Meaty Bones

Here is a fun and quick meal for Halloween. The only thing I didn't like was I thought that there was way too much orange zest in the sauce. It's completely overpowering. So, if I were to make this again I would only add a little orange zest, not a whole teaspoon. Other then that this recipe was super good and my kids had so much fun with the theme. Enjoy!!


Meaty Bones

• 1/2 cup hickory-smoked barbecue sauce
• 1/4 cup grape jelly
• 2 tablespoons steak sauce
• 1 teaspoon grated orange peel
• Nonstick cooking spray
• 12 chicken drumsticks, patted dry
• Salt and black pepper
• 12 piece or gauze (12 inches each)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine barbecue sauce, jelly, steak sauce and orange peel in small microwavable bowl. Microwave on High 1 minute or until jelly is melted. Stir until well blended. Spray broiler rack and pan with cooking spray; arrange chicken pieces on rack. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Broil 25 to 30 minutes, or until no longer pink in center cooked through (165 degrees), turning frequently. During the last 5 minutes of broiling, baste chicken with half of the sauce. Pour remaining sauce over chicken. Let stand 5 minutes to cool slightly. Wrap bottom portion of each drumstick with strip of gauze.

Makes 12 drumsticks.

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Recipe from Pil Cook Books Halloween Food, Fun & Crafts

Cherry Bars

I know it's not even October yet, but I'm too excited. So, full swing into Halloween foods we go! I made these this last week and I thought they were super fun. Me, my hubby, and my little ones where trying to figure out a fun name to call them, but I couldn't find anything I loved, so I left them it at Cherry Bars, but some ideas we came up with were Bleeding Cherry Bars, Vampire Bites, Epidermal Bars {my husband came up with this one, and it made me wanna gag}, Bloody Bars. Anyways you get the idea. Maybe you can come up with something you like better. But whatever you call them, they are super yummy!! It's almost like a cherry pie/cake. I love cherry pie filling, so any recipe that includes it, I will probably always love, but this recipe in particular was really good. And my kids loved it too, which is the real test. If my kids will eat it, it is sure to be a crowd pleaser. Enjoy!!


Cherry Bars

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cans (21 ounces each) cherry pie filling

Glaze

• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 to 3 tablespoons milk

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the extracts. Combine flour and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture just until combined.

Spread 3 cups batter into a greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan. Spread with pie filling. Drop the remaining batter by teaspoonfuls over filling.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Combine the glaze ingredients; drizzle over the top. Cut into bars. Yield: 5 dozen.

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Recipe from Taste Of Home Baking Classics

Pecan Baklava

K, so this stuff is addicting!! You take one bite, and think, "Oh, this is pretty good." Then before you know it, you're feeling like you need to go back for another bite, and another, and another. Ugh, it so good! It's like those cinnamon sugar roasted pecans you get at the fair, except a million times better. The only thing I would say to do different is, the recipe says to coarsely chopped the pecans but I think it would have turned out better if the pecans were chopped up a little finer. That way the phyllo dough lays better and you don't have such large chunks of pecans. Don't chop then up super fine, but just into small pieces. Other then that this dessert was awesome and so befitting of Fall. And honestly, this is easier to make then you think. The phyllo dough is a little temperamental if you let it dry out, but keep it moist and it isn't hard. You just layer the dough, brush with butter, and add your pecan mix, then repeat. A definite must try recipe!! Enjoy!

Baklava

• 1 pound (500 g) pecans, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 14 sheets phyllo dough, thawed if frozen
• 1 cup (250 g) butter, melted

Syrup

• 2 cups (400 g) sugar
• 2 cups (500 ml) water
• Freshly squeezed juice of 1/2 lemon

Baklava: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch square baking pan.

Mix the pecans, sugar, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Lay the sheets of dough out flat and cover with waxed paper and a damp kitchen towel. (This will stop them from drying out.)

Fit one pastry sheet in the pan and brush with butter. Fit another sheet on top and brush with butter. Sprinkle with a little pecan mixture. Top with another pastry sheet and brush with butter. Repeat until all the filling and pastry are in the pan, finishing with a layer of phyllo brushed with butter. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Cut the pastry into diamond shapes about 2 inches in length. Be sure to cut through all the layers to the bottom of the pan. Drizzle with the remaining butter. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until golden brown.

