Yummy Pumkin Cupcakes!

For these yummy cupcakes I used a pumpkin bread recipe from this blog Butter Required, you can click on that and it will take you to the YUMMY recipe! It made me 34 cupcakes! It is good all by itself, but I decided to be even more evil and add some cream cheese frosting on top!! SO GOOD! This is my recipe for awesome cream cheese frosting(I made a double batch of this and it was perfect for the amount of cupcakes, especially if you want to frost the way I did!)...

Cream Cheese Frosting

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract

Blend butter and cream cheese together till it is smooth, sometimes microwaving a little (15 sec) helps. Add vanilla and powdered sugar and blend until smooth.

Here are some pics to tempt you...

To frost like this cut a hole in a corner of a ziplock bag and then fill with the frosting! Squeeze around top of cupcake till you get to center! So pretty and professional looking!



Oh yeah! Cannot wait to make again for Thanksgiving! YUM!

Oreo Truffles

1 package of oreos
1 8 oz. package of cream cheese
your favorite chocolate chips (about 2 cups)...white chocolate, semi-sweet, milk, mint chocolate

Blend oreos in your blender until completely blended. Pour in bowl and mix in cream cheese. Scoop balls onto wax paper and refrigerate for approx. an hour. Melt dipping chocolate in microwave (stir every 30 seconds) until completely melted. Dip balls in chocolate then return to wax paper. Put back in fridge until firm!

These are so yummy and so easy! The first time I tried these I almost CRIED...I thought they were so delicious!

Easy Chewy Homemade Oreos

I love this simple, four ingrdient recipe... my daughter thinks they are "simply divine."

1 Pkg Devils food cake mix
1/4 C. Flour
2 Eggs
1/2 C. Oil

Mix and form into balls, bake @ 350 for 9-11 minutes.
Drop pan on counter to flatten cookies, Once cooled, frost between 2 cookies!

Recipe Assignment:

Thinking Outside the Lunch Box- Fun, Healthy & Creative Ideas for school lunches...

PBJ Roll-up

On a whole wheat tortilla, spread peanut butter and jelly. Then Sprinkle with Rice Crispies, roll up and slice in half.

Variations:
Peanut Butter Banana Roll-up
Almond Butter and small apple chunk roll-up

Yogurt, berries, and rice crispies roll-up

Fruity Parfait

My kids think they are getting dessert for lunch.
Layer Vanilla yogurt, berries, and granola (or rice crispies) in a rubbermaid container.

Recipe Assignment

Each Peach, Pear, Plum....Great recipes for fresh fruit.

Peach Angel Trifle

Glaze:
1 - 6 oz box of peach jello
2 - 3.4 oz boxes of vanilla cook and serve pudding mix
2 ½ cups water

In medium sauce pan on high, add all ingredients and bring to a boil. Stirring constantly!
Remove from heat and let stand until cooled.

2 - 8 oz packages cream cheese (I use the 1/3 less fat)
1 - 12 oz container of cool whip (I use the lite)
1 ½ cups powdered sugar
1 round angel food cake (I make mine from the box, tastes much better than store bought and 1/3 the cost but store bought will work too)
About 7 large ripe peaches

Peel and slice the peaches then cut some of the slices in half. Add some sugar and set in the fridge for about an hour or so. (keep some as a reserve for garnishing)

Cream the sugar and cream cheese. Then add the cool whip and beat until light and fluffy.

Drain about ¾ of the liquid on the peaches from sitting with sugar; pour the glaze over and stir.

Slice angel food cake into 1-2 inch pieces.

Fill a trifle dish or 9 inch deep glass bowl, with layers of the cake, peaches and then the cream cheese mixture.

Garnish with reserved peaches.

Refrigerate for at least a couple of hours before serving. Longer is fine. Now enjoy!

Peach Crisp

A good way to use up some of those peaches that I know so many of you have laying around!

Inside Ingredients
8-10 peaches, peeled and sliced ***
2 Tbsp flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Topping ingredients:
1 c flour
1 c brown sugar
1 c oats
1/2 c butter/marg, melted

Lightly spray 9X 13 pan with cooking spray. Toss sliced peaches with flour, sugar, and cinnamon, place into greased pan. In separate bowl, mix topping ingredients, sprinkle on top of peaches. Bake uncovered at 350 for 30-40 minutes until lightly browned.

