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.

Spaghetti

This is my recipe for marinara/whatever I turn it into sauce. Today it was spaghetti sauce. I'm writing how I made it today.

Ingredients

• 1 lb cooked ground beef (I use my pre-cooked.)
  
• 1 large onion
• 8 cloves garlic, finely chopped -4 tsp of the predone minced garlic - love that stuff!
• 2 (28 oz.) cans crushed tomatoes
• 1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 Tablespoon each of Basil, oregano, and thyme
• 1 teaspoon each of salt, pepper, and rosemary
• 3 bay leaves
• pinch of marjoram
  

Mix all ingredients in a slow cooker. Cover and cook on Low for 8 to 10 hours or on High for 4 to 5. Serve with noodles.

I make this different just about every time I make it. Many times I have Italian seasoning that I use instead of the other seasonings. I almost always add a little extra thyme and oregano. I don't alway put bay leaves in it. If you like it spicier try adding some dried red peppers while it cooks. My mom uses them in her spaghetti, but I find this recipe to be just the right amount of spicy without them since it has onion and pepper though. Sometimes I also add sausage. I have made it without any meat as well (that is actually how the original recipe was.)

Tandoori chicken and Naan

This was one of my favorite meals that I've made lately. Both the Naan and the Tandoori Chicken were excellent. YUM! (5 star)  Sorry no pics. I made this before I started taking pictures. I'll try to post some next time I make it. The Tandoori Chicken recipe comes from an old Pillsbury or Betty Crocker magazine that I have and is super simple.  It does require some time to marinate, but other than that very easy. The Naan is from allrecipes.  It is a bread so of course it is more time consuming.     At the bottom I included a Pakistani recipe that was similar in flavor only using ground beef. (3 star)

Tandoori Chicken

• 1 cup nonfat plain yogurt
• Juice from 1 lemon
• 1 Tbs oil
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 1 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground red pepper (cayenne)
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (2-3 lbs)

1. In a shallow glass dish, combine yogurt, lemon juice, and oil; blend well. Add all remaining ingredients except chicken breast halves; blend well. Add chicken; turn to coat. Cover; refrigerate 30-60 minutes to marinate.
2. Line 15X10X1 inch baking pan with foil; spray foil with nonstick cooking spray. Remove chicken from marinade; place in foil-lined pan. Discard any marinade.
3. Broil 4 to 6 inches from heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until chicken is fork-tender and juices run clear, turning once.
I had rather large chicken breast halves, so I cut them in half. I figured they would cook faster, and get more marinade on them. It worked very well. Most were done in 10 min. I checked them with a thermometer. If there were up to 159 I took them out. They were perfect. Soft enough to cut with a fork and very yummy! Everyone loved them. Nice Indian flavor.
We served them with the following Naan -the recipe is from allrecipes

Naan
Ingredients

• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 4 1/2 cups bread flour
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic (optional)

Directions

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt, and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes on a lightly floured surface, or until smooth. Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise. Let it rise 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in volume.
• Punch down dough, and knead in garlic. Pinch off small handfuls of dough about the size of a golf ball. Roll into balls, and place on a tray. Cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
• During the second rising, preheat grill to high heat.
• At grill side, roll one ball of dough out into a thin circle. Lightly oil grill. Place dough on grill, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until puffy and lightly browned. Brush uncooked side with butter, and turn over. Brush cooked side with butter, and cook until browned, another 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from grill, and continue the process until all the naan has been prepared.

We did not make them on a grill - we made them on a cast iron skillet. Delicious!!
Update - Oct. 2010 - Made these today on the griddle.  Equally as delicious and I could do 3 at a time.


If you like the flavor of the tandoori chicken, you may like to try the following - it is a Pakistani recipe, but the flavor is similar, just using beef. I'd probably give it 3 stars. It was good, but the Tandoori chicken was awesome. It is from Sparkrecipes.

Keema

Ingredients
1.5 lbs lean ground sirloin
1 cup chopped onions
2 cups canned crushed tomatoes
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup diced potatoes
1/2 teaspoon each cinnamon, tumeric, ginger
1 tbsp curry powder
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Brown ground sirloin in pan with onions until browned.
Add tomatoes, peas, potatoes and spices along with salt and pepper to taste.
Bring to a simmer and cook for 25 mintues.
Add water if it becomes too thick. It should have the consistency of chili.
Serve over brown rice or whole wheat couscous.

