Butter Pecan Cake Kettle Corn {Sundays with Joy}

Last week I spent an entire day at a local water park, complete with water slides, wave pool, and general chaos.

If you remember how I feel about such things, you'll understand  why I had hesitation in going.

Jordan had been dying to go all summer and this was a girl scout event; a reward for all those cookies I she sold last spring.

As a reward for all my her hard work, we got to spend a day at the least most fun place in the area.

I don't like heights, putting my head under water, crowds, claustrophobic round tubes, and swimming pools in general, so you can understand my hesitation in going.

The last time I went to a water park I was 12. It was for the birthday party of a friend, and I had tubes in my ears (for the second time). I had to wear ear plugs and, because of the force of the water coming off the slides and the eventuality that I would lose an ear plug thus rendering my head an aching mess, I had to also wear a bathing cap.

Did I mention I was 12 years old? Gawky, just a smidgen overweight next to my waif girlfriends in bikinis and I had to wear a bathing cap the entire day.

Now the gawkiness is gone, the smidgen is more a ton, and the tubes are gone but the problems that caused them remain. But, really, I can deal with all the water, the heights, the incredible chaos that is an amusement park filled with water. ("Okay, Jordan is over there. [Blink] Where the f*&# did she go?")

What I cannot deal with in a place like that?

Walking barefoot.

Seriously people. A few times in line for the one slide I was nice enough to brave I had to keep my gag reflex in check just thinking about my bare tootsies on the wet ground.

I am the girl in the gym bathroom that showers with flip flops. When washing my feet in the shower, I do yoga to wash one, then the other. (I'm reeealllly good at tree pose.) I will not let my feet (nor any other part of my bare body) touch any part of the floor.

How, dare I ask, is the water park any different than a gym bathroom floor?

{Hint: it's only different because it's worse.}

Turns out I am very skilled at walking up stairs on the tiniest portion of foot that gravity allows.

My calves reminded me of this the next morning.

And people seem to have no problem walking around barefoot all day. I wore flip flops and/or water shoes (yes, I brought both) as much as possible. But you're not allowed to wear them on the slides.

*Shiver*

Needless to say, there was a lot of foot scrubbing at my house that night.

And comfort eating.

This popcorn is perfect comfort food.

In her book, the Joy the Baker Cookbook, Joy wrote about how her kettle corn had gotten her through many a hard day.

Of course, I couldn't just make kettle corn. Although it was good by itself, that's not quite how I roll.

So I added Butter Pecan Cake Batter (the ultimate comfort food in my book) and toasted pecans. And white chocolate.

Total comfort food. Perfect for when you survive a day of barefoot trauma at the water park.

{Oh, and do you need a last minute teacher gift idea? Then this is it! Popcorn is great for giving...especially when you're "popping by" to say hello. See? I even made cute tags.}

Enjoy!

Butter Pecan Cake Kettle Corn

by Crazy for Crust (Adapted from Sundays with Joy by Joy Wilson)

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 cup popcorn kernels
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 sections (8 ounces) white candy melts
• 1/2 cup butter pecan cake mix
• 1 cup toasted pecans (toast in a frying pan over low heat, stirring often, just until you smell them)

Instructions

1. Melt oil and butter together over medium heat in a large pot with a tight fitting lid. Add popcorn and sprinkle sugar evenly over kernels. Place the lid on the pot and turn heat to medium-high. When popcorn begins to pop, using potholders, shake pot every 20 seconds to reduce risk of burning the sugar. Once popping slows, remove from heat and remove lid carefully. Sprinkle with salt and add to a large bowl.
2. Melt candy melts. Stir in cake mix. Pour over popcorn. Add toasted pecans and stir until all the candy is incorporated. Turn out onto a baking sheet covered with wax paper and chill until candy hardens. Store in a sealed container.

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Read more about the Joy the Baker Cookbook here. I'm not affiliated with Joy, but I love her recipes. Do you have her book and want to cook your way through? Join us here.

Zebra Popcorn

Thursday is the last day of school. In just a few short hours, my daughter will be a second grader.

{Hold on a sec, while I get my hanky.}

I cannot believe the change in her this year. She has learned an amazing amount. She can read, actual books. (She may not want to read, but at least she can.)

She can count money. Add and subtract. She knows what volume is. She can measure.

And, thanks to a big project she had to do, she knows all about zebras. More than I do, in fact.

Did you know that baby zebras are born with brown stripes? And that they turn black as they mature?

Zebras are herbivores that live in the grasslands of Africa. {Three big words I had no idea my seven year old could pronounce, BTW.}

~Read More~

Popcorn Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Treats

I think I need to work on the title. It's a bit of a mouthful. Which is fitting, because so are these treats.

As promised, here is the first of a few yummy treats I have planned to share. Think Rice Krispie treat with popcorn instead of the Rice Krispies. I added some mini chocolate chips in for good measure, because really, everything is better with chocolate.

I don't know what made me think of making these. Possibly it popped (pun intended) into my head because we were at the movies last weekend and were eating popcorn and I remembered how I used to LOVE eating movie theater popcorn mixed with chocolate, especially Junior Mints. (Really. It's an awesome combination.)  Anyway, I thought, why not make marshmallow treats with popcorn instead? So that's what I did.

I used a bag of microwave popcorn. Now, I wanted to make fresh popcorn (you know, the old fashioned kind, on the stove). So I went to my cabinet and pulled out my bag of kernels. Then I noticed the brand was Kroger. Thinking to myself, hmmm here in Sacramento I've never seen Kroger brand, so I looked at the expiration date. Those kernels? Expired in 2004. Yes, you read that right. 2004.  Seven years ago. Mind you, we moved to this area from Arizona (where the Kroger brand is sold) in 2007. So I packed and moved an already (3-year) expired bag of popcorn kernels to the place we currently live and then kept them for another 4 years. (In my defense, our kitchen cabinets are so deep they remind me of Mary Poppins' bag. They just keep going and going and going...)

So microwave popcorn it was. I used a more "natural" product (funny, to think that anything microwaved would be natural), without butter and just a slight sprinkling of salt. I didn't want too much other flavor in the finished product. Besides the popcorn, all you need are butter, marshmallows, and chocolate chips. Super easy, just like the original Rice Krispie treat. I thought they were very yummy and they definitely have kid approval (Jordan ate two after dinner). My husband wouldn't touch them. He thinks marshmallows and all their products are vile and disgusting. Weird.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy them. And maybe you should clean out your pantry this weekend. I know I will be!

Popcorn Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Treats

by Crazy for Crust

Ingredients

• 1 bag (about 3.3 ounces) microwave popcorn, popped (I used Orville Redenbacker's Tender White)
• 1/4 cup butter
• 6 cups mini marshmallows
• 1 cup mini chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Coat a 9x9 baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Sift through your popped popcorn to make sure you've taken out all the un-popped kernels. You don't want someone to break a tooth on your dessert.
3. Place your butter in a very large microwave bowl. Microwave for about 30-45 seconds until melted.
4. Add your marshmallows to the butter bowl. Stir to coat with the butter. Microwave for 1 1/2 minutes, stirring after 45 seconds. Stir to make sure the marshmallows are totally melted. Add your popcorn and stir carefully. (Really, stir carefully, or your counter will be a mess!) Stir in your chocolate chips and immediately add to your baking dish.
5. Spray your hands with cooking spray. Press the popcorn mixture into the pan, compacting it as much as you can. Let cool completely before slicing. You can refrigerate them to speed up this process.

These will be best eaten within a day - great for a party!

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