orange goat cheese cheesecakes + pomegranate syrup

I'm doing something a little unusual tonight. A late-nigh tpost. It’s like my very own late night talk show “The Late Post with JellyToast”. Oh, that actually rhymed. I’m a poet and don’t know it. I apologize for that last line. I’m feeling a little punchy because I seem to be eating on piece of candy for every two I pass out. Yes, watch out, I am multitasking bypassing out candy and writing this post at the same time. Two birds, baby, two birds.

It does seem a bit quiet around here, though, and I am wondering if it’s the crummy weather that has held off many of the little monsters and zombies or just that I seem to be eating all of their candy before they can get to it.  It’s a question without an answer.

Speaking of zombies, my favorite costume pair so far has been Officer Rick Grimes and his ‘walker’ companion. It’s as if this pair knew I was knee deep in a season two marathon of ‘The Walking Dead’ and just wanted to make me smile. Thanks, Rick, I appreciate it. And, Rick? I have to tell you,I was just as shocked about the barn full of walkers as you were. Head-sewn-to-the-carpet kind of shocked.

I love checking out the costumes and sizing up the level of dedication of each trick-or-treater. Frankly, if you are under legal drinking age, are wearing a costume, and say ‘trick-or-treat’ and ‘thank you’, you can have as much candy as you want. Unless the amount you want is more than my designated limit of two pieces per treater. Then you need to move on to the next house.

I never really understood why some folks don’t like Halloween. I mean, what's more fun than spending a night dressed up as someoneelse and going around collecting free sugar? I don't know that there's muchelse that could be better. Oh, be right back, I have another trick or treater…

Huh, that was unexpected. A bloody sock monkey. I’ve never seen one of those before.

Anyhoo…let me casually segue into speaking about these delightful little cheesecakes. The inspiration for these cheesecakes came from brilliant and talented Helene of Tartelette. I have been a HUGE fan of Tartelette for along time and am forever drawn into her beautiful photos and sugar laden treats. She never disappoints. If you aren’t familiar with her work, I urge you to go and take a look. I am positive you will not regret it.

Anyways a couple months ago I made her lemon goat cheese cheesecakes and since then, my life has not been the same. They were tangy and creamy and sweet and absolutely everything I could have wanted in a dessert.Even without chocolate-as I am typically a chocoholic-these cakes were utter perfection.  I was unable to stop at one bite – or one cheesecake for that matter. You think the individual serving size would've helped me control myself, but alas, no. I told myself ‘listen, there’s only eight, so I might as well enjoy them’. And I did. So much so, that I made them again.

So for Halloween I thought I would dress-up Helene's amazing perfect lemon goat cheese cheesecakes with a little bit of a Halloween/Fall/Winter costume. The winter part of the costume was inspired by this drippy, cold weather. I was thinking of Fall fruits, and I first thought of apples, but quickly scratched that idea. Then I thought of pomegranates. Perfect.

spiced pumpkin pie dip

This past weekend, my family held our annual Halloween party. It's been a yearly event since I was in college and every year the costumes, food and party games get more and more elaborate. Just the way I like it.

One year, about 7 years ago, the entire family dressed up as characters from Star Wars. That year was legendary. There were only two grandkids at the time (there are now 9) and even they got in on the action. A one year old Yoda is a funny thing, let me tell you.

We don't do a costume theme every year, but occasionally branches of the family will go as coordinating characters. One year, my little branch went as Super Mario Brother's characters and another year, Yo Gabba Gabba characters. A two year old DJ Lance is also hilarious.

This year was yet again a great party complete with Halloween themed cocktails, cheese ball grave yards, and fried apple fritters. I couldn't help but think back on previous years' menus and remember what we had made in the past.

Several years ago, my sister made this baked, marshmallow-y topped pumpkin pie dip. I couldn't exactly keep my hands off the stuff. She served it with graham crackers and apple slices and let me tell you, it was like pumpkin pie and sweet potato casserole (you know, because of the mallows) teamed up to create this wonder dip.

After taking note at how much I embarrassed myself with it enjoyed it, she gave me the recipe. Bless her heart.

She had gotten the recipe from a Pampered Chef pamphlet many years ago, and despite a lot of looking, I was not able to find the recipe on their website to link back to.

I made this dip for the Baby's birthday party a couple of weeks ago but it goes equally well with a Halloween, Thanksgiving or even football themed get together. Speaking of Thanksgiving, you should have seen my kitchen this weekend. It was as if Thanksgiving exploded a month early - all in preparation for my new "Ultimate Thanksgiving" series. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for my top Turkey day recipes. Trust me, you'll want to see them.

