Pumpkin Bread

Most everyone has a pumpkin bread recipe, but just in case you don't or you don't like your recipe that well this is a great recipe.  This is my sister's recipe that our family has made for years. It's moist and has a wonderful pumpkin spice flavor.

1 1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
4 eggs, beaten
1 cup oil
4 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
2 teaspoons nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon clove
1/2 teaspoon mace
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons soda
2/3 cup water
3 1/2 cups flour
2 cups prepared pumpkin
1 cup chopped pecans

Mix everything together and bake 1 hour at 350 degrees.
Makes 3 loaves

Being in Nature

A Busy Friday!

This weather is just perfect for working outside, no humidity, cool, a little breeze I couldn't ask for anything better.  I'm going to begin with the bottom picture first this time.  I finally got a fig tree and I'm really excited about it.  I've been collecting some fig recipes that I will be anxious to try when the tree starts to produce.  I love the shape of the leaves and the fruit will look reddish-brown with pink flesh.  Fig trees just  have a unique look to them and I like the way the look as well as the way they taste.  I bought a Brown Turkey Fig tree and it is supposed to do very well in this zone. It can grown to 15 feet tall and 15 to 20 feet wide.  It needs direct sunlight and blooms in spring to early summer (that's good, the blooms probably won't freeze if it blooms in early summer) and ripens in summer. Brown Turkey has the longest ripening season of recommended varieties. 

I got started digging the cooled frame.  My daughter came down on Wednesday and she helped me get started.  We got a lot done.  It is hard work digging and then wheelbarrowing the dirt to another location.  Needless to say, I was beat that night.  The pictures of the screen doors are what we are going to use for lids.  We are cutting out the screen and we are going to use heavy plastic and staple it onto the wood.  Plexiglas was to expensive.  Two hundred dollars for a 4x8 sheet. :(

It's just been a week since I brought in the tomatoes and I wanted you to see how fast they are ripening.  I wanted to make some chow-chow but I don't know if I'm going to be able to do it before they all get ripe. 

Have a super weekend!

Autumn Wish

The woods are full of fairies,
The sea is full of fish,
The trees are full of golden leaves
Let's make an Autumn wish.
                                                 Anon


Have a beautiful Autumn day!

Heartland Table

Every time I blog I have wanted to mention this new cooking show on the Food Network.  It is Heartland Table and it is on every Saturday morning at 10:00 or 10:30.  Check your listings to make sure.  This lady is going to be put in my favorites along with the  Barefoot Contessa and Giada.  I love her style of cooking.  The last show I watched she made cheese fondue on her very unique charcoal grill.  All the dippers were put on skewers and placed on the charcoal grill just long enough to give them that great charcoal taste .  The dippers were cherry tomatoes, chunks of crusty bread, purple onions and slab bacon cut into chunks.  Doesn't that sound wonderful.  These were her appetizers for dinner that night.  Her cheese was Gruyere and Cheddar.

This is the time of the year to eat out side and I thought this was a wonderful idea.  You could just have appetizers outside then come inside if it's too cool for the main course.

I hope you will check her out........I think you will like her.

Happy Cooking!

Quiche Lorraine

I catered a baby shower brunch on Saturday and one of the breakfast items they served was quiche.  Back in the day, quiche didn't push my hot button.  I thought it was really bland, that is, until I tried this recipe and I love this quiche.  It's rich and delicious, has a wonderful flavor.  This recipe comes from a lady who is a wonderful cook. 

The recipe doesn't call for this but at times I have sautéed fresh baby spinach and whisked it with the eggs for a little different taste.  When I do this, sometimes I leave the bacon out but I have put in the spinach and left the bacon in also.  You could use frozen chopped spinach, just make sure you squeeze all of the water out of it.

