Halloween Fun

I thought I would join in the fun today at All The Small Stuff and...

Balancing Beauty and Bedlam because I have a great cupcake recipe to share with you for Halloween. Please visit these two very talented ladies later to view all of the mouthwatering recipes from the other participants. Thank you ladies for hosting this fun event!

Last weekend we had an Octoberfest block party in our neighborhood. I was asked to make some cupcakes for the event and after searching the internet for some ideas, I came up with these:

Hmmm....not the best photos but you get the idea! These were taken very early in the morning so I am showing both pictures - with flash and without flash. I made these beauties at 4:00 in the morning before I left for work so that my hubby could take them to the party - hence the rush job on the lettering! The kiddos didn't seem to mind though :-)

So simple to make and not too scary for the little ones! They were a huge hit and disappeared quickly.

If I were to make these again I would probably use a different frosting for the word"Boo". The gel icing wasn't thick enough and made it kind of messy to eat.

The "tombstones" were made with NutterButter Cookies

I dipped them in melted white chocolate. You could probably use the Milano cookies from Pepperidge Farms instead if you wanted to leave them plain.

These cupcakes are so rich because I used my favorite cupcake recipe - you could always use a mix from a box for these as well.

Here is my very favorite cupcake recipe - I am sure they will be your favorite too. They have cream cheese and chocolate chips in the middle of them - yummy!

Black Bottom Cupcakes

3 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup cocoa

2 tsps baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 cups water

2 tablespoons vinegar

2 tsps vanilla

3/4 cup oil

Filling:

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

8 oz. cream cheese

1 (6 oz.) pkg. chocolate chips

Mix cupcake ingredients in bowl. Pour into cupcake containers. Fill halfway.

Filling:

Mix filling ingredients except chips.Whip until fluffy, add chocolate chips. Spoon heaping teaspoon of filling in center of each cupcake. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Check with toothpick. Store in refrigerator.

Hope you enjoy them!

Blessings to you,

It's Foodie Friday - Timesaving Tips Part 1

Special thanks to Designs by Gollum for hosting this fun event! To view other great recipes stop by Gollum's for some mouth-watering fun!

I am sooooo glad it is Friday! It has been such a busy week for me. I have been busy this week preparing meals for wonderful neighbors/friends who just had their second baby. They are a couple who have been blessed with much so they are not in need of any more baby things, but what they WILL need is the gift of meals so that mom can put her full concentration on her new little bundle.

I wanted to make them two dinners for their first days home with baby. After discussing with them what would work best, we decided on this menu:

Meal One:
Lasagna
Caesar Salad
Homemade Whole Wheat Bread
Lemon "Poke" Cake

Meal Two:
Chicken Fajitas
Spanish Rice
Old-Fashioned Banana Chocolate Chip Bread

Because I work during the week until 5:00 pm, I knew it would be hard to get it all done in one day - so I used some of the meal preparation techniques that I used to employ when all of my kids were at home. When making meals for a large family, I used to do a LOT of freezer/batch cooking. It saves a lot of time and when jobs are broken up into a series of small steps over a period of time, it isn't such an exhausting endeavor.

I thought that I would share some of my ideas with you today!




As I have told you before, I am a list maker. I HAVE to write all of my plans down or I find myself running in circles. Writing out a list keeps me on track and helps me to break everything down into a series of manageable steps. To make all of this when working full time AND going to school - it would be too much work to do it all in one evening! Breaking it down into steps over a few days made the task easier and not as overwhelming.


My first day of baking consisted of making the spaghetti sauce for my Lasagna. While doing so, I made an extra large amount and froze the extra sauce to be used for spaghetti at a later date.


The second day I prepared the Lasagna. I made two - one for our family and one for our neighbors. It didn't take very long to prepare two so I now have a lasagna in my freezer for an evening when I don't feel like cooking or for a school night when I am pressed for time. If you are counting, that is now TWO meals in my freezer - with very little extra effort on my part.

I made the lasagna in the aluminum pan so that the family could throw it away afterwards and not have to worry about getting containers back to me.


When I have bananas that are too ripe, I will stick them in the freezer (still in their peels) to be used at a later date. Bananas ripen so quickly during the summers here - I hate them to go to waste and this way I can make banana bread whenever I want to. I took some bananas out of the freezer in the morning and put them in the refrigerator. When I got home from work they were thawed, and ready to make into bread.


