Happy Halloween!!

Can't wait to see if there's gonna be a rise in recipes using all the leftover candy next week. We don't have kids, but every year I dress up (and force my husband) and we pass out candy. The kids in the neighborhood get a kick out of it and are excited to see adults still dress up. I have learned I can't dress as a witch and use my long black wig because that does scare kids. It's my favorite holiday and I'll doubt I'll have any candy yet, but I think my husband has already snuck some out and hid it for himself. So here's a recipe I'm gonna try this weekend....

Traditional Candy Corn

Ingredients
2-1/2 cups of powdered sugar
1/3 cup nonfat powdered milk
1 cup regular sugar
2/3 cup corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon of salt
5 tablespoons of salted butter
1 teaspoon of vanilla
Yellow and red food coloring

Directions
Bring the regular sugar, corn syrup and butter to a boil over medium high heat in a large heavy saucepan. Reduce the heat to medium and continue boiling for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove pan from heat.

While boiling the above, put the powdered sugar, powdered milk and salt in a large bowl and set it aside.

Add the vanilla and powdered mixture into the hot mixture in the saucepan. Be sure and mix it well. Then let the mixture sit for about 20 minutes or so until the mixture is slightly warm.
Divide the dough into 3 equal parts and put one in each of a small mixing bowl. Add orange (mix red and yellow together) food coloring to one part and yellow food coloring to another. Knead the dough until the color is well blended. Also knead the white dough until smooth. You may want to put on plastic gloves or a zip-loc bag to protect your hands from the food coloring.

Roll each piece into a thin rope of equal length. Press the three ropes together to make a long rectangle. Using a sharp knife, cut the ropes into triangles and shape with your fingers. You will have some with white tips and some yellow tips.

It is best to store between layers of waxed paper so they do not stick together.

And just for Veronica I hope to get some good close ups hand modeling the candy! I got an award today so I'll share that next week along with some more tasty recipes.

Have a great weekend and HAPPY HOLLOWEEN!!!

Pumpkin Carving Party

We had a great time Saturday after hosting our first pumpkin carving party. Everyone's pumpkin turned out great and they looked really good when they were all lite up at night. After reading many of your blogs I've gotten to try a couple of recipes that I've been printing off.

Menu included:

Pricilla's Corn Dip

Jenny's Pumpkin Spice Blossoms

Maria and Josh's Pretzels and Queso Sauce

Pigs in the blanket

Crawfish and Corn Chowder

Punch

S'More Shooters

Chex Mix

For the punch I tried a recipe from Country Home magazine. I didn't have a pumpkin mold so I thought I would try the plast container from my Dole fruit snacks. (I save all sorts of stuff, you never know what you can use it for.) The looked sorta like pumpkins, but when I floated them in there they didn't anymore. I would make the punch again it tasted really great and it was good to have some fruit juice for the kids. I might leave out the whipping cream floaters though. When they all melted and you're drinking the drink it's like some thick funky taste. Recipe says you can use mixed berry juice or apple juice. I went with the mixed berry juice.

The S'More Shooters were great around the fire. I see why they were ment to be shooters, I made larger glasses of it and it's so rich you can't finish it. I think if you thin it out a little with more milk then you can have a larger glass of it, but either way it was a winner. I forgot to take a picture so I'll have to add one later.

Priscilla's corn dip was do die for and just as yummy as she said it would be. I know have to make it for Thanksgiving to share it with my family.

Jenny's cookies came out really pretty and little did anyone know if used 4 ingredients! I couldn't find the pumpkin spice kisses like she used, so I used the caramel apple ones and they tasted good.

My hubby got suckered into helping me and was in charge of the pigs in the blanket. since I used the lil smokies I had him cut the crescent rolls in half so they wouldn't end up all bread. Thanks dear you did a wonderful job!

While he did that I worked on Josh and Maria's pretzels with cheese dipping sauce. These were also a big hit. I had trouble getting my pretzels to look alike so gave up and just rolled out balls. They turned out to be the perfect size to snack on.

I'll post my chowder recipe on an upcoming post. It was another item I forgot to take pictures of before it got eaten up.

We set up the backyard with my new fire pit that I won from the Red White and Blue Rhino contest.

We carved our pumpkins and while a friend of ours toasted the seeds for us to snack on we gathered around the fire and roasted marshmallows and made smores.

Check out our creations. Don't they look great? Can't wait to do it again next year!

Pumpkin Patch Smoothie

I know I've been slacking on the post, but I should be back on track starting next week. Fall for me means local cook-offs so I've put all my focus into it lately. I'm also planning a pumpkin carving party for this Saturday and can't wait! Thanks for all the votes for the cookeatshare.com contest! Both of my recipes are in the top 8 so fingers crossed they stay there till November 9th!!

A Couple of Saturday's ago I went to take pictures of my co-workers family at the local pumpkin patch and had a blast meeting her family and playing with the kids. So in celebration of the kids making it through a warm Texas day before having a meltdown I'm made a pumpkin smoothie while I look back at some of my favorite pictures.

