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Yesterday, before the neighborhood trick-or-treat, we hosted a pizza party at our house. I spied these cute owl cupcakes at Sinful Southern Sweets and just knew that I needed an excuse to make them! They served as dessert for the 18 kiddos in attendance at our party, all of whom were dressed to impress and nearly crazy with anticipation for THE BIGGEST SUGAR HIGH OF THE YEAR!
These are so easy to make. Just bake and frost chocolate cupcakes, separate Oreos (we used double-stuffed), place brown M&M's or Reese's pieces in the center of each Oreo, stick them on the cupcakes, place an orange one between the "eyes" for a beak, and pipe on some brows. Here's the original post on Sinful Southern Sweets.
This is a perfect project to do with young children. I assigned my oldest daughter the task of sorting out the brown and orange Reese's Pieces and pressing the brown pieces into the Oreos for the eyes.
This picture makes me laugh. My daughter took a break from her "job" to enhance her costume.
While we worked on our project for the party, my husband came up with a project of his own. Check out his pumpkin beer cooler! As one of our neighbors noted, "Give a man beer, and he can be incredibly creative."
Just as the party was in full swing and my house was consumed by complete chaos, I stepped out to the quiet of our garage to fry up my annual batch of Halloween donuts for the trick or treaters. You can find the recipes for both Pumpkin Spice Donuts and Apple Cider Fritters HERE. I served up over 200 donuts and countless cups of cider this year. Super fun!
Today, I emptied my daughters' pillow cases full of candy into a great big bowl. Holy cow! The residents of this neighborhood are not stingy with their candy. I feel a batch of Compost Cookies coming on. Compost Cookies are an excellent way to use up extra candy and some of the leftover chips and pretzels from your Halloween parties. Consequently, November is my family's month to send a care package to our troops in Afghanistan for The Cookie Task Force. I bet Compost Cookies would travel well. If you're interested, you can learn more about The Cookie Task Force and how to get involved in THIS POST from last April.
We had a wonderful Halloween weekend...and now it's November! It's actually calling for snow here this week. Ugh. Tomorrow is Election Day. Where did the time go? While I'm on the subject of Election Day, I want to discuss this important day as it relates to this blog. So here goes....
I should begin by saying that one of the ways that I attempt to supplement our family's income is through the advertising that appears on this blog. While this blog is a passion of mine and I wrestled with the decision to "monetize", the bottom line is... a girl's gotta make a living. Well, over the weekend, my dad (an avid reader of Krista's Kitchen...imagine that), called me in a state that I can only describe as infuriated as a result of one of the campaign advertisements that appeared on this site. I quickly explained that I had not seen the ad that he was referring to. I have noticed the advertisements that appear under my daily posts are regionally tailored to hit the "target audience" from that area. After my dear ol' Dad called, I started paying more attention to the ads featured on my blog, and lo and behold, as Election Day draws nearer, the ads appearing have become more political in nature. With the realization that a number of campaign ads are appearing on this site, I want to state that the political ads selected for this blog in NO WAY receive my endorsement. Even though I personally have definite political views...as a "food blogger", I remain neutral on politics and a number of other issues when writing this blog. Regardless of politics, race, religion, child-rearing philosophy, where you call home, fashion sense, sports team affiliation, cable provider preference, your stance on the great debate of where the first sheet on every roll of toilet paper should begin (over the top of the roll or underneath), whether you erect a real or artifical Christmas tree (or no Christmas tree at all), and on many other issues... I don't judge or discriminate here. Here, people are just people and "people" need to eat! I have no way of telling which candidate is paying for advertising at any given moment on my blog. In the same way that "a girl's gotta make a living", it turns out that, "a girl's gotta sleep sometime" too. I don't get to pick and choose which ads appear on this site and I have no idea what ad is appearing in your corner of the world when you stop in to see what I'm cookin' up in this part of the Midwest. I only recognize one "Omni-presence" and it's certainly not me. : )
That said, I hope that all of you who are able DO go out and VOTE tomorrow. I hope that you show up at the polls, make educated decisions, and exercise your right to vote!
As a special Election Day treat, I will feature Pumpkin-Spiced Whoopie Pies with Maple Fluff Filling tomorrow- my contribution to the PTA bake sale for my daughter's school and set up right outside the polls where I will cast my very own votes.
In the meantime, here is this week's meal plan!
We've had 2 busy weeks/weekends in a row, and with no chance to sit down and plan, I am recycling a MP from last February. I did change out one dish, substituting Easy Weeknight Ravioli Bake for Stuffed Shells with Vodka Tomato Cream Sauce. I'm all about saving time these days! Sorry about Crock Pot Chicken Soft Tacos for the second week in a row, but that recipe is SO good and freezes very well, so I'll be pulling the leftovers from our freezer for another round of tacos this week.
Tuesday November 2nd
Bacon Tomato Cheese Toasts
(if you haven't tried these yet, you're missing out!)
Wednesday November 3rd
Garden Vegetable Soup and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Thursday November 4th
Crock Pot Chicken Soft Tacos
Friday November 5th
Weeknight Ravioli Bake
Saturday November 6th
Leftovers
Sunday November 7th
Skillet Cincinnati Chili with Spaghetti
Grocery List
Produce
tomato
1 bunch scallions
fresh parsley
zucchini
red onion
lettuce
carrots
3 onions
garlic
cabbage
green beans
Meat
Bacon
Chicken breast halves
1 lb. ground beef
Dairy
shredded cheddar
shredded mozzarella
sour cream
tortillas
grated Parmesan
pepper jack cheese
1 pkg. (8 oz.) shredded Italian cheese blend
Canned Goods
light mayonnaise
1 jar salsa
3 cups broth
tomato paste
cider vinegar
1 can tomato sauce
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 can diced tomatoes
Dry Goods
1 pkg taco seasoning
chili powder
cocoa powder
cinnamon
allspice
brown sugar
spaghetti
Freezer
Lite Texas Toast
2 lbs. frozen cheese ravioli
Have a great week!
2 comments:
OH my gosh, girl, I am so with you. I cannot WAIT for election day to be over so we can be DONE with the pilitical ads, phone calls, and just general grouchiness. The phone calls have been the worst, by far, this year, to the point where I started telling them I was NOT voting for their candidate just because I was so sick of them calling and invading my personal privacy. (I don't really vote that way, it just really aggravates me.) In any case, I hit the polls bright and early this morning and fulfilled my civic duty.
The donuts and cupcakes took fantastic. I might just have to give those Apple Cider Fritters a try!
Yay for Cincinnati chili! And your cupcakes are ADORABLE! And they actually seem do-able (for me!) lol! Thanks for sharing, Krista!
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