1 pound lean bacon
1 white onion, sliced
2 cups heavy cream
4 eggs
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 pound Swiss cheese, grated
1/2 pound Monterey Jack cheese, cut into 1 inch squares
white pepper, I have used black when I didn't have white
Parmesan cheese
1- 9inch unbaked pie shell

Fry bacon and crumble.  With the same skillet that you fried the bacon in, remove the bacon grease and sauté onion in butter until transparent.  Layer unbaked pie shell with bacon, then onions, cubed cheese and grated Swiss cheese.  Then on top of Swiss sprinkle generously with Parmesan cheese.  Add pepper to taste.  Beat eggs into warm cream and pour into pie shell. 

Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes, then at 350 for 15 to 20 minutes or until top is golden.  This is important be sure and let it cool for 10 to 15 minutes before you cut into it.

The pies in my picture haven't been cooked yet. 

Falafel

This is my new favorite thing.  It can sure take the place of a hamburger at least for a while. :)  My
daughter loves these also and she is the one who turned me on to them.  The ones we eat are at the Mediterranean Deli on North May in Oklahoma City.  Their hummus is wonderful also.  They serve the hummus with fresh cucumbers, pickled turnips (yes, pickled turnips and I loved these) and pita bread.  That is the first time I have ever eaten pickled turnips and they are wonderful with the hummus.  The purple that you see in the falafel is a pickled turnip.  I want to learn how to make these. The brown balls that you see in this is the falafel and it is made from chickpeas.  I'm not sure what ingredients are in these but they have somewhat of a bite to them.  The pita is stuffed with dill pickles, lettuce, tomatoes and there are two types of sauces on them.  I just love them and when I get to the city my car just automatically heads in that direction.  :)

Be sure and try one and get the hummus to go with it!

Pressing Leaves and Flowers

In the Halloween party blog, I mentioned taking your children out to the woods and letting them pick beautiful leaves and pressing them.  I'm a kid at heart, I guess, because I love pressing odd shaped leaves and flowers.  In my workshop, I have quite a few leaves that I have pressed and they adorn my bulletin board.  I picked up several books at garage sales that are probably 5 inches thick for the purpose of pressing flowers and leaves.  You can buy a plant press, I just never have. 

Once you have found leaves that have fallen and still have sap in them (they haven't dried out) you want to bring them home and immediately press them.  If you wait several days, they dry out and will crumble.  I'm not sure how long it takes to dry them out.  I put mine in the pages of my books and leave them for several months.   I'm usually not in a hurray to use them for anything. I have also pressed pansies and they do very well. Flowers that have lots of petals do not press that well.  I just want to mention that the original color will fade somewhat.

I posted a picture of the silica gel crystals that I use to dry flowers.  This works great and I get it at Hobby Lobby.  I usually get about three of these containers because you want a good depth so it covers the flowers.  I put the gel in a long dish (like a casserole dish) and have the gel about 4 inches deep because you want the flower totally covered.  It takes about 3 weeks to a month to preserve the flowers but they look great.  I have done a lot of sunflowers and daisies and they turn out great and they last about 3 years after you preserve them.  I use mine a lot to decorate with, I'm handling them a lot.  If you didn't handle them much they would probably last longer than that.

I put a frame around one of the leaves to give you an idea of what this looks like.  I love this look.  I have always wanted to make a grouping of four different types of leaves and put them in our home but I haven't got that accomplished yet. 

This is such a great activity for children.  They end up with such an attractive art piece.  They will really be proud of themselves.  This would be a great gift for grandparents or aunts and uncles for b-days or Christmas or anytime.  Let children start by going to garage sales.  Everyone always has tons of picture frames at garage sales (not a lot of money involved in the frame).  They can paint it or leave it natural. Then to the woods, with the frame in mind, look for leaves you would like to frame.  It can be a grouping or just one leaf.  Press the leaf.  The child will need to decide on a background. Which can be plain or have a pattern to it. I like this project because children can learn that they can make some beautiful by being resourceful and creative.  They have a unique gift made by them that didn't involve a lot of money.  It's starts them to thinking how they can become producers and not consumers.