Happy Monday, everyone!

Spiced Pumpkin Pie Dip

Adapted from Pampered Chef

Makes 16-2 Tablespoon servings

Ingredients:

1-15oz can of pumpkin puree (not pie filling)

4 oz cream cheese, softened (I used 1/3 less fat)

½ cup of packed brown sugar (dark or light)

2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ cup of chopped pecans (optional)

¾ cup of mini marshmallows

Apple slices for serving

Graham crackers for serving

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°.

In a bowl of an electric mixer, beat cream cheese with paddleattachment until soft and creamy. Add pumpkin, brown sugar, pecans (if using), pumpkinpie spice and cinnamon; mix on medium speed until incorporated.

Spoon the mixture into a 2 cup baking or gratin dish. Topwith mini marshmallows and bake in the oven 12-15 minutes. Serve the dip warmwith apple slices and graham crackers.

The dip can be mixed ahead of time (without topping withmarshmallows) and stored in the refrigerator until ready to bake. Simply takethe dip out of the fridge, top with marshmallows, pop it in the oven and increase baking time by about5-7 minutes. Just watch the marshmallows to make sure they don’t burn.

Enjoy!

Printable Recipe

cranberry orange coolers

Having a kiddo with a birthday so close to Halloween, I have wondered what is the best protocol for Halloween theme/Birthday theme mash-ups. Do we play up the Halloween theme for everything it's worth and pack her party full of spooky shananigans? Or do we go in the completely opposite direction and shun the ghosts and jack-o-lanterns - keeping them in their rightful place: next week.

The problem is that I love Halloween. Love it, love it. So relegating it to a one week celebration is often not enough for me. I need my creepy fix.

To compromise at the Baby's party and make me everyone happy I usually try to nod toward Halloween by having some treats that on the outside say 'Perky Princess' but on the inside scream 'Halloween Horror'.

Take this cranberry orange cooler for instance. It has many faces. It can be a pretty pink punch for a birthday party or a bloody red drink for a haunted house party.

It even has different sides for kiddies {with lemon lime soda} and grown ups {with vodka} At the Baby's party, we served strictly the kiddie version as I am not sure on the rules of serving boozy punch at a 3 year old's party, and frankly, didn't want to find out the hard way. But at a Halloween party, where there is no specific tiny guest of honor, I find that the vodka version is completely acceptable. And welcomed.

Make them both for your Halloween party this week, you won't be sorry. Just don't mix up the two versions. Things could get crazy.

salted chocolate covered oreos

Dark chocolate, Oreos, vanilla sea salt. A brilliant combination. One first introduced to me by the (clearly) genius Michelle at So Wonderful So Marvelous. I came across her Sea Salt Chocolate Covered Oreos a year or so ago and now can never imagine my life without these deceptively decadent treats. It's like they're my secret little escape. The vanilla sea salt hits your tongue and dances around with the bitter sweet dark chocolate which offsets the super sweet Oreo cookie inside. Amazing.

If you're wondering where to get vanilla salt, I have used Fusion brand and it can be bought in Toledo at The Anderson's or on Amazon. If you get a bit of sticker shock (the stuff isn't cheap) you can make your own, by adding a few drops of vanilla extract to some sea salt, stirring it around and allowing it to dry a bit before using. Extra vanilla salt can be used on super fudge-y Salted Caramel Brownies.

These Oreos have become my go-to treat for parties, school and the occasional Tuesday afternoon. My kiddos love to help me make them so it's a treat for everyone. I dip the Oreos and they sprinkle the salty/sprinkly goodness on top. It's like a little assembly line of heaven. As a complete bonus, they are nut and milk allergy friendly! With the Baby's peanut allergy, and my nephew's nut/milk allergies these are a great alternative for a party treat. As long as you use chocolate that is milk free-which many brands of dark chocolate chips are.

Originally, in Michelle's post, she made a super adorable Valentine's Day version. I have found that these can be easily customized to any holiday by simply adjusting the Oreo type and sprinkle topping. I dressed this little batch up for Halloween. For the Baby's birthday party we made 'Berry Burst' and 'Mint' versions with pink and green sprinkles on top.

No matter what type of Oreo you use or for what occasion you make these, you can't fail. Simple yet perfect every time.

a 'super why' party

Now that I've gone all nostalgic about the Baby and her birthday, I want to share a few brief bits about her party. I love throwing my kiddos parties, but I always have the same problem. I plan too many details only to run out of time in the end and inevitably have to cut something out in order to come out on top.