***the easiest way to peel peaches: place them in boiling water for 45-60 seconds, then transfer immediately to ice water for a couple of minutes. The skin should slide ride off, if not repeat!

Salsa Chicken

4 Chicken Breasts
1 cup Salsa
2 cups minute rice
1 cup black beans -drained-
1/2 package taco mix
1 cup cheddar cheese
2 cups water
sour cream -optional-
can of chopped up olives -optional-

Bring chicken (thawed not cooked), salsa, taco mix, & water to a boil. Cover & simmer for 10 minutes. Return to a boil. Stir in rice and beans. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover. Cook on low for 5 minutes. top with sour cream


This is super easy and doesn't require an oven to be turned on. My Kids LOVED this and were eating it by the spoonful. Thanks for letting me join I am super excited to get new recipes!

BBQ Chicken Salad

So this is our new favorite-super easy and affordable!

2-3 chicken breasts
1 can drained corn
1 can drained black beans
favorite bbq sauce
favorite ranch dressing
lettuce (I use romaine)

Have your hubby grill the chicken breasts with your favorite barbecue sauce. While it's cooling off, drain your corn and black beans. Shred/chop your lettuce. Then cut the chicken up into chunks or cubes.

I like to leave everything seperate so I can put it away in seperate containers for leftovers. Add everything together, then I do a half ranch/half bbq sauce for the dressing. Super yummy. It's even better with some fried onion strings! (We have a recipe for the batter if you're interested.)

(You could probably cheat and use those precooked/grilled chicken strips-like at Costco and throw it in the microwave with some bbq sauce on it.)

Never-Fail Taco Soup

1 lb of ground beef or turkey (I use turkey)
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 can corn
1 can chili beans
1 can black beans
1 can pinto beans
1 packet Taco Seasoning


Brown meat, drain and simmer with a dash of the seasoning. Open and dump all the canned food water and all (except drain the black beans so the soup isn't black) into a large pot. Bring to a boil and continue stirring. Add browned meat and the rest of the seasoning. Lower heat cover and simmer at least 10 minutes, but you can let it simmer as long as you would like.


Serve with tortilla chips, cheese and sour cream.


This recipe is very forgiving. If I do not have a certain type of bean, I throw in whatever I do have. This is my "go to" recipe because even I cannot mess it up.

Hawaiin Haystacks

You can make this meal however complex you'd like. We make our chicken mixture with a can of chicken breast and then mix that with cream of chicken soup. You can be flexible with the soup. I know people use the celery or mushroom soups as well. If it's thicker than you'd like add some milk.

Start with white rice as a base. Then add your chicken mixture along with any delicious toppings you'd like. We say the more the merrier. Sauteed shrooms, celery, cubed carrots, pineapple, peppers, cheese, chow mein noodles and tomatoes are some of the things we like. (I have this handy kitchen tool called the alligator which chops anything into perfect tiny cubes - makes cutting lots of veggies so simple.) Whatever you use get creative and enjoy a super tasty and quite healthy meal!

Posted by Shelley

Peggy's Chow Mein

3 chicken breasts-cut in bite size pieces
4 T. soy sauce
1 T. minced garlic

6 T. cornstarch (about)
1 bag frozen stir fry vegetable mix (your favorite kind)
2-3 pkgs. chow mien noodles-fresh in produce section

Place chicken pieces in bowl w/ 4 T. soy sauce, 3 T. water, and garlic (I also will put it all in a large Ziploc bag). Let marinate for at least one hour (I marinated it all day once and thought it was too salty, so I wouldn't recommend marinating it longer than 3 hours). After marinating add cornstarch until there is no liquid left in the chicken.
Stir fry chicken in 2 T. oil. Cook noodles according to package directions. Add the thawed veggies to the chicken and stir fry them until they are cooked through. (I usually cook the chicken separate in a saute pan. I then stir fry cook the frozen veggies in a large skillet and when they are cooked I remove them into a separate bowl and set aside and then cook the noodles in the same skillet. When the noodles are done I add the veggies and then the seasoning that comes with the noodles and then mix in the chicken) Here is a picture of the noodles I buy for the Chow Mien recipe. The recipe asks for 2-3 bags and this pkg comes with 3 bags so I just use the whole package. The package gives you directions for 1 bag so you have to triple the water and oil it asks for. At Stater Bro.'s I find these by the cheeses. At Von's they are on the back isle towards the produce.

