This toffee is a family tradition in this house. And it's easy, five likely-to-have-on-hand ingredient easy. And not one of those ingredients is healthy. Yup, it's awesome stuff.

The original post, with some helpful user comments, can be found here.

Here's the skinny (very rebellious word for this post) on this awesome toffee:

{Printable Recipe}

Imitation Heath Bar Toffee

1 lb. butter
2 C. sugar
1/2 C. water
1 t. salt

Combine above ingredients in reasonably large pot.  Don't use your best pot, the pot won't be super easy to clean when you're finished, but do make sure it's a tall enough pot. The one I use is a 3 qt. pot.

Bring to boil, stirring constantly to 300'.  I wear on oven mitt while doing this, it will splatter and it's hot enough to leave little burn marks like I had in 2004.  I also keep a damp cloth near me so I can wipe up the splatters while they're still liquid. You really need a candy thermometer while cooking ... the recipe will heat to about 220' very quickly, then slow down, and then right at the end heat quickly to 300' so don't become discouraged if it's taking a little while.  The mixture will change from light butter yellow to golden yellow and thicker, to dark gold and even thicker and less splattery, to finally medium-dark brown. This is where the candy thermometer really comes in handy, as it's easy to think it's done before it is ... even you pour it too soon it'll still be quite tasty, but chewier.

Immediately pour onto cookie sheet. I use a cookie sheet with sides, but have done it with a regular cookie sheet too.  I also keep stirring while I pour as the bottom of the pan tends to burn a little at this step.

16 oz. chocolate chips

Sprinkle with chips and spread them out as they melt.

Let cool in fridge.

Cut or break into pieces.  A combination of both seems to work perfectly, and leaves lots of little crumbs for the cook to "taste test".

To clean the pan, stirring spoon, and thermometer I add water to the pan and bring it to a boil again, letting all the leftover sugary buttery goodness melt. The pan may still need a good cleaning (I soak it in a little water and dish detergent) but the other utensils should be super easy to clean.

Try it and let me know what your family thinks!

It's cloudy, damp, rainy, icky out this morning.

I'm dying to snap a few pictures of the fabric I just got from Spoonflower, designed by my son for a customer. Pretty dang cool, but this dark weather just isn't conducive. The sun'll come out tomorrow ...

In the meantime, three of my favorite things right now, in no particular order. I have no affiliations here, just love.


Electric Floor Sweeper


I bought this this summer and within 10 minutes of opening the package I was madly in love and continue to be.

The Bissell 3-in-1 Vacuum. I'm not sure what the "3" stands for, but I use it on wood floors, rugs, carpet, and furniture. Pretty much, now that our downstairs floors are wood, this has replaced the vacuum cleaner entirely. LOVE it. It weighs next to nothing, takes up no space, and lacks an overabundance of breakable plastic parts (it's plastic, but less of it).

I used a broom yesterday to pick up some big paper scraps, that was the first time I've brought out the broom since July.

I linked to Amazon, but it was recently on sale in pink and blue at our local WalMart for $19.xx. I'm not sure why I didn't pick up a spare.


Pink Pens 



For years I've checked schoolwork with a red pen. And for years I'd dig and search for my red pen because the kids would snag it.

Solution: Pink pens. The boys want nothing to do with this nonsense and pink pens check work just as easily as red. I haven't lost a pen yet this schoolyear. The brand of pink pen is not the important part, just that it's a nice bright pink pen with nice bright pink ink.


Chocolate Covered Katie

I've visited the cooking blog Chocolate Covered Katie over the years but had kind of forgotten about it until a late night of Pinterest browsing reminded me of it.

Family faves include:

Chocolate Bar Pie Keep it a secret, but the main ingredient is Tofu. I don't like Tofu at all, but I like this pie, especially after it has a few hours to cool and set (much better, in our opinions, than "just made")

Black Bean Brownies Again, fail to mention the main ingredient until after the taste tests. I didn't have regular chocolate chips so I used white chocolate chips, it was decadent. The second time around I accidentally forgot the chips altogether, don't do that - the brownies where nowhere near as decadent and good (though they were still eaten).


