Halloween Cupcakes

My computer has another virus so it's been at the Doctors...for a very long time. I was hoping I would have it back before the end of the #GreatHallowTweet but that isn't going to happen so this is going to be short and sweet...

This event is the brain child of Renee from Flamingo Musings. The widget on the side bar show everyone who is playing and makes it easy for you to “hop” from one participating blog to the next! So from October 25th to the 31st, just click on any of these links and hop from blog to blog. Fun! Frolic! Mayhem! From ghoulish recipes to please monsters of all ages, to general insanity, make the rounds everyday to see what new surprises might be lurking around that dark corner. You know - the one with the broken streetlight and creepy shadows? BWAHAHAHAHA!


So I totally cheated on these and used a boxed mix for these cupcakes. You can pretty much do what ever type or flavor that you would like. I did make the frosting. Just a simple white frosting.

White Frosting for Cupcakes or Cakes

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 to 3 Tbsp. milk

Directions

Beat butter with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until creamy.
Gradually beat in sugar until smooth.
Beat in vanilla and 2 Tbsp. milk, adding additional milk, if necessary, for desired consistency.

***These were a huge hit at the girl's Halloween Parties this year. Simple but really Halloweenish!

Pumpkin Seeds…that’s why we carve pumpkins right?

Another post for the #GreatHallowTweet!  This is the brain child of Renee from Flamingo Musings.  The widget on the side bar show everyone who is playing and makes it easy for you to “hop” from one participating blog to the next!  So from October 25th to the 31st, just click on any of these links and hop from blog to blog. Fun! Frolic! Mayhem! From ghoulish recipes to please monsters of all ages, to general insanity, make the rounds everyday to see what new surprises might be lurking around that dark corner. You know - the one with the broken streetlight and creepy shadows? BWAHAHAHAHA!

In out house on of the favorite things about Halloween is being able to carve the pumpkins.  Great scary faces, some silly, sometimes we even make them sad…but really our goal is the pumpkin seeds.  We LOVE the seeds.  Roasted up nice and crispy with a spicy and salty seasoning blend…

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Preheat oven to 425F

Ingredients:

1/2 stick of butter (melted)
2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp white pepper
pinch cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp smoked paprika

Directions:

• Mix and stir in cleaned and dried pumpkin seeds and place on a baking sheet.
• Place in the oven and stir every 5-7 minutes or until brown and crisp.

#GreatHallowTweet Halloween BlogHop and Rice Krispie Treat Pumpkins!

I was invited to join in on last years #GreatHallowTweet Halloween BlogHop but found myself just too busy to commit and say yes.  Sadly I ended up regretting it and was determined to be a part this year. 

In case you missed last years #GHT Halloween BlogHop you need to know that this is the brain child of Renee from Flamingo Musings.  The widget on the side bar show everyone who is playing and makes it easy for you to “hop” from one participating blog to the next!  So from October 25th to the 31st, just click on any of these links and hop from blog to blog. Fun! Frolic! Mayhem! From ghoulish recipes to please monsters of all ages, to general insanity, make the rounds everyday to see what new surprises might be lurking around that dark corner. You know - the one with the broken streetlight and creepy shadows? BWAHAHAHAHA!

Rice Krispie Treat Pumpkins (adapted from the Rice Krispie website)

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons butter or margarine

1 package (10 oz., about 40) regular marshmallows

- OR -

4 cups miniature marshmallows

Red food coloring

Yellow food coloring

6 cups Rice Krispies®

Green frosting for piping on stems and leaves

Directions:

1. In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat. To tint orange stir in red and yellow food coloring, if desired.
2. Add KELLOGG'S RICE KRISPIES cereal. Stir until well coated.
3. Using 1/2-cup measuring cup coated with cooking spray divide warm cereal mixture into portions. Using buttered hands shape each portion into pumpkin shape. 
4.  Use the green frosting to make a stem and leaves to make them look like pumpkins. Best if served the same day.

