Pumpkin Krispie Treats

I get to be in charge of taking treats into Sweetheart's class for Halloween and we saw this cute idea on the Rice Krispies website.  To get the orange color of the pumpkins, we added red and yellow food coloring to the marshmallow and butter when we melted them in the sauce pan.  Z thought that the green leaves made them look like apples too much, so next time I may just go with a green stem and no leaves.  And the Rice Krispies site says you can hide a treasure (mini candybar) in the middle of each pumpkin for an extra surprise.  To see the recipe, you can go HERE.

Jell-O Brains

This year Kraft Foods came out with a Halloween masterpiece, Jell-O Brain Mold... even better, it was free, I just paid the $3 in shipping.  $3 well spent.  This will be a Halloween tradition for years to come.  Just look at the beautiful brain.  Who knew peach Jell-O mixed with evaporated milk would make such a perfect brain color.  If you have a chance you really need to get your hands on one of these babies!

Monster Sneeze Dip with Dipping Bones

Every year my awesome mom sponsors a grandkids Halloween party.  My sisters and I wrack our creative little brains to bring fun snacks and activities to the party.  This was my contribution this year.  This spinach dip also just so happens to be a family favorite!

Monster Sneeze Dip

(Knorr Spinach Dip)

Source: Knorr

Ingredients:

1 package (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, cooked, cooled and squeezed dry 1 container (16 oz.) sour cream 1 cup Hellmann's® or Best Foods® Real Mayonnaise 1 package Knorr® Vegetable recipe mix 1 can (8 oz.) water chestnuts, drained and chopped (optional) 3 green onions, chopped (optional)

Directions:Combine all ingredients and chill about 2 hours. Serve with your favorite dippers to your favorite people.

Bone Sticks:
Ingredients
1 tube prepared pizza crust

Directions:
Preheat oven according to package directions.  Cut long thin strips (about 36) and roll into bone shapes.  Place on a greased cookie sheet.  Bake according to package directions (though you may want to start watching it a couple of minutes before it it time to take them out, as they are thin and can burn easily), the crunchier the better for dipping!

Happy Halloween!



Cheesy Bacon Chicken

This dinner was both fancy and easy to make.  The bacon and cheese sticks gave it instant kid appeal!

Bacon and Cheesey Chicken

Source: Basic Bites (this website is amazing for basic, practical, family dinners that kids will eat!)

4 slices of bacon
4 cheese sticks
4 chicken breasts
Toothpicks
2 cans cream of chicken
2 cups sour cream (*I personally halved the cream of chicken and sour cream and it was plenty of sauce for the chicken and potatoes)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a bowl combine cream of chick and sour cream. Set aside.
Spray your baking dish with cooking spray.
Wrap a piece of bacon around each cheese stick.
Roll each chicken breast around the bacon and cheese and pin with a tooth pick.
(I like to slightly pound/flatten the chicken breasts to make them roll and stay in place better).
Place the rolled chicken in the baking dish.
Pour previously mixed sauce over the chicken.
Cover and bake for about an hour and a half.

**Mashed potatoes are a great side dish because the extra sauce from the chicken is great on top of the potatoes!

Professional

My dear husband saw an article today about spooky Halloween treats, which caused him to wonder if Nestle Tollhouse ever did anything with my "Dracula's Dentures" after I took second place in the Spooktacular Baking Activity last year.  And look!  They professionally styled and photographed my cookies even adding the sweet touches of a toothbrush and some denture soaking mixture.  We were pretty excited.  My recipe is up on the Nestle site.  If you are interested, you can view it HERE.  They also posted about it on their blogsite HERE.  Pretty cool, huh?

Best Tator Tot Casserole, Ever!

Every kid needs to grow up on a steady diet of Tater-tot casserole, especially kids from Idaho who have to have a side of potatoes with every meal.  And if you are going to go tater-tots, topped with cheddar and bacon is the way to go!

Bacon Cheeseburger Casseroles

From: Kraft Foods Food &Family  magazine Fall 11

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef

1 onion, chopped (I always use less than this)

1/3 cup ketchup

2 Tbsp. yellow mustard

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese (I use mild.)

8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

4 cups frozen bite-size potato nuggets

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees

2. Brown meat with onions in skillet, drain.  Stir in ketchup and mustard, spoon into 9-inch square baking dish sprayed with cooking spray.

3. Top with remainng ingredients.

4. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until casserole is heated through and potato nuggets are golden brown.

Upside-Down Pizza in a Pan

This picture comes from the Family Fun website.  I usually like to take my own picture so that you can see what it really looks like when someone who isn't a professional chef or a professional photographer cooks a meal, but life lately has been craaaaaazy between shuttling kids to piano, football practice, etc. and having Z come home at all kinds of weird hours with his work schedule... so anyways, we made this, the picture didn't get taken, but what matters is the dinner was delicious and EVERY person in my family loved it and wanted seconds.  Here is the recipe...

Upside-Down Pizza in a Pan

From: Disney's Family Fun

*I halved the recipe and it was enough to feed my family of 6, though there were no leftovers, if that gives you any indication of how much to make.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup chopped onion (My family isn't huge fans of onions, so we did about half of what this called for)

1 cup chopped mushrooms (Again, no mushroom lovers here, these were left out)

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 pounds ground turkey, (We used ground beef and it tasted great)

2 (15-ounce) cans Italian-style tomato sauce (I used a 14 oz. can of pizza sauce, worked great)

2 teaspoons dried basil

1 cup chopped pepperoni

1 teaspoon pepper

3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1 (13.8-ounce) package prepared pizza dough

Directions:

1.Heat the oven to 400°. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion, mushrooms, and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Add the turkey and continue to cook and stir, breaking the meat into small pieces, until it is no longer pink, about 8 minutes.

2.Stir in the tomato sauce, basil, and pepperoni and cook until heated through, about 5 minutes. Add the pepper, then transfer the mixture to a 9- by 13-inch casserole dish.

3.Scatter the cheese on top and layer on the pizza dough. Bake the casserole until the dough is golden, about 20 minutes. To serve, spoon out portions with a large serving utensil.