Donut Muffins

I would be a horrible person if I didn't share this recipe with you.

These are delicious. So much so that...well...

I. Have. No. Words.

Run, don't walk, to your kitchen and whip up a batch of these babies.

My husband and I *might* have just plowed through a dozen of them in the space of about 7 minutes.

(I've taken the recipe from this website. Bless this website for so many reasons. She has some typos in her recipe--I've fixed that).

Ingredients (muffins):

1/2 c. sugar

1/4 c. butter, melted

1/4 t. ground nutmeg

1/2 c. milk

1 t. baking powder

1 c. all-purpose flour

Ingredients (coating):

1/4 c. butter, melted

1/2 c. sugar

1 t. cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease a mini-muffin tin, set aside.

2. Mix up the 1/2 c. sugar, 1/4 c. melted butter and nutmeg in a large bowl.

3. Add flour, milk, and baking soda and mix together until just combined.

4. Fill muffin tins about 3/4 full and bake for 15-17 minutes.

5. While muffins are baking, combine sugar and cinnamon into a bowl, set aside.

6. Melt 1/4 c. butter and place it in a bowl. (I just melted my butter in a skillet and left it there).

7. When muffins are done and cool enough to handle, remove them from the pan. Dip the tops of the muffins in butter and then roll the WHOLE muffin in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Let cool and then try not to pig out too badly!!

Side note: This recipe is egg-free...so my nephew can eat them. So for all of you who have adorable nephews with egg allergies, this one's a winner!

Radish Dip

So, this is the second week of our CSA (crop share association), and this is the second week that we've had an inordinate amount of radishes in our share.

I'm not really a fan of radishes.

But my friend clued me into this dip, and I'm thrilled about it.

1 (8 oz.) pkg cream cheese
8-12 radishes, washed and chopped in half
3/4 - 1 t. salt

Optional ingredients:
dill
garlic

1. Put radishes in a food processor and pulse until radishes are in teeny-tiny pieces....think crushed candy canes...it'll look similar. =)

2. In a bowl, mix the radishes with the cream cheese and salt (and optional ingredients, if you like) with a spoon or stand mixer.

Serve with tortilla chips, celery, cucumber....really, it's all delicious.

Halloween Offerings

Hey all-I've got a few festive and fun Halloween dinners to offer. I'm not sure which I'm going to make tomorrow, but I thought I'd post this today in case anyone's trying to be a cool mom on Halloween. :)

*Oh, disclaimer-these are not intended to be healthy or gourmet in any way. They are intended to win you cool points with your kids, and not be too hard or time consuming to make. You'll be doing other things-painting faces, finding that elusive sword, repositioning the tiara... Ok. Here we go.

Mummy Dogs

• Some kind of good hot dog or sausage-brat, whatever you like that comes in a general hot dog shape
• 1 can of refrigerated bread sticks

You can see where we're heading with this-take the breadstick and wrap the lower 2/3 of the hot dog, then leave a space and wrap up the top for his little mummy turban. Bake according to the directions on the bread sticks. When they come out, dot a little ketchup or mustard for the eyes and you're set.





Trick or Treat Turnovers

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 onion
• 1 can cheddar cheese soup
• 2-3 Tbs ketchup
• Cheese
• 2 cans refrigerated biscuits

Brown beef with onion and drain. Add soup and ketchup-simmer. Meanwhile, take refrigerated biscuits and flatten. Take your knife and carve out simple pumpkin faces in half of the biscuits. Place some of the meat mixture on the non-carved half, then put cheese on top. Gently place a carved face over the top and pinch edges to seal. If you want to get really tricksy, you can nip out a bit of the biscuit and make a stem at the top. Bake according to the biscuit directions.

Happy Halloween!

Zucchini Cakes

I am talking Zuchinni Cakes like crab cakes, not zuchinni cake like carrot cake. You know what I'm saying? I know a lot of us follow P-Dub's blog, so some of you maybe have already tried these...but, if you haven't, give them a try. This recipe is so easy to make and really good! There are step-by-step instructions and photos on P-Dub's blog, so I am going to have you click over there rather than type it out. Here's the link--try them out!

