Homemade Honey Toffee Un-Recipe

I was trying to come up with something, other than gum, for my little guy to chew on the plane. Enter my clever Mother-in-Law! She mentioned the she always made "Grampa's Toffee" for airplane trips when her kids were little. Genius! I prefer for Daniel to have honey or maple as sweeteners-especially when I know he's going to down 8 or 9 per flight so I decided to make my own recipe.

I thought of all the honey treats my mom made for me when I was little. I had the mom who shopped at the health food store, bought organic and started every morning with a vitamin buffet, before it was cool. I remember her making honey lollipops for me and I figured I could make toffee out of honey as well. I'm sure this will turn out differently at different altitudes etc, but if it's too soft, cook it to the hard crack stage (300 degrees) and add a little more butter. You can also store it in the fridge to keep it from melting.

So here is my delicious, honey toffee "un-recipe":

Ingredients:
About 4 Tbsp butter
About 3/4 cup creamed honey (liquid works, but they're a bit melty-er)
Sprinkle of Salt
Dash of Vanilla

Melt butter and honey in the pan on medium heat to the soft crack stage (or about 290 degrees).

Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and salt.

Pour into a well greased glass or ceramic dish and place in the fridge to cool for at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight.

Remove cold toffee from the pan, cut into pieces and wrap in wax paper squares.

 It's really that simple, and SO yummy. Honey is known for it's energy boosting and healing properties and as helpful for your immune system, so eat up!

Travel Toys and Activities

#1- Crafts

I just realized that I still haven't posted photos of all the bits and pieces we took on our trip with us! Some were mainly for the plane, and some mainly for the hotel.

#2- Squinkies

#3- Activities

A couple of tips: save some "new" things for the way back, bring comfortable headphones for airplane television or iPod's and consider wrapping everything up in wrapping paper for little ones-it can keep them pretty busy!

#4- Thinking

#5- Busy Toys

#1- Crafts: Blackboard and Chalk (in a chalk holder) with eraser, crayons, notebook and stickers galore!
#2- Squinkies: I love these because they're tiny and lots of fun. We put them in a small tin from Michael's to keep them together.
#3- Activities: Jacob's Ladder, Button Snake and a lunch tin filled with puzzle erasers in a home theme.
#4- Thinking: Usborne's 'Things to do on a Journey', key chain measuring tape and tiny package of Megablocks (they were very popular in the hotel!)

 #5- Busy Toys: Wiki Sticks (Daniel's favorite of the trip), Silly bands (second favorite!), play doh (great for the hotel) and a locking diary. I thought the diary would be a huge hit, but the lock was too cheap and didn't work at all. Next time I'd buy a separate lock and key for entertainment.
#6- Things That Go: The roll up mat was pretty good on the airplane's tray table, but we used both of the car toys much more at the hotel. I really liked the little Tonka ramp because it was small and easy to pack, but lots of fun at the hotel.