Social Distancing, Part 2

As of today, we have been working from home and social distancing for 4 months. It’s definitely a crazy world we’re living in right now. But we’ve kept busy since my first social distancing post 3 months ago, especially because the weather kept getting nicer. And really, until July 4 weekend, the weather wasn’t the usual sweltering summer in the south.

So here’s what the past 3 months have looked like!

Puzzles. I finished 4 more puzzles, though it’s now been a couple months since I started a new one. I have a stack, though, that I’ll have to break into soon.

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Reading. Plenty of books still read. As of today, I have finished 26 of my goal of 50 for the year. There’s a post for each one if you want to see what I’ve been reading!

Movies/TV: We’re watching maybe a little more than usual (pre-pandemic), but that’s only because we’re home every single night and not out doing things. We’ve watched some great movies and some not so great ones. I think it’s a given that Hamilton was my favorite. I had seen it on stage, but my husband had not and he definitely enjoyed it. We had tickets to see it back in April but as of now, it’s pushed to fall 2021. Recommend to watch: Stuber, Bad Education, Extraction, Just Mercy, The Lovebirds, The Hate U Give, and Happy Gilmore (have to get some oldies but goodies in there from the DVD collection). Don’t go out of your way to see The Last Thing He Wanted (this movie made absolutely no sense), Water for Elephants (especially if you’ve read the book), and The Death of Stalin (it was ok but not what we expected and pretty depressing).

I/we have also made our way through some tv shows. Some I watched on my own, though most we watched together. We finished Community – watched all 6 seasons in about 2.5 months and I definitely recommend it if you enjoy quirky humor and short episodes. Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children was incredible and appalling if you like documentary and unsolved mysteries. Upload was great and definitely recommend and Seinfeld’s comedy special, 23 Hours to Kill, was hilarious. Home After Dark on Apple TV was ok – interesting really only because it was based on a true story. I watched the first 2 seasons of Manifest and enjoyed them, though the show could really end up down a rabbit hole if they keep going. And Queer Eye season 5 was fabulous. The best by far is Schitt’s Creek – yes, we’re late to this game but it may be my favorite show ever. We just started season 4 so will finish then wait with everyone else for season 6 to hit Netflix.

Get outdoors. We have continued to get outdoors when we can. We took a day around our anniversary to go to Sweetwater Creek State Park. We have gotten lots of yard work done. And luckily our pool is open with less furniture. We are also lucky to have family who lives on an uncrowded beach in Florida, so we were able to get away for a week. There was one day that were the only people on the beach!

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  Sweetwater Creak State Park

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  Sweetwater Creek State Park

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  Palm Coast, FL

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  Palm Coast, FL

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Baking. I finally got on the quarantine baking train. Mostly cookies – the best snickerdoodles (my friend) and the best chocolate chip recipe I’ve ever made. Then once my mom’s blueberries were ripe, there were more than enough for muffins and cobbler.

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We are still very lucky to be where we are with the jobs we have, able to work from home. We can hope this will all be over eventually, but it’s not looking like it’s any time soon. We can just keep trying to make the most of it! Stay safe and healthy!

Saltine Cracker Toffee

I love sweet and salty. One thing I have always remembered my grandmama making was saltine cracker toffee. It’s like a faux toffee or brittle. And it’s super easy. Recently, I ate something that had the same flavor so I made a mental note to find the recipe and make it, especially after learning that my husband’s family had never had this incredible concoction before. Then, like a mind reader, my mom made some for our family Christmas get-together, except she made hers with graham crackers instead of saltines.

My memory is not always the best, but I know I remember grandmama making this with saltines. And luckily my cousin remembered the same. So I got the recipe from my mom (which did use graham crackers), found something similar online to compare that used saltines, and kind of combined and tweaked the two to make a delicious Saltine Cracker Toffee.

None of the measurements have to be exact and there are a lot of ways to modify this recipe. Apparently a lot of people add chocolate too. I love chocolate but there are SO many chocolate treats that I prefer this one without. You can also use different kinds of nuts or no nuts at all! That is the beauty of this recipe.

