Halloween fun food

Growing up, we always had Sloppy Joe's on Halloween night before going out Trick or Treating.

Is anyone doing anything fun for Halloween Dinner?

Today Regina had asked me for my bread bowl recipe.  I live in Minnesota, we eat lots of soup. I can't serve soup with out bread. 

I used to make bread bowls where I shaped the dough around an upside down bowl and bake. It was good but often unsteady, the dough wouldn't rise evenly.  Last week I found a recipe where you make a roll and cut off the top scoop out the middle and fill it with soup. It sat flat on the plate but mine had holes where the soup dripped out. We ate it in bowls so not too big an issue but I'd love to find a great bread bowl recipe or fixes for my problems with the recipes I have.

Any advice?

  

Today was cold and rainy, so my husband was looking for grilled cheese and tomato soup. Which is fine, and definitely brings me back to my childhood, but I just wasn’t feeling it today. I wanted a little more from my soup. So I took my can of Campbell’s Tomato Soup, added 1 can of skim milk instead of water (my mom often did this, it makes it much creamier, though I can’t quite call it cream of tomato soup), 1 teaspoon of dried basil, and ¼ teaspoon of freshly ground pepper. It was amazing! Just the extra I was looking for.

My 10-year-old had some when he came home from school, and couldn’t stop telling his brothers how good it had been.

I don’t think I’ll ever look at a can of Campbell’s Tomato Soup the same way again.

Who doesn’t love a dinner that makes the whole family happy? Tonight we’re having meatloaf. I have to double the recipe now, for my family of six, and yes, I know that’s not good portion control, but for one evening, everyone is truly happy. And anyone who has teenagers, a tween, and a toddler, or any combination thereof, knows that’s a tall order.

By the way, “fancy” meatloaf doesn’t cut it. It has to be the plain old Lipton’s recipe, with mashed potatoes. My brother-in-law, George, likes his meatloaf with gravy (his comfort-food-of-choice, I believe), but my family goes with ketchup and hot sauce (thank you, PopPop, for that addition to my kids’ culinary repertoire). Except me, I like mine sans condiments.

Also, it has to be served with mashed potatoes. My mom used to make the best browned potatoes with her meatloaf, and I really love those, but for meatloaf, my family really wants mashed potatoes paired with it.

And added bonus: This is quick prep. Just mix and bake. The individual muffin tins or mini loaf pans make great presentation for kids.

To make this recipe healthier, use ground turkey rather than ground beef. Also, substitute wheat germ for ½ of the bread crumbs and/or substitute baby carrots or sweet potatoes or green vegetables for ½ of the ketchup. For Southwestern meatloaf, substitute barbecue sauce for the ketchup. Finally, if you like a glaze, spread ketchup or barbecue sauce on top of the meatloaf before baking.

Souperior meatloaf

1 envelope Lipton onion soup mix
2 lb lean ground beef
1½ c bread crumbs
2 eggs
1/3 c ketchup
¾ c water, if needed

Preheat oven to 350°. Combine all ingredients in large bowl.

Bake 350° for about one hour in 9x13 pan, or about 40 minutes in muffin tins for individual servings or mini loaf pans for 2 servings each.

What's for dinner tonight?

I am always looking for inspiration in what I want to make for dinner and would love to hear what others are doing. So, what is your family having for dinner tonight?

We're having stuffed shells and salad tonight. If I get motivated, maybe I'll let my little ones help me make some bread dough and we'll have fresh bread and a salad with it.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Bars

I thought I'd add the first recipe. My husband and I, our girls too, love chocolate and peanut butter treats. My Mom always made a chocolate, peanut butter bar with graham cracker. I was looking for a new recipe. And found this one below on allrecipes.com. The girls and I enjoyed it. Brad said "Why mess with a good thing" and requested the original. I'm saving the recipe for a little bit of a dressed up bar, if I'm bringing them somewhere. I've been meaning to share it with my sister since I tried it last weekend. So here it is. 

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Bars  

1½ c all-purpose flour 
2/3 c brown sugar 
½ c melted butter 
2 egg yolks 
2/3 c chocolate chips 
1¼ c confectioners sugar 
1 c peanut butter 
¼ c butter melted 
1 t vanilla 
1/3 c chocolate chips 
1 T butter 

Preheat oven to 350°. In a medium bowl combine flour, brown sugar, ½ cup butter, and the egg yolks. Mix together by hand. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until light gold. As soon as it comes out of the oven sprinkle 2/3 cup of chocolate chips. return to oven for 2-3 minutes. In a large bowl mix together confectioners sugar, peanut butter, ¼ cup of butter and vanilla. Stir in the milk. Crumble the peanut butter mix over the chocolate layer. Press down lightly. Melt 1/3 cup of chocolate chips and 1 tbsp of butter. Drizzle over the peanut butter mixture and refrigerate 2-3 hours. Cut into bars. I ended up using a little extra chocolate chips and spreading it on top. 

