and this has given me a mix that I will use when ever I need blue cheese. I mashed the crumbles with a fork to disperse the flavor, and let it perk in the fridge for a couple of hours, and when the wings were done, it was ready. And good, and creamy, and delicious.

I did find this helpful video for eating the flats, which worked remarkably well, and with it, I was able to teach my wing-eating expert something new. He loved everything about this recipe, and took the rest for lunch yesterday. This recipe will be happening again at our house.

How to eat a flat:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRcOY-PvOC8

And this is no generic Grandpa, it's Mrs. Sundberg's dad, so a big thanks to you to both!! :-)