Syrup: Bring the sugar, water, and lemon juice to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat. Simmer for 20 minutes. Drizzle the syrup over the hot baklava just after removing it from the oven. Cool the cake completely in the pan on a rack.

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Recipe from The Golden Book of Desserts

Chocolate Marshmallow Meltaways

The weather is starting to cool down!! And although you can't tell here in Arizona, I'm sure some places are starting to look like Fall. This morning actually felt cool outside (which for us dessert folk means that it was in the 80's). We are still hitting over 100 degrees daily though, but I see cool weather coming very soon. Yay!!

This cookie was really fun and totally hits the spot! I love marshmallows and my husband hates them, but this was a crowd pleaser for everyone at my house. I had to talk him into eating the first one, because it had marshmallow in it, but before I knew it he had downed 3 more. So yummy! The cookie is kind of dry and crumbly, almost like a peanut butter cookie, the marshmallow is gooey, and the frosting is smooth and creamy. It's like the all time perfect mini dessert!! "Delicious" is all I have to say about this cookie! Enjoy :)


Cookie

• 1/2 cup butter-flavored shortening
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup baking cocoa
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 18 large marshmallows, halved

Frosting

• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 3 tablespoons baking cocoa
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 4 to 6 tablespoons milk

In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, milk and vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda.

Gradually add the creamed mixture and mix well.

Drop by tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes.

Press a marshmallow half, cut side down, onto each cookie; bake 2 minutes longer. Remove to wire racks to cool.

In a small bowl, beat the butter, confectioners' sugar, cocoa and salt until smooth. Add enough milk to achieve a spreading consistency. Frost cookies.

Yield: About 3 dozen cookies.

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Recipe from Taste of Home Baking Classics

Beef Stroganoff Meatballs

As a kid my mom always made Beef Stroganoff for us. So now it is one of my favorite dinners ever. This isn't her recipe, but I've been wanting to try one from scratch for a while. Personally I prefer the sirloin steaks with this, but the meatballs were a close second. I really like that it was a cheaper solution to a hardy meal. Also, if you usually have noodles with your stroganoff, try it with rice for a change. We have always had it with rice and I found that it is so much more of a comfort food this way then with the noodles. A totally delicious and relatively easy recipe to make. Hope you like it!!

Ingredients

• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 1/2 cups soft bread crumbs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef

Sauce

• 1 1/2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 cup butter
• 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups beef broth
• 1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream

Hot cooked noodles or rice

In a bowl, combine the egg, milk, onion and Worcestershire sauce. Stir in bread crumbs, salt and pepper. Crumble beef over mixture and mix well. Shape into 1 1/4-in. balls. Place in a lightly greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until meat is no longer pink.

In a saucepan, saute mushrooms and onion in butter until tender. Stir in 3 tablespoons flour and salt until blended. Gradually add broth. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir for 2 minutes; reduce heat.

Combine sour cream and remaining flour until smooth; stir into mushroom mixture. Add meatballs. Simmer, uncovered, for 4-5 minutes or until heated through, stirring occasionally. Serve over noodles. Sprinkle with paprika if desired.

Yield: 6 servings.

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Recipe at Taste of Home Winning Recipes

Royal Icing

A friend of mine is having her son's first birthday today!! So she asked that I make a couple of things for her. One of the things she wanted was baseball themed sugar cookies. Here is the finished product. I'm actually super happy with how they turned out. Especially since this is my first attempt at decorating sugar cookies. It was lots of fun. I will for sure be making Halloween sugar cookies now that I'm not so intimidated by the idea of decorating the cookies.

There is definitely some technique involved though. I found that the more I piped, the steadier my hand got, which is pretty important for pretty cookies. Here is a quick picture of how to pipe and flood your cookie {I used a Wilton #3 tip for the piping}. Your piping icing is going to be a good amount thicker then your flooding. A word of advice though. When making your icing, add the water SLOWLY!! You can always add more water, but it is hard to get back to a thicker consistency after you've already thinned the icing too much. I started out by adding 1/4 a cup instead of 1/2 like the recipe says, and then added water as I went.