Try it out and let me know (a) how you like it and (b) how you modify it! Individual steps/tips and pictures are next or see the recipe below.

The recipe requires a simple 3 ingredients. Yes, that’s right – only 3. Saltines, butter, and brown sugar. Oh and some cooking spray and aluminum if you want to count those.

Preheat oven to 350°. Line a baking sheet (one that has sides and is not completely flat) with aluminum foil then spray with cooking spray. Line up saltine crackers to fill the cookie sheet. If you are using nuts and need to chop them, go ahead and do that.

In a medium sized saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. I cut the sticks into smaller pieces just to help it melt quicker. Once it’s about halfway melted, add the brown sugar. Once butter is completely melted, bring to boil over medium heat for about 3 minutes or until it thickens and the sugar has dissolved. Stir constantly during this part. You want the butter and sugar to be completely combined and be the color of caramel.

Once that is done, pour it evenly over the saltine crackers and spread with a knife or spoon or spatula. It does not have to be perfect and it will spread out more in the oven, but try to cover all cracker with sauce as best you can.

Sprinkle nuts on top. You can use and much or as little as you like and again – perfection is not a thing. Place in oven and bake for about 10 minutes. You want it to be golden brown.

Remove from oven and let cool. It will cool faster if you take the foil (with the toffee) off the cookie sheet. I also let it cool about 10 minutes on the counter then put it in the refrigerator to finish cooling. After it cools, break into pieces and enjoy! These were a HUGE hit at my office holiday party and it’s super easy to make.

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Ingredients

• 40-50 saltine crackers
• 2 sticks of butter
• 1 C light brown sugar (packed)
• 1 C chopped pecans

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Line a cookie sheet (with sides) with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray
3. Place saltine crackers in single layer covering cookie sheet
4. Place butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir until butter is about halfway melted then add brown sugar.
5. Once butter is melted, bring to a boil over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Stir constantly. The goal is for the sugar to be dissolved and combined with butter, the mixture to be thickened, and to be a caramel color.
6. Pour butter-sugar mixture evenly over saltines. Spread out with a utensil (knife, spoon, spatula, etc.).
7. Sprinkle pecans on top.
8. Place in oven and bake for about 10 minutes or until golden brown.
9. Remove pan from oven and take foil & toffee off of the pan. Let cool then break into pieces. Can also place in refrigerator to cool.

Notes

You can use whatever nuts you want or no nuts at all. Print the recipe here: Saltine Cracker Toffee

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Peanut Butter Cookies

I can’t believe it took me this long to share this recipe – and that this is only the fourth dessert/sweets recipe I have posted on my blog. I bake a lot. I have no excuse. Anyway, this is literally the easiest cookie to make. If you are not a baker you can make these, and if you are a baker you will love how easy these are. And many of you may recognize these cookies. My mom made these a lot growing up and you can easily find the recipe online. Some call them Magic Cookies – not because of any “special” ingredient – but because they are that easy and they are that good.

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You start with your ingredients – only 4 of them. Well, technically 5, but the flour doesn’t go in the cookies. And you don’t have to have a Kitchen Aid mixer. You can use a hand mixer or you can even use a blender or food processor.

 

Mix the peanut butter and sugar until combined.

 

Go ahead and beat the egg a little with a fork. Add an egg and vanilla. Dough will be moist but slightly crumbly.

 

Roll dough into balls. I usually make them pretty small – max the size of a golf ball. Place onto cookie sheet.

 

Pour a little flour into a cup or bowl (just a few tablespoons). Dip a fork into the flour, then flatten the cookies with the floured fork.

Bake ’em up and sit back and enjoy! Little time, little clean up. 1 recipe makes about 20 cookies, give or take, depending on what size you make them.

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Ingredients:

• 1 C peanut butter
• 1 C sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• flour (~2-3 Tbsp.)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°

In food processor or mixing bowl, combine peanut butter and sugar. Mix well.

Stir in egg and vanilla.

Roll dough into ~3/4 inch balls and place onto ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten each cookie with a floured fork.

Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes.