Friday Foodday

Happy Friday! 
Here are my favorite recipes this week.

Gramps' Rum Old Fashioned
c/o The Kitchn

Ingredients
Ice
2 ounces añejo rum
1/4 ounce black pepper syrup, such as Blank Slate Kitchen's
3 dashes orange bitters
1 dash Angostura bitters
Orange twist or peel, for garnish

Directions

Fill a mixing glass with ice. Add the rum, black pepper syrup, orange bitters, and Angostura bitters. Stir until well-chilled, about 15 seconds. Strain into a rocks or old fashioned glass filled with ice. Garnish with an orange peel or twist.

Lentil Soup

c/o Buns in My Oven

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 sweet onion, diced
• 6 carrots, cut into rounds
• 4 stalks celery, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 8 ounces fresh green beans, cut in half
• 14 ounce can fire-roasted tomatoes
• 1 package (15.5 ounces) Hurst's Beans Garlic and Herb Lentils
• 8 cups chicken broth
• salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Melt the butter in a large stock pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, and celery to the pot and cook for 5 minutes.
2. Stir in the garlic and green beans and cook for 1 more minute.
3. Add the fire roasted tomatoes to the pan with the chicken broth.
4. Rinse and sort through the lentils. Add to the pan along with the seasoning packet and bring to a boil.
5. Reduce to a simmer and cover the pot. Cook for 1 hour 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. Taste and add salt and pepper as desired.

Samoas Moose Munch

c/o Country Cleaver

Ingredients

• 2 bags Popcorn, popped – use buttered or plain
• 1/2 cup Butter
• 1 cup Brown Sugar
• 1/4 cup Corn Syrup
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 2 tsp Vanilla
• 1/4 tsp Baking Soda
• 1 1/2 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips, melted
• 2 tsp Coconut Oil
• 1 box Samoas Girl Scout Cookies, roughtly chopped
• 1/2 cup Shredded Coconut, toasted

Directions

Heat oven to 250 degrees. Prepare microwave popcorn according to directions.

In a sauce pan, melt butter. Whisk in sugar, corn syrup, and salt and bring to a boil. Let the mixture caramelize, boiling for about five minutes or until it turns golden brown. Remove from the heat. Whisk in the vanilla and the baking soda.

Pour popcorn into a VERY large bowl, and pour the caramel over the top. Using a spoon – the carmel is molten hot – combine the carmel and mix the popcorn. Spread the popcorn over two large lined cookie sheets. Line with parchment or silicone mats. Place in the oven for 30-45 minutes, toss and rotate the popcorn every 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let the popcorn cool for at least 1 hour.

While cooling, melt the chocolate and the coconut oil together to get a smooth, “drizzly” consistency, and drizzle over the top of the cooled caramel popcorn.

Sprinkle the toasted coconut and chopped Samoas over the warm chocolate so it sticks. Let the chocolate rest until cooled. Break popcorn into bite sized chunks and devour.