Candy corn pizza, quick pizza crust

Here is another item that I forgot to post, but as I'm adding pictures (soooo far behind I know.)  I found this picture.  I wanted to make this "pizza" as a side to go with my dinner in a pumpkin.  It was simple pizza.  I had made the crust to be eaten on Oct. 30.  We had trunk or treat, and a million things to do, so I pulled out an old recipe I had for a quick pizza crust from a friend of mine back in college.  I made the crust and then we ended up not having time to make the pizza before the trunk or treat so I refrigerated the dough and made it as a side to our Halloween meal.  It was tasty.  I don't suggest refrigerating the dough, it grew bigger than the container and then got dry spots.  But it was still workable.  The dough is great in a pickle though if you need a good pizza crust quick.  I didn't follow the regular directions on the dough - I cooked it how I always cook pizza which is with the oven as hot as it will go on a pizza stone for 8 minutes (giver or take 2 minutes.)  I'm just writing out the recipe for the dough.  

To make candy corn pizza with this crust (or any other crust), just add mozzarella in the middle and cheddar on the outside.  You could also do a gouda in the middle for yellow.  That would be fun, but we didn't have any.  We did try one with feta for the white and that was good too.  Heat until cheese is melted.

Ingredients

• 1 cup warm water
• 1 Tablespoon yeast
• 1/2 Tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 Tablespoon oil
• 2 cups flour

Directions

1. Dissolve yeast and sugar in water.  Add salt, oil and flour.  Mix, knead for a few minutes until smooth.  
2. Spread on a greased pan.  Let rise 5-10 minutes.  Add toppings.  Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes. (When I cooked this as candy corn pizza I baked it like I do all pizza crust  now - for 6- 8 min at 550 directly on my pizza stone.)

Dinner in a pumpkin

This was part of our dinner on Halloween.  I love to do fun holiday things with my food.  Not as into making sweets at Halloween, but the food is fun.  This recipe is from the book of recipes my sister Karley typed up for me.  Yea!  I actually really liked it.  I've had it for left overs for lunch for the last 2 days.  I even liked eating the pumpkin but no one else in my family thought it could possibly be eaten.
Warning: follow the directions and cook this on a cookie sheet so you don't make a mess of your oven.  Especially if your 4 year old decided to be helpful and stab holes in the bottom of the pumpkin - even if they don't look like they went through, they will weaken the bottom of the pumpkin causing it to turn a bit soupy making a mess of the oven and resulting in difficulties when trying to remove the pumpkin from the oven.
I would also suggest if drawing a face to come armed with multiple sharpies.  I got eyes on mine before it decided it was done writing on pumpkin.  There is a faint nose and mouth, but they are very faint.  Should have looked for more sharpies.
I also think this could easily be made in a casserole dish if you don't want to use a pumpkin.
You get 2 pictures 1 of the pumpkin - you can see how it was seeping, and one of the dish on a plate to see what the insides looked like.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs ground meat (I used a 1 lb container of my pre-cooked ground beef)
• 1/2 cup chopped celery (I used 2 stalks)
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 cup diced green pepper (I used 1/2 a red bell pepper - more than 1/4 cup.)
• 1 teaspoon salt (I didn't add any because my pre-cooked beef has some already.)
• 1 small or medium pumpkin (mine was the smallest I could find, but still rather large)
• 1 10.5 oz. can cream of chicken soup
• 1 4 oz can sliced mushrooms, drained
• 2 cups cooked rice
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 Tablespoons brown sugar

Directions

1. Make rice (I did mine in the rice cooker.)  Brown ground meat, drain (or if using pre-cooked defrost 2 minutes and put in the skillet.)  Add salt (if using) celery, onion, and green (or red) pepper.  Cover and simmer 10 minutes.  
2. While that simmers, Cut top off pumpkin and clean out seeds and pulp.  Make sure there is room for your pumpkin in the oven.  I had to remove 1 rack and move the other to the bottom.  Preheat oven to 375.  
3. Return to simmering beef mixture and add soy sauce, brown sugar, mushrooms, soup, and rice.  Stir to combine.  Place mixture in pumpkin and replace lid.  
4. Draw a face with a black marker (or 2.)  Place filled pumpkin on a baking sheet and bake 1 hour or until pumpkin is tender.

sloppy joe pie

I started out following a recipe I saw in some of my old Pillsbury magazines.  I was looking for something cute and halloweeny.  It was titled sloppy joe pie, so I had in my head sloppy joes.  It called for turkey sausage, so I had Brandon make some chicken sausage (recipe to follow.)  As I was cooking this up, I decided the kids were going to think it was too spicy.  It had sausage, green chilis, salsa, onion, and chili sauce.  I didn't really feel like spicy, I thought sloppy joe sounded better, so I ended up just making something up.  It turned out OK.  Would have been way better with just plain ground beef or turkey rather than sausage.  I wasn't a fan of the fennel flavor of the sausage combined with the sloppy joe flavor of the Mamwich I threw in there.  (Yes, we made home made sausage and then I threw in a can of Mamwich.  Don't judge me, I was making it up at the last minute, and I actually like mamwich better than the few homemade sloppy joe recipes I've tried.)

