Halloween Fun

Halloween ghost pancakes! I saw these and thought how much fun, although they didn't turn out looking quite as cute as the blog I saw them on. I think my pancake batter was too thick, I should have added a little more milk and I think they would have turned out better. I used my apple pancake recipe (also on the blog). Whole wheat healthy breakfast.

Just pour the batter in fun ghost shapes then add chocolate chips for the eyes and mouth.

These little guys came from my own little head, amazing. I bought some jello and wanted to do something fun and Halloweeny but when I looked online there was nothing for Halloween jello except to buy some molds, which I didn't have. So, we improvised.

I made orange jello and opened a can of mandarin oranges and put them in the jello. I know hard.

Except the mandarin oranges weren't really mandarin oranges, they were brains.

Spooky!

My daughter loved that part, brains in her jello.

Then when it was set up I added some cool whip for eyes and some chocolate chips on top. It turned out to be Monster jello, brains and all.

Everything's cool with a new name.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

I saw this and knew I had to make it. How cute and fun for dinner! I wish I could remember where I saw this on the web so I could give credit but I can't remember where. Let's just say I wasn't that creative to come up with this myself and that there is someone out there ticked off that I stole their idea and didn't credit them. I would like to take this time to apologize, sorry.

My daughter loved this so much she asked for seconds of trees! Who would have known that renaming them trees would get her to eat two servings.

I didn't read the story to my kids but I think when I make this again I'll read the story. Might make the dinner that much more fun.

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Carrot Cake

I love carrot cake. I don't make it or get it very often but I love it. It was my wedding cake, which I ate mainly by myself. What could be better? It's the perfect blend of spice and cake plus you can pretend it's healthy, carrots right? Some cream cheese frosting on top makes it perfect.

Start with some sugar. Lots of sugar.

Some oil. Here's where I wanted to drift from the recipe but I forced myself to stick to it. I wanted to change out half the oil for applesauce.

A few eggs.

Mix them all together and what do you get? A runny mess.

A few cups of flour.

A pinch of salt. I used sea salt.

Some baking powder and since baking soda is the same thing we'll count that as both.

Cinnamon, should I say more? No, I don't think I will.

Blend all together, not looking fantastic.

Doesn't that look fantastic?

All blended up and ready to go.

I was disappointed to see they had sunk in the middle.

Didn't really matter since the frosting covered it up. Want the recipe? Check out The Pioneer Woman.

Cherpumple

I know you're wondering, or maybe in a few weeks you'll be wondering, what the perfect dessert will be for Thanksgiving. Cake or Pie? Well I have the answer for you, it's the cherpumple. Cherry, apple, and pumpkin pie all baked in cake, white, yellow, and spice.

I'm still not sure about this combination. I'm not even sure if cake and pie mix. Part of me is disgusted and part of me wants to run to the store and buy all necessary ingredients to make it.

You have to watch how to make it, Charles Phoenix shows you how.

(It's a crime to call this) Banana Bread

We should get something straight before you read about this banana bread, I don't like bananas. I will only eat them if they are green and I'm the person at Dairy Queen asking to see the bananas before I buy a banana split. I only make banana bread because my husband likes it and I try to be a good wife.

I started out with some bananas that were extra ripe that had been frozen. Look unappetizing don't they?

Two sticks of butter, are you impressed? Plus a lot of sugar.

Cream them together.

Add an egg.

Stir those together.

Mix the bananas in.

Mix all the dry ingredients together.

Pour half of the dry ingredients to the banana mixture.

You must be thinking what is that? Any guesses?

Yogurt.

Are you wondering how yogurt looks like that? I froze it a while ago and the recipe called for sour cream, which I didn't have so I got out the frozen yogurt and defrosted it. This is what happened. Didn't seem to affect the cake though.

All blended together.

Here it is in the bunt pan. I have to admit, here's where I started to worry things wouldn't work out.

But when it came out looking like that, my mind was changed.

I have to admit, I ate several pieces with butter and wanted to eat several more.
Here's the recipe, The Pioneer Woman

Homemade Mac and Cheese

(Not the most awe shocking picture but kids were screaming for dinner, I took one and dished up)

So my daughter came to me a while back and asked for mac and cheese for dinner. Well, I didn't want to make the regular store bought kind. I wanted to go all out, impress her so I went to the person who impresses me, The Pioneer Woman. I found a recipe on her blog and decided to follow it, click on her name to find the recipe. I should mention that I halved her recipe, I just didn't need a pot full of mac and cheese.

I started off using whole wheat noodles instead of regular plane ones. We're trying to make changes, one ingredient at a time.

Note I said one ingredient at a time.

Bubbly and bright, not like me.

Alright, I skipped a few steps with picture taking here. I added flour and mixed it with the butter and then added milk. I know the Pioneer Woman calls for whole milk but really I only used 1%. This is where the recipe went a little weird for me. I scratched my head and finally said alright you've never let me down. Any guesses on what the mystery ingredient is?

Any?

Mustard.

Are you scratching your head yet?

Another head scratcher? An egg.

Pour a little of the sauce into the egg, but slowly so you don't cook the egg. That might be gross, little bites of cooked egg in your mac and cheese. Once it looks like this add it to the rest of the sauce.

The best part, cheese!

And why not, more cheese. I used mozzarella and cheddar. Stir and you're done and you can feed your screaming children like I did.

On a side note, in the past I have cooked cauliflower, put it in a blender till it wasn't recognizable and then added it to homemade mac and cheese. Your kids will never know they're getting vegetables with their cheesy noodles.

Graveyard Cups

You can even see the little gummy worm smiling at you! I wanted to add some whip cream ghosts but I didn't have any whip cream that wasn't frozen.

I decided to do some coconut cocadas for the gravestone. I liked the shape but you're welcome to use whatever cookie you want.

I put the cookies in a bag and . . .

let my daughter loose. Best part of the whole thing.

Then we mixed up the chocolate pudding, another great part where my daughter could help.

We put the pudding in some bowls and I added a worm to the bottom so he could be a secret surprise.

Then we added the crushed or dirt to the pudding.

The best part of this whole thing? Being able to make a great dessert with my daughter being hands on.