Kelly's Korner - Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater

Hey, All

Thing One

Thing Two

Well, Saturday is Halloween and all the little ghosties and goblins will be out swarming the
 neighborhoods in search of loot.  We have quite a few little devils, minions, superheroes and princesses come to our door.  In the olden days (when I was a kid) we would get homemade treats a lot.  Unfortunately, in this day and age, that isn't possible to do with trick or treaters today.

Minions

But that doesn't mean you have to deprived yourself of those pumpkin goodies.  The stores have been going overboard with pumpkin flavored yummies.  While I am not a big pumpkin fan, there are a few things I do like.

My nephew got married this past weekend, and instead of a wedding cake, my mom and I made cupcakes and decorated them.  There was chocolate, lemon and pumpkin spice cupcakes and they were a hit.  Mom did the chocolate and lemon ones and I did the pumpkin spice.  They were very easy.  I used a package of Betty Crocker Spice cake mix and added a can of pumpkin to it - easy, right?  I baked them a little longer than called for as the pumkin adds more bulk and moisture.  Then topped it with cream cheese frosting (followed the Philadephia Cream Cheese recipe found on their website) and decorated with a icing rose and leaves.  They were a hit!

On last year's blog, I posted a recipe for pumpkin-raisin-oatmeal cookies and I'm going to make more this week.  Yum!

What is your favorite pumpkin recipe?  I'd love it if you'd share - or just send the goodies!

Trick or Treat!

Kelly's Korner - Holiday Goodies

Hey, All,

With the holiday season upon us, out comes the tried and true goodies that we wait all year for.  Why?  I don't know - we can make fudge and divinity and eggnog and whatever any time of the year but only do it during the holidays.  One of the reasons the holidays are special, I guess.

One of my holiday goodies is my version of the good old Chex mix.  I make tons of it and give it as gifts to friends, neighbors and co-workers.  Here is my recipe:

24 cups of whatever combination you want of:  Wheat Chex, Corn Chex, Rice Chex, Cheerios, nuts, pretzels (I don't like pretzels but you might), if I can find some bags of the Gardetto's rye bread chips (these I LOVE!), bagel chips, little Chinese rice crackers, gourmet bread twists, or whatever else grabs your fancy.

Creative Commons license on image.

I dump all this in my roasting pan and turn my oven on to 250 degrees.  In a microwave safe 2-cup measuring cup I melt 2 cubes of margarine, 5 tablespoons of Worchestershire sauce, three heaping teaspoons seasoned salt, 2 heaping teaspoons garlic powder and 1 heaping teaspoon of onion powder (I like to over do the seasonings lol), then pour over the cereal stuff while stirring.

Stick it in the oven and stir every 15 minutes for an hour.  When it's done I then pour it in a brown paper grocery bag to cool.  And beat my boys back to keep them out of it ;-)

When it's cool I divide it up into the cute little tins I get from the dollar store.  This makes a nice gift for someone you want to remember at the holidays and is always a hit at the office and parties.

I would really like to hear from you as to what your favorite holiday treat to make if you are not too proprietary about sharing your recipes - send them to me at kelly.m@wlmay.com.  I will also be sharing my recipe for miniature Almond Joy bites - my family won't let me come to family Christmas without them!

Have a great week!