Enjoy!

Welcome to the virtual dinner group

I’ve had a dinner group with my neighborhood friends for several years now, and my sisters (far-flung across the U.S.) have often said they wished they could join us.

A few years ago, my sister, Maureen and her friend, Jenner started up an email list of friends and family with whom they’ve often shared recipes, and gone to for the answers to everything from “How do you feed your family at night when you don’t walk in the door until 5:30 and you have a soccer game at 6 and piano lessons at 6:15 ... on opposite ends of town?” to “What’s your Thanksgiving menu this year?"rdquo; to “Remember that punch you made for the kids at Mom & Dad’s anniversary? What was the recipe?” That email list grew as friends and family added more people to the distribution (they told two people and they told two people and they told two people and so on and so on).

From that email list, this blog was born. We want to share our recipes with one another in a more interactive forum, and we want to share them with you. We hope you'll share with us too. So come on in to our virtual dinner group, pour yourself a glass of wine and let’s start cooking together.

Have you ever been “BOO”ed? Here’s how it works:

1. Copy this poem, these instructions, and this ghost TWICE.
   
   
2. Pass TWO "scare" packages (include Halloween-themed treats, candy, stickers, face paint, you get the idea) on to your neighbors.
   
   
3. Once you've been “BOO”ed, place this ghost in your window for neighbors to see. That’s how they’ll know not to ghost you again.
4. Watch to see the fun spread around the neighborhood.

The air is cool, the season fall

Soon Halloween will come to all

The spooks are after things to do

In fact, a spook brought this to you

This “BOO” is a shield from witching hour

Just hang it up and watch its power

On your front door where it works

It wards off evil spirits and scary jerks

The treats that came with crypted note

Are yours to keep, enjoy them both

The power comes when friends like you

Will copy this and make it TWO

Then others here among our friends

Will give warm fuzzies that do not end

We’ll all have smiles upon our faces

No one will know who “BOO”ed whose places

Just one short day to work your spell

And don’t forget a nifty treat,

Like something cute or something sweet

Please join fun, let’s really hear it

And spread some “BOO”s and Halloween spirit

I was thinking of my friend Karen today, and coincidentally, I made her husband’s favorite meal for our dinner: Baked macaroni & cheese.

Though it was warm yesterday, it’s Fall, and Fall gets you thinking of comfort food. According to Merriam-Webster dictionary:

comfort food n food prepared in a traditional style having a usually nostalgic or sentimental appeal

that reason, when you ask people about their favorite comfort food, you get all kinds of answers. Comfort isn’t one-size-fits-all.

Comfort food is real stick-to-your-ribs food; creamy, saucy, topped with gravy. However, it doesn’t always have to be heavy. In fact, there are numerous resources dedicated to revamping comfort food, making it less Your Mother’s Tuna Noodle Casserole, and giving you opportunities to put your own healthy stamp on it. Food Network is constantly running shows aimed at lightening up your favorites, and Cooking Light often features readers’ favorite recipes lightened.

For me, comfort food is synonymous with macaroni & cheese, and the boxed kind just won’t do the trick. Everyone’s got a favorite macaroni & cheese recipe, and usually your favorite is the one you grew up on. That’s just how it is with comfort foods, they bring you the comfort and security of home, in a dish.

This macaroni & cheese is basic. It is a perfect building block recipe for you to add your favorites. For extra sunshine-in-a-dish, try broccoli for some color, vitamins, and crunch. In the mood for Italian? Add diced tomatoes, Italian cheeses, basil, and oregano. Or try peas and bacon for a Carbonara flair. Mexican? Add Monterey Jack and chili peppers to suit your SQ (spicy quotient).

Baked macaroni & cheese
Serves 5

2 T flour
4 T butter, divided
½ t dry mustard
½ t garlic powder
¼ t white pepper
1/8 t nutmeg
2½ c milk
2 c cheese, shredded, divided (I use a mixture of cheeses, it makes for additional creaminess and better flavor)
8 oz medium shell macaroni, cooked 7 minutes, drained
¼ c bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease casserole dish (choose a pretty one that can go straight from the oven to the table, even if you have guests). Melt 2 T butter, stir in flour to make a white roux. Add dry mustard, garlic powder, pepper, and nutmeg. Add milk slowly, stirring the entire time, to make a white sauce. When thickened, stir in 1¾ c cheese until melted and blended. Add cooked macaroni. Stir together to coat macaroni. Melt remaining butter. Mix together with bread crumbs and remaining cheese. Pour macaroni mixture into prepared casserole. Top with bread crumb mixture. (Can be made ahead to this point and frozen or refrigerated at this point for baking another day. If you do this, bring the dish to room temperature before continuing.) Bake 50 minutes, until cheese is bubbly and top is golden.