Microwave Caramel Corn

In the spirit of the holidays, I thought I'd add another treat to those already shared. This caramel corn is good anytime, but for some reason my family only made it around Christmas. It's pretty simple.

Ingredients:
5 c. popped corn (Note: 1/2 c. unpopped = 12 c. popped)
2 T. dark or light corn syrup
4 T. butter (or margarine--even lite margarine works)
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 t. vanilla
1/4 t. baking soda

Place popped corn in a paper grocery bag. In a glass bowl or measuring cup, microwave syrup, butter, and brown sugar for 1 1/2 minutes. Stir. Microwave for 1 minute more. Stir. Add vanilla and baking soda. Stir. Mixture should get foamy. Pour syrup over popped corn in bag. Close bag and shake. Place bag in microwave for 1 minute*. Shake again and microwave 1 minute* more. Spread on cookie sheet (no need to grease) and allow to cool.

*When I made this before I got married these times worked great. Then I used our new microwave and the popcorn got overcooked. Now I do 30 seconds/30 seconds, give or take. You might want to just play with it, but if you have a new-ish microwave, it's probably more powerful than the ones used when this recipe was written (which was a LONG time ago). Generally, the longer you cook it the darker and crunchier the caramel corn will be. Shorter times result in lighter, chewier caramel corn. It depends on how you like it.

Another note: Like I said, this was written a long time ago. I recently read that it's not good to cook things (namely turkeys) in paper bags because of chemicals used in production. I've never had a problem with this recipe (so far all of my children have turned out fine), but if any of you know that there is a problem with microwaving food in paper bags, let me know. And let me know if you know of any alternatives because even if it's not unhealthy, paper bags in the microwave are bulky and hard to work with.

Southern Made Cheese Ball

Every time I make this, I get rabid requests for the recipe. It's a holiday favorite of mine too. (Also, to give credit where credit is due, I got this recipe from allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened (I use 2 bricks ofNeufchatel--see note)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder (not garlic salt)
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon Creole-style seasoning (shop for one that is not super high in sodium)
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1 cup diced cooked ham (I am a vegetarian, so I have always left this out)
1 tablespoon creamy salad dressing, e.g. Miracle Whip ™
Topping to roll cheeseball in--chopped pecans, grated cheese

DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, mix by hand, cream cheese, Worcestershire sauce, onion powder, garlic powder, green onions, chili powder, Creole-style seasoning, Cheddar cheese, ham and creamy salad dressing. Form the mixture into one or more balls. Roll in topping if desired. Chill in the refrigerator at least 1 hour before serving.

Note: Neufchatel cheese is often sold by the bricks of cream cheese. It tastes absolutely the same but is 1/3 the fat. And it doesn't have the weird texture of low-fat cream cheese, either. But I usually make this recipe with 2 bricks Neufchatel, and 1 brick regular cream cheese, just in case.

Chicken Salad

1 1/2 c. chicken, cooked and cubed
1 c. pineapple tidbits, drained
1/2 c. slivered almonds
1/2 c. diced celery
1/2 c. sour cream
1/3 c. mayonnaise
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 c. seedless green grapes, cut in half


Mix sour cream, mayonnaise, and salt together. Add remaining ingredients and chill. I like to eat this as a roll or croissant sandwich.

Jalapeño Poppers

OK, I stole this recipe from this website, but these are delightful and extraordinarily addictive, even to those in my family who don't like spicy things. They are surprisingly not that spicy. I also modified it a wee bit.

Ingredients:
12 jalapeños
1 8oz. tub of whipped cream cheese (although regular would probably do, I just got this so that it would be extra spreadable)
1/2 lb. bacon

Cut jalapeños in half, length-wise. Remove seeds and white membranes with a knife or spoon. If you want them to be spicy, leave a little in. Smear cream cheese into each jalapeño half, being generous. Cut bacon into 1/3 strips. Wrap each jalapeño half with 1/3 strip of bacon. Secure by sticking a toothpick through the middle.

At this point you can freeze them, which I did, until about a half hour before serving.

Bake on a broiler pan (to catch the bacon grease underneath) in a 375 degree oven for 20-25 minutes. Then broil for 1-3 minutes until the bacon looks brown and cooked on top.

Serve immediately.