Also, remember to have fun with this. If you are like me and this is your first time decorating sugar cookies, really your gonna learn what you like and don't by trial and error. I had to remove frosting from my piping bag three different times to add more water just to get the consistency I wanted. So take a breath, turn on some relaxing music, and zen out. Don't let yourself get frustrated or else you are going to hate this! Another thing I did was instead of the almond extract which I added to my sugar cookies for the flavoring, I used clear vanilla extract. I love how they turned out. You get the almond from the sugar cookies and the vanilla in the icing. They really complimented each other really well, but do what you like. And as always, Enjoy :)


Cooled Basic Sugar Cookies


Royal Icing

• 4 cups (440 grams) confectioners' sugar, sifted
• 3 tablespoons (30 grams) meringue powder
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
• 1/2 cup - 3/4 cup (120 - 180 ml) warm water
• Food Coloring (can be found at cake decorating or party stores)

In the bowl of you electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the sugar and meringue powder until combined. Add the water and beat on medium/high speed until glossy and stiff peaks form (about 5 minutes). If necessary, to get the right consistency, add more powdered sugar or water. Add food coloring , if desired. To cover the entire surface of the cookie with icing, the proper consistency is when you lift the beater, the ribbon of icing that falls back into the bowl remains on the surface of the icing for a few seconds before disappearing. The icing needs to be used immediately or transferred to an airtight container as it hardens when exposed to air.

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Recipe from joyofbaking.com

Tomato and Mozzarella Salad with Pesto

Hey Everyone!! I'm sure all of you are aware that Halloween is coming up soon! Yay! This happens to be my favorite holiday. Christmas comes in a close second, but Halloween has always been my favorite since I was little. So I'm gonna be decking out my posts pretty soon with all Halloween themed stuff, but before then, I wanted to hurry and post some hardy meals and sides before we get ready for the "Candy Holiday".

So here is a healthy and delicious salad! I love dishes that taste really healthy and clean, but don't lack in flavor, this is one of them. There are a couple things that I would change though. Really, there should be 1 pound of mozzarella balls, instead of just a half. I found that with only 8 ounces you had so much tomato and it left you hunting for the mozzarella, so double that part of the recipe. Also, I really think that 5 tablespoons of the pesto should be added, but I would add it as you go. Add the 3 tablespoons first and then if you are like me and want that extra flavor then add more as per your taste. But this recipe is so yummy, satisfying, and really super easy. A perfect first course to your meal. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons basil pesto (recipe at bottom)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• about 4 cups mixed red, yellow, and orange cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 pound small, fresh mozzarella balls, such as ciliegine or bocconcino 

In a bowl, whisk together the pesto and vinegar. Whisking constantly, slowly add the oil until emulsified. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Slice the tomatoes and mozzarella balls in half, add to the bowl, and toss gently. Season with salt and pepper and mound on a serving platter. Serve at once.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Basil Pesto

• 1 or 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 2 cups packed fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

With a food processor running, drop the garlic through the feed tube and process until minced. Turn off the processor, add the pine nuts, and pulse a few times to chop. Add the basil and pulse a few times to chop coarsely. Then, with the processor running, add the oil through the feed tube in a slow, steady stream and process until a smooth, moderately thick paste forms, stopping to scrape down the bowl as needed. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the Parmesan. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Makes about 1 cup.

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Recipe from Williams-Sonoma's Comfort Food.

Ghoulishly Glowing Cupcakes

Hey Everyone!! I'm just gonna start out by saying, I am so stinking excited about this recipe! A couple of weeks ago I had a follower e-mail me about a frosting recipe that would glow in the dark. Or I should say almost glow in the dark.

Specifically she needed a cupcake recipe that could glow under a black light, but the trouble was that I couldn't find one on the internet to try, so I decided to try my hand at making one. After a couple of tries I am glad to report that I have figured it out!! Yay! And the secret ingredient that causes it to glow is...

Tonic Water!  Cool, right? The quinine in the tonic water causes it to glow under a black light for some reason. So, the challenge was to get enough if this into a frosting without making it too bitter or runny. Ugh! Turns out this was a little harder then I thought, but after trial and error I got a frosting that I loved that would actually glow, until I started adding color to it, and no matter what I did I just couldn't get the stupid frosting to glow after I added food coloring.

Then it dawned on me that if you make gelatin with tonic water the jello will glow. What I ended up doing is taking my cupcake and frosting it. Then I stuck it in the freezer to let the frosting get nice and hard. After cooling I took the cupcake and dipped the frosting into liquid gelatin.

