Tea hard candy.

I recently decided to try my hand at making hard candies. I looked up several recipes and decided to make my own recipe based off one I found. The main variation is the flavor I chose was my favorite tea flavor. Tazo's Refresh tea is by far my favorite tea. I am caffiene intolerent and the combination of mints and tarragon is amazing. So I made my first batch this flavor tomorrow however my husband will get his favorite blackberry and black tea! The wonderful thing is that you can make this candy any flavor. Don't like tea swap out juice or water with your favorite extract in it. Give it a try!

Here's what you'll need.

A large pot
A cookied sheet lined with parchment papaer
3 3/4 c sugar 
1 1/4 c light corn syrup 
1 c strongly brewed tea (I put 2 tea bags in with a cup and a half of water to allow for evaporation and boiled for about 3 min.)
powdered sugar

Directions

Sprinkle cookie sheet with powdered sugar and set aside. Combine sugar syrup and tea in a saucepan and continuously stir over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Continue to cook without stirring until a candy thermometer reaches 290 degrees. (Between 34 and 45 minutes) Pour mixture onto prepared cookie sheet and allow to cool completely. Once completely cooled lay a clean towel over top of sheet and break candy into pieces by taping with a hammer. Sprinkle candy again with powdered sugar. This candy is addictive and delicious. My hubby and I like it because we can make any flavor! You can also add food coloring before pouring onto the cookie sheet if you choose! Good luck and happy candy making!

My ultimate favorite Banana Bread recipe!

If you're like me you love how convenient store bought goodies are. However, I keep feeling more and more turned off by all the additives they put in. I know some of it is to make it stay fresh but I have been making a real effort to find cheap easy to make recipes for my favorite treats.

I have adored banana bread since birth pretty much. But with my nut allergy I can't usually buy store bought stuff because it has walnuts. If you can have walnuts and like them in your banana bread feel free to add some to this recipe! I have so many allergies and sensitivities that I prefer to make grow or raise most of what I eat. I'm blessed to live on a large ranch where that is possible! Anyway down to the nitty gritty here's the recipe for my favorite moist banana bread!

Cook: 1 hour Yield: Makes one loaf.

INGREDIENTS
3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup)
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

You don't even need a mixer!

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, cinnamon, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

This recipe is sure to please and the best thing about recipes like this is you can do it with or without nuts or cinnamon. I love customizing my own recipes! Good luck and have fun baking!

Trying new things

So I am a city girl. In my family I am the princess. I love comfort. I LOVE the internet and books on my phone. I love sitting at home and watching Dance Moms. So last Wednesday I took a huge step for me. I went camping 5 hours from home in the desert. I did this because I have been with my wonderful husband for almost 7 years. In this time I have been asked every year to go with him to the spot where his family fishes every year. However they always go memorial weekend which just so happens to be my birthday weekend most of the time. So being the pampered city girl princess that I am I have passed on the opportunity every time. Last year I planned to go I got time off from work and then my father had a heart attack and a quintuple bypass surgery. So I stayed home. Well this year I agreed to go for their second trip in the year. Which was September 18th. I was excited but also a little nervous about rattlesnakes and also how my asthma and allergies would be. Everyone said that my asthma may be worse at the higher altitude but my allergies should be better since there is much less plant life. So we went. I was so excited I made sure to pack my inhalers and epi pen and all the things I might need. I didn't however bring my CPAP machine. So we got to the spot and it was so different from any place I had ever been to. But so beautiful. I had my seizure dog and she was by my side the whole time. I was loving it. We fished and although I kept getting fish stealing my bait and never landing one. I had so much fun. My husbands aunts gave me tips and even let me reel in some that they hooked. I was so glad I let go of my fears and went. I ended up being there 3 days instead of 5 because of the fact that my throat swelled about half way shut, my nose never stopped bleeding because of the altitude, I couldn't sleep without my CPAP. But to spite all that and having to leave early, I had so much fun. I saw so many new sights. I spent some wonderful quality time with my husbands aunts. I got the dog out of the house and taking the lab mix by water was a very good thing. In short almost everything I worried about going wrong did. But I wouldn't change a second of it! I will always be open to trying new things and I'm hoping to go back next year but I'll bring my CPAP and allergy meds! Have fun and just say yes sometimes. You never know what wonderful things could happen!