popcorn: 3 perfect recipes to surprise your friends

I cooked lots of popcorn and wrote this post for Kitty and Buck recently. 

And today I decided to share my  home-made popcorn recipes with you here. 

16 cups popped popcorn
4 oz white chocolate baking bar
6 oz white chocolate chips
1 drop pink food coloring

Using a double boiler (or something that works the same way), melt the chocolate. Add 1 drop of food coloring and mix through. Pour the chocolate over the popcorn and mix it through. Set aside until chocolate sets and serve.

16 cups popped popcorn
1 1/2 cups dry-roasted peanuts
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine sugar, honey and corn syrup. Bring the mixture to a boil and stir constantly. Do not boil too long or your popcorn will be rock hard. Remove from heat.

Stir in peanut butter and vanilla. Immediately pour over popcorn, mixed with peanuts, and stir to coat. Serve warm or at room temperature.

2 tbsp. butter, melted
2 tbsp. honey
sea salt to taste

Melt the butter. Add in honey and stir until combined. Add a couple dashes of sea salt. Pour over freshly made popcorn. Stir well. Taste and add more salt if needed.

Enjoy it!

PS: Don't forget to enter our $300 giveaway!
And share the news (and popcorn!) with your friends! :-)

how to cook an artichoke

I've never before had an artichoke. We just don't grow or import them in Russia (at least I've never seen them in a store). So once we arrived to Sandpoint I already had a list of things I wanted to get in a grocery store and taste them as soon as possible. An artichoke was on that list. So here is my new green friend. I looked up different recipes online and came up with the simplest plan - I was going to steam it! First of all I had to get rid of the very sharp thorns on the ends of the leaves. After that I chopped off the tip and the stem of the artichoke. This was not easy.. maybe it was just my blunt knife..  

Then I just rinse the artichoke in cold water and put it in a steaming pot. I added garlic, lemon and bay leaves to water for a better taste. It took my artichoke 40 minutes (depends on how big your artichoke is) to become tender and the leaves to be pulled off easily. This is what it looked like after steaming:

And this is my result! But...

...this last photo is a little lie. Not intentionally of course. But it was my first ever-ever artichoke so I had no idea how to cook or eat it before. But the moment this picture was taken I was sure this is what you want to eat. But the truth is the edible part is the one I was holding with my fingers! You dip the white and thick part of a leaf in melted salty butter and eat it - not the green and dry part! :-) And when you are done with all the leaves you find a furry center of the artichoke - get rid of all the fur and enjoy the artichoke heart! It took us a while to figure that out.. Bon appetite!

breakfast in bed

 

 

 

 

I am always looking through Saveur magazine trying to find new recipes (and awesome food pictures!), I found this panna cotta recipe and it seemed like a great summer treat, fruity and creamy at the same time.

It takes some time, though, because it has to sit in the fridge overnight for the gelatin to set, so I made it in the evening and boo and I shared it the next morning. We're both unemployed for the next few days and we're really enjoying the free time in the morning together.

The panna cotta turned out super-yummy, the lime peel mixed in with the mango puree makes it more fresh, and I was happy to find another use for my vanilla beans :-)

The recipe needs:

2 vanilla beans
800 ml cream
110 gr sugar
10 gr gelatin
1 lime zest
1 ripe mango
100 ml water

1. Mix gelatin and water together and set it aside to bloom.
2. Combine cream, vanilla beans (cut each in half), 80 gr of sugar and bring just to a boil, whisking frequently, over medium-high heat for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and take out vanilla beans.
3. Add gelatin mixture and whisk for 1 minute.
4. Pour into 6 cups and let it cool down at room temperature. Then refrigeratefor 4 hours.
5. Mix in blender and puree lime zest, mango, water and the rest of the sugar.
6. Serve panna cotta with mango puree on top.