Sugar & Spice by Celeste

Here's a video of the process: R ight now, you’re only five ingredients and 15-20 minutes away from luscious, homemade caramel sauce.   Caramel sauce that so deliciously elevates things like sliced apples, cinnamon rolls, cheesecakes, ice cream and lattes. I mean, store-bought caramel sauce is okay , but this...this caramel sauce is packed with undeniable flavor and leaves that ole’ store-bought sauce wallowing in sorrow at its greatness. Don’t like salted caramel?  No worries...simply reduce the salt in the recipe to 1/2 tsp.  You can even use unsalted butter.  However, don’t leave the salt out completely.  It does need a little. Can you guess what I made first with this caramel?  Stay tuned tomorrow! Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce Ingredients: 1 cup granulated sugar 1/3 cup water 6 Tbsp salted butter, room temperature (cut into 6 pieces) 1/2 cup heavy cream, room temperature 1 tsp salt **Reduce salt to 1/2 tsp and use unsalted butter if you’d prefer ...

Isn't it wonderful that there's an entire day devoted to celebrating the incredible dads in this world?  I'm one lucky girl, because I was blessed with the greatest father in the whole world.  I know, I know...We ALL think our dad is the greatest, but mine truly is.  :) Not only is he a great dad, but he's an equally awesome cook.  Today is your lucky day, because I'm sharing one of his best recipes.  This is one that I've meant to write down for the longest time.  He visited recently and whipped this gravy up for dinner along with country fried steak, and I made it a point to take notes as he went. This isn't your mama's gravy!  It's packed with mouth-watering flavor and is kicked up a notch with the help of red wine and bacon.  The secret to the best gravy is bacon drippings, and this recipe takes full advantage.   Be careful - This is dangerously delicious and has been known to cause dancing in one's seat at the dinner tab...

There were many years where our Thanksgiving table was always graced by the congealed cranberry sauce of the canned variety.  You know the one - It plops out of the can with a "thwack" and then is sliced into slivers before being served.  However, I had a wonderful revelation a few years back...HOMEMADE cranberry sauce.  Why had I not been making it at home all along?? It's incredibly easy and results in a much tastier accompaniment for that oh-so-delectable cornbread dressing that we look forward to all year long.  After all, we put so much love and care into the dressing, that it's a shame not to pair it with something homemade and delicious as well. For the past several years, I've made this Double Cranberry-Apple Sauce .  But, I wanted to try something new this year - something a little easier and maybe not quite so tart.  This recipe for Simple & Amazing Cranberry Sauce was perfect.  Minimal ingredients, majorly easy and incredibly scr...

***Recently, Brad and I put together a scrumptious meal...Grilled BBQ Ribs with Homemade BBQ Sauce, Mashed Potatoes with Scallions, and Greek Salad...Mmm.  This  BBQ sauce was outstanding!  Plus, it was so wonderful to sit outside on a beautiful night while the ribs cooked on the grill.  I'm so glad that spring is here! A few days before, I had found boneless ribs on sale at the grocery store...buy one get one free.  We were both craving BBQ ribs, but alas...there was no BBQ sauce to be found in our kitchen.  I wasn't about to let that stop me!  I knew that I had some of the main ingredients on-hand...ketchup, brown sugar, and molasses...so I went to work at whipping up a homemade batch of sauce.  The only two ingredients that I did not have were the chili sauce and chili powder, so those go left out.  I did, however, add a sprinkling of red pepper flakes to add the tiniest amount of heat. I may never buy store-bought BBQ sauce again!...

***Julia Child mentions the sauce chapter in Mastering the Art of French Cooking several times in her memoir, "My Life in France." In fact, there's a really cool photocopy of a piece of paper that contains her hollandaise sauce recipe...that she typed herself. It's marked "Top Secret" in what I assume is Julia's handwriting. I recently finished reading the memoir, and I was definitely curious about this hollandaise sauce. I looked it up in MtAoFC , and it sounded both classic and delicious! On a side note, if you're thinking about reading "My Life in France," you definitely should! I absolutely loved it! It's always good to have several good, homemade sauces in your cooking arsenal...ready when you need them. This is one such sauce. Who doesn't like a decadently rich and eggy hollandaise sauce? There are so many things that you can serve it with....poached eggs, bacon, and toast...just name a few. I decided to serve it with a simpl...