Pecan Praline Crunch

Woohoo!  Spring Break is next week!  The boys and I love spending time together in the kitchen and here is one recipe that they absolutely love to make and dad likes to eat.  :)  For more ideas of what to cook with your kids check out this post.

Of course, next week we will have to make The Best Corned Beef Ever for St. Patrick's Day as well.  Do you make any special food for St. Patrick's Day?  I'd love to know.

Pecan Praline Crunch

8 cups oat squares cereal (Quaker Oat Squares)

2 cups pecan pieces

½ cup light corn syrup

½ cup packed brown sugar

¼ cup margarine

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix cereal and pecans in shallow baking pan.  Combine corn syrup, brown sugar and margarine in medium glass bowl.  Microwave on High for 1½ minutes; stir mixture.  Microwave for an additional ½ to 1½ minutes longer or until mixture boils.  Stir in baking soda and vanilla.  Pour over mixture; mix well.  Bake at 250* for 1 hour, stirring every 20 minutes.  Spread on foil and let cool.  Break into pieces.

-A Kansas Farm Mom 

Cooking Sweet Corn

Ahhh!  Summer.  The heat.  The humidity.  The urge to turn on the oven.  The urge to boil a huge pot of water on the stove.

Not!

Don't you just love summer.  I do.  It brings fresh tomatoes.  Fresh onions. Fresh peppers.  FRESH SWEET CORN!  Yum!!

Most of my friends boil a huge pot of water on the stove to cook their sweet corn which in turn heats up the entire kitchen and probably dining room, too.  My mom was one of the first to own a microwave I think even before I was born.  She loves her microwave.

She cooks her sweet corn in the microwave and saves the air conditioner from over loading the circuits trying to keep the house cool.

Most of the time we store the corn in the refrigerator in a Ziploc bag straight out of the shuck.  The silks are left on and we don't wash it until we are ready to cook it.  I have kept it in a Ziploc bag in the fridge for over a week and it keeps great.

I wash it right before I cook it, place it on a plate,

 cover with waxed paper and put it in the microwave.

My mom cooks it for 1 minute per ear; however, my microwave must be higher wattage because it cooks in half the time.  She cooks it for 30 seconds per ear, flips them over and cooks the additional time.

The corn still comes out sweet and tasty and the house stays much cooler.

Let me know if this works for you!

-A Kansas Farm Mom