Is Your Life a Barrel O' Fun?

How much fun are you having in life?

A barrel of fun?

Barrel O' Fun used to be a local business.

I say used to, because I used to live in Minnesota.

We even toured the factory in Perham, MN for a homeschool field trip.

Of course, that was before digital photography.

I have no pics to boast about watching the conveyor belt

dump mountains of chips into open bags.

By the way, the same chips go into about ten different bags.

I saw first hand that generic doesn't always mean an inferior product.

Contrary to urban legend, they don't save all the broken,

discolored chips for the generic bags.

Same chips, different packages.

Anyhoo....

I forgot how much I missed their products until I read Linda's

blog about the Old Dutch Caramel Corn

she made for her adorable vintage Graduation party.

After Linda's blog started my salivary glands craving caramel corn,

I bought  four bags of puffed corn in North Dakota.

It was SO hot, I thought the bags would explode in the car.

They were more bloated than a pregnant woman's

ankles in August.

I arrived home with only three.

 

OOPS!

Snacking helps you stay awake when you have to drive

1380.20 miles...

in the heat....

with no other driver...

and you haven't had much sleep for weeks...

 

The back of the bag has the perfect recipe to make this...

...turn into this.

Sweet, delicious, melt-in-your mouth,

you've-never-had-caramel-corn-this-good-before

deliciousness.

After mixing all the ingredients,

Jon stirred the gooey stuff every 15 minutes.

 I'm not a bad photographer,

he didn't want his picture on my blog.

I promised him I wouldn't show his face,

so I purposely cut off his head.

Yea, I'm a good mom,

I am.

We carefully put 1 cup in each bag,

because we knew that the first one to the tub of caramel corn

would be tempted to eat it all.

Especially if that first person was me.

The fairness dividing routine wasn't enacted just for the kids.

Wouldn't this treat be sweet in these little boxes?

Remember that insane work I put into Graduation?

Whoever named their company

had great insight into the psychology of snacking-happiness.

Eating this stuff, especially carameled, is a

Barrel O'Fun!

**********

Recipe:

Caramel Coating (mix in 2 quart sauce pan)

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1 cup brown sugar

Stir and cook for two minutes or until bubbly around the edges, remove from heat. 

 

Add one tsp. baking soda to cause foaming, this will allow for proper coating of pops.

Pour caramel stuff over corn pops and stir until coated.

Place in 250degree oven for 45 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and pour onto waxed paper.

Spread apart before it cools so will cool separately.

(Linda's recipe above is for the microwave.)