Holiday Cheers for your Ears

This weekend we decorated our home for the holidays while listening to the following imix.  Goes especially well with heavy spiked eggnog and/or a glass of mulled wine.

Enjoy your holiday season.

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Pumpkin Roll

This is a great item to keep out on the thanksgiving table before, during and after the meal.  It's called the pumpkin roll!  Probably because you will need to roll out after eating it.  

Breading

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

2/3 cups canned pumpkin

2/3 cups flour

1tsp. baking soda

1tsp. cinnamon

Nuts Topping

3/4 cups pecans (chopped)

1/4 cups sugar

2 teaspoons butter (softened)

Mix the above breading ingredients until creamy.

Lay a piece of parchment paper over a cookie sheet.  Pour the breading mixture and spread evenly trying to keep the shape of a rectangle.  

Mix the nut topping together until it the nuts are coated evenly with the sugar and butter.

Sprinkle the nuts mixture on top of  the batter. Bake at 350˚ for 15min. When cool,  turn over onto a powdered sugared towel and loosely roll it. Let cool for 25min.

Filling 

1 cup sifted powdered sugar

8 oz cream cheese

1 tbsp. vanilla

1 tsp. soft butter

Beat all ingredients will until smooth. Unroll cake and spread the filling evenly. 

Roll up tightly and place in freezer to firm up.

Slice and serve

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Peanut Butter "eye"ball Recipe - My favorite treat 2010

"If human eyeballs could taste this good, we'd all be blind"

Here is how to make edible peanut butter eyeballs:


1/2 C. peanut butter
3 T. butter, softened
1 C. sifted powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 oz. white chocolate candy coating
MnM's  and/or blue, red and black decorator gel icing

In a mixing bowl stir together peanut butter and butter. Gradually add powdered sugar and vanilla, stirring until combined.
Shape into 1-inch balls; place on waxed paper. Let stand in fridge or freezer about 20 minutes or until dry.
In a small saucepan melt chocolate over low heat. Dip balls, one at a time, into coating. Let excess coating drip off peanut butter balls.

Place on waxed paper. 

Immediately press a candy-coated chocolate piece into center of each peanut butter ball. (great if a kid helps) If you can, put the red food gel on a toothpick and make the lines in the chocolate BEFORE it is dry. Let stand until coating is firm. 

If you can't add the red to the wet chocolate before it is dry,  then add a dot of black gel to the center of candy pieces for pupils. Drizzle red gel onto balls for bloodshot eyes afterwards. Makes about 20 eyeballs so triple the recipe.


See the 30daysof...Bite-Size Goodies or Halloween Inspiration for more ideas and recipes.

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Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

After multiple attempts of trying to get crunchy salty pumpkin seeds, I finally got it right!  Here is the ancient chinese secret!  (Two words: patience and attention)

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. 
After removing the seeds from the pumpkin and cleaning off the pumpkin flesh, pat dry with a dish towel.  Evenly coat the seeds with cooking spray and salt.  (Or you can get more flavor with the spices below.)   Spread seeds on parchment in an even layer. (DO NOT LET THEM OVERLAP) Bake until dry, stirring occasionally.  They could take up to an hour based on your desire of crispiness but I set them at the following times and they were perfect.
40 min @ 250
10 min @ 300


Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Flavor

• 1 tablespoon melted butter or vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, or more, to taste
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon allspice

SWEET AND SPICY PUMPKIN SEEDS by Martha Stewart (read recipe as this one says to not season until after cooking the seeds.)

• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 5 tablespoon granulated sugar, or more, to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• Pinch of Cayenne Pepper
• Peanut Oll

We set up different spices at my daughters 11 year Harry Potter Party so they could experiment and make different potions with them.  Read the details here.

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Pumpkin Casserole Crunch

In October, I shared 30daysof...Halloween inspiration.  This pumpkin casserole crunch was featured.  It is the perfect dish to come home to after a quick night of trick-or-treating.

1 (15 oz.) can fresh pumpkin
1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk
2 teaspoon cinnammon (split in half)
1 c. sugar (split in half)
3 eggs, beaten
1 box yellow cake mix (Trader Joes's)
1 cup Kellog's Special Cereal (cinnamon and pecan)
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup pumpkin seeds (optional)
2 sticks butter, cut into pieces




Directions
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together pumpkin, evaporated milk, cinnamon and 1/2 cup sugar until well combined. Add eggs and mix well.  Pour mixture into a 9X13 baking dish prepared with a non stick spray. 
Sprinkle cake mix evenly over entire top and firmly press into the pumpkin layer. Mix nuts, cereal, remaining sugar & cinnamon with the butter pieces. Thoroughly coat the mix with butter pieces.  (Do not melt the butter!) Sprinkle nut mixture evenly over cake mix. Firmly press. 
Bake at 350º F for 45 minutes. Check then bake 10-15 additional minutes covered with foil so the topping doesn't burn. Set aside to cool.
Serve warm and top with a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice-cream and caramel sauce.


