Family Kitchen Blog

Okay, so this recipe doesn’t actually have any pumpkin flavor, but they sure are a cute and easy fall food activity for kids!  Or for any age- I made these with my son and my grandmother.  I think the pictures speak for themselves, so I’ll jump right to the directions.  My thanks to Jessica at butterwithasideofbread.com for the idea.

• 1 Bag Orange Candy Melts (available at crafts stores such as Michaels or JoAnns)
• 1/2 bag (approx) Pretzels- regular shape, not pretzel sticks
• Green M&M’s  (You’ll need to purchase one Large (19.2oz) bag of M&M’s to get enough green ones for this project)
• Wax paper

First, have kids sort the green M&M’s from the other colors in the bag.  Next, melt the candy melts in microwave in a glass bowl, according to directions on bag.  If the melted candy seems too thick, you can add a teaspoon or two of shortening to thin it out.

Using a fork, dip pretzels one at a time into melted candy.  Fully coat pretzel before removing.  Tap on side of bowl to allow excess candy to drip off.  Place on wax paper and immediately place green M&M in the top crevice.  The candy will set fairly quickly (maybe an hour total) at room temperature, but you can refrigerate or freeze them to speed up the process.

Once the candy is hardened, gently break off any remaining excess candy around the pretzels.  Then place pumpkins on a platter to create your very own edible pumpkin patch!

I have a little story to tell:

Back in September, it was yet another day of getting moved into our new house, when our friendly little Boy Scout neighbor caught my unsuspecting husband with a convincing sales pitch.  For some unfortunate reason, I (who normally handles ALL neighbor kid sales) was no where to be found and consequently an ungodly amount of popcorn was purchased.  To be fair, I’m all in favor of supporting Boy Scouts and the popcorn was indeed yummy.  But I’m the only one in our family who eats it.  And once it was in our possession, I certainly couldn’t let it go to waste.

Here is the problem.  The large bag of Butter Toffee Caramel Corn states that it contains 19- 110 calories servings.  Nineteen!?  I’ll just admit it-  I ate it in THREE.  I don’t even want to think about the calories involved here.  But I thought that if I can’t remember my own advice regarding snacking (see previous Snack Attack post), maybe it’s worth repeating to spare someone else from falling into the same pit I did!

So here it is: When faced with a large content of snacking material, divide it up into single serving portions from the get-go to avoid mindless over-eating.  Had I divided the humongous bag into even 12 smaller ones, I would have done myself a huge favor.  Not only calorie wise, but it also would have given me more mileage (i.e. number of snacks per money spent) out of the purchase.  For whatever reason, it’s mentally so much easier to stop eating when you reach the end of the single serving bag, than to stop in the middle of a large portion.

So follow my words, not my example   Hopefully this “note to self” will stick a little better this time around.

There are a plethora of tantalizing Nutella recipes floating around in cyberspace, but I couldn’t pass up the simplicity of this one.  Three quick ingredients, plus a few short minutes in the oven, and you have yourself a decadent cookie in hand!  It doesn’t get any easier than this, folks!

After doing a little research, I learned that this recipe was originally a four ingredient recipe as described at ABusyNest.com in 2010.  Then somewhere along the way, it was pinned on pinterest, with the recommendation to leave out the sugar.  I followed this suggestion and wholeheartedly agree.  Added sugar is simply not necessary, as the Nutella is plenty sweet on its own.

Nutella Cookies

• 1 cup Nutella
• 1 whole egg
• 1 cup flour

Mix ingredients together until well blended.  Form into balls and drop onto cookie sheet by the teaspoonful.  Bake for 7-8 min at 350°.

Nothing tastes like fall more than pumpkin, so here’s a way to enjoy it in the morning.  And while I love a nice warm Pumpkin Spice Latte as much as the next person, the advantage of this recipe is that it is a more nutritious option and I can make it at home (i.e. less expensive).  I tinkered with this recipe for several weeks and finally feel like I got it to a good place.  So, please, take advantage of all my trial and error work!

