Sorry it's been so long between posts. Life is crazy, and it just gets crazier as the holidays near. Everyone is out looking for the perfect gifts to give, but a lot of people are strapped because of the economy. Freebies are harder to come by, so why not fill out your gifting with some home made gifts. There are recipes out there for everything from cocoa mix to spiced nuts. My favorite gift to give is home made marshmallows. Really, home made marshmallows. People still give me funny looks when I hand them some, but taste changes their tune soon enough. I've been getting requests from local friends for the recipe, so I'm going to post it here and put some of my own variations and tips and tricks at the end.
This recipe originally came from Family Circle magazine.
Peppermint Marshmallows
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup crushed candy canes or mint candies
1/8 teaspoon salt
1. Into a small bowl, sift together confectioners' sugar and cornstarch. Line a 13x9x2-inch baking pan with nonstick foil. Coat with nonstick cooking spray. Sift 2 tablespoons of the sugar-cornstarch mixture into the pan, tilting to coat sides. Leave any excess in the pan.
2. Place 2/3 cup water in a large bowl. Sprinkle with gelatin. Let soften 5 minutes.
3. In a medium-size heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat sugar, corn syrup, candy cane pieces and salt over medium heat about 7 minutes until sugar and candy are dissolved, stirring occasionally. Strain into bowl with gelatin.
4. Beat on high speed with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, 10 to 15 minutes. Spread into prepared pan and smooth top. Dust with 2 tablespoons of the sugar-cornstarch mixture. Let set at room temperature for 2 hours.
5. Lift marshmallow from pan using foil. With a wet knife, cut into 6 squares. Spread remaining sugar-cornstarch mixture onto a baking sheet. Invert marshmallow block onto sheet; cut each square in 9 pieces. Toss marshmallows in sugar-cornstarch mixture, and set on a pan to set an additional hour. Store, loosely covered, at room temperature.
Tips and Tricks
-Set EVERYTHING out before you turn on the heat under the pan with the sugar/syrup/candy mixture. Once that pan is on, you aren't going anywhere until it is melted.
-Try to work near a sink. When you go to strain the sugar mixture into the bowl with the gelatin, turn your faucet on hot and let it run. You will want to put the saucepan, strainer, and stirring utensil under that water as soon as you are done with them so the sugar won't turn into a rock.
-Use room temperature water for the gelatin. If the water is too cold, the sugar can harden before you start beating it.
-When you go to cut the marshmallow, dip your knife in COLD tap water before each cut. Otherwise your knife will stick and your cuts won't be as nice.
-You can forgo the cornstarch if you want to. Just be VERY liberal in your use of confectioners' sugar on your foil and on the marshmallows.
-If you are nervous about working with hot sugar and being sure that you are at the right stage, you can use a candy thermometer and heat the mixture until you are at soft ball stage (about 240 degrees). I eyeball it. The surface of the sugar should be bubbling briskly, and when you pull out your stirring utensil the sugar should be a nice liquid with no signs of any granular sugar left.
Variations
Wintergreen- substitute hard wintergreen candies for the candy canes. If you can find wintergreen candy canes, use those so that they impart a nice pale green color to the marshmallows.
Cinnamon- substitute hard cinnamon candies for the candy canes. I used the Brach's cinnamon candies that are the same size as Starlight mints. I'm sure you could use red hots also.
Caramel- substitute HARD caramels for the candy canes. I used Werther's. They will not come out quite as fluffy as any of the others, but the texture is still good.
Vanilla-substitute 1/2 cup granulated sugar for the candy canes, and in the last couple minutes of beating add 1 Tbsp of good vanilla extract.
Corn-free-This is a multi-step alteration. First, you will need to take granulated sugar and blitz it in a food processor to make your own confectioners' sugar, unless you know a brand of confectioners' sugar that doesn't use corn starch in it. Second, you will need to get either a rice syrup or a cane sugar syrup like Lyle's Golden Syrup to use instead of the corn syrup. Last, any flavoring or candy you use needs to be checked to make sure that corn syrup or corn alcohol are not ingredients.