****Kyra's Recipe

Recipe Assignment

Shakes, smoothies, and other stuff to sip on a summer's day:

FROZEN HOT CHOCOLATE

4 oz semi sweet chocolate
2 tsp hot chocolate powder
1 1/2 TBL sugar
1 1/2 cups milk
3 cups of ice
Whipped cream

Melt semi sweet chocolate in microwave. Once melted stir in the hot chocolate powder and sugar until completely blended. Add 1/2 cup milk, stir, and cool to room temperature.
Once cooled add 1 cup milk, chocolate mixture, and ice in a blender. Blend on high until smooth. Top with whipped cream.

Fruit Smoothie

This is a really easy Fruit Smoothie great for breakfast on the go or refreshing snack!

Add these ingredients to a blender...

1 cup ice
3 spoonfuls of orange juice concentrate
1 banana
4 fresh or frozen strawberries
3 spoonfuls of fresh or canned pineapple
5-6 slices of frozen, fresh or canned peaches
2/3 cup - you can do more or less depending on what consistancy you like!


Blend and serve!

Yogurt Smoothie

6-8 frozen strawberries (or whatever your favorite fruit(s) are)
If you have a few fresh strawberries that adds to the flavor
6 ice cubes
2 containers of yogurt-I usually do strawberry, peach, strawberry banana, raspberry, etc.
Orange juice maybe 1-2 cups. (It'll depend on how you like it, more yogurty, more slushy...)
Half a banana or a whole one if you like a lot of banana flavor

Blend and enjoy!

I make this for me and my two little boys-it takes up about 2/3 of the blender.
This recipe doesn't have exact amounts, because it depends on how many you are making and the consistency you prefer-thick, thin, runny,etc. So feel free to add more yogurt or OJ or ice cubes or fruit.

Oreo Pistachio Shake

Mix Pistachio Pudding packet and 2 cups milk in blender for 2 minutes.

Let sit for 5 minutes

Add a few Oreos, 2-3 scoops of ice cream, mix until desired consistency.

Orange Julius

6 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
8-9 ice cubes

1. Combine all ingredients except ice cubes in blender.
2. Blend for about 1-2 minutes, adding ice cubes one at a time.

Recipe Assignment:

Breads

Pineapple Bread

INGREDIENTS

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 3/4 cup crushed pineapple with juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups flour (I use half white and half wheat)
  
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts (optional)
• brown sugar
  

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease one 9x5x3 inch loaf pan.
2. Beat eggs slightly. Add butter and sugar. Beat smooth. Stir in pineapple and vanilla.
3. In separate bowl put flour, baking powder, soda, salt. Stir well and pour into pineapple mixture. Stir to moisten. Pour into greased 9x5 pan, or two 4x7 or three mini loaf pans.
4. Sprinkle with nuts and brown sugar (optional).
   
5. Bake for about 1 hour. Test with toothpick. Let stand 10 minutes.
   

Zucchini Bread

We have a plethora of zucchini from our garden each summer... so I started shredding the zucchini and freezing it to later use in this recipe my mother in law gave me.

3 eggs
2 C. brown sugar
1 C. oil
2 C. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
3 tsp. vanilla
2 C. grated peeled zucchini

Beat together eggs, brown sugs and oil.  Mix together
flour, baking powder, soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Add to wet ingredients.  Add vanilla, grated zucchini
& (nuts).  It should be about the consistency of
banana bread.  If it's too wet, add a little more
flour.

Grease 2 5x7 inch loaf pans.

Bake 350 for 50 to 55 minutes.  It is moist bread and
it taste good with butter on it.  You can also add walnuts,
dried cranberries, currents, raisins etc. to the
bread.  Almost anything goes! 

Recipe Assignment:

Easter Dinner

&

Easter Treats

Resurrection Rolls

Wrap a marshmallow inside crescent roll dough (the kind that comes in a can).
Roll in melted butter, then in a cinnamon & sugar mixture.
Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes.
Sweet way to show & tell kids about the Resurrection, since the rolls will be empty inside after baking.

Easter Cupcakes...

