Scared Shrekless Popcorn

Tonight is the premier of Scared Shrekless, and we are so excited to watch it. My 3 yr old and I whipped up some Shrek popcorn for the big event...we are going to have so much fun.


4 quarts popped corn (go through and pick out the unpopped kernals)
1 1/2 Cups sugar
1/2 Cup light corn syrup
2 Tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
green food coloring (Use alot, because when you add the baking soda afterwards, it will lighten up the color...so go overboard!)

In heavy saucepan on medium heat melt butter then add sugar, corn syrup, cream of tartar and salt. Increase temperature to medium high and bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly to dissolve sugar. Once mixture boils, add in food coloring and stop stirring. Boil for 5 minutes (Do not stir). Mixture should be about 250-260 degrees. Remove from heat and carefully stir in vanilla and baking soda. Working quickly and while mixture is foamy, pour mixture over popped corn and gently stir to coat popcorn. Place popcorn into a large roaster or rimmed baking sheet (lined with parchment paper or sprayed with cooking spray) and bake at 200° F for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

Recipe from: Skip to my Lou.org

Caramel Pumpkin Oatmeal Bars

I have 3 words for this recipe.....OH MY GOSH!!!
Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

2 cups flour

2 cups rolled oats

1 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons Cinnamon, Ground

3/4 teaspoon Ginger, Ground

1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg, Ground

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract

7 ounces (1/2 of 14-ounce package) caramels, unwrapped

2 tablespoons milk

DIRECTIONS1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix flour, oats, sugar, baking soda, salt and spices in large bowl. Add butter; stir until mixture is well blended and forms coarse crumbs. Reserve 1/2 (about 2 1/4 cups) for the topping. Add pumpkin and vanilla to remaining mixture in bowl; stir until well blended. Press evenly into bottom of greased foil-lined 13x9-inch baking pan. Set aside.

2. Microwave caramels and milk in medium microwavable bowl on HIGH 2 to 3 minutes or until caramels are completely melted, stirring after every minute. Let stand 1 minute. Pour over pumpkin mixture in pan, spreading to within 1/2-inch of edges. Sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack. Lift from pan. Cut into bars.

Here are the changes I made: Since I use salted butter, I only put in 1/4 tsp. of salt. I used 3/4 package of caramels instead of 1/2 bag (you can never have to much caramel....since I used 3/4 bag of caramels I used more mile and I used 3 Tbsp. milk. Instead of using the cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger, I used 1 Tbsp Pumpkin Pie Spice. Another tip I have is I never use imitation vanilla, I use PURE vanilla-you can find this in the mexican isle at the grocery store, it makes the biggest difference in your cooking.


Recipe taken from Mccormick Website

Donuts

This weekend was our annual Halloween party, and I wanted to make something really fun for the kids. So, I got this recipe in my Better Homes and Garden Magazine a couple month ago and tried em' out! They were a hit!

Ingredients
3 -1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted
4 eggs, beaten
2/3 cup sugar
Vegetable oil for deep-fat frying
Cinnamon-Sugar or sifted powdered sugar
Directions
1. In a bowl combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg; set aside. In another bowl combine milk and melted butter. In a large mixing bowl combine eggs, and sugar; beat with electric mixer until thick (about 5 minutes). Add milk mixture; stir with a wooden spoon to combine. Add flour mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until smooth. Cover dough; chill at least 2 hours (dough will remain slightly sticky).

2. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll dough to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut dough with a floured 2-1/2-inch round cutter. Use a 1-1/4-inch cutter to cut the hole for the doughnut. (You can also use a standard doughnut cutter.)

3. Fry 2 or 3 doughnuts at a time in deep hot fat (375 degrees F) for 2 to 2-1/2 minutes or until brown, turning halfway through cooking with a slotted spoon. Drain on paper towels. Repeat with remaining doughnuts and doughnut holes. Makes about 15 doughnuts and doughnut holes

4. Shake warm doughnuts in a bag with Cinnamon-Sugar or powdered sugar. Serve warm (or reheat each doughnut 8 to 10 seconds in microwave on high).

Cinnamon-Sugar: Stir together 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1 tsp. ground cinnamon.

Homemade Chicken Noodle

There's nothing better on a cold fall night than a hot bowl of soup....I have tried a bunch of different recipes and I took the best parts of all the recipes I have tried, and I concocted this ...enjoy! I served a side of breadsticks with this soup, and you can also get the breadstick recipe here.

2 large chicken breasts

2 Chicken Bouillion cubes

3-4 stalks celery, chopped

3 large carrots, chopped

1 onion

parsley

2 Bay leaves

2-3, 32 oz. containers chicken broth

1 Bag of Country Pasta (At Wal-mart I buy the Extra Wide Homestyle Amish noodles)

1 can 98% Fat Freed Cream of Chicken Soup

Salt and Fresh ground Pepper to Taste

-Fill a large pot with water, throw in 2 chicken bouillion cubes and add chicken. Cook until center is no longer pink. Cool. Run chicken through food processor on chop mode...it makes the perfect consistency for soup.

-Drain pot, and add 2, 32 oz.containers of chicken broth to pot. Add carrots, celery, onion, 2 bay leaves, and parsley (I don't measure my parsley, I just throw in enough to make it look pretty...it's atleast a Tbsp. or two...I use dried, but you can use fresh or dried). Add salt and fresh ground pepper. Add a little at a time and taste.