Our birthday party journey began with getting the Birthday Girl to actually make a decision on the type of party she wanted. For the record, I am not one of those parents that lets my kids make every single decision in their life. I would never get out of the house in the morning. But when it comes to things like My Little Pony underpants vs. Minnie Mouse underpants or birthday party themes and Halloween costumes, I let them take the reins. At least briefly. Pun intended.

This year's party idea train of thought went a little something like this: Tinker Bell, Mickey Mouse with all his friends, Doc McStuffins, Halloween themed, Mickey Mouse with just Minnie (don't ask), and then finally to Super Why. Don't get me started on her Halloween costume decision process. It makes my head spin.

three

The dust has settled, the presents have been opened and the treats have been eaten (too many of them by moi) but the fact remains the same. My baby is 3.  

Excuse me while I sob violently.

Ok, I'm back.

I have to start by saying that this is a belated birthday post. Yesterday was the big day but my eyes began to droop before I could put pen to paper (or in this case, fingers to keys).

On her birthday, I can't help but think about when the Baby was born just like I can't help but think about the Buddy's birth on his big day. I think it's a parent thing. Or maybe just a me thing.

Being pregnant with the Baby was both more and less eventful than the Buddy. Everyone was healthy (Thank you, God!) and the end was, thankfully, the most boring part of the whole thing. I love boring births. Nothing scary and nothing traumatic. Routine. Ahhh, the beauty of routine. 

This pregnancy was also full of gestational diabetes ( yes, again) but this time my pesky sugars had a mind of their own and refused to let a low-carb diet be the boss of them. This required medication. And with the medication came twice a week non-stress tests in addition to all of the routine checks. For the last ten weeks of my pregnancy, I became a regular at the doctors. Not my favorite thing but each test gave me an excuse to kick back and hear the Baby's beautiful heart beat and count her little kicks. It put everything in perspective. I was blessed that I had a healthy little girl just waiting (patiently this time) to be born.

But along with this second pregnancy also came a bit of fear. Fear of what had happened with the Buddy. I would not be caught with my pants down this time. I would have my act together and get my house and self ready. Yes siree, I was ready for anything! Well anything except for the dangers of 'Pregnancy Brain'.

Nesting + Pregnancy Brain = Disaster. I tell this tale not because I am proud of what I did but because I hope to impart a little wisdom (ha!) to any soon-to-be mommy out there that thinks boiling rubber nasal speculums in a pan of water to 'sterilize' them two days before her scheduled C-section is a good idea. In fact, it is not. Don't do it. Do not trust your pregnancy brain/memory. It's a fickle broad.  A double edged sword of brilliance and flakiness. Have a back up system - in this case a fire alarm - in place at all times.

squash apple bake

On our calender, the months of September and October are filled to the point of comically overflowing with birthday stuff (The Baby's 3rd Birthday is on Sunday - yikes!), school stuff, wrapping up summer stuff, and preparing for the holidays stuff.

Each weekend is so full that when we add a new event to the calender there is only room for a brief letter or two. Art Class becomes AC and Trunk or Treat becomes TOT and so on.

When each 1 inch square is filled with 4 different sets of code letters written in my chicken scratch things can get a bit confusing. So confusing that one could conceivably miss a doctor's appointment in the whole mess. Hypothetically speaking, of course.

All of these Fall time activities coupled with the fact that this is prime T.V. watching season makes for some busy nights. I mean, how am I supposed to sew up a Halloween costume that looks like an iPad and watch Parks and Rec? The answer involves a greatly increased amount of coffee (yay!) and a greatly reduced amount of sleep (boo!).

But what can I say? A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do. Homeland won't watch itself. Although it probably would - it's that awesome.

These busy nights also call for some quick, yet comforting meals. The kind of meals that will stick to your ribs and give you the energy to finish putting in the zipper in a tiny Princess P costume.

pumpkin chocolate chunk cookies

Some days I simply wake up with the itch to bake.  Creaming together butter and sugar then adding layers of flavor and sprinkling in the dry ingredients is just the activity I need to take me to my happy place.  It's cathartic.

The other day I woke up this exact feeling. A need to bake. I turned to my small helpers for inspiration. They both thought, “cookies!” were the treat to make. I couldn’t agree more.  

A quick scan of my pantry shelves turned up one of my favorite Fall ingredients: canned pumpkin. I usually stock up on this pantry staple - buying a few cans here and there whenever I see them on sale, but the last few years, however, I was met with unexpectedly empty shelves at the store. Apparently there was a pumpkin shortage, and little to no cans of pumpkin were available. What? How bizarre. Refusing to be put off from making my pumpkin desserts, I experimented with roasting my own sugar pie pumpkins to make my own pumpkin puree. It was actually quite easy to do but still a lot more involved than opening a can. Luckily this year there doesn’t seem to be such a problem - at least in my neck of the woods. So I have been happily buying up cans of pumpkin puree with each trip to the store.  I feel alive again.

