The 2nd Annual Great Pumpkin Swap! (REVEAL)

I am so glad that Kristin agreed to host this swap with me!  I just want to thank her for all the work she did for this since it was my first time hosting a swap, and I was completely clueless!  Thanks, Kristin! :)

So I got paired up with Rachel from The Ross Family.  I have enjoyed reading her blog and getting to know a little more about her since we became swap partners!  Be sure to check out her post today to see what I sent in her swap package!

Here's what she sent me:

(From left to right)
1. Treats for my kitties, Allie & Abbie :)
2. Purple animal print scarf
3. Starbucks gift card
4. Pumpkin popcorn (from her favorite place in Omaha)  And yeah, it's SUPER yummy.  I had to make Scott stop eating it so there would be some left for my picture.
5. A set of purple Halloween dishtowels with ghosts
6. A little note explaining my gifts

Thank you so much for my great gifts, Rachel!! 

I'm so excited to see what others got in their swap packages!  I hope you all had as much fun as I did.  (Scott even thought it was a great idea.  He asked what I got and why, and I explained the whole swap idea to him.  He was like, "You should do one of those every month."  lol)  Link up below to share your reveal posts! :)

Caramel Popcorn

Because I'm sure you need another sweet treat to help with your New Year's Resolutions and because I needed to move another recipe over from WordPress, here's my post for today! :)

It doesn't actually taste like caramel, just so you know.  It's sweet and delicious, though!  Scott found this recipe on ehow.com.

Ingredients

• 3 Quarts Popped Popcorn
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup Karo light corn syrup
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• Large mixing bowl
• Sauce pan

1. Pop the popcorn.  Seperate popped kernels from any unpopped ones.  Salt lightly. (I just realized as I was typing this, that I didn't salt my popped popcorn.  It's still good.  So we can say that the salt here is optional.  Also, we have a popcorn popper that is just a hot air popper.  I used 8 tablespoons of unpopped kernels to make approximately 3 quarts of popcorn.)
2. Prepare an area to receive the hot coated popcorn.  Layout approximately 24" x 24" area of wax paper.  Butter thoroughly to prevent the caramel from sticking.  (I sprayed my wax paper liberally with Pam.  That worked well.)
3. In a medium sauce pan, combine brown sugar, corn syrup, butter, and salt.  Bring to a boil over medium heat stirring constantly.  Stop stirring.  Boil for 4 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in baking soda and vanilla.  The mixture will become foamy.  Stirl until the baking soda is completely dissolved.  (Medium heat was taking too long for me.  The dial on my oven is low, 2, 3, 4, medium, 6, 7, 8, high.  I moved my dial to 7 because it was taking a life time to boil on medium.)
4. Pour mixture over popcorn.  Stir until popcorn is completely coated.  Pour the caramel corn onto the waxed paper.  Allow to cool completely before packing.  (But feel free to sample while it cools because it's really yummy warm!)