Oops! I didn't take a picture of the banana bread! Here is the yummy recipe though:

Old Fashioned Banana/Chocolate Chip Bread
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened
1-1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1-1/2 cup flour
Pinch of salt
1 cup coarsely mashed bananas (2 small bananas)
1 cup (6oz.) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla

Stir together sour cream and baking soda and set aside. Cream butter with sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in sour cream mixture. Stir in remaining ingredients until dry ingredients are well blended. Do not over mix. Divide mix into 3 greased mini loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Cool in pan 15 minutes.

This is the very best banana bread! It is so moist and VERY rich! You will love it - So fast to make too!


The next morning I worked on preparing my bread dough. I have a KitchenAide mixer. It is by FAR the best investment we have ever made for our kitchen. This wonderful "servant" helps me so much! Making bread can be so tedious when having to take the time to knead it for 10 minutes. With a KitchenAide mixer, I can use the bread hook attachment, and go on to do other things while the mixer does all of the hard work.



After mixing, I grease a bowl and place the dough in the refrigerator for the first "rise". This saves me time and when I got home from work, I took the bread dough out and formed it into loaves to rise while I prepared the rest of my meals. Making homemade bread can be time consuming because of the amount of time it needs to rise but if you do it this way, and prepare the dough in the morning and let it rise while you are preparing your dinner for the family, you can enjoy fresh homemade bread any day of the week - not just for special occasions!


I just LOVE the smell of homemade bread don't you?


Speedy Whole Wheat Bread
2-1/2 to 3 cups all purpose flour
1-1/2 tsps salt
3 pkgs active dry yeast
2-1/4 cups water
1/4 cup honey
3 tablespoons margarine or butter
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 egg white, beaten

In large bowl, combine 2 cups all-purpose flour,salt and yeast; mix well. In a small saucepan, heat water,honey and margarine until very warm (120 to 130 degrees F). Add warm liquid to flour mixture; blend at low speed until moistened. Beat 3 minutes at medium speed. By hand, stir in whole wheat flour and an additional 1/4 to 1/2 cup all purpose flour until dough pulls cleanly away from the sides of the bowl.

On floured surface, knead in 1/4 to 1/2 cup all purpose flour until dough is smooth and elastic, 5 to 8 minutes. If you have a KitchenAide or stand up mixer, use your bread hook to do this part for you! Place dough in a greased plastic wrap and cloth towel. Place bowl in a pan of warm water; let rise for 15 minutes. OR *This is when I put the bread dough in my refrigerator instead - to take out later that evening. I can then finish the rise process while I make the rest of the meal.*



*If you are letting bread dough rise in the refrigerator - take it out later and let it rise for 15 minutes over a pan of warm water to bring it back to a warm temperature.* THEN....

Grease large cookie sheet or a 15x10x1 inch baking pan. Punch down dough several times to remove all air bubbles. Divide dough in half and shape into two loaves. Place both onto greased cookie sheet. With a sharp knife, make three 1/8 inch deep slashes on top of each loaf. Carefully brush loaves with egg white. Cover and let rise in warm place until light and doubled in size - about 15 minutes.


Heat oven to 375 degrees. Uncover bread dough. Bake 25 to 35 minutes until golden brown and loaves sound hollow when lightly tapped. Immediately remove from cookie sheet; cool on racks for 1 hour or until completely cooled. I like to cover with a towel to help soften them.

Yummy! Your house will smell wonderful! This makes good bread for sandwiches too.

Next Friday I will share part two of these meal preparations. I hope you will join me NEXT time - I will share my chicken fajita and spanish rice recipes and prep tips with you then.

Blessings,

Kymber

Foodie Friday

Special thanks to Designs by Gollum for hosting this fun event! To view other great recipes stop by Gollum's for some mouth-watering fun!

It is Good Friday today - the perfect time to start thinking about the recipes you will prepare for your Easter Dinner (or Brunch for that matter). I thought I would share some family recipes that I make for our Easter meal. Every year we have a Pineapple/Mustard Glazed Ham, Macaroni Salad, Ranch Potatoes, Rolls and a dessert of some kind. This meal has become a family tradition.

