Category Archives: food

Homemade Holiday Gifts that Rock: Hard Tack Candy and Homemade Caramels

When I give candy at Christmastime, it’s truly a gift from the heart. My Aunt Jo used to make hard tack candy every year, and grabbing a handful was near the top of my list when my family made the trek north to visit.  Later, in college, my girlfriend Missy’s mom sent us a box of homemade caramel during midterm exams.  I think I ate most of the box.  When I graduated, I got myself a fancy Williams-Sonoma cookbook (I was living in California, after all) and gave the caramel recipe a whirl.  It was HARD.  Really.  The next time I saw Missy I mentioned her mom’s caramels and she told me how easy they were.  Huh.  I came away with the recipe and a great homemade holiday gift idea.  The hardest part is the wrapping, for sure.


Hard Tack Candy



  • 2 c sugar
  • 2 c water
  • 2/3 c white Karo corn syrup
  • ½ t oil flavor (NOT extract)
  • food coloring
  • powered sugar
You’ll also need: a candy thermometer.
Grease the bottom of an 8 x 11 or 9 x 13 cookie sheet.
Stir together sugar, water, and corn syrup.  Cook on medium stovetop temperature until the temperature reaches 310°.  (This takes quite awhile – usually over ½ hr for me).  Remove candy from heat.  Stir in desired flavor (I use cinnamon, peppermint, etc. and always leave one plain.  Then, I coordinate the color with the flavor).  Stir in desired color quickly and thoroughly, then pour onto a lightly greased 9 x 13 cookie sheet.  (I use a smaller one for slightly thicker pieces.)
Wait just a few minutes until the edges start to harden.  Cut into pieces with kitchen shears.  It will be HOT to handle & is best to do with a friend so you can work quickly.  If you can’t get it all cut by hand, let it cool completely.  Cover with plastic wrap & hit pan on counter, or twist to break.  These pieces will have sharper edges than the hand-cut pieces.  Put the candy in a bowl and sprinkle with powdered sugar to keep them from sticking.
Mix the colors and flavors together in mason jars, tie with a festive bow, and your gift is ready to give.




Easy Homemade Caramel



  • ½ lb (2 sticks) butter
  • 1 can sweetened condensed milk
  • 2 c sugar
  • 1 c white Karo corn syrup
 You’ll also need:  waxed paper, cut into squares and a candy thermometer
Grease the bottom and sides of a 9 x 13 pan.
Melt all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat.  Stir constantly over medium/high heat until the temperature reaches 240.  (On my stove, this takes around 25 minutes.)  Remove from heat.  Add 1t vanilla.  Pour into well-greased 9 x 13 pan.  Cool caramel, then turn out onto cutting board.  Cut into bite-sized pieces and wrap in squares of waxed paper.
Put these wrapped-up gems in a cute little container and say Ho! Ho! Ho!  Merry Christmas!
Other Homemade Holiday Gifts that Rock:
If you have additional ideas, leave them in the comments section, with a link.  I’ll post links to great homemade gift ideas on Friday.

I Run, But…

I don’t consider myself a runner and I don’t have ambitions to jog super long distances at super high speeds.

However, the days of my life keep coming and my children keep growing. If I’m lucky enough to be around to see their children, I also want to be able to run and jump and play with them. I want to teach them to execute a great pick-and-roll (that’s basketball, for you non-players); I want to play goalie in the front yard when they kick a soccer ball; I want to hike with them and experience nature’s beauty together.
And so I run.
I started two years ago and could just barely make it to the other end of our not-so-big neighborhood without huffing and puffing. I walked back. Eventually I jogged back, slowly, and this was a big deal. I decided to join the big leagues and left the neighborhood. I ran a whole mile and gosh, it felt good. What it did for my mind was exponentially bigger than what it did for my body.
I kept running.
I find that running makes a difference for me in myriad ways. It’s a little easier to get up & down the basketball court during my weekly game. I tend to make smarter food choices on the days that I run, because, dear Lord, why would I go through all of that pain and effort only to derail myself with a Snickers bar? I feel stronger. I have more energy. I get more done.
Despite these fantastic benefits, I still don’t consider myself a runner. I’m just not that dedicated. And I still don’t like it. You won’t find me out there every day, or even every other day, hitting the pavement. I play basketball once a week and torture myself in a spin class once a week. I try to get to yoga or pilates, two of the best programs I know for helping you to build strength, gain balance, and own your body. I walk. And one or two or three times a week, I get out there and run.
Bring it on, future grandkids. I’ll be waiting.
photo credit: loop_oh

Why I Make Time to Eat Dinner Together

Back in the very dark ages, I was a mildly rebellious 16-year old and I was also a very involved 16-year old. (You would’ve been rebellious, too, if your mom made you wear that prarie outfit for the family photo at Busch Gardens!) At any rate, I played volleyball and basketball, I ran track, and I helped out on all sorts of committees. Did my friends join? I probably did, too. (Keyettes, anyone?) I suppose there was some foreshadowing there, about finding margin and achieving balance, but I didn’t pay much attention to those back then, either. My brother was also an involved athlete, my dad was often flying helicopters at all hours, and my mom’s calendar was chock-full of Family Readiness activities. (If Family Readiness is a foreign term for you, think “support group for military families,” and you’ll be close enough.)
That said, it was our common practice to sit down and eat dinner together. Sometimes it was 5:00, sometimes 8:00, depending on the night. Occasionally, the rest of the family would eat while my brother or I were at practice, and when the offending child returned home, my mom would re-heat our meal and sit down and talk to us while we ate.
Although my strong independent streak started long before 16, even I knew that eating together was a good thing. We’d often share the meal with my very dear friend, C. Ann, who would forgo many dinners alone at her own table to join the banter around ours. It’s funny, this sort of intangible thing from childhood. When she turned 16, C. Ann’s gift was a brand-new Acura. I think I got a necklace. We didn’t talk about it much, but I’m pretty sure she would’ve traded her sweet new ride for a year of family time around her own table.
As a parent, I’ve been thoughtful about how to structure our evenings so we can eat together as many nights as possible. Like my mom, if one child is missing because of a sports practice, I try to sit down with him when he gets home and finally eats his dinner. Most nights, though, we manage to pull it off—earlier or later than others, perhaps—but together.
Who knew, though, that there are tangible benefits to this practice? A recent study done at Columbia found the following:
“Compared to teens who have frequent family dinners (five to seven per week), those who have infrequent family dinners (fewer than three per week) are:
twice as likely to use tobacco or marijuana; and
more than one and a half times likelier to use alcohol.”
Furthermore, if you thought texting at the table was just poor form, think again! If manners weren’t reason enough, here’s another finding from the same study that provides an awfully convincing argument for docking those phones and Game Boys before the meal:
“Teens who have infrequent dinners are likelier to say people at the table are talking or texting on cell phones or using other devices at the table such as Blackberries, laptops or Game Boys. Teens in households where dinners are infrequent and such distractions are present at the table are:
three times likelier to use marijuana and tobacco; and
two and a half times likelier to use alcohol.”
Well, what do you know? My mom was ahead of her time. And I thought it was just about the memories.