Making healthy foods unhealthy

 What do you do when you have tons of apples that are quickly getting mushy, and the kids are tired of eating apples for every snack?  Make caramel, of course!

For some reason I got a huge sweet tooth this week.  I'm really not big on sweets- they make my teeth hurt, but caramel apples just seem to fit this time of year.  We tried the apple on a stick thing last year, but little mouths and hands had a tough time with it.  This year, we sliced a bunch of apples and made caramel for dipping.  Yum.  As a person that doesn't like sweets that much, I could drink this caramel, but I forced myself to use the apple slices to get it to my mouth.  And I had a stomach ache for a while.

Here's the recipe, taken from a caramel popcorn recipe I got from my mother-in-law.
Best Ever Popcorn Balls!
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup cream or canned milk
1/2 cup white Karo syrup
1 tsp. vanilla

For popcorn balls, heat to 250 degrees, that's soft ball stage, then pour over 4-5 quarts popped corn.
We wanted a dip, so we heated to about 225-230 and as it cooled, it was just right. Not too runny, not too thick.

As if that wasn't unhealthy enough, I ran across a recipe for sugared cinnamon almonds made in a crock pot.  I'm a sucker for those nuts you see and smell at workshops and such.  I know my husband loves them, and since his birthday is next week, I made them for him.  I don't think they'll still be around at birthday time, so we'll probably have to make more.  I think these will be gifts for neighbors this year.  You can find the recipe at A Year of Slow Cooking, one of my favorite blogs for recipes.

And now, off to eat some rice cakes and carrot sticks... too many almonds today.

Oh, and ignore this little thing.  I have to post this code to be verified for something, so here it is...
22NGB8GRHK7H