See other casserole ideas featured at 30daysof...casseroles.

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30daysof...halloween inspiration

Looking for some great food ideas to serve this Halloween season?  Or maybe a clever costume idea or centerpiece for your home?   I've prepared this album for you to browse through for some inspiration.  To get the details visit the Halloween Inspiration Photo Album on our Facebook Fan Page  

(Don't forget to become a fan to comment or like.)

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Harry Potter Party Theme

This fall, we celebrated our daughters 11- year-birthday.  She chose a Harry Potter theme in honor of her completing all seven books. There are so many fabulous ideas available for this particular theme but we featured "her favorites" listed below at her party.


1. HONEY DUKES SWEET SHOP
Set up a Candy Bar complete with Harry Potter Candy. such as Fizzing Whizbees, Bertie Bott's Jelly Belly's and chocolate covered frogs.  We included cupcakes, cake balls, red licorice and any gooey wormy candy we could find.  Small cauldrons were set out so kids could fill up with their choice of candy or Honeydukes Special Wizard Treat Mix with gummy spiders and Gryffindor colors added for color. We also served Butterbeer for all the girls to try.  

2. Wand Shop
We hung 16 wands (precut tree branches sprayed with silver and gold glitter) from the ceiling of her tree house.  After all the guests arrived, Herminey (my daughter) introduced each girl to the group saying how they were friends. Then she spun them after saying a wizard spell and whatever wand they pointed to is the one that "chose" them. 


3. SORTING HAT
In Harry Potter, once the muggles arrive at Hogwarts, they learn what house they are in.  We made a sorting hat out of a grocery bag turned inside out and placed Gryffindor and Hufflepuff badges in them.  The girls randomly picked and for the rest of the evening were to compete with their house against the other. You can download custom designed badges here. 


4. The GREAT HALL
All the kids sat at their house table.  We asked a Harry Potter trivia question and the team who answered correctly the fastest went first.  Dumbledore (the dad) served up two dishes:  
-Dumbledore Delight (Shepherds Pie) 
-Wheezy Cheezy Macaroni (Macaroni and Cheese casserole) 
While one group was being served the other group had to guess how many jelly beans were in the jar.  Closest guess won the jar of jelly beans for their house.
At each placesetting, was a glass of ice and bottled water.  When the water was poured into the glass, the water would turn a magic color (food coloring at bottom of cup) revealing a personality trait to their peers. 

5. Quidditch Game
Next we played a game of quidditch.  Every girl needed a broomstick.  Each team selects 1 keeper, 3 chasers and/or beaters and 1 seeker.  
Two hula hoops were tied to a tree branch at opposite ends of the yard. One player from each team (the keeper) would guard the hula hoops from getting a ball through the hoop. Three (chasers) passed around a ball trying to score in the opposing team's hoop. If they scored they are awarded ten points if the keeper blocks it he tosses it to a chaser on their own team. 3 beaters pass around a small squishy ball. They try and throw it at the bigger ball if the opposing team has it. If the squishy ball hits the big ball the person on the opposing team must throw the ball up in the air so anyone can get it. The last player on each team is a seeker. A gold spray painted ball (or snitch) was hidden somewhere in the yard somewhere where it can be seen but only a little bit. One seeker on each team looks for it. Whatever team finds it first the game is over and they are awarded one hundred and fifty points.


6. MOVIE TIME AND CLASS PROJECTS 

After three games of quidditch we put the movie
in.  Two tables were set up with class activities.  At one table the girls traced an owl, golden snitch, or rat onto shrinky dink paper. Then we put them in the oven and watched them shrink down hence transfiguration. (so fun!!!) They made them into keychains and brought them home.  This was my favorite activity as the girls got so creative and started drawing free hand, making luggage tags and special messages for the bday girl.   
On the other table were two pumpkins.  One for Gryffindor and the other Hufflepuff.  The kids had to extract the guts from the center of the pumpkin.  Then they could use various spices and sugars to flavor the seeds for snack. This was the POTION table.

at 3:00 in the morning the wizards went out 
and gave some neighbors a heart attack

OTHER DETAILS:
I used owls, spiders, and rats to decorate the tables.  The Harry Potter Books made great centerpieces as well as a Harry Potter Movie Poster, a custom designed 9 3/4 Entrance sign hung on the front door. (download my custom designed labels, door graphics and shrinky dink templates here)


The remaining night the girls did wizard spells and in the morning woke to a freshly baked batch of monkey bread.












