Mom's (Nanny's) Awesome Fudge

'Mom's Awesome Fudge' is how this fudge recipe appears in my recipe book, although it's come to my attention that the source of this recipe goes a few generations further. I uncovered this fact after making a batch of it and being reminded of my Nanny. I asked Mom if Nanny ever made it and was informed that it was Nanny's recipe and, yes, she made it all the time. We were pretty young when we spent time with Nanny (she was Mom's grandma), so part of me forgot about it. I'm glad the recent batch I made tasted like memories, otherwise I wouldn't have realized I'd shared this treat with my Nanny when I was little.

This fudge tastes very old timey, sweet and yummy with every bite.

Mom's (Nanny's) Awesome Fudge

1/4 cup margarine
1/4 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup milk
3/4 tsp vanilla
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
pinch salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Put all ingredients except vanilla and walnuts into a saucepan. Mix together, heating on medium until margarine is melted and mixture starts to boil. Let bubble for 9-10 minutes. To ensure it has boiled enough, test to see if the mixture will form a ball in cold water. Put a spoon into the hot mixture and drop a small amount into a cup with cold water. It should form a ball. Take saucepan off burner and let sit for 10 minutes. Add vanilla and walnuts and start beating fudge with a spoon until it changes colour (turns lighter brown) and becomes thick. Put into a greased pie plate and place in fridge to cool. Cut into squares and store in an air tight container.

Enjoy!

Honey Garlic Chicken Legs #FoodPicFriday

We've started using the farmer raised chicken I got from my brother and the meat is really delicious. The birds are big, juicy, and flavourful - we just absolutely love them.

One of our favourite meals is pan fried chicken legs, and we vary between plain (just a little seasoning), curried, and honey garlic. Most recently we had honey garlic with the farm fresh chicken legs and it was probably the best I've ever had. John never measures when he cooks, but the sauce is a mixture of soy sauce, honey, and garlic powder. Served with rice and oh so good.

Deal Report: Air Freshner and BBQ Sauce

Coupon deals have been scarce lately, so I need to brag about it when I find a good one. The coupon booklets that come in the paper every few weeks have had nothing worth clipping (for me). I love saving money, but saving $0.50 on a product I would never purchase in the first place (and which has a price point of over $3.00 to begin with...isn't a deal for me). But I found a few coupons I could use in the past few months, so hence this bragging post!

I love using a coupon when something is already on sale to maximize the savings, and that is what I did with both these deals.

Using a buy one get two free coupon and pairing it with a $1 sale price, I got six cans of deal air freshener. So buy one ($1.00 + $0.13 tax) and get two free* ($0.13 tax + $0.13 tax [*free in Canada often means just the item is free; you still have to pay the tax]). So my six cans cost $2.78, which is $0.46 each. Not as good as the coupon deal from a few years ago that got me air freshener for $0.38 per can, but it's pretty close).

I also had two '$2.00 off' BBQ sauce coupons and paired them with a BBQ sauce sale of $2.00/bottle. So these were actually free-free, as there is no tax on most grocery items in Canada. I love when my bill prints out at $0.00 and I walk away with free product. Feels good. Plus this BBQ sauce is pretty tasty.

Frog Buddy

One afternoon last week it was lightly raining when the sun came out. That being perfect rainbow weather, I grabbed my camera and ran outside hoping to see one. The rain had mostly stopped when I got out there, so no rainbows. But I did see this awesome little frog hopping around in the backyard. He spent some time in front of the garage door, before he hopped along onto some very important frog business.

1/2 Dozen Zehrs Doughnuts #FoodPicFriday

My favourite doughnuts are from Zehrs bakery, a place I don't get to very often, but I love love love their doughnuts. Before a recent visit to Mom's, I told her I was craving them, and she offered to get some for me. Isn't she a sweetheart? Best Mom in the world.

My favourite out of this pile of doughnuts is the croissant. Not sure how they make it taste so amazing, but I could easily eat too many in row. So damn good.