I have made these cupcakes a couple of times and they are always a hit. They are a lot easier than they look. I don't have an exact recipe, I got the idea from a magazine several years back but basically this is what you will need:

Jumbo cupcakes, this is what is used for the body. I baked them in the Jumbo muffin tins
Donut holes, for the head
Frosting
Coconut, dye 1/3 of it yellow in a ziploc bag with a couple drops of yellow food color
Yellow food color (for the coconut)
Mini M&M's for the eyes and bell on lambs colar
Rope Licorice for colar of lamb and feet and comb of chick
Runts, for the nose and mouth of bunny and chick
Tootsie Rolls, roll in hand to warm and mold to make face of lamb, cut another one in half for feet
Marshmallows cut in half for hands and feet of bunny and cut in quarters for the ears of lamb
White paper, just cut in the shape of ears and stick in the bunny head (it would probably be cute to color a portion of the inside of the ears pink)

Attach the head to the body with frosting (a toothpick can be added to secure it). Frost the outside and add the coconut. Embellish as shown in photo. Have fun!

Pastel White Chocolate Pretzels

These are a cute, quick little treat. I put waffle shaped pretzels in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Then I placed a white chocolate candy melt on each one and baked for 10 minutes at 175 degrees, then I took them out, and quickly placed a pastel-colored m&m on each one. Cool in refrigerater for about 30 minutes.

Recipe Assignment:

From the Sea

No-Brainer Shrimp Dip

1 bottle cocktail sauce
1 block cream cheese
1 can tiny shrimp

Mix sauce and shrimp together. Pour over block of thawed cream cheese. Serve with crackers.

Broiled Tilapia Parmesan

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup butter, softened
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon celery salt
2 pounds tilapia fillets

DIRECTIONS
Preheat your oven's broiler. Grease a broiling pan or line pan with aluminum foil.
In a small bowl, mix together the Parmesan cheese, butter, mayonnaise and lemon juice. Season with dried basil, pepper, onion powder and celery salt. Mix well and set aside. Arrange fillets in a single layer on the prepared pan. Broil a few inches from the heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Flip the fillets over and broil for a couple more minutes. Remove the fillets from the oven and cover them with the Parmesan cheese mixture on the top side. Broil for 2 more minutes or until the topping is browned and fish flakes easily with a fork. Be careful not to over cook the fish.

Sooo good and sooo easy!! I used garlic salt instead of celery salt (because I didn't have any)and it was great.

Baked Scallops

20 Ritz crackers, crushed
black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 pound sea scallops
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/8 cup sprite or white grape juice or sugar water mixture
1/8 cup white vinegar
1/2 lemon, juiced

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease an 8x8 inch baking dish.
2. Combine crushed crackers, black pepper and garlic powder in a small bowl. Press scallops into mixture so that they are evenly coated, and place them in the greased baking dish.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together melted butter, wine and lemon juice; drizzle mixture over scallops.
4. Bake in preheated oven until scallops are lightly browned, about 15 minutes. Garnish with chopped parsley.

Heart Cupcakes

An easy way to spice up your normal cupcakes! Get your cupcakes ready, then place a small marble between the paper wrapper and the tin. Bake as usual. It will indent the side in to make little hearts. Frost and decorate. You can use any kind of cake mix, but Red Velvet is fun for Valentine's day! Of course, if you are using Red Velvet cake then you have to have cream cheese frosting:

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar

Cream together butter and cream cheese. Mix in vanilla, then add in powdered sugar. If frosting is too soft to decorate with, refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Tip: since part of the cupcake volume is displaced by the marble, you don't need to put as much batter into each cupcake as you normally would (otherwise, when it rises while baking it will go over the edge and look like a normal cupcake, albeit one with a marble stuck to the side). This means you will have extra batter if you make 24 cupcakes. I put the extra into a mini-loaf pan and made a "mommy-sized" cupcake :>)

Heart-Shaped Eggs and Toast

Using a 3-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter, remove the center of a thick slice of bread, and toast it. Melt 1 1/2 teaspoons butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Place bread slice in skillet, and cook until underside is lightly browned. Add another 1 1/2 teaspoons butter, and flip bread. Fit cookie cutter, coated with cooking spray, in bread's cutout heart, and crack an egg into cutter. Cover skillet, and cook until egg is set, 2 to 3 minutes. Use tongs to remove cutter. Serve with toasted heart for dipping into yolk. Recipe from Martha Stewart.

Heart-Shaped Pancakes

So simple... Make pancakes, cut into heart shapes, drizzle with syrup and add berries.