The last idea I want to share using dried leaves or small flowers is to put them into cards that you are sending to beloved family or friends. 

Have fun with this idea.  I know you'll come up with more ways to use nature and preserve her!

Giving

This was on my flip calendar this morning and it reminded me of a conversation earlier in the week with an old friend.  I ran into him at the grocery store and we were catching up talking about a variety of topics.  He told me a story that I had never heard, regarding when he started into business.  He is a very successful business man.  When he started his business, he ask the Lord, "how do I make money?"  Very simply he heard, "help people."  He got started and was doing well and sat down to write his first check and asked God, "ok, where do you want me to send this" and God said, "did I say anything about money."  This man is in a profession and he said he started looking at the people who came through his door and asking himself how can I help you today, not looking at them as how much money will I make off of you today.  He gave me examples and he truly went the extra mile to help people, doing things he didn't have to do.  His business skyrocketed.....went totally out of the park.  It was more than he ever dreamed it could be.  Now as we are standing and talking, I can't tell you the number of people stopping to say hi, patting him on the back, waving and smiling from a distance.  I smiled to myself and thought you are a rich man no only in wealth but in the people who love you because you have given of yourself. 

I heard a man speak one time on giving and he said people who see an act of kindness get as much benefit (it raises their endorphins) as the person doing the act.  I believe this to be true.  Last weekend, I was at Wal-Mart and pulled into a line.  I just saw a little boy checking out and a lady was behind him and then me.  When I pulled into the line, I heard the cashier say something about needed more money.  Then I heard the little boy, kind of frantic, saying," I know I had 9 dollars I must have dropped one, I don't know what to do."  I asked, "how much does he need" and the cashier said, "97 cents."  I never have any cash but I had just had a garage sale and I had a ton of change.  I gave her 97 cents and continued to get my items onto the counter and I turned around and this little guy was standing next to me and he threw his arms around my waist and hugged me and said, "thanks lady for helping me."  I almost cried.  I told him I was so glad I was there to help him and I also told him that we all need help sometimes.  When it was my turn at the register, the cashier was grinning from ear to ear and said," I'm so glad you helped him."  I said, "it blessed me more than it did him." It actually made my day!  My youngest daughter has told me many times that she loves to give and that her motive is selfish because she knows how good it makes her feel to help someone and she gets more out of it than the receiver.

There are many ways to give but I feel this is the most important and the hardest and it is giving of yourself and your time.  I promise, I'll end with this last story.  It is about Mother Teresa, whom I greatly admire.  She was at a function and gave a speech and when she was finished a man came up to her who was very wealthy and told her he wanted to give her some money and she said no.  They talked and once again he told her he wanted to give her some money and once again she said no.  He told her he wanted to help her and what could he do.  She said, "you really want to help me" and of course he said "yes."  She said, "I want you to get up at 4 o'clock tomorrow morning and go to the streets of this city and find someone who is sitting alone on the street and love them.  Let them know that you really care about them. That's how you can help me." 

It's easy to write a check and I know there are people who need money, I'm not down playing that but there is something special about showing up for someone in need, doing something for someone that money can't buy. As Mother Teresa says, "there is a famine in this land and it is of love."

Let's go out and Love somebody this weekend!

Tomatoes and More Tomatoes

After I heard the weather forecast this morning, I spent the day taking down and putting away the last little reminders of summer.  I haven't seen any hummingbirds in about a week and I read that they are usually all gone by the end of October so I cleaned and put away our feeders until next spring.  Then I filled up the wood box with wood for our first fire in the wood stove which might be tomorrow night.

Then I tackled the tomatoes.  I have a ton of green tomatoes, actually about 20 gallons.  I got them all picked, washed and dried and laid out on newspaper in the breakfast room.  I want some to ripen and I have never made chow chow so I'm thinking of trying my hand at making some and I'm going to look at some recipes for tomato relish.  I still have lots and lots of blossoms on the vine and I left a lot of little bitty green tomatoes.  We've had lots of good food this summer and will continue to eat tomatoes for a while, which I love because those at the store don't measure up.  I'm ready for a rest but will be ready to start all over again in a few months trying new varieties and old favorites.