Pumpkin Spice Smoothie

• 1 Medium Frozen Banana
• 1/3 or 1/2 Cup Frozen Peach slices
• 1/3 Cup Pumpkin puree
• 1/3 or 1/2 Cup Vanilla Greek yogurt
• 1/2 Teaspoon of Pumpkin Pie spice
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon of Stevia (optional)
• 1 Scoop Unflavored or Vanilla protein powder (optional)
•  1/2 to 1 Cup Milk (I poured it until the milk covered half of the other ingredients)

Place frozen fruit in blender first (If using non-frozen fruit add a half cup of crushed ice).  Next add pumpkin, yogurt, and spices.  Lastly, poor milk over it all until it it covers at least half of the ingredients.  Blend until smooth and enjoy!

I realize I’ve been posting a lot of sweet recipes lately.  And with all the pumpkin and nutella recipes floating around in my kitchen this fall, I don’t really intend to stop.  But for the sake of balance (for which I usually strive), I will throw in this one veggie post!

My family has been in a vegetable rut for quite some time now.  Seeing as how it was time to add something new to the mix, I decided to try edamame (sounds fancy, right?).  I skeptically thought maybe it was actually lima beans being re-marketed as something exotic.  But apparently not!  They are both legumes, but edamames are actually soybeans with origins in Asia; lima beans are from South America.  Nutritionally, edamame has twice the protein and half the carbs of lima beans, but are missing some of the vitamins found in lima beans.

So, how do you cook them?  There are several ways, but I tried this simple one first and it was a hit at my dinner table!

Crispy Edamame
from Allrecipes.com

• 1 (12 ounce) package frozen shelled edamame
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400°. Place the edamame into a colander and rinse under cold water to thaw. Drain. Spread the edamame beans into the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle cheese over the top and season with salt and pepper.  Bake until the cheese is crispy and golden, about 15 minutes.  Serve while still warm.

This recipe has lots of fall flavor without using pumpkin (for all you pumpkin haters that didn’t vote in my poll, but I still know exist).  A single batch makes over 50 mini muffins, but we still managed to polish them off in only a few short days.  My son particularly enjoyed the last step of rolling the muffins in cinnamon sugar, so bring the kids into the kitchen and let ‘em help!

The secret ingredient- I was lucky enough to have some local-made from the farmer’s market.

Apple Cider Muffins
from Feastie.com

• 2 Cups Flour
• 1 1/2 Teaspoon Baking powder
• 1 1/2 Teaspoon Baking soda
• 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
• 2 Teaspoons Cinnamon
• 1 Large Egg
• 2/3 Cup Brown sugar
• 1/2 Cup Apple butter
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla extract
• 1/3 Cup Honey
• 1/3 Cup Apple cider
• 1/3 Cup Plain yogurt
• 2 Tablespoons Canola oil
• Cooking spray
• 1/4 Cup Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400° and spray a mini muffin pan with cooking spray.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

In another large bowl, whisk together the egg, brown sugar, apple butter, vanilla extract, honey, apple cider, yogurt, and canola oil. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredient mixture and whisk until just incorporated. Don’t over-mix – a few lumps are okay.

Using a tablespoon, fill a 24-hole mini muffin pan with the batter; fill each hole only 3/4 of the way, or you’ll end up with huge mini muffins. Bake for approximately 10-12 minutes and cool on a wire rack.

While muffins are still a little warm, combine cinnamon and sugar in another dish. Roll each muffin in the cinnamon sugar to coat the sides and top. If muffins are too hot the cinnamon sugar will dissolve into the muffin.  If they are too cool it won’t stick.  If you need it, a little melted butter brushed onto the muffins will help the cinnamon sugar stick.  Makes approximately 48 mini muffins.

Well, hello blogging world!  I’m finally ready to emerge from the great ocean of the moving process that has been my life for the past many weeks!

So, have you noticed the fad of homemade versions of store-bought foods on pinterest?  Well, I jumped on board, tried one, and was pleasantly surprised with the results!  Only three ingredients were needed!  And, it was so easy, that I think I *may* even try more candy bar copy cats of my own design.

Peanut Butter Cups
from Cherryteacakes.com

• 6 Ounces of Milk Chocolate Chocolate Chips (half of a normal 12oz size bag)
• 1/2 Cup Peanut Butter
• 1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar
• Mini muffin pan liners and pan

First, you need to melt the chocolate.  Place chips in a microwave safe dish and heat in 30 second increments.  Stir after each 30 seconds and stop as soon as all chips are melted.  Then, spoon about a half teaspoon of chocolate into each mini muffin liner.  Spread chocolate to cover bottom (and sides if you want the sides coated with chocolate. I personally kind of like exposing the sides).  Place muffin pan in freezer for a few minutes until chocolate hardens.  It won’t hurt to leave it in longer, so you can let it freeze through the next step.

