March 20th will be our 39th wedding anniversary. Time has been in fast forward mode for the last four decades. I woke up one morning to find not only am I going grey along the temples, but I'm now the mother of five grown children and grandmother to 14 grandchildren. "I don't remember growing older", even though my grandchildren remind me that I am.
Since I was a stay-at-home mom, I learned to be shrewd with limited finances. So.....(here comes a true confession)...I have never bought maple syrup, EVER. With all the endless meals I've prepared through the decades breakfast amounted to at least 1/3 of them....ya think? That's alot of buttermilk pancakes (made with real buttermilk) and alot of oatmeal waffles (made from scratch). To top off those breakfast standbys, I always had homemade maple syrup on hand. Between my mother and Aunt Marion, I have a wonderful, basic recipe which only cost pennies to make. Here it is:
1 cup water
2 cups sugar (yes 2 cups sugar)
1/2 teaspoon maple flavoring
Add the water and sugar together in a saucepan. Bring to a boil for about 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat. Add maple flavoring. Done! Makes one cup. So simple! So quick! So easy!
There are other recipes out there that use corn syrup, they are good too. but added ingredients add to the cost. Through the years this recipe has saved us hundreds of dollars as I constantly skip the maple syrup section in the grocery store where you will pay allot for convenience. You're welcome.
