HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Hope you are all having a fun October! Here is a picture of the Jack-O-Lantern's we carved this week. My kids are so excited to go Trick or Treating. My boys are dressing up as little cowboys. They are the cutest little cowboys I've ever seen! I will be dressing up as Dolly Parton, my husband is a Gold Miner and our little girl is his Gold Nugget. We went with a Western theme this year. We are all excited for Halloween. Our food menu for the day will be Pumpkin Pancakes for breakfast, Mummy Dogs and Apple Peanut Butter monster mouths for lunch, and Chili and Cornbread for dinner. Halloween is my favorite holiday, and we have been celebrating all month between our sicknesses. Yes, we were victims of the Swine Flu! We had it... it was an awful week... but now we are done with it! Here is a great last minute Halloween treat idea. It is so simple. They are super kid friendly...especially with the sucker stick.


All you have to do is make Rice Krispie treats by following the recipe on the box. Spread into a buttered cookie sheet. To make spreading a lot easier use a fork and dip your fork in cold water as you spread. Sprinkle with Halloween colored sprinkles. Let them cool completely before cutting out with your favorite Halloween cookie cutters. Add mini chocolate chips for eyes if desired. Stick your sucker stick in and you've got a treat! You can wrap them up as party favors, class treats, or just to throw into your kids' lunch box. I don't know a kid who doesn't like rice krispie treats. They are always a big hit!

Enjoy, and have a happy and safe Halloween! We carved this pumpkin today with a stencil I found online. My kids were just tickled to have a Mickey pumpkin. Tomorrow I am going to make some Haunted Gingerbread Houses. I will just use Graham Crackers, chocolate and orange frosting and Halloween candies. If they turnout, I will post them next year.

HAVE A SPOOKTACULAR HALLOWEEN!

Melt in your mouth muffins & Halloween Muddy Buddies

These muffins are my all time favorite! My little boy could hardly wait to get his hands on these. My mom used to make them regularly when I was growing up. I remember we gave this mix out for Christmas one year. We spent hours together as a family making the mix and delivering it to our neighbors. They are so yummy and yes, they do melt in your mouth! This recipe come from a book called: Make-a-Mix Cookery. It is filled with master mixes that you can put together and have ready to pull out for almost anything. Here's the one for this recipe.

Master Mix
8 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup baking powder
1 Tbsp salt

Mix all ingredients and store in a large airtight container. Us within 10-12 weeks. It's so nice to have this sitting in my cupboard.

Melt in your Mouth Muffins
2 1/3 cups muffin mix (master mix - recipe above)
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk
3 Tbsp oil

Combine all ingredients. Stuir until mix is just moistened; batter should be lumpy. Fill greased muffin pan 2/3 full. Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. Makes 12 muffins.

Melt 1 cube butter. Make a mixture of cinnamon & sugar. Roll muffins in butter and then cinnamon/sugar mixture. Enjoy!

I know that just about everyone LOVES muddy buddies. This is a favorite at my house. We decided to spice up our muddy buddies with candy corn and halloween M&M's. They were a hit. I thought this would make a cute gift for a teacher or friend. I used the recipe found right on the Rice Chex Cereal box. I then added the M&M's & candy corn. I posted this recipe last year at Christmas time with Christmas M&M's. You can search under Christmas for that recipe.

Hope everyone has a Happy Halloween!

AMAZING Cornbread

Yes, I am still alive! I haven't posted for forever, and I am sorry. I think that we are all at different times and seasons of our lives, and I am in a busy one!!! I do have good intentions for posting, because I take pictures of my food all the time. I just can't hit the next step of actually posting it. Maybe next year! For now, I am just going to do what I can. I am posting this yummy cornbread recipe because it has been so highly requested. I got it from the talented Melanie at http://www.mykitchencafe.blogspot.com/ . She has got an amazing blog and this cornbread is triple amazing! You will want to throw away all of those packaged cornbread mixes. This cornbread will blow you away. I served it at our annual family Halloween party over the weekend and got many compliments. So thank you to Melanie for sharing this recipe. It is moist, sweet, and delicious! You do not want to miss out on this cornbread. I had to make it again yesterday so that we could have some leftovers. LOVE IT!!!

Cornbread
From: Melanie at My Kitchen Cafe

½ cup cornmeal
1 ½ cup flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup oil
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 eggs, beaten
1 ¼ cup milk

Add dry ingredients, make a well and add oil, butter, eggs, and milk into the center. Stir until just mixed (batter will be runny - don't be alarmed!). Bake in an 8” square pan at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. This doubles perfectly for a 9X13-inch pan.

***I like to drizzle honey all over the cornbread after baking. You know this is a good cornbread, because the honey seeps right into the bread and doesn't just drizzle off the sides like the packaged cornbread mixes.

I like to make my dry ingredients and store in a ziploc so that I have it on hand and all ready to just add my wet ingredients.