Second Annual Haunted Houses

We made these in 2010 too. (I know, it's almost April. Sorry!) I just thought I'd share some of our pictures with everyone. Aaron picked out candy for the houses this year, so except for the requested candy corn and pumpkins, the decorations were pretty random. But the kids still had a blast.

Here's a link to last year's pics and the recipe for the Royal Icing.

Applesauce Muffins

These were a hit with our preschool group, as well as at home in general.

Ingredients
Muffins
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butternut squash or carrot puree
1/2 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg

Topping
2/3 cup old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp butter, melted

Preheat oven to 400. Coat muffin tin with spray or baking cups. To make topping, stir together the oats, sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl. Stir in the butter.

To make the batter, combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl or bag and stir or shake to mix. In a second bowl, mix the applesauce with the milk, vegetable puree, sugar, oil, and egg with a wooden spoon. Add the flour mixture slowly, stirring until just moistened. Do not overmix - it will be lumpy.

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkle with the streusel topping. Bake until the topping is lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center. 18-20 minutes.

I would even press the topping into the batter a little bit. A lot of ours fell off. But if you get it stuck to the muffins, less falls off.

These were really yummy. We ate them in no time and the kids were getting some extra veggies without stressing about it!

Calzones

Here's a link to my post with pizza crust. This is just a slight variation on prep methods. But to be honest, my kids like this better than normal pizza. Don't know why, but they do!

So after making the dough, you separate it into small balls. I generally would make up to 8. When you get rolling them out, you'd be amazed at how big they can be. Although, I will sometimes only do 6. Splitting half the dough into 4, the other half into 2. So that way me and the hubs can eat bigger ones.

I try my best to flatten them into circles. Then I put the sauce, cheese, and fillings on one half of the circle. Making sure to leave space around the edge for sealing. About an inch or so. Once it's filled, fold the other half of your circle over, and use a fork to seal the edges. I like to brush the tops with oil and sprinkle with italian seasoning and garlic powder. Then I give it a few slashes with a knife to let steam out while it cooks. I cook it at about 450 for 10-12 minutes. Just keep an eye on them and see how your oven does with them. This pictures shows 2 of my best. They frequently explode. I've tried using oil or water on the edges when I seal them (brushing the edge of the circle dough with water or oil), but can't figure out if one works better than another. I'm notorious for over-filling things like this. My burritos and tacos are a joke. They're always humongous. So as long as you're modest in your fillings, they shouldn't overflow. Another adjustment I've made is instead of using salt for the dough, I'll substitute that with garlic salt, and even add italian seasoning (maybe a tsp or so) to do the dough so you have more flavor in each bite.

 

These are seriously the best. We took them to a football game last fall and it was so great. I might forever associate these with going to football games. It was such a great time!

Crispy Oven-Fried Fish

The hubs found this one, and I must say it's one of my new fave ways to cook our fish.

Ingredients

1 lb. fresh or frozen skinless white fish

1/4 cup milk

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup dry bread crumbs (ours are Italian bread crumbs. More flavor the better I always say!)

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp dried dill (We used this the first time. I like it much more without.)

1/8 tsp black pepper

2 tbsp butter, melted

Thaw fish, if frozen. Rinse fish; pat dry with paper towels. Cut into 4 serving size pieces, if necessary. (If using filets, not necessary) Place milk in a shallow dish. Place flour in another shallow dish. In a third shallow dish, combine bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, dill, and pepper. Add melted butter, stir until combined.

Dip fish in the milk; coat with flour. Dip again in the milk, then in the bread crumb mixture. Place fish on a greased baking sheet. Bake, uncovered, in a 450 oven for 4 to 6 minutes per 1/2 inch thickness. The thicker the fish, the longer you should let it go. Should flake easily when done.

I'm pretty sure the second time the hubs made this one, he might have spiced up the seasonings bowl. It's so easy to do. So add some garlic powder if you're a garlic fan, or maybe some onion. Or a multi-seasoning.

Smokey Potato Chowder

We got this recipe courtesy of the best man from our wedding. It wasn't his recipe, but a woman from his family.

Ingredients

6-8 large potatoes

1 quart milk

3/4 cup flour

1/4 cup butter

2 tsp liquid hickory smoke

1 can cheddar cheese soup or 1 1/2 cups cubed Velveeta

8-10 sausage links, cooked

onion (dried or fresh, to taste)

salt & white pepper

Peel and cut potatoes into cubes. Put into large saucepan, cover with water and cook until tender by still slightly firm. While potatoes are cooking,k put milk into wuart har with flour and shake until blended. Drain water off potatoes. Put potatoes back on low heat. Stir in butter, being careful not to mash the potato cubes. Pour in milk. Add cheddar cheese soup, rinse soup can with milk. Sti careful until well blended. Season with salt, white pepper, onion, and liquid smoke to your own tastes. Stir often to keep milk from sticking to bottom. Cut cooked sausage links into slices and add to soup. Heat until milk has thickened. Taste for any additionla seasonings needed. More milk may be added if soup is too thick or more flour may be stirred in it too thin.

I doubt we stay to these directions to staunchly, so feel free to vary where you want to. It's a great soup, nice flavor, and really comforting on a cold day.

Mint Chocolate Brownies

I made these by request for our church choir. They ended up being really simple and so delicious. Really. They're so good. I was so glad we had leftovers!

Ingredients

1 box brownie mix

Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar (powdered)
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon peppermint extract (or mint)
dash green food coloring (or any color of desire)
Chocolate Glaze
1/2 cup butter
6 oz chocolate chips

Bake brownie mix according to directions on box. Cool completely. In a mixing bowl, combine frosting ingredients; beat until creamy. Spread frosting over cooled brownies. For glaze, melt chocolate chips and butter; stir until smooth. Spread over frosting. Refrigerate for 20 min or until filling and glaze are set.

Then enjoy! (Seriously, they're so amazing. Wishing I had a brownie mix right now...)

Alfredo Pizza

We got this courtesy of Aaron's brother Jared.

Ingredients

1 loaf french or Artisan bread
1 can Alfredo sauce
1 lb. pork sausage
2 halves different colored sweet bell peppers, chopped
½ sweet onion, chopped
1 can fresh mushrooms, chopped
1 cups shredded cheese (yellow or white, whatever you like better)

Preheat oven to 350. Cook and drain sausage. Add peppers, onion and mushrooms to sausage. Sautee for a 3-5 minutes. (adjust time depending on how cooked you like your veggies) Add Alfredo sauce. Simmer 1 minute. Cut the bread lengthwise, then into desired chunks from there. (We generally make ours pretty big, but with kids, you might make some smaller) Lay cut side face up on baking sheet and cover bread with sauce. Cover sauce with cheese. Warm in oven to melt cheese and warm bread, 10-12 minutes.

You can see with this one, we used a white cheese, the sauce is more of a tannish color. Anyhow, we've used cheddar too and it works great too. Sometimes we like to sprinkle some parmesan ontop before baking too. It adds a nice flavor.