-Before the vegetables are completely tender, throw in the noodles to start cooking. Cook until noddles are tender. If the soup looks like it's getting dry, add a little bit of the 3rd container of Broth, I usually don't need to.... but, I don't like to add water, I like to keep the rich flavor of the chicken broth. Right before serving add a can of cream of chicken...it will thicken it a little and make it rich.

Remove bay leaves and serve.

Crispy Bean and Cheese Burrito

I got this recipe from my family circle magazine, and it was a really tasty dinner that my kids loved! And for those of you cutting back on meats...this was a meatless dinner.



Ingredients

1 bag (3-1/2 ounces) boil-in-bag brown rice (I just used brown rice from a box and cooked up enough to stuff 6 burritos....the instructions for 4 servings is plenty).
1 cup salsa
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
1 ripe avocado, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 tablespoon lime juice
6 soft taco-size flour tortillas
1 cup shredded pepper Jack cheese
1 can (15.5 ounces) black beans, drained and rinsed
Directions
Prepare rice according to package directions, about 10 minutes. Drain and place in a medium-size bowl. Stir in salsa and cilantro; set aside. In a small bowl, gently stir together avocado pieces with lime juice; set aside.

Place tortillas on work surface and sprinkle 2 tablespoons cheese in center of each, from left to right. Top cheese with a heaping 1/4 cup black beans. Place a heaping 1/3 cup rice mixture over beans then divide avocado pieces among tortillas. Fold up like an envelope; repeat with remaining tortillas.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat top and bottom of burritos with nonstick cooking spray. Place 3 burritos in skillet, seam-side down; cook for 1 to 2 minutes or until lightly browned and crisp. Turn burritos over and cook another 2 minutes. Repeat with remaining burritos, reducing heat if they get too browned.

Recipe taken from:Family Circle Magazine

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie

Sorry, I have no picture, we devoured this for Chris's birthday cake last night. He hates cake, but LOVES this pie...it's not your traditional pumpkin pie...it's fluffy and.....beyond delic!

Crust: Use your favorite crust recipe, or even easier, buy a frozen pie crust at the store.

1 baked 9" pastry shell
1 1/2 c. mashed pumpkin
1 cup brown sugar, packed
dash of salt
2 eggs yolks
1/2 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 cup cold water
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
2 egg whites (We use the "just whites" dry egg whites that you buy in a can...so you don't have to use raw eggs, on the can it tells you how many Tbsp to water=2 egg whites).
8 oz. carton of light cool whip

Combine pumpkin, beaten egg yolks, sugar, spices and salt in top of double boiler. (NOTE: I don't have a double boiler, I just boil water in a saucepan and place a glass bowl on top of saucepan and make sure the glass b0wl isn't touching the boiling water...just steaming it.).....cook stirring often over hot water for 10 minutes. Soften gelatin in cold water, blend into hot mixture, stir until dissolved. Pour into bowl, and chill until it thickens and starts to set (this will take about 2 hours....stir it about 4 times during that 2 hour period). Beat egg whites until stiff, carefully fold into chilled mixture. Fold cool whip into mixture. Pour into pie crust. Chill several hours...serve with more whipped cream. Store leftovers in fridge.

Easy Breadsticks and Scones

I thought I would share a couple more of my favorite ways to use Rhodes Rolls. This week I made homemade Chilli, you can get my chilli con carne recipe here. But I like to make breadsticks or scones with my chilli.


To make these breadsticks, defrost your Rhodes rolls, turn the rolls over half way through defrosting so they get evenly defrosted. Make sure you pay close attention to the defrosting, you want them to still be pretty cold, but pliable, anything more than that they get a weird consitency.

Roll the rolls into little long snakes. I used a 13x9 pan, and did 2 rows of 6.
Preheat the oven to 350 and cook for 15 minutes or until light golden brown.
Remove from oven. Using a pastry brush, brush butter over the tops of the breadsticks and sprinkle with parmesan, or your other favorite topping (garlic salt, oregano...anything!)


For the scones, I heat my deep fryer. I flatten my Rhodes Rolls so they look like a mini pizza. Once the oil is hot enough I drop a couple in, I turn them over every 30 seconds to make sure they don't overcook. Remove from oil once golden brown on both sides and serve with butter and honey..yum!

Caramel Apple Empanadas

I think I may add an "Ode to Rhodes" seciton in my cooking blog, because I use Rhodes Rolls ALL the time for so many things. I have already put the mini pizza, the cinnamon pull aparts, and sticky bun recipes on this blog, which all use Rhodes Rolls. I will post a few more Rhodes recipes in the near future. I ALWAYS have a bag of Rhodes in my freezer, it's a staple at my house! Here's another good one....

Servings: 12
Skills: Intermediate
Prep Time: 15 min (not including thaw time)
Bake Time: 15 min
Ingredients

12 Rhodes™ Dinner rolls, thawed to room temperature (I use the defrost option on the
microwave, and watch the closely so they are barely thawed, otherwise it starts
to cook them and they are ruined)
10 caramels, cut into 6 pieces each
1/3 cup flour
2 cups peeled, chopped Granny Smith apples
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup caramel ice cream topping
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
melted butter
cinnamon/sugar or powdered sugar

Instructions

Spray counter lightly with non-stick cooking spray. Flatten each roll into a 4-5 inch circle. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest while preparing filling. In a medium bowl, combine caramels, flour, apples, pecans, ice cream topping and lemon juice. Remove wrap from dough and place 1-2 tablespoons of filling on each dough circle. Brush edges of dough with milk and fold in half. Seal edges with a fork. Place on a sprayed baking sheet and bake at 350°F 12-15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool slightly. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar or powdered sugar.

Recipe taken from Rhodes website