With my can of pumpkin in hand, I eye-balled a bag of dark chocolate chunks and quickly came to the conclusion that these two ingredients could become fast friends. I have already experimented with the pumpkin/chocolate combo this fall with great results and so I figured they couldn’t go wrong in cookie form either.

turkey sliders + caramelized onions

The sun is shining, the air is crisp and all I really want to do is go outside. I'm a Fall kind of girl and for me, there's nothing better than grilling in the chilly weather. I've spoken before about my love of chilly grillin' and these little sliders are the perfect teeny-tiny bites of grill-y goodness for Fall. 

These sliders may look small but don't let their petite stature fool you (says the girl who stands 5'1" on a poof-y hair day). I say, 'let's all be champions for tiny food!' Just as long as it's not tiny on flavor. That, I just won't tolerate.

Have no fear! These sliders are monsters on taste. Loaded with spice (my secret ingredient is Old Bay), topped with melt-in-your-mouth caramelized onions and ooey gooey melted cheese. The flavors just keep.on.coming.

cornmeal waffles

 

When I set out to make apple butter, I had it in my head that I just had to make cornmeal waffles to be the vehicle for my apple butter. Cornmeal waffles? I'll attempt to explain.

A while back I came across a book. More specifically, a romance novel (if you get my drift) in which the main character who loved cooking (among other things) made a crock pot full of apple butter and served it on cornmeal waffles. I don't have any clue - none at all - why this stuck in my head. But it did. It sounded amazing.

Also, it is admittedly odd that apple butter on cornmeal waffles is the detail from the book that stuck in my head. I really do have a one track mind - and it's food apparently. Turns out though that the book was actually pretty darn entertaining and I have read it several times since.

Problem was, I didn't have a cornmeal waffle recipe. Also, did I mention that I didn't even have a waffle iron? I know. I really was coming at this from a bizarre angle. Well, a quick text to my sister (who doesn't even question my random requests anymore) landed me the waffle iron and a quick search on Google turned up a ton of cornmeal waffle recipes. After looking at several recipes, I settled on the one from King Arthur Flour. I love their flour so I figured that was a good place to start.

slow cooker apple butter

After our exciting trip to the orchard, apple butter was high on my list of 'apple stuff to make'. Yes, I really do have a list. And I'm plugging away at it quite nicely.

The day I made this apple butter it smelled like Fall had exploded in my house. That might not be the correct visual. I'll keep working on it. The apples and spices that slow cooked over hours filled my house with the sweet, cozy comfort of Fall. That might sound better, but I still like the exploding Fall. More dramatic. 

Now this recipe is incredibly simple, but it does take some time. It's a recipe that you must plan for. 

It's a great recipe for a day where you have a bunch of laundry to do and a long list of Friends episodes on the DVR. Or, if you're my sister, Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Either way.

raspberry applesauce

Fall is here, baby!  Last weekend, the fam and I went to McQueen's Orchards right here in Northwest Ohio, and had an awesome day of apple picking. It was a trip hoping to kill two birds with one stone. Pick a wicked amount of apples in which to sauce, butter, and bake, and also, try (mostly in vain) to get some new pictures of the kiddos. Well, 30 seconds into the trip, we had a fall with a skinned knee. A few tears later, we were back on the track. On the apple front, we were successful:

 On the picture front, not so much. We got a lot of this: 

 this:

 and this:

It's an ongoing battle, this taking photos of small people. One I hope to come out victorious one of these days, but until then, at least we have applesauce. See what I did there?

After coming home with my bag bursting with apples, I had to make something immediately. Seeing as how it was already 3:00 pm, apple butter was out of the question due to the long cooking time, but applesauce...well, that was another story completely.

turkey tortilla chili

 

I love pretty much any kind of chili. Meaty. Full of Beans. You name it. I found myself stuck recently because I had a complete craving for both chili and chicken tortilla soup. After looking over a few of my favorite recipes I was no closer to making a decision on which soup to make. So I asked myself, "why not both?"

 If you think about it, there is a lot of common ground in the worlds of chili and tortilla soup. The spice, the chunky veggies (at least in my versions of chili), the wide array of garnishes. In my mind this union would make a serious bowl-o-goodness.

Char grilled corn and peppers, I would like you to meet black beans and ground turkey. I'm sure you'll become fast friends.

Add a little minced jalapeno, diced onion, and sliced garlic and you are on your way to one crowd pleasing pot of chili.