I wish you could see with your own eyes the beautiful shades of green on all these tomatoes.

Another Idea for Old Windows

This is another old window that was picked up by the curb.  I want to create the effect of walls, so I need a window. And this window will have a window box under the window where I can plant flowers.  On the left side of this window, I have planted two crepe myrtles that will eventually fill in that space and on the right side of the window I will drill holes at random places in the post that is holding the window on the right side and insert dowel rods and I have collected colored bottles for quite some time and these colored bottles will go on the dowel rods.  There are supports on the window right now but those will be taken off.  In the spring, I'll post another picture with the window box on so you can see the finished product.  I am using a good size window here but you could use a smaller one and if you have a bare spot in a flower bed this would be cute.  You could also plant a flowering vine to grow up one size and drape it across the top.

The last picture is the future spot for our cooled frame.  Since it has rained, I plan on starting to dig it out over the weekend.  Will keep you posted with future pictures as it progresses.  I'm going to use several old screened doors for the lids and we are going to put in clear hard plastic where the screen is located.  This location is on the south side of this building and it will get good sun light during the day.  On days that it is sunny and warm, I will raise the lid a little to let how some of the heat.  In the early evening, I will close the lid so nothing will freeze.  I will be growing mainly greens in my cold frame. 

I get a natural high with this weather.  I absolutely love it and I know you do too.  Have a super day!

John Muir Quote

Happy indeed they who have a friend to whom they can unmask the working of their real life, sure of sympathy and forbearance. 

Crunchy Caramel Apple Pie

I'm catering a ladies luncheon tomorrow and for dessert is this wonderful apple pie.  This is my husband's favorite apple pie.  In fact, he got the recipe for me years ago from Good Morning America.  They were having a pie contest and this was the winner.  I hope you will try it.  It's rich, crunchy and delicious.

1-9 inch pie crust, unbaked
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 cups thinly sliced apples (I use granny smith, but the recipe suggest pink lady , Fuji, golden) I usually cut at least 6 to 7 apples per pie.
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup caramel topping

crumb topping:
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

Slice apples and cover with sugar, flour cinnamon and salt.  Toss until covered well and place into unbaked pie crust.  Stir together brown sugar, flour, oats and cut in butter.  Sprinkle over apples.
Bake at 375 for 25 minutes remove from oven and cover edges with foil and bake another 35-45 minutes.  I usually go 45 minutes.  Remove from oven and sprinkle with pecans then drizzle with room temperature caramel. If your caramel has been in the frig you may want to warm it a little so it won't clump.  Sometimes I need to cover the edges of the crust so it will not get to brown and other times it does just fine.  My oven is getting old so just watch the crust and if you think it will get to brown then cover with foil.

Happy Sunday!

Donuts were in order this morning, so on my way to the donut shop I passed a garage sale.  I had to stop and the lamp was my great find.  This will either be a gift or I will sell it.  I have some ideas for it so I'll show you when it's complete.  Hopefully, it won't be in two years! :)

Tidbit of info:  I hope this will help you, it did help me.  I was watching the food channel and someone said to cook your pasta for soups before you add the pasta to the soup and that it keeps the pasta from soaking up so much of your broth.  I have had that problem a lot and so today I cooked my pasta before I added it to this wonderful Italian Vegetable Beef Soup.  This is a great soup and I have posted it before.  I was trying to find it so, if you were interested you could go there for the recipe and I couldn't readily find it so I will post it again.

