(Image: Kelly Gifford/Flickr)

I must admit, that I am more prone to buy candy for Halloween that I like more than anything just incase there is left over. 😀

I know, I know…. that’s bad huh?!

Well I can’t help it, ever since I started trick-or-treating as a child I would go goo goo over snickers!  I love the combination of peanuts and chocolate and caramel.  YUM-O!

Now if you ask my kiddies my son would totally say Mike-and-Ikes or Sour Patches and my daughter would say lollipops… she doesn’t care what kind as long as its on a stick, she’ll eat it!

I know, my kind of girl… takes after her mother!

So as you prepare for this candy run holiday, which is really the only reason we all celebrate it, and are induced on a sugar rushed roller coaster tell me…

What’s your favorite halloween candy?!?
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(Image/The Atlantic)

• 5 books every cook should have. — The Atlantic

• Eating smaller fish can be beneficial for you. — Chicago Tribune

• Chef David Chang’s first cookbook is filled with profanity and full of complicated, labor-intensive recipes. — Wall Street Journal

• A new but smaller can of Coke is coming soon. — Washington Post

• Kale Salad with cranberries and walnuts, its the new Autumn salad. — Los Angeles Times

• Get the maximum flavor for the least amount of money, all for beer. — Miami Herald

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(Image: Chez Pim/Flickr)

Story takes place at 8:30AM, Wednesday morning….

Customer: Oh My!  That smells wonderful…

Me: Well of course it does, come get a fresh, healthy made right in front of you delicious crepe!

Customer: Do you have any sweet breakfast crêpes?

Me: We have a wide assortment of crepes, what’s your guilty pleasure?

Customer: OH MY! You have Dulce de Leche on your crêpes?

Me: Well, of course, you can get that with bananas and/or strawberries, powdered sugar, and fresh whipped cream.

Customer: Oooooooooo! and you have Nutella…. I think I’m in heaven.

Me: Wait till you try it and you’ll feel like you’ve died and gone to heaven…

Customer: Ok you’ve won… One Triple Threat with Nutella and Dulce de Leche… STAT!

This completes the story time section of this post… 😀

Dulce de Leche or confiture de lait…. can’t really explain how delicious this creamy milk-based sauce really is.  It is found as both a syrup and a caramel candy, it is prepared by slowly heating sweetened milk to create a product that is vaguely similar in taste to caramel.  This deliughtful dessert can be found in an assortment of classic desserts in the Argentine, Paraguayan, Chilean, Peruvian and Uruguayan cuisine.

The most basic recipe demands for slowly simmering milk and sugar, stirring almost constantly, although other ingredients may be included. As most of the water in the milk evaporates the mix will begin to thicken; resulting in the fabulous dulce de leche.  The transformation that occurs in preparation is often called caramelization.

These are just sublime inside crêpes… 😉 Hint! Hint!

Absolutely delish!
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(Image: Daniel Greene/Flickr)

Who doesn’t love some good old-fashioned fried chicken? Or what about fried anything???

I know me and mine love fried chicken, there’s just something about fried chicken or anything that is thrown in the deep fryer that makes you feel homesick.

For safe and tasty frying tips check below:

• Make sure the oil is at the highest temperature before frying, this will help keep oil absorption to a low level which helps to cut back on fat and calories.

• The optimum temperature for deep frying is mostly between 350ºF and 375ºF.  Check the oil temperature by using a frying thermometer.  Trust me you don’t want to fry without it.

• If you find that you do not have a frying thermometer then don’t fret, you can always check the temperature by dropping a cubed piece of bread into the pot.  If it turns golden brown in 60 seconds then its perfect.

• The best oil to use when frying is peanut oil or canola oil.  It is low in saturated fat, has a high burning point and does not take-away from the flavor of the food you are frying.

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• One of Jamaica’s finest treasures, Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee.

• This yummy, delicious, ooeeyyy gooeeyyyy not any kind of milk… Condensed Milk.

• Have you tried Hard dough bread, if not your missing out.

• Twitter + Wine = Twine, and all for a good cause!

• The Food Network is getting a little sister, called the Cooking Channel.

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What do we call Twitter + Wine = TWINE.

Thats right guys the big social media network is jumping into the wine business.  Actually they are starting this new venture aimed solely at raising money for literacy.

The project began after a few Twitter employees became involved with Crushpad, a facility that allows winos to create their own barrels of wine without having to own a vineyard.

Pretty interesting stuff!