After a few dips and trips back into the freezer to set, the frosting glowed!! Before you start just know that the white frosting glows the best. The green, or if you decide to do orange, will glow it just isn't as bright. Also a quick note, the darker you go with your color on the frosting the less it glows. And lastly, if you decide to make the colored frosting with the gelatin, discard any left over gelatin that you do not use for the frosting. If you want to make glow in the dark jello then use less tonic water or else it will come out way too bitter {like a 3 to 1 ratio, 3 parts water to 1 part tonic water}. Hope you all have as much fun with glowing cupcakes as me and my family have. Enjoy!!


Ghoulishly Glowing Cupcakes

• 1 black light
• 24 prepared and cooled cupcakes

White Glow In The Dark Frosting

• 7 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 cup vegetable shortening
• 1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
• 5 tablespoons tonic water {diet tonic water works too}
• mini chocolate chips morsels

Extras Needed for Green Glowing Frosting

• Neon Food Color
• 0.3 ounce package of either Lime or Orange Gelatin
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 cup chilled tonic water

Prepare desired cupcakes and allow to cool. Begin frosting by adding confectioners' sugar, shortening, vanilla, and 3 tablespoons tonic water into a large bowl. Beat on low speed until no loss sugar is visible. Add remaining two tablespoons as needed to bring frosting to piping consistency. Mix at high speed for about a minute to allow frosting to become light and fluffy. Place half of white frosting into a separate bowl and set aside. Add neon food coloring to frosting until it reaches desired color {orange for orange gelatin, green for lime gelatin}.

Pipe colored frosting onto cooled cupcakes and place in the freezer for at least an hour. Meanwhile pipe white frosting on half of the cupcakes using a large round frosting tip. Add two mini chocolate chip morsels for the ghost's eyes to finish ghost cupcakes.

After lettering colored cupcakes freeze, prepare the gelatin by adding gelatin mix to 1 cup boiling water. Stir for about 2 minutes then add 1 cup chilled tonic water. Transfer to a container that will let you easily dip frosting into and place into an ice bath to cool. Keep gelatin in ice bath stirring occasionally until gelatin is cool but not yet set {about 5 to 10 minutes}.

When gelatin is cool to the touch take cupcakes out of the freezer a couple at a time. Dip into gelatin upside down, submerging the frosting but not the cake {it is ok for the gelatin to drip onto cupcake, just don't submerge it completely}. Rotate cupcakes dipping and then returning to the freezer for about a minutes to set gelatin, then re-dip. Dip 4 to 6 times for best results.

Refrigerate until a couple minutes before serving to keep gelatin set. Then place cupcakes under a black light and watch then glow.

{Make enough frosting for about 24 cupcakes}

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A Food Snots Original

Cake Stands

Confession!! I am now completely obsessed with cake stands. Don't know where it came from.?. but yeah, love them. I'm gonna have to start baking some cakes now. Come to find out though, cute cake stands are not easy to come by. I went to JC Penny's Home Store, Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, Walmart, and no luck. Penny's and Target had like one or two, but they were very blah :/ And if anyone knows me, I want something original and different. So I got online. Amazon has some, but yeah, out of the hundreds they had listed, I was only impressed by maybe 2 of them. So my search went on.

I love these ones by Clara French, but yeah, they cost a good amount. They range from $150 to $380, or even more depending on what you get. Yikes! More power to Clara, but a $150 cake stand just ain't in my budget.

Sweet and Saucy Supplies so far has been my absolute favorite online store. I'm all about vintage!! Love it!! But the problem is, I don't like to wait... and I hate to pay for shipping... and when I buy something I like to see it in person. I want to be able to see it and touch it, that is the only way I have found to actually get exactly what I want with no surprises. So I thought, hey why not try a near by antique store, I'm sure they have something. I mean, I might as well check before I go buying a ton of stuff online.

And... Yay!! They had cake stands! I was actually surprised how many they had. These were my two favorites. I really want one like the green one that is white too, which the lady said white goes the fastest.  So I found some on Ebay that are really decently priced.