Back to schoolwork on a dreary morning .... What are a few of your favorite things?

 I opted to make no resolutions this New Year's.

I didn't need to. I already had a huge and daunting change ahead. Ok, huge to me ... nothing really that big.

Last summer I tried to give up Diet Coke. I didn't succeed and it's been on my mind ever since.

For the last gazillion years (ie - as long as I can remember) I've been a huge Diet Coke fan. A two 2-liter bottles a day fan. It's all I drank (except when pregnant). But I knew, deep down, that it wasn't good for me. So I decided that when the kids were with their father over Christmas break I'd give it up FOR REAL. I'm pretty sure I decided this in August.

So, on January 2nd of this year I gave up Diet Coke. I had one bottle that got me through the headaches, they'd hit in the afternoon and around 5 pm I'd have a few ounces of that bottle and two ibuprofen and I was good to go. That one bottle lasted a week, until I tossed that flat soda down the drain.


Withdrawal ... the headaches did hit, but nowhere near as bad as I expected. They started a little later each day and were a little weaker each day and gone after about a week. The day after I gave up the Diet Coke I slept for 13 hours. My body was so used to being on caffeine that it crashed. It took about two weeks for the "sluggishness" to pass, it's hard to explain but it was just really hard to get moving in the morning, like swimming in molasses.

I replaced my beloved Diet Coke with water. I hate water. At least I thought I did. I cannot believe how much water I happily drink now. It's nowhere near as bad as I thought it was. I actually kind of like it just fine. And, I must say, I like what it's doing for my complexion and weight loss plan.

I splurged and bought myself a nice big water bottle, both for around the house and to avoid having to buy water. And quickly realized that this bottle would perspire (gotta have ice in it) and that just wasn't going to work. Enter the reversible quilted bottle cup koozie, make in a few minutes immediately before a meeting. The bottle cover is just two pieces of fabric sewn together with batting, then flipped right sides out, quilted, and topstitched. I added velcro up the side and headed out the door.

No, the cup isn't actually leaning like the Tower of Pisa. Weird.

So far, almost a month into this new Diet Coke free lifestyle, I have no desire to go back. I never thought I'd say that, and actually be happy about it!

March 8 Update:
Two months in and still Diet Coke free. One day while teaching math I realized I was drinking about a gallon of Diet Coke every day. Holy crap - there's no way that's good for anyone.

I remain amazed that it was easier to quit than I expected. I have not allowed myself to splurge at all, I really don't want to go backwards and I'm afraid I will if I get off the wagon. 

This page gets a lot of hits so I know I'm not the only person fighting this battle, or considering fighting the battle. Feel free to message me at becauseimme@gmail.com if you want, I'll answer questions and provide whatever information I can.

July 2013 Update:
Almost 7 months without Diet Coke. Actually, without caffeine at all.

One recent morning I walked downstairs, mentally planning my morning, and my first thought was to fill my Diet Coke cup. My second thought was to smile and grab a cup of ice water. Old habits die hard.

During our recent camping/hiking vacation we drank a lot of water. We were in the desert and it was hot, there's no way we could have gotten by without water. A year ago I would have though, and probably would have gone into a panic when I couldn't get any Diet Coke (we were in some remote campgrounds), and I don't even want to think of how bad the headaches from being dehydrated would have been (we were without ice, so it would have been straight Diet Coke all day, every day).

Some people lose weight giving up soda, even diet soda. I did not. That kind of sucks!

Oh, and I still use the same water bottle as above, but I did add a second one (same exact style and color). :)

For me the decision to give up Diet Coke had nothing to do with all the reports about how horrible it is. It was just my personal choice, largely made to save money but also so I'd, hopefully, live longer and be healthier in general.

