Peanut Butter Fudge

What else do I do to occupy my time?

My picture at the bottom of "The Island of Kauai" post shows I wasn't too terribly chunky after leaving Connecticut.  I walked two miles a day while we were there.  Walking sure improves the back, neck, tummy and behindy muscles - not to mention breathing and cardio.  But on Kauai there are no sidewalks (well, very few.  Another reason to have a rent car.)  So if I want to walk safely I have to drive to a beach.  Lydgate is less than ten minutes from the apartment, but that takes more effort than just stepping out the front door, so I have gotten out of the habit of walking.  It shows on my tummy and behindy...  Snorkeling helps, but not like walking.

The island library is less than half-a-block down our street.  I do a lot of reading:  history, Christian novels, mysteries.  Wal-Mart had some books on sale.  I found one about Rhett Butler before his meeting up with Scarlett.  Interesting reading.  Borders Books went out of business while we were in Kauai and we found a LOT of books for pennies on the dollar.  Even Rick Perry's book, which we thought was pretty funny considering we were from Texas living in Kauai and there's Perry's book.

With no oven I had to improvise.  John is a meat-and-potatos man.  I can serve him anything, but if he doesn't have something to CHEW on he thinks he hasn't had a meal.  We discovered Costco had a lot of heat-n-serve microwave stuff that would fill the bill:  Orange Chicken, Roast Beef, Jack Daniels BBQ beef, frozen meatballs I could add to spaghetti or slice and put on top of pizza.  Their rotisserie chickens were always a bargain.   Occassionally I "borrowed" our landlord's oven but tried to not bother them often.  A couple of times they went to one of the other islands to visit family, and we would dog-sit for them.  I used their oven then.  A friend from church loaned us a portable convection oven the last couple of weeks we were there.  Desserts were a problem.  (No, not because I ate too many of them!)  Kauaiians aren't big on sweet things, so we didn't have many store-made desserts to choose from.  There was Jello Instant Cheesecake, I make a mean peanut butter fudge (my own receipe, thank you), microwave divinity or peanut patties... Trust me, I found ways to add inches to places inches shouldn't be. 

Peanut Butter Fudge (gotta have a candy thermometer to make this work)

In a large saucepan (heavy one if you want to avoid scorching) mix:

4 cups sugar
2 cup  milk
1  t salt
4 T white Karo syrup

Stir constantly (until the sugar dissolves) while cooking on medium to low heat to 235 degrees / "soft ball" on the thermometer (about 40 - 45 minutes) stirring often.  It can boil over, so pay attention.

Remove from stove, drop in 12 oz peanut butter (I like the crunchy style).  DO NOT STIR (doesn't matter what your momma says - DO NOT STIR)

When it has cooled to about 135 degrees (30 - 45 minutes) add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, stir just a very few minutes until it begins to lose its gloss, then QUICKLY pour it onto a buttered cookie sheet (or, instead of buttering the cookie sheet and therefore making dishes you have to wash - I am SO lazy - put a sheet of parchment paper on the cookie sheet).  Eat the fudge warm for something really yummy or let it cool, cut into 1" squares, store in tightly sealed container.

If the fudge doesn't set up for some reason you can always pour it over ice cream like carmel!  The candy thermometer should make it mistake-proof though.