***These were so much fun to make.  I had the kids help out of course.  I just wish I had of made them more orange but my youngest has issues with dyes so I was hesitant to use more.  Next time I will also melt some chocolate and make little faces on them but for this one I wanted to use the Halloween cupcake

Best-Ever Apple Cake

I love fall and all of the wonderful flavors and smells that go with the foods associated with it.  Hard to believe then that I spend my life living in SWFL right?  We do have fall here but it is very subtle.  Not the glaring colors of leaves changing, more like our grass just going brown…but fall is fall and changing temperatures, shorter days and lower humidity are all good things in my book!
When I got this months Southern Living magazine on of the first things that caught my eye as I quickly scanned through was “Our Best-Ever Apple Cake”  and I knew as soon as I saw the recipe for Browned Butter Frosting that I was going to have to make it my own…

Our Best-Ever Apple Cake (Southern Living October 2010)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2  cups  chopped pecans
• 1/2  cup  butter, melted
• 2  cups  sugar
• 2  large eggs
• 1  teaspoon  vanilla extract
• 2  cups  all-purpose flour
• 2  teaspoons  ground cinnamon
• 1  teaspoon  baking soda
• 1  teaspoon  salt
• 2 1/2  pounds  Granny Smith apples (about 4 large), peeled and cut into 1/4-inch-thick wedges

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Bake pecans in a single layer in a shallow pan 5 to 7 minutes or until lightly toasted and fragrant, stirring halfway through.
2. Stir together butter and next 3 ingredients in a large bowl until blended.
3. Combine flour and next 3 ingredients; add to butter mixture, stirring until blended. Stir in apples and 1 cup pecans. (Batter will be very thick, similar to a cookie dough.) Spread batter into a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch pan.
4. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack (about 45 minutes). Spread your choice of frosting over top of cake; sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup pecans.
Browned-Butter Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1  cup  butter
• 1  (16-oz.) package powdered sugar
• 1/4  cup  milk
• 1  teaspoon  vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Cook butter in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly, 6 to 8 minutes or until butter begins to turn golden brown. Remove pan from heat immediately, and pour butter into a small bowl. Cover and chill 1 hour or until butter is cool and begins to solidify.
2. Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy; gradually add powdered sugar alternately with milk, beginning and ending with powdered sugar. Beat mixture at low speed until well blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla.
***This cake is delicious.  Tony said it was one of the best.  I think he just loved the frosting and I could have put it on anything and he would have been in love.  The one thing about this cake is that they recommend 2 other frostings to go with it.  You can take you pick but I highly recommend the Browned-Butter Frosting…

Dark Chocolate Frosting,

Cream Cheese Frosting

Fish & Chips for #GoJunkFood

This month’s #GoJunkFood (a small twitter challenge) was chosen as Fish & Chips.  Truly this could not have come at a better time as I was craving me some beer battered and fried fish like you can’t even imagine and I was looking for an excuse, any excuse to make some.

Being from Canada which has a huge amount of British immigrants (my Mom being one!), we have a ton of Fish & Chip shops.  On of my fondest food memories from growing is the family going out and getting our Fish & Chips.  Usually we brought it home but we all went to the little shop and ordered our food and got it hot from the fryer wrapped up in unprinted newspaper.  I remember the smell of hot paper, grease (the good kind) and the fish in a very, very happy way…

Onto my Fish & Chips.  Now, I had to stay original with the fish because I really needed to satisfy my craving.  I did use cod this time.  Usually we use Grouper as it is a local fish but I wasn’t able to get any that I was happy with and there is no way I was paying for Halibut (my favorite fish for Fish & Chips) but I did put my own Southern spin on the chips.  I made Sweet Potato fries to highlight where I live now and the wonderful fall season!

Beer Battered Fish (this is the same batter I use for squash blossoms)

Heat 3 inches of oil in a heavy bottomed pot to at least 350 degrees.

