Candy Making Tutorial

We had a party. We had a Harry Potter party. We held it on November 20th to celebrate the release of the latest movie. I did so much prep work, so much research. I think I started researching what exactly what we wanted at our party before October. One thing Sweet Pea and I were in agreement on: We had to have Chocolate Frogs.

So, I thought I would show you how to make your own candy. It is SO much fun. I really enjoy this process. And everyone thinks you spent a lot of money and are so creative. (lol)

First off, you need a mold. There are two basic types. There are the hard plastic kinds (on the left in the picture below), or there are the silicone kinds (on the right). Personally, I like the silicone kinds, because it seems a bit easier to remove the candy from them. Plus, I can get silicone ice cube trays at the dollar store and use those as molds.

Then you need something to melt your candy in and something to stir it with. (More on the paintbrushes in a minute.) What you see pictured here are Ceramic Candy Melting Pots by Wilton. This is a new investment for me, but I'm really liking them so far. They hold the heat a lot longer.

But a cereal bowl will work just as well.
You need candy. I like these Wilton Candy Melts because I don't have to add ANYTHING. I don't need to add oil or shortening or anything. You can do this same process with chocolate chips, but you generally have to add a bit of shortening. I also really like how the candy melts set up.
When I was making candy, I also used pretzel rods and some nuts. (No, not Dale. Almonds, I believe.)
Put your candy in a bowl and microwave. With the candy melts, you start at a minute at 30% power. Stir. This is after the first minute.
This is after 30 seconds at 30%, and another 30 seconds at 30%, stirring after each 30 seconds.
And here they are almost all they way melted. (I only did 30 more seconds after this picture, but it was pretty blurry.)
After it's all melted, you could theoretically, add a flavoring. You do need to be careful and use only an oil based flavoring. One thing about melting chocolate: You don't want to get any water near it. One drop will seize the whole bowl, and then you just have messy chocolate.

Then you get to start filling your molds. I decided that since I was taking pictures, I was going to show you how to add a filling, first. You start by only filling your mold halfway.

Then, you pick up the mold and drop it on the counter a couple of times to get the air bubbles out. See how it kind of levels off?
Here's where you need the paintbrush. Don't use one of your kids' watercolor brushes please. Although if it were brand new, you might could get away with it. These are usually sold with the cake decorating supplies, and we don't use them for anything but candy making.

Okay, I'm done with that rant. Now, you take your paintbrush and "paint" the chocolate up the sides of the mold. In a hard plastic, you can then hold the mold up to the light and see if you see any "holes" that you need to paint again.
Set it in the freezer for a few minutes to let it set (get hard). It doesn't take long. 10 minutes max.
Then you take it out, and put your filling in. In this case, it was an almond. But I've also made other fillings before. Peanut butter seems to be the easiest, but I also made a strawberry filling for this party.

Then you cover up your filling, bang the tray to get the air bubbles out, set it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes. After they are dry and set, you can turn your mold over, and you have homemade candy! Yummy.

Also, you don't want to fill your molds too full. Almost to the top is a good stopping place. Otherwise, it just gets all over and makes a mess. Like the frog in the middle. See? We did make chocolate frogs. These were solid, but the molds are deep enough for a good portion of filling.

I also made pretzel wands. It's the same idea. You melt the candy, and then you dip your pretzel rods in it and stir them around.
When you pull it out, you shake off the extra.
Then lay it down to dry. Parchment paper works well for this, or the Silpat baking mats are also good for this job.
Well, that's my tutorial. I'm sorry it's so long, but I wanted to make sure you had lots and lots of pictures. I love making candy. It doesn't take very long, and seems to mean so much to others.

Oh, I also wanted to mention that I got started doing this because of this post at "Cents"able Momma.

Have fun!

Hugs,

Melinda

My poor little blog

How I've ignored you. I am sorry. In way of apology, I'm working on a very special post, all for you. I think you will enjoy it, my dear blog. Until then.

Hugs,
Melinda

Sent from my iPhone

An interesting thought

So, I'm not really into conspiracy theories, but I've had an interesting thought. Do you remember several years ago when we had all the asteroid movies come out, and then it turns out that there had been an actual asteroid pass by the Earth?

It makes me wonder why there has been so much focus on the Knights Templar and their famous lost treasure.

I'm just thinking out loud here. Who knows?

Hugs,
Melinda

Sent from my iPod

Silver Dollar City!

[eta: I have taken most of the pictures of my children off of this blog.  This post used to have several of them, but they aren't there anymore.]

So, one of my favorite places to go when I was growing up was Silver Dollar City, in Branson, MO. We went every summer for years. I have wanted to take my girls for a really long time. We were finally able to fit it into our budget this year. I was so excited, I couldn't sleep! :D

This is the entrance sign.

We were there for the opening ceremonies, where they asked the veterans in the crowd to help raise the flag. This is the parade.

This was very moving to me. I started tearing up.

Wow! Dale has such strength and flexibility!

Except that this is the Grandfather's Mansion, and it's built that way. :D

Posing

The girls were made junior deputies.

We got to watch fudge being made. Yummy! :P

Posing

My girls are so beautiful.

Sweet Pea is taking a picture of .....

these three ladies. My MIL is on the right, and her 2 best friends are on the left.

We were on the train ride. It's a great little show.

You see, the conductor walks down to check the line, and then the hillbillies hold up the train. They said, "Hold up your hands and act scared!" So Little Bit did. :D

Posing

One of the only family pictures we managed to take on our trip.

Posing

This guy is working on a hand cranked lathe. He's turning the lathe, while the woodworker is cutting behind him.

