Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! I have been busy today getting Saul's and my costumes ready for tomorrow. We are going to meet my sister and go trick or treating and then go out for pizza with the kids. So I thought I should do something "spooky" for our supper. I just made a very simple hot dish (casserole for those not of the Minnesota region). I call it Ghosts in the Graveyard. I saw something like it in Taste of Home magazine but couldn't find where I put the book! So I just did it my own way. Saul thought it was hilarious! I love making silly meals for him, it gives me so much joy when he sees silly food on his plate.Such simple little things creates lots of laughter out of my sweet boy! Hope everyone will have a "spooktacular" Halloween! Be safe!!!!!

Click here for Printable Recipe

Ghosts in the Graveyard

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. extra lean ground beef
• 1 onion chopped
• 1/2 tbsp garlic
• 1 cup frozen mixed vegetables
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 medium potatoes cubed
• water for boiling
• 2 tbsp butter or margarine
• 1/8 cup milk (more or less)
• salt and pepper to taste
• Cooked Peas for the eyes and mouth

Directions:
Put potatoes on to boil. Meanwhile, brown ground beef, onion and garlic until cooked through. Add vegetables and continue to cook for a couple of minutes. Stir in soup and milk and heat through. Salt and pepper to taste. After potatoes are fork tender, drain and coarsely mash with the butter. Salt and pepper to taste. Spoon mashed potatoes in about 1/2 cup increments into the prepared ground beef and shape with two spoons to look like ghosts. Add the peas for the eyes and mouth.

I only made three ghosts because there is only the three of us, but you can form as many as you would like!

Recipe: Krusczyki

For Mother's Day, my step-mom put in a special request for an angel food cake. I was happy to oblige. Unfortunately, it left me with a lot of left-over egg yolks.

I scoured the Internet for a delicious way to use up the egg yolks. Most of the recipes I found were for sponge cake or something that would be baked in the same type of pan as the angel food cake. Now, that wouldn't work for me because, well, I had an angel food cake in that pan!

I was delighted for find this recipe for Krusczyki on Allrecipes.com (posted by SHARONA669). I'd never heard of it before, and there was no picture to go along with the recipe, but I thought I'd take a gamble.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 14 egg yolks
• 1 pint sour cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 8 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups shortening
• 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar for decoration

Directions:

1. In a large bowl mix together all ingredients except shortening and confectioners' sugar. Stir into a ball, then turn dough out onto a floured surface . Knead dough for 1/2 hour. If you have a mixer with a dough hook attachment, mix for about 15 minutes.
2. Let dough rest for 10 minutes.
3. On a floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4 to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut into strips that are 3 inches long and 1 inch wide. In the center of each strip, cut a 1 inch slit, lengthwise.
   
   Pull one end of the strip through the slit to form a bow.
   
   (This is my interpretation of making a "bow". They kind of look like little bow ties, right?)
4. In a frying pan or an electric skillet, melt shortening and heat to about 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). in a frying pan this would be on medium high heat.
5. Place cookies in hot oil. Cook on both sides until lightly browned then remove to a paper towel.
6. Dust finished cookies with confectioners sugar.

I brought these over for Mother's Day brunch. Everyone loved them!! They are not a real sweet cookie but are more like a little doughnut. I was surprised at how well they were received.

Yum Yum!!

For Thanksgiving, I made a pumpkin cheesecake. It turned out picture perfect, so I had to post a pic online.

My sister, Treva, is the pie maker in our family, and she makes some delicious pies. I think this past Thanksgiving she brought 6 or 8 pies to Thanksgiving dinner. Unfortunately, I was in MN and was unable to partake. I probably should have tried my hand at making a pie in her honor, but I chose to make a pumpkin cheesecake instead. It certainly was delicious. Maybe next year, I'll make a pie, too. :-)

early Thanksgiving 2006

We celebrated Thanksgiving a little early this year (the Saturday before), because Nathan came for a visit. I made the whole spread--9 lb turkey, stuffing, potatoes, gravy, green beans, cranberry sauce and applesauce and pumpkin cake for dessert.

It was fun to do, but I was a little pressed for time. Dinner was supposed to start at 5 p.m. (We'd invited the Elders over as well, and they had a baptism at 7 p.m., so timing was essential), but the turkey didn't cook quite as quickly as I'd calculated. We ended up eating around 5:45. :-( Everything tasted good, so I think I'd do it again--without any morning plans. (I'd spent the morning at a PartyLite regional meeting, and hadn't gotten home until 1:45 p.m.)

Here is a pic of our Thanksgiving dinner table. We even used the good dishes.
I would have liked to have gotten a few more pictures from the evening--with the missionaries, Nathan, Jeff and I, but we were too short on time, and I wanted the Elders to be able to eat.
I saved the turkey carcass after dinner to try my hand at making some homemade turkey soup. Here's a pic:
The soup turned out pretty good, but it could have definitely used more salt and more substance. I put in celery, carrots, turkey (of course), potatoes and orzo pasta. Next time, I'll definitely add more of everything and no orzo pasta. I thought that would be good, but it got too mushy and was a weird slimy texture. Next time, I'll think I'll use spirals. With only 3 of us at home, we'll be eating soup for quite awhile! :-)
I also made some baking soda biscuits--from scratch--to accompany the soup. I'd never made them before. They tasted pretty yummy, but they didn't rise all that much. Maybe that's the way they're supposed to be...