Have you hosted a Harry Potter Party?  Share your secrets here.  Please share link with other Harry Potter Fans.

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Hillbilly Bunco

Ersoften I git to go to a shindig that inspires me.  Last night, I went to a Hillbilly Bunco.  As I was fixin' to leave, I tightened my braids, pulled on my boots, and grabbed me some straw to chew.


I drove faster than greased lightnin' I was so excited to get me some shine and see the hostess, Karri Sue, and her newest yungin.  When I got there it was tough to get in.  The lawn chairs and hose were blocking the entrance.  The awfullest thing was the picture of the racer car driver #88 on the door, and nary a picture of Jimmy Johnson was around.


Most of my kin was there,  Megan May, Meichele Jo, Dawn Jean and Melinda Rae (poor things got their teeth knocked out again) Amber Lynn looked loose as a goose with her bra and panties hangin out.    Her mullet looked purtier than ever though.  Audrey Lee poured me some Boonesfarm Strawberry Hill Wine she brung.  It brought back memories of the time I got higher than a Georgia Pine.

She decorated the tables with mix-matched paper plates, used newspaper as the tablecloth,  and put some purty flowers in a beer can.  The moon was shining on her clothes line outside the window. I felt real bad though cuz this mean cat was hangin around her house. She posted pictures of it. She don't like cats so please call her if you reckon it's yours.  (even if it ain't I'm sure she'll still let you have it) Here's the pic below.



The best part of the night was The Vittles.  Boy were they larapin!
Chicken Pot Pie Casserole with taters inside
Corn Bread and honey
Watermelon (I love watermelon)
Salad Served in Mason jars
Dessert was Mint chip Ice Cream Casserole (see recipe below)


We played bunko (which I don't like vaymuch) and I won me some money.  Now I can go buy my brother a ham and cheese on rye cuz he has always been one sandwich shy of a picnic.

Download hillbilly labels $2 
for use on bottled waters
and food buffets.  

I kain't remember when I had so much fun.  I reckon it was at the last party Karri hosted.  See details here and start a bunco tradition with your friends and family.  Download  hillbilly labels for your own party.  All donations support the charities at www.lunchi.org. 


MINT CHIP CASSEROLE DESSERT
1 package Oreo Cookies (51 cookies)
3 tablespoons butter
Mint Chip Icecream
Junior Mints

1. First, mix the cookie crumbs (30 cookies) and butter in a processor or with a spoon until they're properly mixed and have a consistent texture.
2. Press the crust into into the bottom of a casserole dish.
3. Bake the crust for 10-15 minutes at 350 F before filling. Baking the crust helps to keep it firm when the pie is cut.
4. Once the ice cream is soft enough to stir, add the junior mints and mix evenly.  
5. Spread the ice cream mixture in the cooled casserole dish
6. Top with remaining oreo crumbs (21 cookies)

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Cherry Dump Casserole - It's Ridiculishes!

After the first bite of this delicious dessert, the little orphan's voice from Annie echoed in my mind, "oh my goodness, oh my goodness."  Look how ridiculously easy it is to make.  The only word to describe it would be Ridiculishes!  (Ridiculous + Delicious)

Cherry Dump Cake

1 (21 ounce) can cherry-pie filling
1 (18-1/4 ounce) box yellow cake mix
1 stick butter, sliced then cut the slices into quarters
1 cup flaked coconut

1/2 cup chopped pecans
Ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 F. Dump cherries into the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch pan (lightly sprayed). Cover with the dry cake mix and press down with a spatula. Slice small sections of butter and place on top of cake mix. Sprinkle top with cinnamon, coconut, and chopped pecans.  Cover with foil and  bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for 10-15 more minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream (or whipped cream)


Looking for a great dinner casserole to serve, see the list of casseroles I featured in August.   

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Lunchi's - Little Utterances Neatly Condensed Helping Impact Little Souls- A CONTEST!

A couple of months back I was inspired to focus on prayer in my life.  It was uncomfortable at first but as I did it more the 'fear' was lifted.   Prayer now has become a daily ritual in our families life.  


When I asked GOD to work through me so I may better serve others, I had the idea for http://www.lunchi.org.  


Lunchi's is an acronym for little utterances neatly condensed helping impact little souls. Parents can print them out and put thoughtful notes, bible verses, and jokes in their child's lunch.  They cost $2 and every penny will benefit the following charities as well as a child's mind, body, and soul.


