Spooky Halloween Meal

Tonight we made a spooky Halloween dinner.  First we made Mummy Dogs.

Start by rolling out crescent rolls and try to merge the seams back together.  Then use a pizza cutter to cut strips.  Wrap the strips around hot dogs and place them on a baking tray.  Use a toothpick to make mustard eyes.  Make these eyes pretty heavy so that they hold up in the oven.

Bake at 400 for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Next I made Peanut Butter Spider Crackers

Take a Ritz cracker and spread a generous amount of peanut butter on it.  Break pretzel sticks in half and place three on each site for spider legs.  Take a second Ritz cracker and spread peanut butter on it too.  Then place on top. Use peanut butter to glue chocolate chips on for eyes.   You could also use Nutella to make this a sweeter treat.

I finished off our meal with green bats pasta.  I made four cheese bowtie pasta (pasta side in a bag) and added green food coloring.  This one was a little lazy, but bowtie pasta does look like a bat.

The boys enjoyed their Spooky Halloween dinner!!

Pizza Soup and Italian Grilled Cheese

We went camping this weekend and enjoyed our favorite soup. This is a recipe of a former co-worker and it's delicious!  We love to make Italian grilled cheese sandwiches to pair with this soup, so I've included our recipe for that too!

Pizza Soup

1.5 pounds ground, browned Italian sausage
3 cans of fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 can of tomato sauce
3 small zucchini diced
1 small onion diced
1 - 2 cups of beef broth
Mini pepperoni
2 tsp Italian seasoning

Mix together  sausage, zucchini, onion, tomatoes, tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, and 1 cup of broth.  Simmer for 45 - 60 minutes on the stove top or 2 - 3 hours in crock pot. The zucchini will give off a lot of water, so add broth as needed after this.  Add pepperoni about 30 minutes before serving.


Italian Grilled Cheese

Sourdough bread
Fresh mozzarella cheese
Roasted red peppers
Italian seasoning
Butter

Butter the outside of the bread. Layer cheese and peppers and then season with Italian seasoning.  Brown each side in skillet until gloden brown.

Enjoy!

Pizza Soup and Italian Grilled Cheese

We went camping this weekend and enjoyed our favorite soup. This is a recipe of a former co-worker and it's delicious!  We love to make Italian grilled cheese sandwiches to pair with this soup, so I've included our recipe for that too!

Pizza Soup

1.5 pounds ground, browned Italian sausage
3 cans of fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 can of tomato sauce
3 small zucchini diced
1 small onion diced
1 - 2 cups of beef broth
Mini pepperoni
2 tsp Italian seasoning

Mix together  sausage, zucchini, onion, tomatoes, tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, and 1 cup of broth.  Simmer for 45 - 60 minutes on the stove top or 2 - 3 hours in crock pot. The zucchini will give off a lot of water, so add broth as needed after this.  Add pepperoni about 30 minutes before serving.


Italian Grilled Cheese

Sourdough bread
Fresh mozzarella cheese
Roasted red peppers
Italian seasoning
Butter

Butter the outside of the bread. Layer cheese and peppers and then season with Italian seasoning.  Brown each side in skillet until gloden brown.

Enjoy!

Apple Cider Pork with Cabbage

Today's recipe comes with a little story... Last week paps and grandma Kay took our boys to the orchard to pick some apples. Tis the season! They recently rehabbed a family apple press and wanted to make home pressed apple juice with the boys. It is very good stuff but its amazing how many apples it takes to make a gallon of homemade apple juice. We've been drinking the juice, but I've been inspired to use some of the juice in our fridge to cook with as well. So today I made pork braised in apple juice with cabbage and apples.

I'm really happy with how it turned out. Plus both boys liked the apples in it quite a bit. I suggest not getting an apple press and making you're own juice. It's a mess and totally unnecessary. (Did I mention that paps is putting the press on Craigslist this week?) Substitute some fresh apple cider or store bought juice in its place.



Sorry for no picture but we were hungry and ate it all before I could get a picture. ;)  Thats a signs of a good dinner!



1 1/2 pound pork shoulder cut in 1" cubes

2 cups apple juice or cider

1 cup chicken stock

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup chopped carrots

1 bay leaf

4 cloves garlic

2 medium tart apples chopped into 1" cubes

1/2 head cabbage shredded

4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar



Start by browning the pork shoulder in a little vegitable oil for 3-5 minutes until browned then remove from the heat. Sauté the onions, garlic, bay leaf, carrots and celery until softened. (About 5 minutes) . Reincorporate the pork and add the chicken stock and apple cider. Place in a 285 degree oven for 2 hours then add apples, vinegar, and cabbage. Return to the oven for 30-45 minutes until cabbage is soft.



We served it with corn bread muffins and it was excellent.

Posted with Blogsy

Monkey Bread for my 2 Lil Monkeys

So Carrie is gone with some friends out of town this weekend for some shopping.  Since its just me and the boys I wanted to spoil them with a special breakfast.  I remember as a kid spending the night at a good friend's house and we made this great monkey bread for the morning after.  We got to help roll the little balls of dough in the sugar and put them in the pan.  I wanted to share that same experience with my boys.  I recently contacted her and asked for the recipe so I could share it.  I've modified it slightly to salt up the caramel a little and smooth it out so its less grainy.  Thanks Debbie Valiant for the help.  The boys loved it!

Monkey Bread
3 cans regular size buttermilk biscuits 1/2c sugar1/2tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 stick margarine, 3/4 c sugar, 3/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp salt - all melted together in the microwave


Cut biscuits into quarters (I use kitchen scissors), roll in sugar cinnamon mixture, pile about half into greased & floured bundt pan, pour some of melted mixture over, then pile rest of biscuits in and pour rest of melted mixture over.

350 degrees for 35 min. Let stand 10 min, then invert onto platter.