Halloween Themed Fun! Guest Post!

Nancy is my (Colleen) mother in law, we are staying with her a while. We are in transition between selling our old home and buying a new one. The kids just adore her and she's makes the time go by quickly with fun stuff like this.

Nancy's take: "I made this with my grandson who is 4 and he really enjoyed making the jello monster mold the most, I enjoyed making the creepy finger food & monster mouths. To me I don't enjoy pasta all that much so I wasn't too enthused with that but we had lots of fun making it, I used green olives instead of black because to me they looked more "creepy". The Mummy Dogs were really easy and both the grandkids loved them, I let my grandson wrap the dough around the dog, he was enthused with all the responsibility he was given." 

 Frankenstein Salads

Mummy Dogs (on the outsides)

Monster Mouths  (in the middle)

 Creepy Finger Food (on the top & bottom) 

 Baked Eyeball Casserole

Pumpkin Crumb Coffee Cake {Annah}

This is amazing!!! It is fall in every bite, making it the perfect October breakfast! It is not hard to make however you will end up using a few utensils and bowls. Overall I think this recipe was worth the time. 

I will say that my cake took longer to cook then it was listed. It was done on the sides and still not cooked in the middle. The only problem with this is the sides are a little dry/over cooked, and the middle is moist and tasty.

Give this a try to get your pumpkin fix this week!

Ingredients:

Topping:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces 

Cake:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 15-oz. can pumpkin
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten

Directions:

Make topping: In a bowl, stir together flour, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon. Add butter and combine with fingertips until mixture is crumbly. Refrigerate while making batter.

Make cake: Preheat oven to 350ºF. Butter and flour a 9-by-13-inch cake pan. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. In a large bowl, whisk together oil, applesauce, pumpkin, vanilla and both sugars until well mixed. Whisk in eggs. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and stir until just combined; do not overmix. Pour batter into cake pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle with reserved topping.

Bake cake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Allow to cool in pan on a wire rack at least 20 minutes.

Original recipe from: Myrecipes.com

Pumpkin Cream Cheese {Annah}

Well this might not have tasted good because of me. I was heavy handed with the cloves. This cream cheese is more savory then sweet. I like a sweet cream cheese, and this did not do it for me. Which of course means it is healthy for me = don't like as much. I tried to sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top, and that still did not make it taste great to me. This was a failed pumpkin recipe.

Ingredients: 

• 4 oz cream cheese
• 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice 

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and whip it up till smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use!
Try not to eat it straight out of the bowl with a spoon while your bagel is toasting.

Original recipe from : Budget Bytes

Spinach and Artichoke Baked Pasta {Annah}

This pasta was ok on flavor. When you got an artichoke in your bite then it was pretty good. With out the artichoke it is just kind of a cream/cheesy pasta. It was not hard to make this dish to make. Tyler was adding chicken to everything I made this week. With the chicken he enjoyed the dish probably more then I did. Overall if you like cheesy pasta and artichokes I would say it is worth it for you to give this one a try.

Ingredients:

• 14 oz shell pasta
• 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 Cup of Chopped Onion
• 3 Cloves of Garlic ( Minced)
• 1 Cup of Sour Cream
• 4 oz of Cream Cheese ( Room Temperature)
• 3/4 Cup of Parmesan Cheese
• 1 teaspoon Lemon Juice + Zest
• 10 Oz of Spinach ( Make sure to squeeze excess moisture, after it has been thawed of course)
• 13.5 Can of Artichoke Hearts rinsed and chopped
• 1 Cup of Mozzarella
• 1/2 Teaspoon of Salt
• 1 Teaspoon of Pepper

Directions: 

 Preheat Oven To 425

Cook pasta according to the box. Keep 1/4 Cup of the Pasta Water before you drain the cooked pasta.

Heat oil in pan and cook onions for 8 – 10 minutes. Add garlic and cook for one minute.

In a large bowl – Mix Sour Cream, Cream Cheese,  Parmesan, Lemon (juice and zest), onions and garlic. Add Pasta and mix.

Stir in spinach, artichokes, 1/4 cup of cooking liquid from the pasta, salt, pepper, and 1/2 Cup of Mozzarella

Place mixture into greased 2.5 – 3 qt casserole dish and place the rest of mozzarella cheese on top.

