Sweetened Condensed Milk and Hello Again!

I recently enjoyed a little reunion with a couple of my very best friends from high school. It was fun to catch up and meet each other’s children and just see where we are now in life. As I described my life I’m sure there was some surprise on their end… and honestly, I get it. As an academia driven high school girl I pictured myself in board meetings or running my own company at this point in my life. I actually already had a family at that point (I was a teenage mom) and determined not to become a statistic. I talked often of making something of myself and stepping outside the stereotype. I also talked often of my very small opinion of those domestic slaves we call stay-at-home-moms. At one point I told my friend that my aspiration in life was to earn the Nobel Prize. Fast forward 15 years later… I am a homemaker.

And I love it.

Seriously. I love everything there is about my job. I love to budget and plan menus. I love to kiss boo-boos and change diapers. I love to go grocery shopping and pull weeds. I loved to teach my kids and create lesson plans (we home school). And I love to cook! Which constantly surprises even me since I was so lousy at it before I was married. I mean, I literally could not boil water. (How many times did I set off the smoke alarm by burning Teflon in an empty pot? I stopped counting after three.) Okay…In the interest of full disclosure I don’t love folding laundry or scrubbing toilets. I'm actually a terrible housekeeper, but on the flip side, I love that I have the opportunity to keep trying and learning and getting better.

Last night I wanted to make caramel brownies (my family calls them “Good Brownies”). As I got all the ingredients out I realized that I didn’t have any sweetened condensed milk for my favorite caramel recipe. No problem. My domestication has actually reached the point that I have a recipe for sweetened condensed milk. The night was saved! The recipe is super simple and I will add it to the end of this post.

But first, for those who are new to my blog (which is nearly everybody seeing as I haven’t posted in nearly 3 years…) I wanted to point out a few changes. I’ve decided to rename my blog “The Family Table”. To me, this is where all things domestic revolve. My family table is the center of our home. We share our meals, play games, do art projects, learn math and reading, and plan our days all around our family table. I want this blog to incorporate all of that! I am hoping to share with you fun things we do in our home school, housekeeping tips that I am working/struggling with, garden successes and failures, and of course lots of yummy recipes. In a world that sometimes devalues the role of the stay-at-home mom, basically I want to share with you all the reasons that I love my job. And incidentally, I wouldn’t trade it for a hundred Nobel Prizes!

Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 cup dry milk

1 cup sugar

½ cup boiling water

¼ cup melted butter

Combine all ingredients in a sturdy, heat proof bowl and whisk until smooth. That’s it. You’re done. If you want it to be even easier, add the water and butter first into a good quality blender. Then add the sugar and milk. Blend until smooth. One recipe is about the equivalent to a 15 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk.