Chewy Caramel with NO Candy Thermometer

Chewy Caramel

1/2 Cup butter
1/2 Cup sugar
1/2 Cup brown sugar
1/2 Cup sweetened condensed milk (SCM for short)
1/2 Cup light corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla
nuts of choice (I like walnuts)

I promise you, this is one of the easiest things you will ever make and one of the most delicious! I prefer this recipe over ANY store-bought caramel and I can make it with ingredients I already have on a moment's notice! DELICIOUS!

So here's what you do.

1) Put 1 stick of butter in a large glass bowl and melt it in the microwave for 1 minute! While it is melting, get out your sugar, brown sugar, SCM, can opener, wooden spoon, and 1/2 Cup measuring cup.

2) Open the SCM, get the bowl out and add 1/2 C. of each ingredient. Stir.

3) Put in the microwave for 7 minutes. While the Caramel is cooking, put everything away except your spoon. Lay out a cookie sheet with a piece of wax paper on top (or you could do what I do and spray non-stick spray onto parchment paper).

Get out vanilla (or rum flavor is also DELICIOUS!), and measuring tool for 1 tsp.,nuts if you'd like and pot holders (2 for your hands and one for the counter

4) Carefully take the bowl out of the microwave, stir, and wait 1 minute before adding the vanilla and nuts. It will look like this right out of the microwave. Stirring will make it bubble up so don't worry. 

It will look like this after adding the vanilla and nuts.

 5) Pour the mixture to the wax paper and let cool a couple hours. Not gonna lie I normally wait about 20 minutes before taking my first piece. Even though its not set, the flavor is still delicious!!

ENJOY!! This is one of my favorite treats. OH!!! And do NOT try to double this recipe! Please be sure to comment if you try this :) I promise, once you try this, you will never go back to the hard way. I got this recipe Here

God bless

Summer Spinach Salad

Summer Spinach Salad

10 oz. spinach
2 heads of Romaine lettuce
1/2 C. Almond slivers
1 carton strawberries
1 pear
1/4 C. feta cheese
1 Perdue Chicken Breast per person
Poppy Seed dressing on the side

1. Layer the Spinach, Romaine, almonds, strawberries and pear in any quantity you like, but make sure to save some for the top to make it pretty. I chose to do half of the add-ins in the middle of the salad and the rest on top.

 Half way through the salad.

Top before I added feta, I had to add this because it looks so fresh and pretty. 

Finished :) 

3. Bake the chicken breasts on a foil-lined tray at 350 degrees until cooked through. I like to wash mine, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper before cooking. :)

 These are the Perdue chicken breasts that I use and LOVE!!

before cooking, YUM!!

Perfect portions :) and very delicious!!!

Make sure to comment and let me know what you liked or what you would do different. God bless!

Smoky Baby Back Ribs

While my family was up at my grandparents lake cottage this weekend, 

I was looking at some magazines and came across a recipe for Ribs. 

I have made it my mission to cook a good meal every night this week 

and though I have never made Ribs before and frankly, the thought 

of touching raw meat just makes me want to hurl. 

But I always get through it and this recipe met my husbands approval! 

He told me after eating a whole slab that he was prepared

for me to waste the $20 it took to buy a pack of 3 slabs. 

But yay for this recipe and a few minor adjustments on my part. 

I didn't take any pictures until after he told me they were great but frankly, it was pretty darn easy ;) 

SMOKY BABY BACK RIBS

What you will need: 
3-4 slabs of Baby Back Ribs
1/2 C. brown sugar
1/4 C. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1/4 C. Cajun seasoning
3 Tbsp paprika
1 1/2 tsp cayenne
1 1/2 tsp. ground mustard
Barbeque Sauce *See Cook's Note

Directions: 
1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F
2. Rub the seasoning generously into the ribs. Lay out foil and line with parchment paper. Wrap the ribs tightly in the parchment lined foil. Wrap each slab separately and place on a cookie sheet to cook.
3. Cook the ribs for 2-2 1/2 hours, until a knife can pierce the meat with no resistance.
4. When fully cooked, take out of the oven and set the oven to broil. Take the slabs out of the foil and place back onto the cookie sheet. Brush the slabs with any sauce that you like. *See Cook's Note
5. Broil the ribs 3-5 minutes or until sauce is bubbling.

This was one of 2 that I made (the other is already wrapped, in the rub, and ready to cook whenever Brandon wants it :) 

*The recipe called for a Chipotle Sauce  but I chose to use Sweet Baby Rays Barbeque Sauce. It is our favorite!! But here is the recipe if you would like to try it :)

Chipotle Sauce Recipe
1 C. chili sauce
1/4 C. Chopped chipotle chilis in adobo sauce
2 Tbsp honey

**UPDATE** When I had posted this recipe, I only made 2 of the 3 slabs I bought. The third slab, I rubbed with the spices and wrapped  in the parchment-lined foil and kept in the fridge for 2 days before making it again for Brandon. See how much darker the meat got? He said the spices came through really well and was even better than the first time.  

I caught him off guard with a picture enjoying dinner. We have no table right now. I am in the middle of fixing them up, the chairs are almost done but the table is going to take at least another week. And sorry the picture is sideways, my computer is being stupid and wouldn't let me flip it. Oh well. 

Please comment if you have any other Baby Back Ribs recipes that you love or let me know if you try mine :)

Have a great day and God Bless!

Getting to Know Me

So this is my very first post so I thought I'd help everyone get to know me a little better and why I started this blog. 

My sister actually came up with the name 'Salad Maker & Cake Baker'. 

We were up at the lake this weekend and I had make a delicious salad I found via Pinterest and we were talking about one of the cakes I made for my daughter's birthday party. 

She just said that i was The Salad Maker and Cake Baker and I knew instantly that it was the name that I had been looking for! 

Almost two years ago I married the love of my life. 

His name is Brandon and he is the most caring person, loving husband,

and devoted father I know. 

About a year ago, we were blest with a beautiful baby girl we just love to pieces. As the oldest of soon to be 9 (my mom is pregnant again), I was 

used to being around kids all of the time but I never imagined it would 

be so much different when they are your own. 

I don't want to say her full name or our last name just for privacy reasons but lets just say her name is BellaBoo. It's a cute nickname we like to call her :) 

Here are some family pictures from our recent trip to Cedar Point with our little BellaBoo so you know who we are and who I'm talking about in future posts.

This is me, Stephanie, and my beautiful little BellaBoo waiting on her Daddy to check in to the hotel. 

Daddy and daughter playing in the water outside of the hotel. 

Watching TV with her friends. 

This is a family picture with Snoopy!! This was just 3 days after having my D&C :( 

Water park at Cedar Point with my sweetie pie :) 

 She loved the water!! 

My incredibly handsome husband playing with our beautiful little girl. 

I love my sweet little family and though we have two kids in Heaven, Jayden and Charlie, we are very thankful to God for letting our daughter stay here with us. I can't wait to meet my other children, but praying for even more until then. 

God bless everyone and I hope you will come back :)