Happy Halloween! Owl Cupcakes

The first two animal sounds Cash ever made were the "hooo, hooo" of the owl and the "eeee, eeee, eeee" of the monkey so for Halloween it only made perfect sense that I make owl cupcakes and he dress up like a monkey!



I've seen versions of this cupcake all over the Internet, and apparently they're from the book Hello, Cupcake. Mine are a much simpler version - no fancy piping and such - but done this way they're super kid-friendly and would be a great project with your little ghouls! And of course, since it's Halloween I couldn't make just any owl cupcake. My owls had to be residents of the Demented Forest. (But they're still cute as buttons, aren't they?!) So Happy Halloween to you and yours! May your jack-o-lanterns shine bright tonight, and may your pumpkin buckets be full of what else, chocolate!



Materials for Owl Cupcakes:

* Yellow cupcakes in white wrappers. (Flavor is really up to you.)
* Chocolate frosting. (Again, flavor is up to you.)
* Regular-size Oreos, split in half. (I found it easiest to use a knife to barely pop them apart, and then I did the best I could to clean off the crumbs left behind.) The eyebrows are the half of the Oreo with no cream, carefully split - this was the hardest part!
* The beaks are Good & Fruity.
* And the beady little eyes are Gobstoppers.

Black Bean and Salsa Soup

I've mentioned before that I've been trying to cook meatless or meat-lite meals a bit more often. Not only does this help the pocketbook, but it helps our arteries, too! I have to admit that we're almost addicted to meat - especially chicken - so it can be hard to persuade Brad that we can do without once in awhile. (I'm telling you - the man really loves his chicken!) Pastas are a given, but if you take tofu out of the mix (we're not so into pure tofu in this house) you have to get a bit creative.

Enter soup.

Brad really likes soups of all kind, but the canned varieties have too much sodium in them so I try to avoid them. Also, canned soup may be cheap, but there is nothing like making a big pot of the homemade kind to really stretch your dollar, and this Black Bean and Salsa soup is no exception! The recipe calls for canned beans, but I see no reason you couldn't cook your own dried beans instead (to avoid even more sodium.) Play around with the heat-level of your salsa - you can really tailor this to your own tastes. And the toppings? I ate mine plain tonight, but of course sour cream and green onions (as the recipe calls for) would be great as would crushed tortilla chips or perhaps some chopped avocado. And if you just have to serve meat to make it a meal try a little shredded chicken - I think it would make this soup even heartier.

Black Bean and Salsa Soup
AllRecipes
Printer-friendly recipe

Ingredients
2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 cup chunky salsa
1 teaspoon ground cumin
4 tablespoons sour cream
2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onion

Directions
1. In an electric food processor or blender, combine beans, broth, salsa, and cumin. Blend until fairly smooth.
2. Heat the bean mixture in a saucepan over medium heat until thoroughly heated.
3. Ladle soup into 4 individual bowls, and top each bowl with 1 tablespoon of the sour cream and 1/2 tablespoon green onion.

Fall and Thanksgiving Recipes

Thanksgiving is only a few weeks away! Are you ready for that all-important meal? Do you have friends and family coming into town? These recipes are sure to be a hit.

Behind-the-Stove Rolls
Herb and Bacon Cornbread Stuffing
Pumpkin Waffles
Applesauce Spice Cake
Fresh Apple Cake
Pear Upsidedown Cake
Gingerbread Muffins
Braised Mustard Greens with Garlic
Simple Baked Apples
Butterscotch Pumpkin Muffins
Mini Pecan Pies
Corn Pudding
Apple-Walnut Muffins

Autumn and Halloween Goodies

Looking for inspiration this fall? Trying to find a creative way to say "Boo!"? Ready to make the house smell like apples and cinnamon? Check out these recipes!

Applesauce Spice Cake
Apple Streusel Cake
Apple Walnut Muffins
Black Bean and Salsa Soup 
Butterscotch Pumpkin Muffins
Butterscotch-Maple Cupcakes With Butterscotch-Maple Cream-Cheese Frosting 
Creamy Sweet Potato Soup
Devil's Food Halloween Cupcakes
Fresh Apple Cake with Butterscotch Icing
Fresh Apple Cake
Fried Apple Pies
Ghostly Petit Fours
Gingerbread Muffins
Halloween Owl Cupcakes
Pear Upsidedown Cake
Pumpkin Waffles
Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
Southern Biscuits and Apple Butter
Simple Baked Apples

Honey Cornbread Muffins

I know there are a lot of you out there like me: busy men and women who want to have a homecooked meal on the table as often as possible. You also know that this is no easy feat. As much as the professionals would like us to believe that a hot, homemade meal every night is possible it's just not. Sometimes I wonder if they every do things like take their children to music classes, go to parent meetings, carry kids to sports practices and attend religious events. If you're like me you don't work all day, come straight home and stay there. Being short on time doesn't have to kill the dream, though, you know?

