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.

Ingredients:

• 3 c all purpose flour
• 1 t salt
• 4 t baking powder
• 1 c grated zucchini (skin left on)
• 1 c Monterey jack cheese
• 2 T fresh dill
• 1 c buttermilk
• 4 T unsalted butter, melted
• 1 T flaxseed meal (I use Bob’s Red Mill brand, available at Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and Amazon)
• 3 T water
• 1 t baking soda
• 1 T vinegar

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease 1 standard loaf pan, 6 personal size loaf pans, or 12 muffin cups.
3. Mix the flaxseed meal and water and microwave for 30 seconds. Set aside.
4. Mix the flour, salt, baking powder, zucchini, cheese, and dill in a large bowl. Set aside.
5. Mix the buttermilk, butter, flaxseed+water mixture in a medium bowl. Set aside.
6. Mix the baking soda and vinegar (the mixture will foam) and add immediately to the buttermilk mixture.
7. Pour the wet buttermilk mixture into the relatively dry flour mixture and mix gently. The batter will be quite thick. You want to have everything to be well moistened, but the mixture should not be totally homogeneous.
8. Spoon the dough into the prepared pan.
9. Bake for approximately 35 minutes or until the top of the bread is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean.

• 1/4 t yeast
• 1 1/4 t salt
• 345 grams water
• 432 grams flour

Note: Any flour or combination of flours will work, however, my favorite combination is 232 grams of whole grain kamut flour and 200 grams of all purpose unbleached white flour. If you are not familiar with kamut it is an ancient relative of wheat that is low in gluten, has a slightly nutty flavor, and a lovely buttery yellow color. It is a whole grain and has all of the benefits of whole wheat but I find it makes a lighter bread than using traditional whole wheat. I use it in everything from bread to pancakes.

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients in a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook or by hand in a large (at least 4 quarts) bowl. The dough will appear quite “wet”. This is correct.
2. Loosely cover the bowl with a lid, plastic wrap, etc. and let is rise for 12 – 24 hours. Seriously, there is no kneading or anything like that and any rising time between 12 and 24 hours is fine. (I usually make up the dough around dinner time and then bake it the next morning.)
3. After 12 – 24 hours, place a covered casserole dish or dutch oven (at least 4 quarts, 6 is better) in the oven.
4. Preheat the oven, the dish, and the cover to 425 degrees for 30 minutes.
5. While the oven is preheating, take a little flour and shape the dough into a nice ball or “boule”.
6. After 30 minutes of preheating, place the dough ball in the preheated dish, cover, and bake for 25 minutes covered.
7. After 25 minutes, remove the cover and bake for 5 – 10 minutes uncovered until golden brown.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 c butter, softened
• 1/4 c vegetable shortening
• 3/4 c peanut butter
• 1/3 c white sugar
• 1/3 c brown sugar
• 1 T ground flaxseeds mixed with 2 T boiling water
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/4 t salt
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• Hershey’s kisses, unwrapped (approximately 24 – 30 depending on the number of cookies)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cream together butter, shortening, peanut butter, and sugars, on high speed until light and fluffy.
3. Mix in remaining ingredients (except Hershey’s kisses) until well combined.
4. Form dough into 1 inch diameter balls and place on a cookie sheet, leaving room for expansion.
5. Bake for 8 minutes.
6. After 8 minutes, remove cookies from oven and quickly press a Hershey’s kiss into the center of each cookie.
7. Return the cookies to the oven and bake for an additional 2 minutes or until the bottom of the cookie appears golden brown.
8. Remove from the oven, let cool, and enjoy.