Successful Caramel Sauce and an Aioli Flop

Often the best day of the week is Saturday, because of all the food :) Instead of shoving a bowl of cereal down my throat like I do every weekday morning, I have time to make something exciting for breakfast (which I didn't do today, but Jessica's waffles make the best Saturday morning breakfast).

Lunch can be an assortment of all the food that's hard to make resemble a brown bag lunch for school, although today it was frozen yogurt from Red Mango.  I was at the mall all morning trying to find slacks, and how on earth can you drive all the way to the mall without eating at Red Mango? I decided on a cup of swirled raspberry cheesecake and original with blueberries and kiwi, and it was a much more satisfying lunch than the sandwich I take to school every day :)

I came home from the mall and saw a single Granny Smith apple in a bowl on the counter.

Naked.

Without caramel sauce.

Believe me when I say it got dressed in a hurry.  That caramel sauce made for the food success of the day, and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it really was to make!  I spent a few minutes looking for a recipe that looked relatively quick and easy and this one is a definite winner.   I imagine you could stick some in a pretty jar for a fabulous Christmas or housewarming gift :)

Easy Caramel Sauce

from Lynda's Recipe Box

1/2 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
dash salt


Over medium heat, melt the butter and add brown sugar, stirring constantly, until the mixture reaches a rolling boil.  Slowly add the cream and keep stirring until all the cream is incorporated.  Continue stirring and bring to a boil before adding vanilla (I added the salt here as well, it wasn't mentioned in the original).  Remove from heat and pour into a clean glass jar.  Let cool before covering.

I had a recipe from Real Simple that I wanted to try- Asparagus with Lemon Aioli, which looked delicious in the magazine.  I got the asparagus boiling and started working on the lemon aioli, which called for mustard, one egg yolk, olive oil, lemon juice, and a little salt.  The aiolis that I've had have had a creamy color and a consistency just thicker than fresh whipped cream, but mine looked more like a bright sunshiney yellow vinaigrette.  We ate it with the boiled asparagus anyway, but mine tasted more like citrusy olive oil than anything.  It was still fun to try, and maybe one of these Saturdays I'll give another aioli recipe a go.  Have you ever made aioli? How did it turn out?

The Granny Smith is gone, but I'm thinking some homemade caramel sauce might go nicely with the cheesecake bars I'll be making to complete my sunny Saturday evening :)