And check out what else I found!! Granted, be prepared to have to really look around and do some digging being as antique stores aren't very well organized, but I was excited when I found these!! I think they are so cute, and really you can't find stuff like this anywhere {trust me, I've looked}. I may becoming somewhat of a collector :/ and I think I have my hubby worried. He made me promise not to become a hoarder, but I think I have a little bit of room since all I bought were 4 things. Just no one tell that I have plans to buys a couple more ;)

Chocolate Oatmeal Bars

Hope everyone had a relaxing long holiday weekend. Mine didn't last nearly long enough, but it's always nice to have an extra day to be with my hubby and kiddos :) I made these for the family pot luck/barbecue last night. Everyone loved them! And the nice thing is they are so easy. No flour, no baking powder, so you have so much less measuring. Which in tern makes less dishes {my least favorite chore!!}. So these bars got two thumbs up in my book. The only thing that was kind of a negative is the peanut butter dominates the toffee just a little bit. So you didn't taste the Heath bar on top as much as I thought you should, but that's only me being super picky :) Really this was an awesome and easy recipe! Enjoy!!

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups quick-cooking oats
• 1 package (11-1/2 ounces) milk chocolate chips
• 2/3 cup chunky peanut butter
• 4 Heath candy bars (1/4 ounces each), crushed

In a large bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in corn syrup and vanilla. Stir in oats; press into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

In a microwave, melt chocolate chips and peanut butter stir until smooth. Spread over cooled bars. Sprinkle with the crushed candy bars. Chill until set. Cut into bars.

Yield: 3 dozen

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Recipe from Taste of Home Baking Classics

Chocolate Eclairs

Hey Everyone!! Long time no see! Technically it's only been seven days, but to me, that is like an eternity not to post, or cook for that matter. The last week has been super busy for me though. Amongst other things, my hubby decided to take off a week for some R&R, my daughter got sick, and I found the most amazing book ever! So I've been a bit preoccupied entertaining my husband, taking care of the sicky, and to be honest, spending way to much time reading.

If anyone is interested in a good read, the book I am so addicted to is called "City of Bones" by Cassandra Clare. It's not a romance novel, so don't be deceived by the cover. You'll find it in the teen section, and seriously, this is the best book I've read since Twilight!! Maybe even better because you don't have to put up with that stupid whiny Bella character. No this girl, Clary, actually has independent thought and she is witty and sarcastic and of course you got your love story mixed in with a bunch of action. Love it!! Finish the first book in 4 days and am on to the second. Trust me, you won't be able to put it down.

Ok, enough about my week, onto the Chocolate Eclairs!! Yummy!! Thanks to everyone for voting, first of all!! I was super shocked that out of the four desserts this one won out. I was thinking the Toffee Oatmeal Bars totally had it in the bag, but this was a fun surprise {although I will still be posting that recipe soon, cause they are just to tempting to pass up}. I was a little apprehensive cause when I think pastries the word complicated comes to mind, and come to find out, I suck at making bread, but these were actually so simple!! You are making a pastry, filling, and frosting, so it is a good amount of prep and time, but so worth is. Also, make sure when you are spacing out your pastry dough on the cooking sheet to space them about 2 to 3 inches apart. They puff up a good amount and need space to do so. Over all though, my favorite part was the light vanilla pudding center. Ugh! I could inhale that stuff. Then add the pastry and the chocolate frosting and this dessert is heavenly. Super fun and delicious, at the same time feeling like a little slice of Paris right in your kitchen! Gotta love it :) Enjoy!!

Pastry

• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup butter, cubed
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 eggs

Filling

• 2 1/2 cups cold milk
• 1 package (5.1 ounces) instant vanilla pudding mix
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting

• 2 squares (1 ounce each) semisweet chocolate, or 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 2 to 3 tablespoons hot water

In a large saucepan, bring water, butter and salt to a boil. Add flour all at once and stir until a smooth ball forms. Remove from the heat; let stand for 5 minutes.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Continue beating until mixture is smooth and shiny.

Using a tablespoon or a pastry tube with a No. 10 or larger tip, form dough into 4-in. x 1 1/2 in. strips on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until puffed and golden. Remove to a wire rack. Immediately split eclairs open; remove tops and set aside. Discard soft dough from inside. Cool eclairs.

In a large bowl, whisk milk and pudding mix for 2 minutes. In another bowl, whip cream until soft peaks form. Beat in sugar and vanilla; fold into pudding. Split eclair; remove soft dough from inside. Fill eclairs (chill any remaining filling for another use).

For frosting, in a microwave, melt chocolate and butter; stir until smooth. Stir in sugar and enough hot water to achieve a smooth consistency. Cool slightly. Frost eclairs. Store in refrigerator.

Yields: 9 servings.

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Recipe from Taste of Home Baking Classics