2-3 pounds of stew meat (I usually cut the large pieces of stew meat in half)
3 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 carrots, sliced
2 medium zucchini, sliced in spears
2 cans diced Italian tomatoes
1 can Great Northern Beans
1 handful of pasta
1 can beef consume
l 32 ounce beef broth
3 cups or 3 handfuls fresh baby spinach
salt and pepper to taste

Wash the meat off and then cut large pieces in half.  Brown meat and garlic in about 3 tablespoons of oil.  When the meat is brown drain off grease.  Then add broth, carrots and tomatoes and let cook for about 10 minutes.  Then add zucchini, beans and let this cook about 5-6 minutes.  Lastly, add spinach and cooked pasta.  I had little bow tie pasta on hand and that is what I used today. Stir well and it's ready to eat.  I always make mine ahead and let it sit for a couple of hours so all the flavors mix together. 

Wonderful Cake for Thanksgiving

We all like our pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving but you will have to try this wonderful Marbled Pumpkin  Praline Cake.  It is delicious and I wanted to show you the picture because their presentation is so attractive.  They used sugared pecans, kumquats, and bay leaves.  I have seen fresh bay leaves at Indian spice shops or a Mediterranean deli may also carry them.  Closer to the holidays some stores start to carry kumquats. But just the spiced whipped cream icing makes a lovely cake.
Here's the recipe, I hope you will try it.

Pumpkin batter

2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin
3/4 cup buttermilk

Cream Cheese Batter

2 (3oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
6 tablespoons butter, softened
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Pecan-Praline Filling

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup half and half
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup chopped toasted pecans
1 teaspoon vanilla

Spiced Whipped Cream

2 cups heavy cream (I used 3 to make sure I had enough)
6 tablespoons of powdered sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Prepare Pumpkin Batter:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease 3 (9 inch) cake pans.  Line bottoms with parchment paper, and grease and flour paper.  Combine 2 cups flour and next 6 ingredients in a small bowl.  Beat 1 1/2 cups sugar and next 3 ingredients at medium speed with a heavy duty electric mixer until blended.  Add pumpkin, beating until blended.  Add buttermilk beating until blended.  Gradually add flour mixture beating at low speed just until blended after each addition.  Pour batter into prepared pans.

Prepare Cream Cheese Batter:
Beat cream cheese and next 4 ingredients at medium speed with a heavy electric mixer until creamy.  Add eggs, beating until blended.  Drop cream Cheese batter by heaping tablespoons onto pumpkin batter in pans, and gently swirl with a knife.

Bake at 350or 25 minutes or until wooden pick comes out clean.  Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes, remove cakes from pans to wire racks and cool completely (about 40 minutes.)

Meanwhile, prepare Pecan-Praline filling:
Bring 1/2 cup brown sugar and next 2 ingredients to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly.  Boil, whisking constantly, 1 minute or until sugar is dissolved.  Whisk together half and half and cornstarch in a small bowl until smooth; gradually add to brown sugar mixture, whisking constantly.  Return to a boil, and boil, whisking constantly, 1 minute or until thickened.  Stir in pecans and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Cool mixture 20 minutes.

Spread filling between cooled cake layers.

Prepared Spiced Whipped Cream:
Beat heavy cream at medium speed with electric mixer for 1 minute.  Add powdered sugar and next 2 ingredients, beating until soft peaks form.  Spread frosting on top and sides of cake.

(note) If you are making this for the holidays and you make cake the cake put in the filling and cover it with a cake dome until the next day.  Then ice the cake on the day you are serving it and keep it in a cool place.  Also, when frosting the cake, apply a thin layer (a crumb coat) over the top and sides first before applying the rest.  The thin layer seals in any crumbs and makes the rest of the frosting easier to apply.

This is a wonderful cake and I think you will love it.  It's worth all the work.  This is a cake from a fellow Okie from Bartlesville who won second place in a Southern Living cake contest.

Ideas for Christmas Decorating

I don't do traditional Christmas decorating.  I decorate more along the theme of winter and I usually leave the decorations up until February.  Some of the ideas I have posted here could be left up after Christmas. 