“Mom, I’m starving and there’s nothing to eat.” I hear this almost everyday from my teenagers. But, thank God, they have no idea what it really is to be starving, or even hungry, or really have nothing to eat. More than 12.6 million children in the U.S., that’s one in six, are at risk of hunger.

Today is October 15, 2008, and more than 9,000 bloggers, with an estimated 10,000,000+ collective readers, have committed to writing about poverty within the subject of our individual blogs. By all posting on the same day we aim to change the conversation for one day, to raise awareness, start a global discussion, and add momentum to an important cause.

What does “hunger” really mean? Childhood hunger is an uneasy or painful sensation among children, caused by involuntary lack of food within their households. But also, children can also be hungry nutritionally, without feeling any sensation of pain or discomfort. With limited or uncertain availability of nutritional foods, children in almost 16% of U.S. households suffer from nutritional hunger.

Children who are hungry have greater difficulties learning and performing academically. They are less likely to perform well on tests, and more likely to repeat a grade. They have greater incidents of school absence, tardiness, and school suspensions.

Children who are hungry are more likely to exhibit aggressive behavior, have higher levels of hyperactivity, anxiety, and/or passivity, and have difficulty getting along with other children.

Children who are hungry or do not receive proper nutrition suffer from the significant and long-lasting health effects of hunger. Hunger will stunt their growth and development, not only physically, but also their mentally. Children who do not receive proper nutrition suffer from more illnesses, including stomach- and headaches, colds, ear infections, and fatigue. They are more hospitalization, and at greater risk for obesity and its harmful health consequences.

Obese and hungry? Wouldn’t those two be mutually exclusive? Not so, parents without money to buy enough food often have to rely on cheaper, high-calorie foods to keep kids feeling full longer, but that can meant that they eat more calories than is wise and that they don’t receive proper nutrition.

Share Our Strength is committed to ending childhood hunger in America. Visit their web site to learn more about childhood hunger and Share Our Strength’s efforts.

In addition, freerice.com donates 20 grains of rice to the World Food Bank for every correct answer you submit correctly on their quiz web site. Simply, click on your subject area of interest and answer a few questions. 114,283,760 grains of rice were donated yesterday; more than 46 billion grains have been donated to date. FreeRice has generated enough rice to feed more than two million people since it started in October 2007.

We had a big weekend of football (son, Evan scored 2 touchdowns toward his team's 24-20 win), but also baseball (Red Sox, ugh).

What says Autumn to you? But before you answer, it's also Indian Summer, so it's actually more like Summer tha July was here in Newburyport. Again, the contradiction that October in New England usually is.

SO, to observe the Red Sox despicable loss this evening, we had some friends over and combined Autumn and Summer: Sangria, burgers and dogs on the grill, guacamole, caramelized onions, blue cheese.

Ultimately, I wanted a big burger bar, and I had it. A hamburger with guacamole, lettuce, tomatoes, and goat cheese says Summer. One with blue cheese and caramelized onions says Autumn. I had both myself, thank you very much.

But the two biggest hits of the evening were the sangria (Summer) and the caramelized onions (Fall, which also made their way into a fabulous dip for potato chips). The sangria recipe comes from a friend I worked with years ago, and it's been a staple in my house and my sister's since then.

Jenn's sangria

1 lemon
1 orange
¼ c sugar
¼ c brandy
¼ c triple sec
1.5 l red wine
12 oz ginger ale

Slice lemon and orange and place them in the bottom of a pitcher. Add sugar, brandy, triple sec, and let sit in fridge for a few hours, or overnight. About an hour before serving, add red wine, and chill. Add ginger ale just before serving.

Caramelized onions
For this recipe, I use any mixture of onions I have, it makes the flavors more interesting: shallots, Vidalias, Bermudas, whatever you have.

1 lb onions, sliced
¼ c salted butter
¼ c olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
¼ t ground cayenne pepper
1 t kosher salt
½ t freshly ground black pepper
¼ c sugar

Add butter and oil to skillet and heat. As you slice the onions, add them to the skillet and cover them to sweat them. Once all the onions are sliced, add the garlic, salt, and pepper, and continue to sweat. Once all the onions are tender and translucent, add sugar, and remove lid to caramelize them. Once they're a nice caramel brown, remove from heat. Use hot or refrigerate for later use.

My sister, Bridget, makes her caramelized onions in a crockpot while she's working and uses them to make a great pizza with smoked gouda.