Fall and Thanksgiving bow ties now available. Just $13 each.

Every once in a while the stars align and goodness is created.

I'd purchased a few containers of Philadelphia Indulgence Chocolate Cream Cheese Spread super cheap after a sale at Publix and coupons. But what do with them? Not many ideas. We'd enjoyed the white chocolate flavor on graham crackers and it was delicious. The milk chocolate flavor sat in the fridge awaiting inspiration.

Inspiration came this morning in the form of this pin for Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries. I had chocolate cream cheese. I had strawberries. The stars were aligned. It was so on.

Quite simply, I removed the tops of the strawberries and made sure they had an empty cavity in the center. I put the chocolate cream cheese spread in a piping bag and piped it into the strawberries. We sat on the lanai and enjoyed. So refreshing and so good.

*I did try using a baggie to pipe the cream cheese and the baggie exploded, this cream cheese was just too thick.
*If I'd been making this for more than a midday snack I'd have topped it with some sort of cookie crumb or shaved chocolate, but as is it was perfect.
*This would be great with the white chocolate cream cheese too.
*Kraft isn't compensating me for this post. (not that I'd say no if they offered)

Enjoy.


.

It's that time of year again ... the time of year when I decide I can grow something and actually keep it alive.

I go through this every spring. And by August I have nothing to show for my good intentions and wishful thinking, except a few empty containers with sad, sorry, brown bits sticking out of them.

Not one to be detered, I'm trying again.



Today the kids and I planted tomatoes, peppers, and a variety of herbs.

The big red pots are actually plastic waste cans from Ikea. Rather than spending $10+ per container at Home Depot we drilled a few holes in the bottoms of these $1.99 containers. I couldn't be happier with the cheery results.



Our yard doesn't have good growing soil and neighbors who grow things well have had a tough time, so I thought the containers with good potting soil might have a better chance of success.

Last week, as a practice run for this potting and growing session I planted celery roots. I saw this idea on Pinterest and it certainly sounded easy peasy, and like a great source of instant gratification. See, here's an image from Farm Bell Recipes, just three days after planting:

Pretty cool, huh?

And here's proof positive that I can't grow things, not even easy peasy instant gratification things:


That's five days after planting. Nil. Nada. Zip.

I'm confident our container garden will be a raging success, regardless of how the celery is going! At least I hope so.

I found a composter on clearance at Home Depot last week and was able to use a gift card to pick it up. Apparently it takes a long time to compost stuff, but in the meantime we're having tons of fun tossing all sorts of crap into it. Perhaps if one has a composter their plants will think they're a master gardener? I'm sure.

No matter how the project turns out it's always fun to try.

What's in your garden this summer?

ponytail hair bows

Happy Thursday.

This weekend is the Lakeland Artisan Fair in Lakeland, FL. Come by and say hi if you're in the area. It looks like a great little event with music and handcrafts.

Last week I sewed non-stop for the rodeo event, this week I've taken it easy and made a few bows and bow ties. Hopefully that won't bite me in the rear later ... I have visions of getting to the show this weekend and being completely unprepared. But relaxed. All's well.

I've decided to give up Diet Coke. No biggie, right? Except that it's all I drink. I don't like anything else. At all. Not even a little bit. I started drinking Diet Coke when I was about 16 and never looked back. That was a very long time ago.

Week 1 I cut my consumption of the stuff in half. Easy peasy. Really, I started drinking hot water with lemon in the morning and ice water throughout the day and it's not as bad as I thought it would be. In fact, it's ok. I'm now in Week 2 and was almost done with it completely when a few days of really bad headaches hit and I caved. The funny thing, though, was that the headaches made me mad. Mad at the Diet Coke. Mad enough to be happy to be giving it up.

So far I'm not feeling great and happy for giving it up, but I know even if I feel the same now in the long run it's a very wise move.

Have you ever broken a tough habit? How did you do it and how did it go?