No, no, no, not the birth of our daughter, but I have officially run out of freezer space.

I suppose I could stop cooking, but let’s be serious, how else I am going to work through all my anxiety (so many anxieties – each deserving of their own post).  You know how some people are fond of retail therapy – I engage in cooking therapy.  Given my lack of freezer space I have moved on to more shelf-stable items.  Tuesday we made caramel corn; not that it needs to be shelf stable seeing as how we (read Jeff) have already eaten more than 4 quarts of it.  Today it was granola and I have a pan of brownies baking in the oven at this very moment.

I really do, for the most part, enjoy being pregnant.  I am well aware of how lucky I am to be able to get and stay pregnant relatively easily.  However, over the past two weeks I have morphed from “Pregnancy doesn’t slow me down…still doing cardio barre…I love feeling so round and full of life” to “I feel so slow and achy…nights full of heartburn, trips to the bathroom, and contractions…please boys don’t wear shoes with laces because Mama is not able to bend over to tie them.”  It is really quite strange how intellectually I know that I probably have, at most, two more weeks of being pregnant, yet emotionally I feel that this might actually never end.  Despite the fact that there is a person hiccuping inside of me multiple times every day (seriously, most hiccupy baby ever) and that she is now so big (probably around 7 pounds) that things such as her feet trying to poke through my abdomen are clearly visible, and that I have done this two times before…I still find it hard to believe that I am actually about to produce another human being and not just stay cranky and unwieldy for ever.

I can’t give you the gift of a cheery or exciting blog post right now.  All I’ve got is “Meh”.  But I can give you the gift of a great, and surprisingly easy, caramel corn recipe.

Caramel Corn

Ingredients:

• 8 quarts popped popcorn
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1 cup butter (or dairy free margarine if you wish)
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.
2. Boil brown sugar, butter, corn syrup, and salt together for 5 minutes.
3. Stir baking soda and vanilla into sugar mixture.
4. Pour mixture over popcorn and mix to coat thoroughly (Note that you will want a BIG bowl or container to do this in).
5. Pour popcorn mixture out onto two cookie sheets.
6. Bake for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
7. Remove from oven, cool, and store in an airtight container.

Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Heavy Cream, chilled
• 4 large Egg Yolks
• 4 Tablespoons Sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 7 ounces Bittersweet Or Semisweet Chocolate, chopped finely
• pinch Salt

Directions:

1. Heat ¾ cup of the cream in a heavy saucepan until hot (not boiling).  Remove from heat.
2. Whisk together egg yolks, sugar, and the pinch of salt in a metal or glass bowl (not plastic) until well combined.
3. Drizzle the hot cream into the egg yolk mixture in a slow stream while whisking constantly.  The reason for the slow drizzle is to avoid over cooking the eggs.
4. Return the egg and cream mixture to the heat and cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly, until an instant read thermometer registers 160 degrees F.  Alternatively, if you do not have a thermometer, you want to cook to the point that steam is rising from the edges of the mixture.  At no point should the mixture boil.  You must avoid getting the mixture too hot or you will end up with sweetened scrambled egg yolks.  If at any point you see the eggs begin to clump remove from the heat.
5. Place the chopped chocolate in a large bowl.
6. Pour the cooked mixture – now called a custard – through a fine mesh strainer or sieve into the bowl of chopped chocolate.  Discard any solids left in the sieve.
7. Cover the custard-chocolate mixture with plastic wrap or a plate and let sit for 2 – 3 minutes.
8. While the chocolate is melting, beat the remaining 1 ¼ cups cream into stiff peaks.  Note take care not to over beat (when the cream starts separating into butter), especially when using an electric mixer.
9. Stir the custard-chocolate mixture until smooth and homogenous.
10. Gently fold the whipped cream into the custard-chocolate mixture until fully incorporated.
11. Spoon the mousse into cups or glasses (wine and champagne glasses work nicely) and chill for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Option 1:  After step 10 spread the mousse onto a baking sheet that has been lined with plastic wrap.  Chill for 30 minutes.  The mousse can now be used as a filling or frosting on top of or in between cake layers.
Option 2:  Sprinkle holiday themed sprinkles or crushed candy canes on top of (or mixed into the mousse) for extra pizzaz.

Does anyone else have any fabulous recipes they would like to share?

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• pinch nutmeg
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1 cup cream
• 1 tablespoon lemon extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Butter or grease a bundt pan or 6 individual size loaf pans.
3. Mix the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg in a large bowl.  Set aside.
4. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter until smooth.
5. Add the sugar to the butter and beat until light and fluffy.
6. Beat in the eggs, extracts, and lemon zest.
7. Alternate mixing in the cream and the dry ingredients until well incorporated.
8. Pour batter into pan.
9. Bake for 40 – 50 minutes until the top of the cake is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Serving note:  This cake pairs very well with berries, think fresh, macerated, or as a berry sauce.

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• pinch nutmeg
• 2 eggs
• 420 grams (15 ounces) pumpkin, canned or cooked
• 336 grams (12 ounces) evaporated milk
• 1 pie shell, unbaked

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Mix sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg in a small bowl.
3. Beat eggs in a large bowl.
4. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture followed by evaporated milk.
5. Pour into pie shell.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes.
7. Reduce temperature to 350 and bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
8. Cool for at least two hours.
9. Serve with freshly whipped cream.