I have done something similar to the first picture with cranberries in a vase with water and fresh flowers.  If the vase was large enough you could use pomegranates or small pine cones with an arrangement of greenery. 

The candy canes are such a cute idea and would be so easy to do and really adds such a special touch for Christmas time.  I love Noel hanging from the mantel.  I'm thinking about making one this year that says Joy.

Displaying Christmas cards creatively every year is a challenge.  The huge vase with large limbs is creative this would be a place where you could use pine cones in the vase with limbs or even evergreen limbs would be pretty for Christmas and attach the cards with red ribbon.  This would be pretty in an entry way.  Also, the wicker basket at the bottom is a great idea.

I love the tree skirt made from old handkerchiefs. Quite often, I see old handkerchiefs at garage sales.  This wouldn't be hard to make and would be a wonderful gift for someone.  There are several pictures of planting bulbs.  I love to do this.  It's wonderful to have fresh flowers in your house in the winter.  Some of the flowers smell really good.  To buy good bulbs for this, I would recommend going to a good nursery not some box store to get your bulbs.  I think the nurseries carry a better quality of bulb. There are several pictures to give you some ideas of how to display them.  I would try to plant them by mid November.  They will bloom around Christmas or a little later.

The Christmas tree for the front porch is really an eye catcher.  I really like the grapevines, red berry garland and lots of lights.  I would probably use big pine cones no ornaments.  I would prefer a rustic look for the porch.  I really like this idea.  Something to think about, is picking up a Christmas tree that someone is selling at a garage sale.  Since it is outside you wouldn't have to worry about having a lot of money tied up in it.

Making arrangements with fruit and magnolia leaves is always beautiful and this is something that can remain after Christmas.  The corner of a window looks wonderful, say in your kitchen, breakfast nook, or den.  The little basket hanging on a banister is also so cute!

I hope these ideas inspire you to great holiday decorating!

Halloween Party Ideas continue.......

I love the eyeballs!  They are so cute and something savory to cut so much sugar.  The worm parfaits are delicious.  You can never go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate.  :)

Eyeball Salad

12 basil leaves
3 Roma tomatoes, thinly sliced
12 small rounds of fresh mozzarella, cut in half
24 small green olives with pimientos, cut in half
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

On a large platter, place basil leaves.  Top each leaf with a slice of tomato, 2 rounds of cheese, and 2 olive pieces.  Sprinkle zest over platter.  Drizzle each salad with a little lemon juice and olive oil. 
Serve cold.

Creepy Crawly Worm Parfait

2 (19.8 ounces) boxes dark chocolate brownie mix
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup water
6 large eggs
3 cups creamy peanut butter
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 cups frozen nondairy whipped topping
2 (4.5 ounce) bags of gummy worms

Preheat oven to 325.  Grease and flour a 13x9 baking dish and set aside.
In a large bowl beat on medium speed brownie mix, oil, water and eggs.  Pour into prepared baking dish.  Bake for 48-50 minutes or until wooden pick comes out clean.  Let cool completely.  Crumble brownies into medium chunks and set aside.

In a large bowl beat peanut butter, cream cheese, sugar, cream, vanilla until smooth and creamy.  Fold in nondairy whipped topping until mixture is well combined.

In parfait glasses, layer brownie crumbles and peanut butter mouse in two layers.  Place 2 gummy worms in each glass and top with fine brownie crumbs.

One last suggestion, sorry no picture but don't forget caramel apples.  You can always roll them in peanuts, mini chocolate chips or whatever you can think of.  Love caramel apples too.  There isn't much I don't like. :(

One more thing, when I saw the eyeball salad, I laughed.  It reminded me of a memorable Halloween party I went to at my cousin's house.  I was between 8 and 10.  Her mom dimed the lights and lit several candles and all the children sat in a circle on the floor while her mother read us this very scary story.  The story was something like this old man or some person, I don't remember the particulars, was killed and they passed around a bowl (I forgot, we were all blind folded) and said this is his brains, then it was his tongue, then eyeballs and ears. We had to stick our hands into each bowl and feel the object.   It's funny when I remembered this because I could hardly put my hand in the bowl because I really remember thinking it was real. It was funny when I could take my blind fold off.  Anyway, it was very memorable.