Crushpad, which like Twitter and Room to Read is based in San Francisco, provides all the essentials: grapes, equipment, expertise, storage and bottling. Clients can be as involved as they choose to, having the ability to check in on their wines physically or through internet messages and videos.

Fledgling, the name of the wine, was launched yesterday both online and on Twitter.  For $20 a bottle, wine lovers and twitter junkies can choose between a California Chardonnay or Pinot Noir.

What do you think about this… will you buy a Twine?
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Each week we round up our most yummy posts and recipes from our friends at the Kitchn.

This week, the Kitchn rounds off this weeks appetizers with a scrumptious chick-pea pancake.

Also in the Kitchn, ten most riskiest foods, Japanese citrus fruits, brown butter ice cream, and how to make apple butter.

• Top 10 Riskiest Foods: Are You Concerned?: The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a consumer watchdog group, recently released this controversial report.

• A Roundup Of Some Japanese Citrus Fruit: Come and discover this small islands wide assortment of citrus fruit.

• Autumn Recipe: Brown Butter Ice Cream: This ice cream is the perfect topping for any warm fall dessert.

• Apples Galore! How To Make Apple Butter: If you have never tried this easy made butter which is just applesauce slowly cooked down.

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Hardo Bread or Hard Dough Bread is absolutely positively DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!!!

If you have never had hardo bread then, YES you are deprived… (Just kidding) 😛

But seriously… you need to try some STAT!

Hardo bread is a staple food item that can be found in EVERY Jamaican household, whether in another state or country.  Hardo bread consists of flour, water, sugar, yeast, and salt.  Hard dough bread loaves are usually rectangular shaped and can be bought already sliced or unsliced.  The inner part of the bread is white, moist and so soft… the taste is sweet as can be. The outer layer of the bread is light brown and called the crust.

Just imagine coming home from school and the smell of fresh hardo bread wafting the air…. there is absolutely nothing better.

You can find hardo bread at most Jamaican or Caribbean stores… I know in certain Publix’s in Miami you can find them.  I always try and buy some at the Publix by my parents house.

A perfect snack during the day is hardo bread and guava jelly spread on top…. or as a side with some pan Jerk chicken….. OH MY GOODNESS……… Sooooooo GOOD!

If your brave enough and would love to try and make this Jamaican staple please do.

But just make sure to let me know how it comes out below…
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If baking is not your thing but helping others is then I have to let you in on this little thing called Bake For the Cure.  We all know that October is Breast Cancer awareness and we also know that this is a disease that is hitting all our women.

For those of us who really dont look at ourselves as maters in the baking arena there is an alternatuve way to assist in this tremendous fight against cancer.

Bake For the Cure allows you to login on their website and share recipes. Every time you upload a recipe to their website, ten cents will be donated to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Ten cents will also be donated for each recipe you share with friends. If you enjoy baking and are looking for a new recipe to try, browse their yummy recipes on Bake For the Cure.

Support the Cause! 🙂
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(Image: Drewm/Flickr)

Ooeeeyyy Gooeeeyyyyy Condensed milk…

A thick, sticky-creamy, heavenly substance that drips off your spoon and into your mouth as you swallow the delightful cream known as Condensed milk.

Sweetened condensed milk is a mixture of whole milk and about 40 to 45 percent sugar, which is heated until about 60 percent of the water evaporates.  Condensed milk is often used in baked goods and desserts such as candies, puddings, and pies, as well as a substitute for cream and sugar in coffee drinks.

As a child, spending my summers in Jamaica, I would sneak out of my bedroom and creep into the small dark kitchen looking for a clean spoon to use as my accomplice while in search for the glorious tin can with the big red and blue writing… CONDENSED MILK.

Remembering feeling such victory when I would say to myself, “YES! I GOT IT! AND EVERYONE IS SLEEPING!”

Oh how many times did I get caught by my grandfather who would hear little noises outside his bedroom and come chasing out the door thinking it was mice trying to get into my grandmother’s kitchen… HA HA HA! 🙂

How I laugh at that long ago memory.

It’s amazing because condensed milk is used in so many things in Jamaica, on hardo bread as a snack, in cornflakes as a substitute for milk, but of course the main thing I used it and still do use it for is in my coffee… not just any coffee though, Jamaican coffee.

There is nothing like some fresh brewed Jamaican Blue Moutain Coffee with condensed milk diving inside of it…. I shudder at the thought of it!

Yummmyyyyyyyyyyy! 🙂