The freezer is always there to save the day!



I freeze so many things, and again, I'm sure I'm like a lot of you in this way. In my freezer right now you'll find: pizza dough, homemade breadcrumbs, flash-frozen fruits and vegetables including peppers, brussels sprouts, blueberries, strawberries, zucchini and squash; balls of cookie dough; pecans; and lots of organic, free-range chicken, sausage and beef from the farmers market (thanks to my dad!) If you had looked a couple of days ago you would have found a bag of homemade biscuits with sausage patties (frozen individually for quick breakfasts) and a bag of these honey cornbread muffins. But we finished the biscuits for breakfast this weekend, and the last of these muffins disappeared yesterday, when we ate them (slathered in butter, of course) with a bowl of tomato-barley soup.

At first I didn't like these. We ate a couple of them fresh one night alongside our roasted cornish hens (sometimes I do have time to cook great meals!) But some time in the freezer actually improved the texture of these muffins, which shocks me as much as you, I'm sure. They do have honey in them, but they're not overly sweet, because being true Southerners we're not that into sweet cornbread. I made these, cooled them, froze them individually on a cookie sheet then popped them into a large Ziplock bag. You can also do this with baked biscuits, and it makes dinner that much quicker. (It also pleases the bread-obsessed members of your family!)

So go ahead and make that chili and freeze it. Cook a pot of vegetable soup this week and freeze it. And don't forget the corn muffins. And next week? When soccer practice runs late or Bible study is calling you won't have to hurry home too quickly from work because voila! Dinner is served!



Tell us all. What are your favorite meals to freeze? Any tips?

Honey Cornbread Muffins
Adapted from Food TV
Printer-friendly recipe

Ingredients
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 large eggs
1/2 stick butter, melted
1/4 cup honey

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, mix cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk the milk, eggs, butter and honey. Add the wet to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. 3. Place paper liners in a 12-cup muffin tin. Pour batter into liners. Bake 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

Ghostly Petit Fours

So I admit that these petit fours don't look exactly as planned. I had high hopes and a grand plan, but ... it just didn't quite work out that way. Martha! Why must you break my heart so? I've found that sometimes it's a good idea to have, oh, a pastry-school diploma on your wall when you attempt a quintessential Martha recipe. Not that these didn't taste great. They did! And not that they aren't still simply adorable. They are. But I really struggled with the frosting and glaze - one was too thick (the glaze) and one was too thin (the frosting.) But believe you me - I may be bruised but I am not broken. There is always next year. Or the next. Or maybe, you know, after pastry school? Hey. We all have goals in life....

Simple Baked Apples

Cinnamon and butter and apples - it's like pie filling without the crust. It's so simple it hardly needs a recipe. It reminds me of dinners at home when I was little; there were always green beans and baked apples on our table. Sometimes the apples were homegrown, from my dad's miniature orchard (where there are also peaches, pears and plums). Sometimes the apples were from the mountains when apple season was in full swing.

Serve them with fried chicken, country-style steak and gravy or a homey casserole. Serve them over pound cake, with a dollop of whipped cream. Serve them over oatmeal on a cold, winter morning. Serve them over ice cream in the heat of summer (or whenever a craving hits!) Or simply eat them alone - they're good that way, too. They're a simple pleasure.

Simple Baked Apples: Peel, core and slice apples of your choice. (Prepare enough to feed number of people around your dinner table, but you can also make one apple just for yourself!) Place slices in greased glass or ceramic baking dish. Sprinkle liberally with cinnamon and sugar, and dot with butter. Bake at 350* until the tips are brown and the apples are fork-tender. Serve and enjoy.

Cheeseburger Chowder

It's fall.

The fair is in town. The leaves on the dogwood trees are red. There is a chill in the air, which means I can finally make and enjoy soup. Or in this case I can make and enjoy chowder. I woke up on one of these rainy, gray, cool days we've been having and I needed something warm in my belly. This certainly did the trick.

It's a thick, creamy chowder with pops of flavor from onion, celery and pepper, and it's a filling dish with big, creamy chunks of potato and tasty bits of beef, which are browned first. I put this chowder together in no time then dumped it in the slow cooker (which I sprayed first) to keep it warm for dinner. It was nice to have dinner made early and to eat it hot when I came home on my dinner break later that evening.

It's kid-friendly, husband-approved, and, most important, it's easy on the cook!



Cheeseburger Chowder (Scroll for recipe. It's one of her recipes for the week!)
This Week's Menu

Two years ago: Glazed Meatloaf, on National Meatloaf Day!