Ingredients

• 1 lb. chicken sausage (I'd use ground beef or turkey next time though
• 1 refrigerated pie crust, softened
• 1 can mamwhich
• 1 cup frozen corn (I didn't measure this - may have been a bit more - about 1/2 the small bag)
• 1 can black beans rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup diced onion (or 1 Tablespoon minced dried)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 450.  Remove pie crust from pouch.  Unfold crust.  Place on ungreased cookie sheet.  With a sharp knife, cut jack-o-lantern face from the crust.  Use the eye, nose and mouth scraps to make a stem, leaves, and tendrils.  Pinch in place (can also use a bit of water.)  Bake at 450 for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown (mine took all 11.)  (In my other cookbook with the same recipe, they made an orange egg wash to brush on, but I didn't feel like doing that. 
2. Meanwhile, crumble sausage into a large non-stick skillet.  Add onion;  Cook 8-10 minutes unilt no longer pink.  Add all remaining ingredients and mix well.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes to heat through and combine flavors, but not too long so it doesn't dry out.
3. Place pie crust on top of sloppy joe mix to serve.

candy corn cookies

I just saw these on Jamie cooks it up today, and decided to make them because I thought they looked easy.  That is what I get for doing my own thinking.  I must say, it was probably much my fault because I did sub out some applesauce for melted butter, but I don't know why that would make the batter so much more sticky.  I added lots more flour.  The flavor was still good, but I did still have to refrigerate the dough, and when it warmed up, it was not fun to work with.  I think if I made these again, I'd just use my sugar cookie recipe and color them.  The concept it cute.  Or, I may try it again but with a different brand of cake mix.  They do vary on amount in the box.  I used betty crocker today.  Jamie had used Duncan Hines.  I might try that because like I said, the flavor was great.  I did decorate these the next day.  They were good.  These cookies seemed to get better the longer they sat.

Ingredients

• 2 white cake mixes
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 2 eggs
• 2 Tablespoons sour cream
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• red and yellow food coloring.

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl until combined.  Divide dough into thirds.  Add yellow food coloring to 1/3, and red and yellow food coloring to the other third (I used like 10 drops red and 40 yellow for the orange color.)
2. Divide each color ball in half (somehow I didn't manage to do this part -definitely suggest it though.  It would be easier to deal with smaller strips.  I kept thinking mine was making more because it had the extra flour - not because I can't follow directions somedays.)  Roll each 1/2 of a ball into a rectangle about 9 X 4 inches.  Cut the rectangles into strips just over an inch wide (3 strips per rectangle)  Place a white, yellow, and orange strip next to each other.  Push together slightly.  Cut into triangles. Go to Jamie cooks it up for lovely pictures of this entire step.  
3. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.  

Frost.  (I didn't, yet - I may still this afternoon.)

Caterpillar meatballs, Mummy Sandwich

Here is what I actually made for Halloween. They turned out cute. I didn't like the caterpillar much,(2 star) ( but I knew I wouldn't because I used store bought frozen meatballs and I don't like those. DS2 loved those though. However, the mummy sandwich turned out really good. (5 star) I had the leftovers the next day and was actually happy when DH didn't eat the section I left for him and I got to eat it again the next day.

Caterpillar meatballs

1 tube of flaky layer biscuits
20 frozen meatballs
chow mein noodles, and olives etc. for decoration.

1. Heat oven to 375. Spray large cookie sheet with cooking spray or cover with parchment paper.
2. Divide each biscuit into 2 layers. Cover each meatball with biscuit. Line up on a cookie sheet to form 2 caterpillers. Poke in chow mein noodles to make legs, antenna and tongue.
3. Bake 13 to 16 minutes or until golden brown. Add olives for eyes and mouth.



Mummy Sandwich

• 1 can refrigerated pizza crust
• 2 Tbs. onion and chive cream cheese
• 4 oz. deli sliced ham
• 4 slices swiss cheese
• 1 jar (7 oz) roasted red bell pepper
• sliced black olives
• precooked chicken (original recipe called for 6 oz deli chicken)