Mix the peanut butter and sugar with a fork until combined.  Then, divide into 24 pieces.  Retrieve the pan from the freezer and spread each “piece” of peanut butter on top of the chocolate bottom.

At this point you will probably need to reheat your chocolate (unless you work way faster than me, which is completely possible!).  Heat again in 30 second increments until just melted.  Then, spread a small dollop of chocolate over each peanut butter cup.  Return to freezer until chocolate has hardened (this will only take a few minutes).  Serve cups with or without the liners and store in refrigerator.

These would also be great with dark or white chocolate chips!

What do you give your chocolate-loving kindergartner for snack to celebrate their first day of school?  Look no further than the Fantasy Fudge Cookie.  I got this recipe from a friend in college, so I have been making them a long time (can you say 15-year-reunion next year? Yikes!).

The recipes calls for Reeses Pieces (YUM!), but M&M’s, white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, etc can be substituted.  I was too frugal to buy more candy when I already had leftover M&M’s sitting in my pantry!

1 Cup Butter, Room Temp
1.5 Cups Sugar
2 Eggs
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
2 Cups All-purpose flour or white whole wheat flour
⅔ Cup Unsweetened Cocoa
¾ Teaspoon Baking soda
½ Teaspoon Salt
1 8 ounce Package Reeses Pieces
¼ Cup Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease baking sheet. Cream butter and sugar in large bowl. Blend in eggs one at a time. Stir in vanilla. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Slowly beat into creamed mixture. Stir in candy and chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoonfuls. Bake 10-12 minutes.

*Be sure to set the timer!  The dark color prevents you from seeing the level of “doneness,” so they are easy to over-bake.* 

Before football completely takes over, I want to give a little shout out to baseball.  My son played for the first time this spring and loved it so much he’s playing again this fall!

If you’ve had kids on sports teams, you know the highlight of each game is the snack afterwards.  So as my turn approached, I naturally turned to pinterest to find a specifically baseball-themed snack to bring.  An obvious choice is cake pops decorated like baseballs.  But if you’ve been reading this blog lately, you’ll understand why I hurried past this option!

A simpler, more appealing, option in my opinion were baseball candy-covered Oreos.  You dip the cookie in the candy coating, draw the red stitching lines and you’re done!  Or if you want to go all out like my friend, Jennifer, you can include a box of cracker jacks and some peanuts along with your edible baseballs in a bag that says “Take me out to the ball game.”  She is amazing like that.

These ideas are not only for game snacks, but would be fun at an upcoming World Series party or any baseball themed event.  Or the Oreos could easily be decorated for another sport (soccer, basketball, etc).

You will need:

• Regular Oreos (store brand are fine!)
• White chocolate or almond bark for melting
• Red edible marker
• Cookie sheet lined with wax paper

Heat chocolate/almond bark in small crock pot or double boiler. Add a spoonful of shortening if seems too thick or lumpy.  Dip cookies with a fork, letting excess coating drip off for a second or two.  Place coated cookie on cookie sheet lined with wax paper.

Cool in fridge until coating is hard, maybe an hour or two?

Then draw red stitching lines with an edible marker (I found them at Walmart near their cake decorating/party supplies section).  Let dry before packaging for snacks.

Are your kids back in school yet?  Seems like the school year starts earlier and earlier every year!  Here’s a simple recipe that utilizes the convenience of the Crock Pot, but paired with the right sides (corn on the cob, potato salad, etc) still feels like a summer meal.  After all, it is still only the middle of August, even if school is back in session!

Slow Cooker Zesty BBQ Chicken
from Chef in Training

• 3 pounds Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast Halves (uncooked; frozen is fine)
• 1 (18 ounce) bottle Mesquite BBQ Sauce
• 1/3 cup Zesty Italian Salad Dressing
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce

Place chicken in the crock pot. In a bowl, mix bottle of barbecue sauce, Zesty Italian Salad Dressing, brown sugar, and Worcestershire Sauce. Pour over chicken.  Cover and cook 3-4 hours on HIGH or 6-8 hours on LOW. Serves 6-8.

Shortly before serving, use two forks to shred the chicken.  Serve on buns if desired.