My Macaroni Salad is a big hit at any function I bring it to so I thought I would share it with you! I hope it doesn't cause frustration though, as I don't have exact measurements for you - I got this recipe from my mother in law years ago and she usually just made this "to taste". If you know the main ingredients, you really can't go wrong with this - you just need to do a bit of taste-testing along the way to get it to your liking. No problem there - right?




This picture isn't the best - I made this salad for our Builders one day for their lunch. That is why it looks huge! It takes a lot of salad to feed 30+ people!
This macaroni salad will cause my brother to come visit! It is that good! Now that I am living in Georgia, it may take a little bit more to persuade him to come though - I may need to make his favorite cookies as well!~smile~

Renate's Macaroni Salad
Salad Macaroni - 1 pkg. (I use the smallest macaroni noodles you can find - I can't seem to find small noodles here, so I used shell macaroni for the salad pictured above)
Green Onions - (2 or 3) chopped
Sharp Cheddar Cheese - cut into cubes
Hard-Boiled Eggs
Sweet Pickles (NO substitutes! - this is what gives the salad its flavor)
Miracle Whip - 1 cup (again - do NOT substitute regluar mayo for this recipe)
Mustard - 1 tsp
Sugar - 2-3 tsp

What I do for this salad is cut up all ingredients and mix together - keep adding until you have the right amounts to your liking. There should be equal amounts of eggs, cheese, and pickles. Go easy on the green onions though!
Mix together Miracle Whip, mustard and sugar. Depending upon how much salad you make, you can add more of this dressing if needed. We like it VERY creamy! For added flavor, you can add a little pickle juice too. Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate for a few hours to blend flavors.

I hope you try this - you won't be disappointed! if you make it let me know what your family thinks. I bet they ask you for more!


This is another picture I took of a meal I had prepared for our church builders. I usually make this cake in a bundt cake pan. To make enough for 30+ people, practicality won over beauty! I had to make it in pans that could be discarded after use.

This is a wonderful Springtime recipe. It is so refreshing and sweet. It is called Lemon Poke Cake - hence the reason for the holes that you see in this picture! This is a great recipe to make for your kids - they will love it as it has lemony icing that is pored over the cake after it comes out of the oven. Sooo good! When you make it in a Bundt Cake pan - remove it from the pan and invert it, the holes aren't seen - so the presentation is better than you see here.
Here is the scrumptious recipe:
Lemon Crazy Poke Cake
1 box Lemon Cake Mix
1 small box Lemon Jello
4 eggs
3/4 cup Water
3/4 cup Vegetable Oil

Icing:
2 cups Powdered Sugar
4 Tablespoons Reallemon ( concentrated lemon juice) - or juice of 2 lemons
Mix cake ingredients all together. Beat 4 minutes, pour into greased and floured 9x13-inch pan or Bundt Cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes. Bundt Cake pan may require more baking time - check with fork after 35 minutes - adjust as needed. Mix powdered sugar with lemon juice, let stand while cake is baking. Immediately when cake is done, poke holes all over with toothpicks or wooden spoon handle. Pour lemon mixture over the top while cake is still hot. It will harden as it cools to make crunchy, yummy icing. This is so good!

Hope you enjoy these!
I am off to look at your great recipes now-

I pray that you are able to enjoy a relaxing, peaceful Easter weekend with your loved ones!
Blessings,
Kymber

It's Foodie Friday!

Special thanks to Gollum for hosting this fun event! To view other great recipes stop by Gollum's for some mouth-watering fun!
This is my first time participating, although I have wanted to join in the fun for awhile now. Such great recipes you girls are sharing - Yummo!

I have spent the better part of the week baking another meal for our Builders For Christ. If you haven't read about what these lovely people are doing for our church, read about them here. We are so blessed to have them here to help us build our new church building. I wanted to make them something special this week. I am sharing the meal preps with a friend so the task isn't as daunting as it was the first time that I did this. Keep in mind - we have to feed 35 hungry people breakfast, lunch and two snacks during the day. It is a huge undertaking!
My job was to prepare the breakfast, snack and side dish. Here is what I came up with for their breakfast:

I was trying to make something substantial that would stick to the ribs for a bit. They work so hard! These muffins are packed with delicious goodness! Keep in mind - it is very hard to photograph these and do them justice - I wish I could have piped in the smell as well. Oh the house smelled heavenly!