Number of Servings: 6

Pork Lo Mein

This is another recipe I found at allrecipes.com. I chose it because I wanted to try the black bean and garlic sauce. I altered it and used pork because we had just had chicken something the day before. I also used different pasta and veggies than the poster at allrecipes. This is how I made it. As it was I'd probably only give it 2-3 stars. It seemed to be lacking something. I sprinkled mine with some garlic salt and peanuts and that helped bring it up to 4 stars for me. DS2 loved it just the way it was. Here is the way I made it. Next time I will probably add more soy sauce and possibly more black bean and garlic sauce, or add garlic salt to the mix.
For some strange reason I did not make the entire package of noodles, so I didn't mix the noodles and the sauce. I just served it on top. My picture is before I decided it needed peanuts.


Ingredients

• 1 (16 ounce) package linguine noodles
  
• 3 tablespoons canola oil, divided
• 4 pork loin chops cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 3 carrots, sliced
  
• 3 stalks celery, sliced
  
• 1-2 cups snow peas
  
• 6 green onions, chopped
• 3 tablespoons Chinese black bean and garlic sauce
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• peanuts
  

Directions

1. Fill a large pot with lightly salted water and bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Once the water is boiling, stir in the pasta, and return to a boil. Cook the pasta uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the pasta has cooked through, but is still firm to the bite, 9 to 10 minutes. Drain well in a colander set in the sink.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a skillet over medium-high heat, then add pork. Cook and stir chicken until no longer pink inside, about 10 minutes; set aside.
3. In the same skillet, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil over medium-high heat and mix in carrots, celery, and green onion and peas. Cook and stir until tender yet still crisp, 5 to 6 minutes. Mix in Chinese black bean and garlic sauce; cook and stir for another minute. In a separate bowl, mix chicken broth, soy sauce, and cornstarch; add sesame oil. Pour mixture over vegetables and simmer until thickened. Toss in drained pasta, stirring until well-coated and heated through.
4. Serve sprinkled with peanuts.
   

precooked ground beef and chicken

When I was working I was always looking for a way to speed up dinner making time, and I started making my ground hamburger and chicken ahead of time then freezing them in individual containers. I love doing that. It was so convenient and I have continued doing it even though I no longer work. I like to buy my meat in bulk or just buy a lot when it is on sale, but I hate waiting for it to defrost. This solves my problem on a variety of recipes.

Ground beef

Fry up hamburger with onion, salt, and pepper. Divide into 1 lb containers and freeze. It thaws in 2 minutes in the microwave. I've also made it with celery and onion. Add whatever you normally add to ground beef in a casserole recipe. I also started to make 1.5 lb containers recently. They take 3 minutes to defrost in my microwave.

Chicken

We like to grill our chicken then chop it up and package it. I love the flavor added to the meat by grilling it over the charcoal. Sometimes we even marinade the meat first.

One of these days I'll learn to use my nice expensive pressure canner and try my hand at canning meat, but for now, this is what I do and I love it. Quick and easy.

Bread topped hamburger casserole

This is an old family recipe. DH doesn't like sheppard's pie, so this is what we have instead. I love the bread topping. I think it is the thyme and oregano in it. Crazy thing about making it today is that I had a lot of really old canned items in my pantry. Apparently I don't use vegetable beef soup that much. I found cans from 2004, 2006, and 2007. Luckily there were some with a date of 2010. I also had tomato sauce from 2005. I know that one was there because it was a garlic tomato sauce and I usually just use plain. So much for me thinking I was good at rotating my food.

Hamburger mixture ingredients

• 1 lb hamburger
• dried onions
• 1/4 c diced bell pepper
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 can vegetable beef soup
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt (I used this but will omit next time.)
• 1 8 oz. can of tomato sauce

Bread topping ingredients

• 1 pkg. Yeast or 1 Tablespoon
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 Tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup scalded milk
  
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp oregano

Directions

Scald milk by putting in microwave with butter until the butter is melted. Set aside to cool to lukewarm.

Fry hamburger with onions (or use precooked), bell peppers and celery. Drain. Add the rest of the hamburger mixture ingredients. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer while preparing the bread.

Place bread ingredients in a bowl in the order listed. Beat 3 minutes.

Pour hamburger mixture in 9 X 13 pan
Pour bread mixture over meat. -This is a really thin bread mixture. I try to get a nice thick ribbon and pour it slowly over the meat mix because once it is on there it is hard to spread around. (This was about the best I think I've ever spread it. Great for taking a picture.)

Let rise 20-30 minutes

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.


I didn't have Parmesan cheese today, but this is what it looked like out of the oven.

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.