Place in the oven till golden brown on top – about 10 – 15 minutes.

Original recipe from: Budgets Savvy Diva

Zucchini Gillini Panini {Annah}

Easy and delicious! If you are looking for a filling yummy vegetarian sandwich make this now. It would go great with soup for an easy good dinner. I guess this is a take on a Jason's Deli sandwich.Tyler put chicken on his and thought it was very good. The cooked veggies were great 3 days later for lunch sandwiches.

Ingredients:

• Italian loaf bread
• Roasted garlic hummus
• Spinach
• sliced tomatoes
• sliced red onion
• zucchini, sliced the long way about 1/4 inch thick {or less}
• Colby Jack cheese
•  olive oil

Directions:

If you are lucky enough to have a panini press, fire that thing up right now!

Take two slices of bread, similar in size, and brush one side with olive oil. Flip over and spread a liberal amount of the hummus on the other sides and set aside.

Take a grill pan {or a skillet will work too!} and drizzle with olive oil. Place over medium heat and lay your zucchini slices down. Salt and pepper to taste. Add the onion slices around them, and cook both until slightly browned and softened, about 5-7 minutes. {Make sure your zucchini doesn't get soggy. The cooking time will depend how thin you actually sliced it. Just remember: thicker slices = more time, thinner slices = less time,} Remove from pan and set aside.

Over medium high heat, place the olive oil side of one of the pieces of bread down on the same grill pan {or your panini press}. Layer the other ingredients, using a couple torn slices of cheese here and there to help the sandwich hold together. Top with the remaining bread slice, hummus side down. 

{Skip this step if you are using a panini press.} Using the bottom of a heat proof bowl, press down on your sandwich for about 5 minutes or until you get those great grill marks on the cooked side. Using a spatula, carefully flip the sandwich and again using the bowl, press down on the sandwich for another 5 minutes or so. Remove from heat, flip the bowl over top of the sandwich, and let sit for 5 minutes. The bowl will trap the heat and continue to cook the sandwich, melting that cheese all over those veggies. 

Original recipe from: Dwell on Joy

Fennel, Pepper, & Onion Fusilli

Colleen's take: "This dish was good, I didn't have fresh basil, I used dried, but I wish that I did because this dish was missing a pop of flavor. It was simple and good but I doubt I will make it again, unless it's for a side."

Ingredients

• Salt and pepper

• 1 pound fusilli

• 2 tablespoons EVOO, plus more for serving

• 2 tablespoons butter

• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds

• 1 bulb fennel--quartered, cored and sliced

• 1 onion, quartered lengthwise and sliced crosswise

• 1 cubanelle pepper--halved, seeded and sliced

• 3 - 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

• 1 can  (29 oz.) italian plum tomatoes

• 1/2 cup torn basil

• Grated parmigiano-reggiano, for serving

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt it, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain, reserving a ladleful of the pasta cooking water.
2. While the pasta is working, in a large skillet, heat 2 tbsp. EVOO and the butter over medium-high heat. Stir in the fennel seeds for 1 minutes. Add the fennel, onion, cubanelle and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cook until softened, 5 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and basil. lower the heat and simmer until thickened, 20 minutes. Stir int he reserved pasta cooking water.
3. Toss the pasta with the sauce. Top with cheese and more EVOO.

Recipe Referenced from Rachael Ray Magazine

Ingredients

• Salt and pepper

• 1 pound fusilli

• 2 tablespoons EVOO, plus more for serving

• 2 tablespoons butter

• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds

• 1 bulb fennel--quartered, cored and sliced

• 1 onion, quartered lengthwise and sliced crosswise

• 1 cubanelle pepper--halved, seeded and sliced

• 3 - 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

• 1 can  (29 oz.) italian plum tomatoes

• 1/2 cup torn basil

• Grated parmigiano-reggiano, for serving

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt it, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain, reserving a ladleful of the pasta cooking water.
2. While the pasta is working, in a large skillet, heat 2 tbsp. EVOO and the butter over medium-high heat. Stir in the fennel seeds for 1 minutes. Add the fennel, onion, cubanelle and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cook until softened, 5 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and basil. lower the heat and simmer until thickened, 20 minutes. Stir int he reserved pasta cooking water.
3. Toss the pasta with the sauce. Top with cheese and more EVOO.