These are called Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins. They have everything in them but the kitchen sink! I have doubled the recipe so that they overflowed my large muffin pans. You can't really tell by the picture, but these are as large as the biggest "Costco" muffins! And they are quite heavy too! Very filling for hungry hardworking men. I got this recipe from a Washington Bed and Breakfast Cookbook that I own. All of the recipes from this cookbook are scrumptious - all tried and true from Bed and Breakfasts all over Washington State.

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins
(From Holly Hedge House - located in Renton Washington)
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup cooked oatmeal (a great way to use up your leftover oatmeal)
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 12 muffin cups (to use jumbo muffin cups - double this recipe.) In a large bowl, cream together shortening, sugar, egg and vanilla. Add mashed bananas and cooked oatmeal. Sift in flour, baking soda and salt. Stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in chocolate chips.
Spoon batter into greased prepared muffin cups. Bake for 22-25 minutes, or until done. (If using larger muffin cups, you may have to increase your baking time - after your regular baking time, just check every 3 minutes - til done)
Cool on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes, then remove muffins from pans. Good served warm or cold.
Makes 12 muffins.

As you know, I am a mother of seven and even though they are no longer all with me I'm still not used to baking anything on a small scale. I have always doubled recipes. it doesn't take that much extra time to do this -and I am able to have an extra batch (or casserole - whatever I happen to be making) for the freezer. I have learned to be frugal over the years and tend to save everything and put it in the freezer for future use. This not only saves money, but also can be a prepared meal for those days you don't feel like cooking! Saves a trip to the local takeout place each week - Money in your pocket to spend on other things!

The bananas for this recipe came out of my freezer. Here in Georgia, I have noticed that bananas ripen at an accelerated rate! Instead of wasting them and throwing them away, I cut the ends off - leaving them in the peels, put them in a ziploc baggie and save them for future recipes. I take them out of the freezer in the morning, they thaw very quickly and I squeeze them out of the peels like a tube of toothpaste - sounds and looks gross I know - but they are ripe and delicious for any dessert or bread that you want to make. Simple and handy for a dish at a moments notice!

It is very hard to photograph muffins and make them look good - but believe me - these are delicious - And HUGE! These were made in my jumbo muffin pans and have a crispy streusel topping. Yummy! Store these beauties in your refrigerator - if they last that long!
I got these off of the internet some time ago - I have cut and pasted the recipe here.

Strawberry Streusel Muffins
MUFFINS:
2 c. flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. fresh strawberries, chopped, (about 12 strawberries)
1/3 c. sugar
1/2 c. whipping cream
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/3 c. butter, melted
STREUSEL TOPPING:
1/3 c. flour
1/4 c. pecans, finely chopped
1/4 c. sugar
3 tbsp. butter, at room temperature
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
Edited to add: I used jumbo sized muffin pans for these - double the recipe if using larger pans.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine strawberries and sugar. Let stand 5 minutes. Stir in cream, egg and vanilla until well blended. Add strawberry mixture to flour, baking powder and salt mixture. Add butter and stir just until blended. Spoon into 10 to 12 greased muffin pan cups. Sprinkle with topping.
FOR TOPPING: Combine flour, pecans, sugar, butter, and cinnamon in a medium bowl until mixture comes together in large crumbs. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Larger muffins will require longer baking time. Bake for 25 minutes if using larger pans.


In place of the whipping cream, you can use half and half - or just plain milk to cut down on calories. I used fresh strawberries cut up fairly small for this recipe - this is another recipe that you can use items straight from your freezer. Whenever I buy strawberries and I notice that they are starting to ripen faster than we will eat them, I will cut them up and throw them in the freezer to add in future meals. By doing this you can enjoy berries and fruits year round - you won't have to wait for the warmer seasons. I also freeze cranberries and eggnog during the winter months- left over from the holidays to use in muffins. Eggnog - that is leftover can be put in ice cube trays and frozen to make eggnog bread anytime of the year!

For the side dish that I made for the Builders For Christ, I prepared a delicious family recipe - Macaroni Salad (my brother's favorite dish - if I ever want to see him, all I have to do is make some macaroni salad and he is sure to show up!)
I also made Lemon Poke Cake for their dessert. I will share these with you next Friday!
I hope you will try these recipes- you won't be disappointed. Your house will smell wonderful and your family will be so happy! My son came into the room while I was baking - he sighed a happy sigh and said "Oh I just LOVE baking days!"
Blessings to you on your baking day,
Kymber