Recipe Assignment:

Recipe Assignment:

Superbowlicious

Calzone Appetizers

1 3.5-ounce package sliced pepperoni

1/2 of an 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup finely shredded or grated Parmesan cheese

2 8-ounce packages (16) refrigerated crescent roll dough

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon water

Finely shredded or grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Dried Italian Seasoning(optional)

Crushed red pepper (optional)

Pizza sauce, warmed (optional)

Directions

1. Reserve six to eight slices of pepperoni; set aside. Chop remaining pepperoni slices.

2. In a small bowl, stir together chopped pepperoni, cream cheese and the 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese until well combined. Set aside.

3. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly grease an extralarge baking sheet; set aside. On a lightly floured surface, unroll each package of crescent-roll dough. Separate dough into individual triangles. Place half the dough triangles on the prepared baking sheet. Place about 1 tablespoon of the pepperoni-cheese mixture in the center of each triangle. In a small bowl, stir together egg and water. Brush edges of triangles with some of the egg mixture. Top with remaining triangles. Press triangle edges together to seal. Brush dough with egg mixture. Fold short edges of the dough triangles up, forming a hat brim. Prick the dough a few times with the tines of a fork.

4. If desired, sprinkle with additional Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, and/or crushed red pepper. Cut reserved pieces of pepperoni into small stars, crescent moons, and/or small diamonds. Press onto dough for decoration. Bake in the preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden. Serve warm with pizza sauce, if desired. Makes 8 calzones

*** Recipe from Robin Bos

Creme de Menthe Brownies

*** My version of a recipe from Martha Stewart. Just to warn you, I haven't tested it out yet. If you want to use Martha's recipe click here.

Make your favorite boxed brownies. Let cool.

To prepare icing:
1/2 bag Wilton's white candy melts melted
1/2 container prepared vanilla frosting
6 drops Wilton's Creme de Menthe candy flavoring
Green Food coloring... only enough to give it a hint of color

Blend ingredients well, then place in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to harden.

Top with football shaped mints... trim corners of Andes mints, then add three sprinkes, glue with left over frosting.

Tangy Crock-Pot Chicken

This recipe may seem too simple to be true, but it is so flavorful and the chicken is super moist, definitely a favorite around here.

Ingredients:

2-4 chicken breast, cut into small strips

1 jar coleslaw dressing (I used Marie's in refrigerated veggie section)

Garlic salt sprinkled over the top

Preparation:

Cook in slow cooker on low for 4-6 hours.

Serve with or over hot rice, a nice green salad and some hot French or Italian bread. So simple to fix and so delicious to eat.

***Originally posted by Cherie in April 2008

Reipe Assignment:

Christmas Treat Exchange

Holiday Prezel Kisses

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:
	Bite-size, waffle-shaped pretzels
	Hershey's Kiss or Hershey's Hug
	M&M's candy

1. Heat the oven to 170º. Set a number of bite-size, waffle-shaped pretzels (one for each treat) in a single layer on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, then top each pretzel with an unwrapped Hershey's Kiss or Hershey's Hug.

2. Bake for 4 to 6 minutes (the white chocolate will melt more quickly), until the chocolates feel soft when touched with a wooden spoon. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and quickly press an M&M's candy into the center of each Kiss.

3. Allow the treats to cool for a few minutes, then place them in the refrigerator to set, about 10 minutes. Place handfuls of the candies in clear plastic bags and tie on colorful ribbons.

From Family Fun Magazine

Peppermint White Chocolate Popcorn

I got this recipe from my friend, Michelle's website. She gives other flavoring ideas (strawberry, amaretto) and some great fund raising ideas to go along with the popcorn!
http://jolleyfam.blogspot.com/2008/04/popcorn-recipe.html

It was so fun to make, I actually gave my kitchen sink a good scrubbing and then used it as a large bowl (I doubled the batch and didn't have a bowl big enough).

3 Bags Orville Redenbacher 94% fat free popcorn (if you use the regular bags it turns out to buttery and salty---takes away from the flavor
1 1lb bag Wilton Vanilla flavored chocolate wafers- I did one batch red, the other white and mixed them together for a candy cane effect.
6-8 drops peppermint flavored oil (I got mine from Michael's, by the candy melts)

Pop the popcorn. Remove seeds. Melt chocolate. Stir in 6-8 drops of oil.Pour chocolate mixture over popcorn and stir until well coated. Let cool on parchment lined cookie sheets.

(I added small crushed pieces of candy cane for a little extra jazz.)