October

Tomorrow is the first day of October! I have a lot of fun  and easy Halloween ideas! So keep checking back each week. I will also be posting a lot of pink treats because October is also Breast Cancer month.

Ghost Lollipop

This is the easiest Halloween treat you will ever make!

You will need some Ghost Peeps, lollipop sticks, ribbon and little bags.

Grab a box of Ghost Peeps and stick a lollipop half way up each Ghost! Boo!

Pop the Ghost lollipop into a plastic bag and tie it with a black or orange ribbon. Boo! What could be easier?

This is a fun treat to make for the classroom. sports team or for a Halloween party favor. Make these for all of your favorite Peeps! It's so easy ask your kids to help you with this project. Boo!

Pumpkin Oreo's and Marshmallows

Today I made some pumpkin Oreo's and Marshmallows! A fun treat and easy treat to make. No baking involved.

Aren't these adorable? I just dipped the Oreo's in the orange candy melts that you can buy at Michael's or any party store.

While the orange tabs were melting.......

I found some black icing, green Tic Tac's and broke some pretzels.

Then I set out the Oreo's and marshmallows on parchment paper.

Once the Oreo's were dipped in the orange chocolate - I immediately added a green Tic Tac or broken pretzel for the stem.

When the orange candy coating has completely dried - add the face decorations with black icing.

On the marshmallow once the orange candy coating is dry - you can make the face decorations and tie a little green bow to add a little color.

If you want to put these treats into little plastic bags - they need to dry overnight. So that the icing faces don't get smudged.

Fashion Graham Crackers

I made Graham Crackers in honor of Fashion Week. Noelle helped!

Two of my favorites - Tori Burch and Chanel.

We needed a double Graham Cracker for one of my very favorites - Prada!

Noelle said she wanted credit for helping me write the logos - she did the Prada and Louis Vuitton.

I made a dish with Trina Turk, Fendi, Chanel and Tori Burch. Should I sign up for a cake decorating class?

I hope you enjoyed my Fashion Week Graham Crackers!

Music Treats

Today is my daughter's last day of singing in the church choir. She has been signing at the Sunday 5 p.m. Mass for the past five years and now she is leaving for college. So to say goodbye - we made little music treats. Since today is 9/11 - I can imagine that mass will be very emotional this evening.

I have done this in a previous post - you just wrap mini Hershey bars - see July 21st post.  So today we wrapped the Hershey bars in music paper.  We also made one to say goodbye to her sweet piano teacher.

These would be a cute treat for anyone in choir, band or for a piano recital.  My son is scheduled to be an Altar boy this evening - so if she has an extra - it will be his!

Fresh Vegetable Pasta Salad

This is a great salad to serve for a light lunch or side dish at an evening BBQ.  Today we had the pasta salad for lunch. And there is a ton leftover!

12 ounces of spaghetti, broken in half and cooked according to the package directions
5 Roma tomatoes, seeded and finely chopped
4 stalks of celery, finely diced
1 cucumber, finely chopped
1 small head of broccoli, cut into very small florets
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 green bell pepper, finely chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped Italian parsley
1 cup of small mozzarella balls, cut into quarters
1/2 jar Salad Supreme
3/4 cup olive oil

While the pasta is boiling, chop all of the vegetables and start adding them into a large bowl. Then strain and add the pasta and toss with the vegetables. Once the pasta has been tossed with the vegetables add the Salad Supreme and olive oil and toss again.

Let's face it you can't be healthy with out eating green things - so man-up and eat your veggies!

My Final Pineapple Upside Down Cake Recipe (For Now)

Yes, I made four Pineapple Upside Down cake recipes. This will be my final Pineapple Upside Down cake recipe - for now! I don't know if I will see another recipe that I absolutely have to try! Although I think my family is a little tired of the Pineapple Upside Down cake.

Today I remade the Betty Crocker recipe with a few changes!

1/4 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 fresh pineapple cut unto rings
15 fresh cherries
1 box of Betty Crocker SuperMoist yellow cake mix
vegetable oil and eggs called for on the cake mix box
1 cup of unsweetened pineapple juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a 13x9-inch pan, melt butter in oven. Sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over the butter. Arrange the fresh pineapple slices on the brown sugar. Since I am using fresh cherries I can not place them on the cake until after it has baked.

The fresh pineapple rings are a little larger and thicker. Add 1 cup of pineapple juice to the yellow cake mix  instead of water and add the vegetable oil and eggs as directed.  Then pour the batter over the pineapple slices.

Bake for about 42 to 48 minutes.

Once the cake comes out of the oven - invert it onto a serving platter. Using a cherry pitter - pit the cherries and add them to the cake.

Guess what? This was everyone's favorite recipe. Sorry Paula and Emeril - your recipes were really good. But Betty's was best! What is the moral of this story? Fresh fruit is always better. And we can not be cake mix snobs.