Pumpkin Smoothie

½ cup canned pumpkin
¾ cup milk or vanilla yogurt
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons brown sugar
4 ice cubes

Combine ingredients in a blender and putee until smooth. Pour the smoothies into glasses and garnish each with a dollop of vanilla yogurt or whipped topping and sprinkle with cinnamon or a few colored sprinkles.

Mommy's girl!

Time to go!

Nap Time!

Have a great weekend!

Beggin for votes

I promised myself I wouldn't enter another contest with a voting because I hate to beg people. So I'm soo sorry to do this.....but I want to win the mixer for my mom. She's been dieing to get one so I figure it'll be the perfect Christmas gift.

This seemed too good to pass up and I encourage you to enter if you want. They're picking the top 8 recipes by peoples votes. Click here for contest info.

It only takes a second to do. Click the link below and under my recipe there is "How good does this recipe look to you?" with hearts next to it. Please click on all 5 hearts.

I have some catching up to do to make it to the top 8 so by November 9th so vote vote vote.

Creamy Pumpkin Pasta With a Kick

Mushroom and Fried Corn Rice

I extend a BIG THANK YOU for taking the time to vote for me!

***EDIT: It seems you have to sign up (Make sure you click skip when it ask you about your email contacts.) then go to the home page click Thanksgiving Contest on the far left side of the page. Click the "current standings" written in green. Go to page 2 and my 2 recipes are at the bottom of that. If you don't want to sign up I totally understand. If anything put in a fake name ;)

Cherries and Cream Cake

I found my new favorite product. I have several recipes that I spend extra time on smooshing the crescent rolls together to get one big sheet and here comes Pillsbury to my rescue with one whole sheet. Woohoo I'm so excited! This is a recipe my mom makes and it's a spin on the Cherry-Cheese Crescent Braid Pillsbury has.


Cherries and Cream Cake

8 ounce can refrigerated quick crescent dinner rolls or 1 whole sheet crescents
8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
½ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon almond extract
½ cup all-purpose/unbleached flour
¼ cup brown sugar, packed firmly
3 tablespoons margarine, softened
21 ounce can cherry fruit pie filling
½ cup chopped pecans

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Separate dough into 2 long rectangles. Place in ungreased 13x9 inch pan; press over bottom to form crust. Seal perforations. Bake for 5 minutes and remove from oven.

In a small bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar and almond extract; blend until smooth. Spread over dough then spoon fruit filling evenly over cream cheese mixture. Lightly spoon flour into measuring; level off. In medium bowl, combine flour, brown sugar and margarine; mix until crumbly. Stir in pecans; sprinkle crumb mixture over fruit filling. Return to oven and bake an additional 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely; cut into squares. If desired serve with whipped cream and garnish with pecans and mint.

I'm back

Last week was a long week! I haven't been able to post anything due to getting ready for the International Rice Festival. I left town Thursday morning and headed to my aunts house where my dad and I finished up our dishes for Friday. Turn in was between 8am and 9am on Friday and then you wait until 11am to see if you get a phone call saying you got 1st place and to come back for your interview regarding your dish and knowledge on rice. We didn't get a call this year, but my dad came close with one of his dishes. They had 205 entries this year and my dad and I placed with each of our 4 dishes so there's something to be said about that. We headed back home that afternoon for a 4 hour drive and then I was worn out for the rest of the weekend.

Looking forward to getting back in the kitchen and crank out some new recipes to post.

Here's some pictures of my dishes:

Creamy Sausage Rice 3rd Place

Seafood with Herbed Vegetable Rice 4th Place

Mini Rice Caprese Salad 5th Place

Chocolate Coconut Rice Covered Cherries 7th Place

Here's my dad's entries:

Roux Rice with Chicken and Sausage 2nd Place

Rice Cream Sundae 6th Place

Veggie Burgers 8th Place

Spicy Shrimp Rice Fingers 10th Place

If you want any recipes let me know and I'll post them.

Creamy Mac and Cheese

I LOVE pasta and would eat it every meal if I could. I'm sure some of you know that from when you post pasta dishes and I rave over them. I have some recipes to make homemade pasta and look forward to trying them out soon. My mom just gave me a pasta machine not to long ago so I'm itching to use it.


Ok now to the mac and cheese. This recipe uses White American and Gruyere and at the price of $20 just on the 2 cheeses alone my husband warned this better be the best mac and cheese. I'm proud to say it was very tasty and lived up to they way I had it in my mind. I set aside some of the mixture right before you add the cheeses to try one other type of mac and cheese. I added brie and let me tell you no matter how full I was after dinner I licked the dish it was that good! I also added some honey panko on top for an added texture and it hit the spot. I made 1/2 of this recipe since there's 2 of us eating and we still had lots left over. Also skipped the hot dog part and stuck to the mac and cheese.

The Ditch Dog

(Adapted from Martha Stewart)

1 pound elbow pasta
2 cups milk
2 cups heavy cream
3 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 pound white American cheese, cut into 1/2-inch pieces, room temperature
1/2 pound Gruyere, grated, room temperature
1/3 cup Parmesan, grated, room temperature
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
8 hot dogs
8 potato hot dog buns


Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat; generously salt water and return to a boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente according to package directions, 7 to 8 minutes. Drain and set aside.

