Scary Halloween Cupcakes

I know its been months since I updated this blog. I have been cooking in that time, but I seem to have lost to motivation to get to the computer, upload pics and write about what I cook. Hopefully sometime I can jump back on the blogging bandwagon.

I did take the time to upload some pics of the cupcakes I made for a Halloween party we are hosting tonight.

Some scary goblins that made using licorice pieces for the eyes, gummy fangs for mouths and candy corns for spiky heads.


And these are the mini eyeball cupcakes I made with gummy life savers, red and black jelly beans and some red frosting for veins.

Carrot Soup On The High Seas

Recently, I bought Sam a cookbook with recipes for kids. Lately, he doesnt seem interested in eating anything. I figured if I let him pick things out of the book, then have him help me make it, he will be more interested. This soup was really easy to make. It was actually very good too. Ive never thought about having carrot soup before. The kids pretty much played with their boats, ate the goldfish out and were done. I guess even fun carrot soup didnt strike their fancy this time around. Oh well, I will keep searching! If your kids arent as picky as mine, Im sure they would love this. Its a great idea for any creamy soup.

Carrot Soup on the High Seas (from The Geronimo Stilton Cookbook)

3 to 4 medium sized carrots, about 1/2 lb
1 medium sized leek, halved lengthwise
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1 to 2 Tbsp olive oil
salt to taste
1 small zucchini
2 wooden toothpicks
construction paper
goldfish shaped crackers

1. Clean and peel the carrots. Cut 2 long thing strips from 1 carrot for the sails of the boats. Set aside. Clean the leek in cold running water.

2. Cut the remaining carrots and leek into slices. Place in a saucepan. Add milk, water, olive oil, and a pinch of salt to the veggies. Cook covered, over medium heat for 20 minutes, or until the veggies are tender.

3. While the veggies are cooking, make the boats. Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise and scoop out the insides of both halves. Cut one end of each zucchini half into a sharp point to make the prow (front) of the boats. Push toothpicks through the carrot sails and stick them into each zucchini boat. If you wish, make a flag from construction paper. Stick it on top of the toothpick.

4. Let the pan of cooked veggies cool. Pour the mixture into a blender. Work in 2 or 3 batches to prevent the liquid from spilling. Bleand until creamy. Return blended soup to the pan to reheat. Pour the soup into 2 bowls. Garnish each bowl with a zucchini boat. Add goldfish shaped crackers to the soup. Enjoy.

Happy Birthday Charlie!

My little one turned 2 this week. Today we had a little pool party here at the house and it was a lot of fun. I made this cute cake and cupcakes for the party. My friend Laurel did this last year for her son's bday and I had to steal the idea! It was super easy. I cheated and used boxed yellow cake mix and pre-made icing. I dyed the blue with Wilton royal blue. The "dog food" is Coco Puffs cereal. For the cupcakes, the ears are made of Tootsie Rolls (microwaved for 10 seconds to make pliable). The big eye is a Junior Mint candy, the noses are Recees Pieces. I used brown decorator gel for the rest.

Ham and Cheese Rice Balls

I know this sounds like a funny thing, rice balls...especially ham and cheese rice balls. Well, this turned out so well! Definitely a keeper in my book. I was looking for another way to use up leftover rice and this came to me. I had made some cheesy scallion white rice the other night and had a ton leftover. So I decided to add some goodies to it and form it into balls and bread it and fry it up! Oh my, they were so yummy! I first just ate them plain and they were yummy. When I reheated the leftovers, I dipped them in ranch dressing and it was YUMMY! I think they would go so well with chive basil cream. These are filling and satisfying. My kids both loved them and I cant normally get them to eat rice and ham, so that was nice. They reminded me of the Croquettas you can find in Spain. You could add anything to these. I was thinking chopped spinach would be great with ham and cheese, or you can use any leftover meats and veggies you have in the fridge. Kind of like fried rice, these are so versatile! The rice I started out with already had a lot of Cheddar cheese and scallions in it, so season it accordingly. If you are using plain white rice, it will need more salt and pepper to pep it up, if the rice isn't already seasoned.

Ham and cheese Rice Balls

2 cups leftover cooked rice, refrigerated (my rice already had 1/2 cup Cheddar cheese and 1/2 cup parm cheese and 1/2 cup chopped scallions added to it)
1/2 cup minced ham (I just used lunch meat)
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp Louisiana hot sauce, or any hot sauce would do
salt and pepper to taste
1 egg beaten
1 tbsp water
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs

In a large bowl, mix the rice with the ham and soy sauce. Season with plenty of salt and pepper and any other spices you like. Form the rice into little balls. In a small bowl, whisk the egg with the hot sauce and water. Pour enough oil into a skillet to be 1/2 inch deep. Heat on medium heat until hot. Season the bread crumbs with some salt and pepper. Dip the rice balls into the egg mixture, then roll into bread crumbs. Fry in oil until golden brown, a couple minutes on each side. Serve hot either plain, or with a favorite dipping sauce...ranch dressing, chive basil cream, marinara.

