Oops... Spooktacular

I very rarely get very far beyond Reese's Peanutbutter cups around Halloween but I made these cookie's from Susie's site for my best friend's two little girls (ages 6 & almost-4). Well, they made them... I ate the broken cookies and helped with the frosting. They took them to school and they were a HUGE HIT.

Witch Hats

Turn Keebler Fudge Stripe Cookies striped-side down, put a circle of orange squirt frosting around the hole, drop on a Hershey's kiss (take the wrapper off first) and make a little bow with the squirty frosting. Ta-da. You were just nominated for cool-party-cookie-maker of the year and you will definitely be invited back next year.

Comfort Foods: Chili

Brown: 1 lb. ground beef or turkey with
1 T minced fresh garlic
1/2 green pepper, diced
1 large onion, diced
Add; 1-2 T chili powder
1 t cumin

Add; 2 cans hot chili beans
1 large can crushed tomatoes
8 oz. can tomato sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Simmer all day if you can. Best if you can make it 1-2 days before, refrigerate and then reheat on serving day. Serve with sour cream, cheddar cheese sprinkled on top and with garlic bread.

Comfort Foods: Cowboy Potatoes

This can never be posted too many times... nor in too many different versions. I make different versions all the time based on what I have on hand, what I want to add, or not add due to who I'll be serving it to - (onions). They are all good!

1 - 2 lb. package frozen has brown potatoes
1 onion, chopped
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 pint sour cream
2 c grated cheese
1/2 c melted butter
1 1/2 c crushed cornflakes


Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 9X13" pan. Break up the potatoes and spread them on the bottom of the pan. Top the potatoes with the onion. Mix the soup, sour cream and cheese together. Pour over the top of the onions and potatoes. Mix the melted butter and cornflakes. Spread over top of the mixture. Cover with foil and bake 50 minutes. Remove the foil and allow to bake and brown 10 minutes. Serve.

Playing Catch - Up

I'm sooooo bad! I owe the site a months worth of posts!!! Well, here are 3 of them:

Spook-Tacular treats: Dirt Cups

Yields 6 cups

1 large box of instant chocolate pudding (prepare as directed)
6 Oreo or other chocolate sandwich cookie (with chocolate filling)
12 gummy worms
1 cup of coconut
green liquid food coloring
6 clear throw away plastic cups (approx. 8oz)

Color your coconut green with the food coloring, set aside.
Place cookies in a zip lock bag and beat with a skillet, to crush them into small pieces, and set aside.
Fill cups ¾ of the way with chocolate pudding (mud). Bury 2 worms into the mud. Sprinkle cookie crumbles (dirt) on top, then sprinkle with a small amount of green coconut (grass).

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Pumpkin: Gooey Butter Pumpkin Bars

1 (18 1/4-ounce) package yellow cake mix 1 egg 8 tablespoons butter, melted
Filling: 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin 3 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla 8 tablespoons butter, melted 1 (16-ounce) box powdered sugar 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine the cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 by 9-inch baking pan.
To make the filling: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter, and beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mix well. Spread pumpkin mixture over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to overbake as the center should be a little gooey.
Serve with whip cream.

Variations: For a Pineapple Gooey Cake: Instead of the pumpkin, add a drained 20-ounce can of crushed pineapple to the cream cheese filling. Proceed as directed above.

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A rice Dish: Rice Pudding

3/4 cup raw short-grain rice (such as Arborio), rinsed in a colander until the water runs clear 4 cups milk 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest 1/2 cup sugar 4 egg yolks
Cinnamon & raisins if desired

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

In a covered heavy saucepan, bring the rice, milk, vanilla, and lemon zest to a simmer over medium heat. Immediately reduce the heat to as low as possible, cover tightly, and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, until the rice is very tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Turn off the heat.
Stir the sugar into the cooked rice mixture. Stir in the egg yolks. Pour the rice pudding into a greased baking dish and bake for 20 minutes until slightly browned on the top. Remove from the oven and let cool. Chill until ready to serve. Sprinkle with cinnamon and raisins before serving.