Chocolate - Start off like you are making vanilla marshmallows. When you are nearing the end of your beating time, bring 4 Tbsp. of water to JUST bubbling, then add to a bowl containing 4 Tbsp. good quality cocoa powder. Mix to dissolve the cocoa in the water. Add the cocoa liquid all at once at then end of your beating time, and continue to beat JUST UNTIL they are combined. If you beat too long, the cocoa fats will make the marshmallow start to fall.
These are just the variations I have tried over the last few years. I'm planning new things to try when I'm not under the gun for gifts. Have fun, experiment, and let me know what wacky flavors you come up with!
Monday, November 21, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
When extreme is too extreme
I've been watching Extreme Couponing lately, and have come to the conclusion that some of these people are too extreme. If you haven't seen the show, it's about people who can spend upwards of 60 hours a week getting ready for a shopping trip by researching prices and clipping coupons to pay as little as possible at the grocery checkout. After watching about 10 of the shows, here's what I have noticed that would NEVER work for me or my family.
1. They get a lot of items the we would NEVER eat - By this I mean that they get a lot of pre-packaged foods, soft drinks, candy, and other things that rarely if ever enter my house. We've made a commitment to healthy eating. We are big into reading the nutrition information on the labels of any packaged food we eat, and we get a lot of fresh produce. If we ate, for example, lots of ramen or soda (I wish I'd thought of couponing in college), we could eat for free a lot. We are WAY too picky for that, and I am not buying something we don't like or isn't healthy just because I can get it for free.
2. They are not overly particular about brands - Now, this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it makes things difficult in my house. We try to buy items made from recycled materials, organic, and natural products, so there aren't always the best coupon opportunities available. We won't compromise on these items at all, so it makes it a bit trickier.
3. They are buying items that they have no current use for - There was a woman who had a year's worth of diapers, and SHE ISN'T PREGNANT AND HAS NO KIDS!!!!! She was keeping them in her stockpile, just sitting in her basement!!! Now, if I could score some freebie deals on diapers, I would get as many as I could and take them straight to my local women's shelter. I do not have the storage space in my house for stuff like that. I get what I need for my family.
4. They have stores that have more lenient rules for coupons - In our area, we rarely if ever have days where the stores will round all coupons up to $1.00. One chain of stores will only double one coupon for an item, even if you have multiple coupons with different denominations. This means that we just can't get the level of savings you see in some of these shows. Plus, we are in a small market, so there isn't as much push from the chains to give the best deals. My sister-in-law lives in the Phoenix area, and she can regularly get at least 50% off her grocery bill because her market is so competitive.
Now, not all of the extreme couponers are super extreme. The ones that I admire are the ones who fill their stockpile room for free, then give 90% away to charities and the troops. That has made me rethink how I shop and I am going to set aside some room to gather freebies to give to the local food bank and women's shelters. I think this is a great way to give to others, and all it requires is some of your time.
Yeah, it's great that these people can get out of a store with a $400 order for under $4, but it requires more of my time and way more compromises than I am willing to make. More power to them, but I think you can still get significant savings without being this extreme.
1. They get a lot of items the we would NEVER eat - By this I mean that they get a lot of pre-packaged foods, soft drinks, candy, and other things that rarely if ever enter my house. We've made a commitment to healthy eating. We are big into reading the nutrition information on the labels of any packaged food we eat, and we get a lot of fresh produce. If we ate, for example, lots of ramen or soda (I wish I'd thought of couponing in college), we could eat for free a lot. We are WAY too picky for that, and I am not buying something we don't like or isn't healthy just because I can get it for free.
2. They are not overly particular about brands - Now, this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it makes things difficult in my house. We try to buy items made from recycled materials, organic, and natural products, so there aren't always the best coupon opportunities available. We won't compromise on these items at all, so it makes it a bit trickier.