Have a wonderful October with your children and family however you choose to celebrate it.

Great Ideas for Halloween Parties

 

 

 

If you are having or going to a Halloween party here are some great ideas.  A great pie if you need to take a treat or a great drink to serve if you are having a party and then this pumpkin stuffed with tootsie pops is a great idea.

Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkin Pie

1-9 inch pie crust
2 large eggs, beaten
1 (11.75 ounce) jar hot fudge ice cream topping
1-8 ounce cream cheese, softened
2 cups canned pumpkin
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
 brown M&M's
Preheat oven to 350

In a medium bowl combine eggs and fudge topping (reserve about 3 tablespoons of topping to fill in the top of the pie for garnish), whisk to combine well.  Pour into a prepared pie shell and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the center is set.  Place on cooling rack and cool completely.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla and pumpkin pie spice.  Spread over top of chocolate layer.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Immediately before serving, make jack-o-lantern face with brown M&M's.  Fill in with fudge topping.  Serve immediately.


Jack-O-Lantern Drink

4 ounces of orange juice
2 ounces carbonated orange soda
1 1/2 ounces orange flavored liqueur
1 1/4 ounces spiced rum

Garnish rim of glass with lime juice and sanding sugar.  Garnish drink with orange slice and green silvered almond.

Dip rim of glass into lime juice then into sanding sugar to coat.
Mix 1/8 teaspoon of green food coloring into 1 tablespoon of water.  Soak almonds in colored water for 1 hour.  Remove and drain on paper towel until dry.
Fill shaker halfway with ice.  Add orange juice, orange soda, orange liqueur and rum.  Shake vigorously for 5-10 seconds.  Strain into prepared glasses.  Float orange slice on top with green almond stuck in the middle of orange slice.
Serve immediately.

You could omit the alcohol from this drink and make this a fun fall drink for your children.  I think kids love things like this.  A great memorable day with your children would be to go to the woods, look for beautiful leaves to bring home and press and later frame, help them to become alert to all the sounds in the woods and then come home to a jack-o-lantern pie and a jack-o-lantern orange drink!

I Like This!

  It is by Oswald Spencer a German Philosopher.

Veggie all the Way!

 

 

 

      

 

 

This is a wonderful recipe that my youngest daughter put together.  It is really delicious! Several months ago she purchased a spiralizer.  It is a wonderful kitchen tool if you want to make vegetables into noodles.  The noodles in this picture are zucchini.  Here is the recipe. 

 

1 jar of organic tomato paste,

4-5 fresh tomatoes, small and diced

dried tomatoes, reconstitute them (one jar)

4 cloves garlic, minced

red peppers flakes, according to your preference

salt and pepper to taste

small container of your favorite mushrooms

one medium onion diced

 

Put mushrooms in about 1 1/2 cups of water and cook until soft tender, rich and brown.  The water will cook down and you will need to add more water.  The second addition of water becomes very rich and starts to thicken and the mushrooms really develop a wonderful flavor.  When Katie made this the first time she sautéed the onion in a separate pan and then added the onion to the mushrooms along with the garlic.  Let all of this cook together for a couple of minutes and then add the tomato paste, diced tomatoes and reconstituted tomatoes.  Combine well and let simmer. Taste the sauce for salt and pepper.  You could also add a little Italian seasoning if you like.  While the sauce is simmering drop your zucchini into boiling water for about 2 minutes and remove it into ice water to stop cooking and drain. 

 

Plate your zucchini and top with tomato and mushroom sauce.  If you like add Parmesan cheese or nutritional yeast.