1. Heat oven to 400. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray. Unroll dough onto cookie sheet. Stretch and lightly press 1 short side of rectangle to about 11 inches wide. (the top.) Stretch to about 14 inches long pressing in the sides so the bottom is about 6 inches. (mine was a bit wider than that at the bottom.
2. Spread cream cheese down the center in a 3-4 inch strip leaving 1/2 inch at the top and bottom with no cream cheese.
3. From the wide end, leave about 3 inches space for the head. From there, start layering 2/3 of the ham, peppers, chicken, and cheese on the cream cheese. Starting in top corners, make cuts at an angle 1 inch apart down the long sides of the dough to within 1/2 inch of the filling. (the first cut should be from the top corners down to where you started layering ingredients for the body. Continue with parallel cuts down the side.) To form headplace remaining 1/3 of filling ingredients ending with bell pepper in circular pile over the cream cheese leaving 1/2 inch space from body filling. Fold and shape 3 in section of dough over filling to make rounded head leaving an opening for the eyes, exposing bell pepper. Starting at mummy's neck, alternately cross remaining strips over filling; folding bottom 1/2 inch up before crossing last 2 strips. (This part was hard for me. Their picture looked like they had plenty of dough. I felt like mine was running out, but that is probably because I used chopped cooked chicken so mine was a little fuller than it would have been with deli sliced chicken.)
4. I totally forgot this step, but I'm sure it would be yummy to do an egg wash here and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese
5. Bake 15-20 minutes or until deep golden brown. Place olives on mummy face for eyes.

Pumpkin Bread bowls and Witch's Brew

I'm making these again this halloween.  (2012)  Not sure if I will use this recipe of my Green smoothie girl split pea recipe - they are similar.  I am not sure how I will color the pumpkins because I've quit using food coloring for the most part.  (I did cave for the angry bird birthday party - they were mostly colored with fruits, but ...)  Anyway, I'd love any non-food color suggestions.  :)  Pureed carrot and spinach are sounding like what I may try this time around.  I've also updated the bread recipe to include the sweeteners and oils I more commonly use now.

I'm not sure how I found this food storage web site, but I stumbled upon this super cute recipe. Even though Halloween was over I had to try it. It turned out pretty tasty and definitely cute.
I did change the spices on the witches brew. My version is posted here or click the above link for their spices. I was pretty impressed with the soup. I have not made split pea without including ham, so I was a little leary, but it was really good. I also liked the texture the barley added to the soup. I plan to make this a yearly Halloween time meal.

Pumpkin Bread Bowls
Makes 4 medium bread bowls
Ingredients
2 T. instant yeast
1/4 cup sucanant or coconut palm sugar
2 cups warm water
4 teaspoons sea salt
1/4 cup olive oil
6 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (I use white wheat)
Yellow, red, and green food coloring
Instructions:
1. In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and mix until they come together.
2. Knead the dough on a floured tabletop or with dough hook, adding more flour if needed, until it is smooth and elastic but not sticky or soft.
3. Cover and let the dough rise just until it has doubled in bulk (about 1 to 1 1/2 hours).
4. Punch down the dough. Divide the dough into four portions, and remove a small piece of dough from each portion for the stems.
5. Shape each pumpkin by forming a ball with each 1/4 section of dough.  Personally I do this by stretching and rolling the dough down and under from the top although the original directions said to do it by pinching the dough up from the bottom.  The key is - end up with a sphere/pumpkin shape and put the less smooth side down.  .
6. Place the pumpkin on a parchment-paper-lined sheet pan. Grease one end of a toothpick and put it into the dough stem so that it sticks out an inch from the top. Stick the other end into the pumpkin top. Then cover each pumpkin with plastic wrap and let it rise to twice its size.
7. Uncover the risen dough. Holding the stem, slowly twist the toothpick to loosen it but don’t remove it.
8. In a small bowl, mix 2 tablespoons of water with 30 drops of yellow and 6 drops of red food coloring. Transfer a half teaspoon of the mixture to a small bowl and stir in a drop of green food coloring.
Use a small pastry brush to paint the stem green (the brush should not be too wet). Gently apply a coat of orange to the globe using a larger brush and long, soft strokes. Let the paint dry for about 2 minutes.
With a sharp knife, lightly score the dough to create the pumpkin’s grooves.
9. Heat the oven to 375 degrees and bake the bread until it sounds hollow when you tap the crust, about 35 to 40 minutes.
10. Set the pumpkin on a cooling rack and twist the toothpick to remove it. If the crust seems soft, cool the bread completely, then bake it for another 5 to 10 minutes.
Before serving, slice off the top of the pumpkin and pull out the bread from the inside, leaving the bowl about 1” thick on the sides and bottom. Fill with thick soup.



Here are my pumpkins painted and in the oven. Next out of the oven to show how the color darkens. Then cut and awaiting the soup.






Witches’ Brew (Split Pea and Barley Soup)


INGREDIENTS

• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups dried split peas
• 1/2 cup barley
• 9 cups chicken stock (I used a 64 oz. carton of stock and 1 cup of chicken broth from a can - probably going to use vegetable stock this time around)
  
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 3 potatoes, diced (I don’t peel them!)
• 1/2 T dried parsley
  
• 1/2 T dried basil
• 1 T dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS
Place all ingredients in a large slow cooker and stir until well combined. Cook for 3-4 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low. Add more water if soup is too thick. Serve in bread bowls.


I loved how my crock pot ended up looking like a cauldron. I thought that was fun. Unfortunatly, it didn't want to work correctly. After 5 hours on high it wasn't ready and I had to cook it on the stove for 35 more minutes. Aarg! But that was the crock pot's fault, not the recipes.