3. They are buying items that they have no current use for - There was a woman who had a year's worth of diapers, and SHE ISN'T PREGNANT AND HAS NO KIDS!!!!! She was keeping them in her stockpile, just sitting in her basement!!! Now, if I could score some freebie deals on diapers, I would get as many as I could and take them straight to my local women's shelter. I do not have the storage space in my house for stuff like that. I get what I need for my family.
4. They have stores that have more lenient rules for coupons - In our area, we rarely if ever have days where the stores will round all coupons up to $1.00. One chain of stores will only double one coupon for an item, even if you have multiple coupons with different denominations. This means that we just can't get the level of savings you see in some of these shows. Plus, we are in a small market, so there isn't as much push from the chains to give the best deals. My sister-in-law lives in the Phoenix area, and she can regularly get at least 50% off her grocery bill because her market is so competitive.
Now, not all of the extreme couponers are super extreme. The ones that I admire are the ones who fill their stockpile room for free, then give 90% away to charities and the troops. That has made me rethink how I shop and I am going to set aside some room to gather freebies to give to the local food bank and women's shelters. I think this is a great way to give to others, and all it requires is some of your time.
Yeah, it's great that these people can get out of a store with a $400 order for under $4, but it requires more of my time and way more compromises than I am willing to make. More power to them, but I think you can still get significant savings without being this extreme.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Who knew being opinionated could pay?
How many times have you received one of those surveys at the bottom of your receipt after you went shopping at the store? It just seems like extra work for a chance at a gift certificate sometimes, doesn't it? Well, did you know that answering surveys can sometimes be pretty lucrative? I've been getting tons of stuff just for filling out surveys online for quite a while now. Here are some of the different way surveys work now, and the best ways to use them to your advantage.
First are those surveys at the bottom of your receipt. Most of the time they are for a chance to win a gift certificate. The big thing to check on those is how many times in a month/quarter you are allowed to enter. Some companies, it is 3 times a month, some it is 4 times a quarter. The surveys typically are pretty easy to fill out, and help the stores determine how they are doing in customer service. I know, you aren't guaranteed anything, but a chance at a $5000 Target gift card is incentive enough for me. Now when you go to restaurants, you can get pretty quick gratification on their surveys. Most of the time, if you fill out the survey (phone or e-mail), you get a code or printable coupon for free food or money off your next meal there. The only drawback on those is that you have to fill them out within a couple days of your trip, and the reward is typically only good for a month or less. Hey, free food is free food, so I fill them out even if I'm not planning on going back for a while.
The second, and the one I use the most, are the online survey sites like www.mysurvey.com, amongst others. Now, I put the disclaimer here, READ ALL THE FINE PRINT. For a reliable site, you should NEVER have to give out anything more than your mailing information and basic demographics, and they should NEVER require you to pay them money to take their surveys. These sites will e-mail you when they have a survey ready for you. Those surveys will earn you "points" or "survey dollars" or something like that that you bank for rewards. Some sites' points expire after a few years, and some let you keep building them up as long as you want (again, read the fine print), so keep that in mind when looking at the rewards. The rewards for these sites can include anything from merchandise, checks, and gift certificates.
Now these survey sites have all kinds of surveys. The surveys can last for anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour. I've had ones about political opinions, heath issues, food, beverage, toys, restaurants, and just about anything else you could imagine. Now some I won't participate in because I find the information to sensitive. I don't do financial service surveys because I feel that giving ANYONE my financial information (besides a range of total household income) is asking for trouble. I've gotten offers to gain points by sending in credit card offers and paperwork about changes in my credit card terms, and I have TURNED THEM DOWN FLAT. I don't take chances on credit theft. I also never take them up on programs that want to install software on my PC to watch my browsing patterns. I think that is an invasion of privacy and a chance at letting a virus onto my PC. Sometimes the surveys can seem silly (how does the commercial make you feel), and sometimes they can be repetitive. The surveys I like the most are the product surveys. These are the ones where after an initial screening survey, I get offered the chance to try a product and then fill out a follow up survey. These are so fun! I've gotten cat food, skin cream, frozen dinners, snack food, and other stuff. I love trying out new products for free, and then letting the companies know what I think of them. Plus, I get to bank more reward points.