Ingredients:

2 lbs of fish (thawed if frozen), I used cod but any firm white fish will do
2 cup all-purpose flour, plus 1 cup for dredging
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup beer (I stole T.'s Yeungling for this one)
Coarse salt for finishing

Directions:

• While the oil is heating mix the batter ingredients until just combined. This batter should be the consistency of pancake batter.
• Dredge each piece of fish lightly in the plain flour and then dip into the batter and place gently in the oil. Do not crowd the fish in the oil, you may have to cook in batches. Cook turning once until a nice golden brown.
• Drain on a rack or paper towels and serve immediately

Double Fried Sweet Potato Fries (Ceramic Canvas)

Ingredients:

2 pounds sweet potatoes
Salt, to taste

Directions:

• Pour oil in a deep fryer or heavy saucepan to reach halfway up the sides of the pan. Heat to 325 degrees F, use a deep fry thermometer to determine this.
• While the oil is heating, peel the potatoes (if you want to…I left the skin on) and cut into uniform sticks. Place the cut potatoes in a bowl of ice water to release some of the starch and to keep them from browning.
• Dry the potato strips thoroughly, this will keep the oil from splattering (very important step as the sweet potatoes seem to hold more water anyway). Fry them in batches so the pan isn’t crowded and the oil temperature doesn’t drop. Cook for 3 minutes until they are soft but not browned.
• Remove the potatoes with a long-handled metal strainer and drain on brown paper bags.
• Bring oil temperature up to 375 degrees F. Return the par-fried potatoes to the oil in batches and cook a second time for 4 minutes until golden and crispy. Drain on fresh brown paper bags then place in a serving bowl lined with paper towels. Salt and serve immediately.

The Fish & Chips are part of the #GoJunkFood quest to take your every day bar food and put your own spin on it. Be sure to visit all of the other bloggers involved…

Elle at Elle’s New England kitchen
Paula at The Dragons Kitchen
Chris at Blog Well Done
Renee at Flamingo Musings

Thanks for letting me play guys and I can’t wait to see what next month brings!

Wordless Wednesday

Oscar Sherer State Park…

Pasta with Escarole, White Beans and Chicken Sausage…

It’s finally feeling like fall here.  Our day time temps are only reaching into the mid 80’s right now and the night time temps are down in the low 60’s.  Life in Florida doesn’t get much better than this.  With the windows all open and the A/C off, life is so good.  Makes me want to cook again.  Nice pots of soup and stew, filling casserole dishes and comforting pastas.
This is a pasta dish that I have been wanting to try out.  Simple enough but just finding the time was the challenge.  So you know what I did?  I prepped everything for this in the afternoon before I picked the kiddos up from school.  I chopped the onion and garlic, uncased the chicken sausage, cleaned and cut up the escarole, made the chicken broth, and rinsed the beans.  This way all I had to do when I got home was to boil the water for the pasta.  Do you know that with all the prep work done I ended up having to wait for the pasta to finish cooking!!!  It came together in about 15 minutes.  Anyone can find time to make this one!

Pasta with Escarole, White Beans and Chicken Sausage (adapted from The Food You Crave by Ellie Krieger)
Ingredients:
1 lb bowtie (or other shape) pasta
1 tbsp olive oil
½ medium red onion, chopped, about 1 cup
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb hot Italian-style chicken sausage, casings removed, crumbled
1 medium head escarole or endive, rinsed, drained and chopped, about 8 cups
1 14 oz can low-sodium great northern beans or other white beans, drained and rinsed
1½ cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 tsp rubbed sage, or 1 Tbsp fresh sage leaves
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/8 cup grated Parmesan

Directions:

• Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package.
• Heat the oil over a medium heat in a large, deep saute pan or 8-quart stockpot.
• Saute the onion until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook an additional 1 minute. Stir in the sausage and cook until heated through and browned, about 4 minutes.
• Add the escarole and cook until wilted, about 3 to 4 minutes.
• Add the beans, 1 cup of chicken stock, sage and simmer until the mixture is heated through and liquid is slightly reduced.
• Add the sausage-bean mixture to pasta and toss well, loosening with the additional ½ cup chicken stock if necessary.
• Season with freshly ground pepper and salt, to taste.
• Divide among 4 pasta bowls and top with parmesan cheese.

***This one was a hit with the whole family.  Youngest even took it to school for her lunch in a thermos…