Mummy Dogs

I thought these were really cute when I saw them on Picky Palate. I searched online and found that people made these with either refrigerated crescent dough, or bread stick dough. Just cut the dough to make long thin strips that are easy to wrap around the hot dogs. I used crescent dough, and they were really yummy. Sam loved these because he could help me cut the dough and wrap it on the hot dogs. Definitely a fun thing for kids.

1 package of Pillsbury crescent rolls
8 hot dogs

Roll out the dough and press the seams to create 4 rectangles. Cut each rectangle into 8 strips. Use 4 strips per hot dog and wrap the dough around in both directions. Make sure there is a spot that can be the "face". Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes, or a nice golden brown. Use mustard and ketchup to make little eyes on the mummy faces.

Chocolate Milk Pops

I make these for my kids all the time because they are sooo easy to throw together and because they love them. All they are is chocolate milk, frozen. I got these cute little Popsicle molds as a gift years ago. I think they came from Williams Sonoma. Anyways, these are a great easy snack for kids. They are like chocolate flavored ice pops, because they aren't that creamy like ice cream pops would be. Make sure you make the milk sweeter than you would want to drink it, because for some reason, it seems to lose that sweetness when it freezes.


2 cups milk (I used 2%)
1/2 cup Hershey's chocolate syrup

Mix together and pour into Popsicle molds. Let freeze overnight.

Chipped Beef over Toast

I know that this doesnt exactly look like a beautiful appetizing meal. I would probably be afraid of it if I didnt grow up eating it. It had been years since Id had chipped beef, aka shit-on-a-shingle and recently I was reading Whipped and she had a recipe for Creamed Beef, which is the exact same thing my mom used to make us when we were little. I have always loved these types of meals. Im a huge biscuits and gravy fan. Which is also in the shit-on-a-shingle category. My husband hates gravy and fattening stuff like this, so I really can only make this when Im alone. He is in Boston right now, so I decided to indulge. Im also hoping to get my kids hooked on it like I was.

Here is the recipe:

1 Tbps butter
1 Tbsp flour
1 cup milk
1 package Carl Buddig beef
Salt and pepper
a pinch of nutmeg

Big League Brownies

This afternoon, Sam and I were sitting around kind of bored while Charlie was taking his afternoon nap. Since Sam loves helping me in the kitchen, I decided we should bake something together. So I decided we would make these brownies that Id seen on the brownie box mix. Yes, I used a box mix. Its the easiest way when Im busy with my kids. We doctored these up though with a nice peanut buttery cheesecake filling. YUMMY. I wanted my filling to be more like cheesecake, so I subbed in some cream cheese for 1/2 of the butter. Also, I didnt realize it until after these babies were in the oven that this was a family size mix for a 9x13 pan. I poured it into a smaller pan, so we ended up with some THICK brownies. They were really yummy. And even with the cream cheese, the texture was still like peanut butter brownie. Please excuse Charlie's hand as he is reaching for the brownie. Its not always easy to photograph food and watch kids at the same time.

Big League Brownies

1 box Pillsbury Brownie Classics mix prepared and set aside

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1/3 cup margarine or butter

1/3 cup sugar

2 Tbsp flour

2 eggs

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare brownie mix and set aside.

In a small bowl, combine peanut butter and margarine. Beat until smooth. Add sugar and flour, beat until mixed. Add eggs, blend well.

Spread half of the brownie mix in bottom of a greased pan. Carefully spread peanut butter mixture over brownie mixture in pan. Spread remaining brownie mixture over peanut butter mixture. Bake for 30-33 minutes. Cool 1 hr before cutting.

Charlie's Snake Cake

I made this cake for Charlie's bday party that we had today. It was a great party and everyone thought the cake was really cute. It was super easy. I had alot going on, so I used boxed cake mix. I also bought vanilla frosting and just died it green. Its made out of 2 bundt cakes, one chocolate and one vanilla. Just cut the cakes in half and position them to look like a snake. Once frosted, I piped on a diamond design down the back with chocolate, then decorated it with M&Ms. The tongue is some candy that I bought and cut to look like a tongue. the eyes are a large marshmallow that is cut in half, with a black M&M for the pupil. I probably invested an hour total into this. Definatly worth the effort!

Hole In One Eggs

I love to make these for Sam. He loves fried eggs with toast and making it this way makes breakfast fun for him and more interesting, therefore he is more likely to sit there the entire meal and eat. (Something that seems to be a challenge sometimes) My son loves the little circle shaped toast he gets. He keeps asking for more circle toast when his is gone. My dad used to make these for my sisters and I when we were kids and I remember loving them.

For each serving:

1 slice of whole wheat toast

1 egg

1 Tbsp butter

cooking spray

salt and pepper to taste

Heat a pan with cooking spray on med-high heat. Cut a circle shape out of the slice of bread with a muffin cutter. Butter one side of the cut toast and put it in the pan. Crack an egg into the hole and let it cook for several minutes, then flip it and cook the rest of the way until its done to your liking. Season with salt and pepper.