Baked Punky Seeds

Baked Pumpkin Seeds

Separate the seeds from the stringy pulp (don't rinse or remove every last bit of the pulp -- the pulp adds flavor). Place the seeds on a cookie sheet, stir in about 1/4 cup of melted butter or margarine, sprinkle with a small amount of salt and then bake in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes until lightly browned.


HOT SPICED CIDER

Big jug apple cider in a large pot or the crockpot.
Heat and add:

one cup (or so) of frozen orange juice concentrate
approximately two teaspoons (more or less) of EACH of the following:
Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Ginger, Cloves (whole or ground)

Let it all simmer and serve in a mug with a cinnamon stick.

(See aren’t you all amazed I know a drink recipe that doesn’t have alcohol?)

Pumpkin Roll

3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup pumpkin
1 tsp. lemon juice
3/4 cup flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup walnuts (optional)

Filling:
6 oz. cream cheese
4 tbsp. butter
1 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Beat 3 eggs for five minutes. Then gradually beat in sugar. Next add pumpkin and lemon juice.

Mix together flour, add other dry ingredients, then stir in with batter.

Pour into greased sheet cake pan (cookie sheet with sides), sprinkle with walnuts, and bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes.

Take out of oven and roll in a tea towel with 10x sugar until cool. Then unroll slowly and spread filling evenly. Roll back (without towel) and refrigerate. (Also freezes well.)

What to do with those left-over pumpkins

Right now there are about 75 pumpkins in my courtyard, as we just finished up a big Fall Festival to raise money for animal rescue. Please come get 2 or 3, thanks!

PUMPKIN PIE (Makes 2 large pies)

Crust:

2 Cups flour
2/3 Cups Crisco
small dash of salt

Mix and rub together with your hands until broken into small crumb-like
particles, then add (very SLOWLY while stirring with a fork) cold water
until it has a doughy consistancy. (this takes very little water)
Roll out and put in pie pan.

Pumpkin filling:

Clean out the pumpkin guts (if you haven't already). Slice the pumpkin
into approx. 1 inch blocks and slice or peel off the hard orange skin.
Place the cut pumpkin in a pot, add about 1/4 Cup water. Set your oven
on Bake at 250 deg. Place the lid on the pot and put it in the oven
until the pumpkin becomes soft, then remove the pot, drain the excess
water and mash up the pumpkin until mushy (shouldn't take long). You
now have pumpkin compairable to what you buy at the store.

The pie:

4 eggs
4 Cups pumpkin (or 1 can from the store)
1 1/2 Cups sugar
a dash of salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. clove
2 cans evaporated milk

mix it all together in a bowl (do the milk last -- makes less mess).
preheat oven to 450 deg. cook for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 350 deg.
cook for 45 minutes or until pie is done. (no longer liquid in the
middle), and eat!

Something with Rice - Fried Rice

FRIED RICE

INGREDIENTS:
6 Cups Cold Cooked White Rice
1 Bunch Scallions, Chopped
1 Lb Bacon, Cooked and Crumbled
1 Cup Frozen Peas
6-8 Eggs, Whipped
Soy Sauce (to taste)
3 TBL Oil

DIRECTIONS:

Heat wok or large frying pan on medium-high heat. Add oil to pan. Add eggs to pan and cook to scrambled texture. Add all other ingredients and stir until heated through.

Something of my choice & Something Lite

As I missed the something lite week, I thought my item for the pick what I want week would be something lite, so I could ease my conscience a little.

CHICKEN TERIYAKI

INGREDIENTS:
3 TBL Sesame Seeds
2 TBL Reduced-Sodium Soy Sauce
2 TBL Honey
1 tsp Oriental Sesame Oil (Optional)
1 tsp Ginger
1 Clove Garlic - Minced
1/4 tsp Black Pepper
4 Skinless, Boneless Chicken Breasts

DIRECTIONS:
In a medium bowl, combine sesame seeds, soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, ginger, garlic and pepper. Mix well. Set aside 2 TBL of marinade. Cut the chicken into 1 inch cubes and add to bowl, stirring to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Preheat broiler. Remove chicken from marinade and place on broiler pan. Discard marinade in bowl. broil 5 inches from heat,k basting with the 2 TBL of reserved marinade, turning once. Cook until no longer pink in center, about 1o to 12 minutes.


Calories 183 (20% from fat) Fat 4g Sodium 300 mg