Posing

Posing

This was a new exhibit where the kids could try and "milk" the cow. LOL

And this is the store that we stopped at on our way home. Yummy, yummy! :D

And that is the end of our trip. We had so much fun, and I hope you enjoyed traveling with us. If you have any questions, I will be glad to answer them. :)

Hugs,

Melinda

On the way to Branson

I love this time of year. I love the explosion of colors in the trees, so the trip through NW Arkansas was wonderful for me. Please remember that I'm snapping pictures through the window of a moving vehicle.

I would love to be able to Photoshop this. "Look mom! A Pegasus!"
The start of the Ozark mountains.

And this is one of my dad's favorite spots. It's a little curve in the road, with this little barn. For some reason, he loves this spot. I was so thankful that I was able to get such a clear picture for him.
And... I had to add this fun little picture. This is where we ate dinner in Branson. We left Louisiana and ate at a Cajun restaurant. LOL

And that was the trip to Branson. :)

Hugs,

Melinda

Arkansas

Okay, so I thought I would share some pictures from our trip through Arkansas. Keep in mind, I was driving through most of it, so Dale took some of these pictures.

The Bill Clinton Presidential Library....

Beautiful colors in the trees.
This was NOT the sign that I wanted Dale to shoot, but it will work. This is the first exit sign you see.
This is a "new" exit. Only about 5 or 6 years old. (lol) This is home.
Now for a sad picture. :( This street corner is where my houses used to be. We used to pick up pecans by those two trees on the corner. The tree on the far right of the picture was the house on 1306 E. Market. The trees on the far left was the house on 204 N. Cross. Both houses are gone now. I lived on this corner from the time I was 6 until the time I was 20.

The sad part is that even though I knew the houses were gone, it was still actually quite a shock to see them gone.

This picture is also sad. This area was were my mom used to work. The single door was my mom's office. The other door was "The Liberty Room," which is where the single door is now. Oh, and another funny thing.... my grandmother also worked in the same area.
This is the Benson Auditorium. It was at one time the largest auditorium in Arkansas with the most seating area.
And the stage... This was my home away from home a lot of the time. This is where I learned the ins and outs of stagecraft. This picture is taken from about halfway back in the house.
Well, that's it. That's the place I used to call home. It was good to visit, but like I wrote in this post, it's my past, not my present, not my future.

Hugs,

Melinda

Louisiana Family

The biggest reason we went on vacation was to see family. I must say I have the cutest nieces and nephews anyone can have.

These two were definitely up to no good. ;)

This little sweetheart seemed to attach himself to me the moment we got there. He would give me kisses and say, "lub you 'Linda." :D My heart melted.
He is absolutely a cutie pie.
And she's going to be a beautiful heart breaker when she grows older.
And then there's Daisy.

*sigh* I love the dog. Really, I do. But for some reason, she thinks she has to pee EVERY TIME she sees me. I haven't seen her in four years, and she still pees when she sees me. *sigh*
These are my sisters in law. Somehow, when I got married, God gave me two good friends as well as family.
They make me laugh. :D I love them.
The young lady is also my niece. I met her 2 days after she was born. Dale and I had just gotten engaged. She was a cute little redhead. :) It's hard to believe she's actually 14 now. o_O
Little cutie pie is also a song leader. ;) He's sweet.
And somehow, I managed to not get a picture of my other nephew. But that's just a small sampling of our family. :)

Hugs,

Melinda

Bossier City, LA

Okay, so the trip between Little Rock, AR, and Bossier City, LA, is one of the most B-O-R-I-N-G drives ever. Lots of trees, lots of road......

So, can anyone tell me in what town we passed through? A little hint... It's the birthplace of a president. :D
See? Told you it was a boring drive.
Sometimes, this sign is a beautiful sight. *sigh* Only one more hour left. One more boring long hour of driving.
Okay, funny story here. See the cow in this picture?
That cow is NOT real. It's a big cut out. For years... literally years, every time we drove by this, I would say, "hey, look at the cow!" And every time, Dale would laugh at me, because it isn't real. LOL

Okay, this picture is of my MIL's apartment. I was trying to tell someone the other day how extravagant her apartment is. Her apartment is the second floor under the gold dome.
This is a new object in the area. This church built a cross. If a building or tower is something like 300 feet tall, it's required to have a light on top. This cross? It's 299 feet tall.
You know how some places are just so ingrained in your brain as being "home?" Believe it or not, Barksdale Air Force Base is one of those places. This sign has memories.
You can see this water tower from miles around. It's BAFB, and it's part of "home."
And this water tower is "home" as well. I can't explain it, but these sights mean so much.
Okay, another funny story. One night when Dale and I were visiting his family, when we were still dating, he asked me if I wanted to go out for a ride and see the stars. I loved it and was ready to go.

He took me out to Bayou Bodcau Reservoir and Dam. We're driving in the dark. The first thing I noticed that this "Dam" has no guard rails along the side of the road. Now, I don't know where you are from, but in Arkansas, you have guard rails along just about every side of every road. This scared me. All I could think was, "It's dark, there's no guard rails, I can't even see the water. If we go off the side of the road, they won't know where we are and won't be able to find us."

So, if you can remember that I'm already terrified because of the dark and the lack of guard rails, you can understand that when I see a sign that says "dip ahead" and then seeing the next picture, I was understandably concerned when Dale would NOT slow down. I was even pushing "my" brake to get him to slow down. (lol)
Keep in mind, the lines and the reflectors aren't reflecting at a certain point. To a certain, terrified young lady, it LOOKED like the road ENDED! I was so scared.

But, the upside to this picture... it doesn't end. It just has a semi-steep drop of a hill. After I screamed at him to stop, we parked and watched the stars for about a half an hour.

To this day, we still talk about "the dip." It's one of the best memories of our dating life.

Okay, that's all the pictures I took of the Bossier City area. Next up... family. :D

Hugs,

Melinda