EXPAND THEIR MINDS
School Supply Drive by DoSomething.org
One way to help a child achieve better results in school is by ensuring they own school supplies to complete the work.  This summer, Staples and DoSomething.org are hosting their third annual Do Something 101 School Supply Drive! You can help right now by holding school supply drives in your school and community or by purchasing a Lunchi.


NOURISH THEIR BODIES
Jaime Olivers Food Revolution by America Gives Back
Every child in America has the right to fresh, nutritious food. A diet of processed food is undermining the nation’s health and essential cooking skills are being lost. If you care about your country and the health of your children please support Jamie’s Food Revolution with a donation. Your funding will help his campaign to change the way America eats and ensure the health of future generations.  


ENRICH THEIR SOULS
Children's Ministries at Crossroads 
In Kids House at Crossroads Christian Church it is our desire for children to fall deeply in love with Jesus and His Word which proclaims HIM.  It is my goal to use the money raised to donate to Crossroads so they may purchase bibles for children across the world.

PAY IT FORWARD
You can make a difference for people with Lunchinotes. 
Personalize them to fit the occasion.  I left a note for the people at church who count the money. I purchased the coffee for the person behind me in the drive thru and left this note.  (someone had done it for me awhile back so I wanted to pay it forward.)
Or just print out the following verses and stick it in your wallet when the server or cashier is doing great at their job.




ALSO ON THE WEBSITE...
We feature 30 fabulous lunch choices to pack for the kids.  I had a bad habit of packing the same thing every day.  That is not inspiring at all.  Browse through the album on the 30daysof facebook fan page to get inspiration on fabulous lunch's to nourish your child's body. Or you can view Laptop Lunch Ideas in their photo gallery.  There are over 30 different lunch's to choose from.

LAPTOP LUNCH
includes case, silverware, book,
and box with separators. $40 values

CONTEST
From now until October 1st, the 30daysof...blog will be giving away  a laptop lunchbox (similar to the one shown here) to a randomly selected comment answering the following question.  *If you purchase and download a lunchi from now until October 1st, 2010, you will also be entered to win.  


HOW DO YOU INSPIRE YOUR KIDS TO GIVE BACK?  
Leave your comment below or underneath this image on the 30daysof...facebook fan page HERE!

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Leftover Spaghetti Casserole

This weekend we hosted a sleepover campout for a girls soccer team. I made my fabulous spaghetti recipe for the 14 of them plus ordered some pizzas.  Needless to say even my spaghetti sauce couldn't compete with the ease and greasiness of the pizza.  The pizza was gone within seconds, every slice eaten.  I was left with at least 20 servings of spaghetti plus one loaf of garlic bread.  Inspired by my chicken divan casserole, I made spaghetti casserole on Monday night.  It was fabulouso!  Here is how you can make it.


INGREDIENTS
1 package of spaghetti 
1 loaf of pre made garlic bread 
1 cup of fresh basil
3 jars of Trader Joe's Arrabiata Sauce
2 packages of ground turkey meat
1/3 cup of dried oregeno
2 green bell peppers finely chopped
4 cups of mushrooms sliced in half
1 large white onion diced
4 cloves of garlic crushed
2 eggs
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup of bread crumbs (from the unbuttered part of the garlic bread above.)
2 cups of fresh grated parmesan cheese


HOW TO MAKE SPAGHETTI
Cook the pasta as directed. Toss with light olive oil. Serve separate from sauce.


TOMATO SAUCE
In a large skillet thoroughly cook the turkey meat.  Add 1/2 cup water and the dried oregeno for flavor.  
Saute the mushrooms, onions, and bell peppers until soft and add turkey mixture.  
Pour ingredients in a large pot and add the tomato sauce and garlic.  Bring to a boil.  


TURN THE LEFTOVERS INTO A CASSEROLE
Make 1/2 cup of bread crumbs from the leftover garlic bread unbuttered sections.  Cube the remaining garlic bread into crouton size pieces. 
Place the leftover cooked pasta in a medium bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and oil. Toss the pasta with the eggs and bread crumbs.  In a 9x13 pan, coat the bottom of the pan with some tomato sauce.  Add the noodle mixture and spread evenly.  Cover with the leftover spaghetti sauce. Top with parmesan cheese, basil, and the garlic bread that you made into croutons.  


Bake at 400˚ for 25 minutes. Be sure to watch the bread crumbs so they don't burn.
Enjoy!  


See other fabulous casseroles from the 30daysof...blog.

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