Now here's the fun part. Sometimes you can piggy back your survey rewards with some other savings I've talked about in earlier entries. In the past, I have cashed in rewards for gift certificates for sites that work with www.mypoints.com. That way I can earn points for MyPoints while I am spending my rewards. Essentially, earning rewards points with the results of other rewards points! Hey, I'll work it for all I can get for free.
Again, I caution you to read the terms of usage for ANY survey site that you sign up with. That being said, these kinds of sites are fun to participate in and can lead to some nice rewards. Just today I cashed in enough points for a $25 Amazon.com gift certificate (the free shipping point on their site). Free shipping, plus my items, and I only ended up paying $3.62 to cover the overlap and tax. Not bad for a few hours work over 4-6 months.
First are those surveys at the bottom of your receipt. Most of the time they are for a chance to win a gift certificate. The big thing to check on those is how many times in a month/quarter you are allowed to enter. Some companies, it is 3 times a month, some it is 4 times a quarter. The surveys typically are pretty easy to fill out, and help the stores determine how they are doing in customer service. I know, you aren't guaranteed anything, but a chance at a $5000 Target gift card is incentive enough for me. Now when you go to restaurants, you can get pretty quick gratification on their surveys. Most of the time, if you fill out the survey (phone or e-mail), you get a code or printable coupon for free food or money off your next meal there. The only drawback on those is that you have to fill them out within a couple days of your trip, and the reward is typically only good for a month or less. Hey, free food is free food, so I fill them out even if I'm not planning on going back for a while.
The second, and the one I use the most, are the online survey sites like www.mysurvey.com, amongst others. Now, I put the disclaimer here, READ ALL THE FINE PRINT. For a reliable site, you should NEVER have to give out anything more than your mailing information and basic demographics, and they should NEVER require you to pay them money to take their surveys. These sites will e-mail you when they have a survey ready for you. Those surveys will earn you "points" or "survey dollars" or something like that that you bank for rewards. Some sites' points expire after a few years, and some let you keep building them up as long as you want (again, read the fine print), so keep that in mind when looking at the rewards. The rewards for these sites can include anything from merchandise, checks, and gift certificates.
Now these survey sites have all kinds of surveys. The surveys can last for anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour. I've had ones about political opinions, heath issues, food, beverage, toys, restaurants, and just about anything else you could imagine. Now some I won't participate in because I find the information to sensitive. I don't do financial service surveys because I feel that giving ANYONE my financial information (besides a range of total household income) is asking for trouble. I've gotten offers to gain points by sending in credit card offers and paperwork about changes in my credit card terms, and I have TURNED THEM DOWN FLAT. I don't take chances on credit theft. I also never take them up on programs that want to install software on my PC to watch my browsing patterns. I think that is an invasion of privacy and a chance at letting a virus onto my PC. Sometimes the surveys can seem silly (how does the commercial make you feel), and sometimes they can be repetitive. The surveys I like the most are the product surveys. These are the ones where after an initial screening survey, I get offered the chance to try a product and then fill out a follow up survey. These are so fun! I've gotten cat food, skin cream, frozen dinners, snack food, and other stuff. I love trying out new products for free, and then letting the companies know what I think of them. Plus, I get to bank more reward points.
Now here's the fun part. Sometimes you can piggy back your survey rewards with some other savings I've talked about in earlier entries. In the past, I have cashed in rewards for gift certificates for sites that work with www.mypoints.com. That way I can earn points for MyPoints while I am spending my rewards. Essentially, earning rewards points with the results of other rewards points! Hey, I'll work it for all I can get for free.
Again, I caution you to read the terms of usage for ANY survey site that you sign up with. That being said, these kinds of sites are fun to participate in and can lead to some nice rewards. Just today I cashed in enough points for a $25 Amazon.com gift certificate (the free shipping point on their site). Free shipping, plus my items, and I only ended up paying $3.62 to cover the overlap and tax. Not bad for a few hours work over 4-6 months.
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