In a medium saucepan, heat milk and heavy cream over medium-low heat until warmed through.

Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add flour and stir until well combined, 5 to 6 minutes, taking care not to let the mixture brown.

Slowly add milk mixture, whisking until well combined. Bring to a simmer and let cook 15 minutes.

Whisk in cheese until melted and sauce has thickened; remove from heat.

Using an immersion blender, blend mixture until smooth; season with 1 teaspoon salt and pepper. Stir in pasta until fully coated; set macaroni and cheese aside.

Preheat a grill pan over medium-high heat.

Grill hot dogs until cooked through, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer hot dogs to buns, and top each with about 1/3 cup reserved macaroni and cheese. Serve immediately.

National Fluffernutter Day

I get a kick out of national food days and wonder how these come about and if anyone actually celebrates them. Today is National Fluffernutter Day. What is fluffernutter? Well it's a sandwich made with peanut butter and marshmallow creme and it's proposed as the official Massachusetts state sandwich. So there's your fun fact for today or conversation with someone when there's nothing to talk about. I'm off to enjoy my tasty treat. I'm a stickler for making sure stuff is spread evenly on a sandwich to the edges. The marshmallow is not wanting to work for me, and that probably had something to do with me cheating and melting marshmallows instead of opening a jar of the creme. :(

How Special Observance Days Are Determined according to The Nibble

The President of the United States has the authority to declare a commemorative event or day by proclamation. Fewer than 150 are granted in an average year across all categories. While you may think the president has more important things to do, you may have noticed that while President Bartlet was solving world crises on “The West Wing,” he was also being asked to sign proclamations to authorize National Pomegranate Month and such.

Petitions are introduced by constituents, trade associations or public relations firms to honor industries, events, professions, hobbies, etc. The Senate issue commemorative resolutions which do not have the force of law. Some state legislatures and governors proclaim special observance days, as do mayors of cities, which is why there can be a National Chocolate Day and a National Chocolate Month, as well as two National Guacamole Days—authorized at different levels of government. After the observance day has been authorized, it is up to the petitioner to promote it to the public.

It's here it's here!!

Today is a long post, but have several things I couldn't wait to share. :)

My husband is glad to have his beer fridge back and I no longer feel like I'm living in a dorm. As Candy said I'll probably win one and go figure there's a contest I just saw with a chance to win a new fridge. I think I might have to try for it anyway, only because my fridge doesn't have a built in LCD tv!

Here's the my old fridge about to be taken away:

My husband is great, he said I could pick out my dream fridge and I do love my new fridge, but it's not my "dream fridge". My dream fridge is a walk in cooler, and he vetoed that idea. :) I have no idea what I would fill it with, but it would be nice around the holidays to have the extra fridge space. Oh well that's what dreams are for.

To celebrate the new appliance I saw something Prudy made that made my mouth water. Caramelized Onions Pear and Brie Crostini. I made the minor change of what went in the onions due to my hubby thinking the extra onion I bought was supposed to be all for fajitas. Grrr I think I need to label things or else hide it when I come home from the store.

Caramelized Onions, Pear, and Brie Crostini

(adapted from Prudence Pennywise)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 large onion, thinly sliced

2 teaspoons honey

1 teaspoon vinegar (cider, red wine, or balsamic work well)

16 thin sliced multi grain baguettes, toasted (about half a baguette)

2 ounces brie

1/2 of a pear, very thinly sliced

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally until onion caramelizes, about 20 minutes. (I usually get bored and crank up the heat-it's not a true caramelization, but it's still fabulous.) Add the honey and vinegar and cook for another 3 minutes, stirring often. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Spread brie very thinly over crostini. Top with onion mixture and thin pear slices. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.

One of my other hobbies is photography. It's another creative outlet for me to put myself up against some really talented people. Since I was out of town Saturday I missed the reception held to announce the winners of the Katy Rice Festival photo contest. We stopped by yesterday and saw that out of the 5 pictures I turned in 3 of them had placed on one was honored with Best of Show. This year they only displayed the top 10 photos of each category due to the amount of entries they got. I am proud to say all 5 of my pictures were posted.

1st place and best of show in Rice category

2nd place in Family Living category

2nd place in Digital Imaging

Oktoberfest

Due to hurricane Ike, the Texas Rice Festival in Winnie, Texas was canceled this past weekend which opened up another opportunity on an invite to head to Fredricksberg, Texas for their Oktoberfest with a couple of our friends. We had a great time and ate way too much. After popping in and out of the local shops I have to say my favorite was Rustlin Rob's. I bought a jar of Praline Pecan Honey Butter. I'm not sure what all to make with it, but after having it on a cracker I could probably just eat it out of the jar. They did have a suggestion list for it's uses and I'm sure I can come up with something so I'm looking forward to whatever comes to mind.

I don't have a recipe for today just a few photos. I'll have pictures of the new fridge tomorrow since I didn't get to spend time with it over the weekend.

Of course we find the cutout board and want to take pictures after one too many beers and did I mention it's dark out by then? Still makes me laugh, but at least it turned out. I think I'm getting too old for this. :)