Southern Biscuits 'N Apple Butter

Making biscuits - similar to any kind of bread, really - is an art. You simply must have the right touch to do it right. I've been practicing this art for many years, and I still have a lot to learn. These biscuits were close - they have a great flavor - but they're still missing that Southern Grandma Sparkle. I'm not sure exactly where that sparkle comes from. I've got my Great Aunt Katie's biscuit cutter. Brad's grandmother had a specific Biscuit Bowl. And of course I've got Southern blood running through my veins. But I've yet to tap that Sparkle. Maybe when I'm a grandmother, and I have wee grandbabies running around to make biscuits for, I'll uncover it!



Many years ago I had the opportunity to travel to Russia. (I was 13, to be exact. Let's not think about just how long ago that was!) To my 13-year-old palate the food left a lot to be desired. When I think now about the smoked fish and caviar and pancakes I scoffed at I could kick my 13-year-old tail, but kids will be kids, and I was no exception. Thank God there was apple butter everywhere. I ate a lot of it (along with the granola bars in my suitcase when I left the table!) Thus began my love affair with it. Good thing, too, because I live in a Land of the Apple. (North Carolina ranks around seventh in the country for apple production.) Brad recently came home with a bag of Johnny Gold apples from Wilkes County. They were some of the best apples I've ever eaten, and Cash loved them, too. (With peanut butter. Of course. Like I said, we're pretty typical around here!)



Fall is here, and if you're faced with gray, rainy day after gray, rainy day like we have been, apple butter and biscuits is a great way to spend the day indoors. This apple butter is made in the crockpot, which makes it pretty hands-off. And the biscuits come together in 20 minutes, meaning tomorrow morning for breakfast you could enjoy a hot cup of coffee and warm, Southern biscuits and apple butter. Can you think of a better way to welcome fall? I sure can't.

Southern Biscuits
Adapted from Food TV
Printer-friendly recipe

Ingredients
2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons shortening
1 cup cold buttermilk

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using your fingertips or a pastry blender, add butter and shortening into dry ingredients until mixture looks like crumbs. Pour in the chilled buttermilk. Stir just until the dough comes together; it will be sticky.
3. Turn dough onto floured surface, dust top with flour and fold dough over on itself 5 or 6 times. Press into a 1-inch thick round. Cut out biscuits, being sure to push straight down through the dough. Place biscuits on baking sheet, touching. Gently reform leftover dough, and cut out more biscuits. (This second batch may not be as fluffy.)
4. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, or until biscuits are tall and golden brown.

Crockpot Apple Butter
Adapted from A Year of Slow Cooking
Printer friendly recipe

18 large apples
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp. cloves
1 T vanilla

1. Spray inside of crockpot with cooking spray to prevent sticking.
2. Peel, core and quarter apples. Put all apples in crockpot. Pour vanilla over apples and cook on high for 4 hours.
3. Stir apples. Add sugars, cinnamon and cloves, stirring well. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours. For smoother butter, use immersion blender. You can also leave it chunky if you prefer. Let cool in fridge overnight.
4. Put in glass jars; keeps about 1 month in the fridge. (You could try deep-freezing it for up to 3 months, but I didn't try this yet.) I got 5 pint-size jars, which were perfect for gifts.

Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

Brad eats very slow. He eats like he talks - a deep voice, a mouth full of maple syrup. I love it, and I have since I met him. It's a part of who he is. I think Southern accents are charming - you know, in that Matthew McConaughey way. There is nothing like hearing the man you love call you baby or sweetheart, his voice dripping with honey. Okay, okay, I'll stop. But seriously, it's awesome. And that mouth full of maple syrup thing? Brad gets it honestly - he will literally turn up a jar of syrup and drink it straight. And that eating slowly thing? It stops when he has a plate of pancakes in front of him. The man can swallow those things whole. He loves to go to one of our local desserteries, Midtown, and order their silver-dollar pancakes. Small round, golden pieces of heaven, he'll tell you.

When I have no idea what to cook his love of all things round and sweet (like me! ha!) comes in handy. I make pancakes. Tasty. Quick. Convenient. Freeze well. Easy cleanup! Need I say more?

Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes
Adapted from the All New All Purpose Joy of Cooking
Printer-friendly version

Makes about twelve pancakes.

Whisk together in a large bowl:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Whisk together in another bowl:
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 large egg yolks
1.5 teaspoons lemon zest

1. Prepare pan or heat griddle to 350 degrees.
2. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and whisk them together, mixing just until combined. Beat two large egg whites until peaks are stiff but not dry, and fold them into the batter. Fold in 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries.
3. Spoon 1/3 cup of batter onto pan or griddle. Cook until the top of each pancake is speckled with bubbles and some bubbles have popped, then turn and cook until the underside is lightly brown. Serve immediately or keep warm while you cooking the rest of the batter. Serve with maple syrup, blueberry syrup, powdered sugar or fresh fruit.