Spider Cookies

Large chocolate cookies shaped like spiders. Kids love them. Makes 20 cookies

INGREDIENTS

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate

1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

40 red baking candies

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease baking sheet.

In a saucepan melt chocolate over low heat. Let cool.

In a small bowl mix flour, baking powder and salt.

In a medium bowl beat butter on low speed until smooth. Add sugar and beat until creamy. Stir in egg, vanilla and chocolate. Add flour mixture and mix well, forming a stiff dough. To make spider, shape a 2-inch flat oval for the body. Make the spider's head by flattening a circle about 1/2-inch wide. Shape dough for legs each about 2 inches long and less than 1/4-inch wide. Attach the head and legs to the body. Put 2 red candies into head for eyes. Bake 5 to 8 minutes. Let spiders cool on baking sheet to avoid breaking when moving.

From Tmarie These darling foam cut outs can be purchased from the dollar store by the bag full.

Harvest Soup

Autumn Harvest Soup A compilation recipe using Puree of Carrots a al Crecy, adapted from The Modern Cookbook , 1846 and Williams Sonoma’s Cream of Butternut Squash & Apple Soup and Butternut Squash Chowder

Makes 16 servings (2 ladlefuls per person)

8 thick slices bacon, diced

2 medium sweet yellow onion, peeled and diced

4 ribs celery, sliced

4 ½ cups roughly chopped carrots

4 ½ cups peeled, chunked butternut squash

½ cup flour

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon allspice

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon pepper

10 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade or good soup base powder

2 cups heavy cream

Fresh finely chopped parsley

Julienned carrots, cooked al dente

Reserved bacon pieces

In large heavy Dutch oven brown bacon pieces over medium high heat, remove to absorbent paper with slotted spoon, set aside. Add onion and celery to bacon drippings and sauté until tender and translucent about 10 minutes. Add flour and seasonings, stir well and cook about 3 minutes. Slowly add a small amount of stock until flour is absorbed, then add rest of stock. Add carrots and squash to pan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer over medium low heat, covered until vegetables are done. Puree soup in blender or food processor in small batches. At this point the soup can be refrigerated until ready to reheat and finish. Bring to a boil slowly, reduce heat and add cream and heat through but do not allow to boil. Ladle into serving bowls, garnish with bacon pieces and parsley or Julienned carrots.

Moonlight

It has been many years since I picked up a paint brush. But thought I would share my first watercolor in over 10 years. This was a struggle for me to do and took much longer then it should have. Moonlight Magic

Sticky Buns Craft

Look so good you could eat them ,but they are fake. From Hjvagar at HGTV

They are not my original idea says Hjvagar but as usual, I can't remember who originally posted this idea. I do have the directions saved and here is my version of them: I cut a 15 to 18 inch long strip of muslin - 5 inches wide (or smaller if you want a smaller bun) - I make all different sizes. Fold in half (so your strip is about 2 1/2 inches wide. Sew a narrow seam, and one end closed. Turn right side out. I soaked mine in strong tea (you can also use coffee), and rubbed with cinnamon when they were still damp. When they were dry - I lightly stuffed them with fiberfill - don't overstuff. Then I took my glue gun and glued the ends shut and then folded and glued one corner down so it came to a point on the end.I did this to both ends. Then just start gluing and rolling from one side. Watch as you go along to make sure the seam is on the inside and not showing. When I got to the end I put some glue on and you can either hold it til it sets up or take a small clip and put that on til it sets. Once it's dry, I take dimensional white paint and just drizzle it on starting with the middle and when I hit towards the sides I let a little drizzle down. As soon as you are done with the paint grab your cinnamon and just dust some on top.

Santas Key

Instructions for the beautiful Santa Keys Copy and paste pdf code below www.decorativepainters.org/downloads/dp_1106/DP-6-06_11-20.pdf

SWEET ONION CASSEROLE

SWEET ONION CASSEROLE - Lowfat version

1 lb. onions, sliced and separated into rings

1 cup buttermilk

1 tablespoon

cornstarch

2 egg whites

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat sharp Cheddar cheese

Paprika Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In medium saucepan combine onions with water to cover. Bring to boil; boil 1 minute. Drain well. Transfer to 8-inch square baking dish sprayed with non-stick vegetable coating. In bowl combine buttermilk and cornstarch and stir until cornstarch is completely dissolved. Mix in egg whites, salt and pepper; pour over onions. Sprinkle with cheese, ten paprika. Bake 25 minutes. Serves 6. Each serving contains approximately;

ONION CASSEROLE:

4 large sliced onions (Supersweet onions ONLY!)

1 bag barbecued potato chips

2 cups grated cheddar cheese

Layer the above three ingredients. Repeat layers again. Combine two cans cream of chicken soup with one-half cup milk. Pour over layers and top with crushed chips. Bake at 350 degrees F. for one hour.

"FARMERS MARKET STEAK

1 pound of round steak

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 large bell pepper

2 large Supersweet onions

1 cup water

1 tablespoon margarine

1 and one-half teaspoons beef-flavored bouillon granules

1 tablespoon soy sauce

Hot cooked noodles or rice

Trim steak and cut into serving pieces. Combine flour, salt and pepper. Dredge steak in flour mixture and lightly pound with meat mallet. Brown steak in hot oil in a skillet. Place in a shallow two quart casserole. Layer bell pepper and onion (both cut into slices) over steak. Combine water, butter, bouillon granules and soy sauce in skillet. Cook until bouillon granules dissolve. Pour sauce over meat, bell pepper and onions. Cover casserole and bake at 325 degrees F. for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Serve over rice or noodles.

Onions

OF COURSE EVERYONE KNOWS THAT: Onions can be chopped and dried in the oven. Use the lowest setting and remove when thoroughly dry but not brown. Store at room temperature in airtight containers. Onions can be frozen. Chop and place on a cookie sheet in the freezer. When frozen, remove and place in freezer containers or bags, and seal. This allows you to remove the amount you want when you want it. An alternative is to freeze whole. Jumbos can be peeled, washed, cored and dropped in a plastic bag. Once frozen, they can be removed like ice cubes. Freezing changes the onion's texture, so frozen onions should be used for cooking only. Whole frozen onions can also be baked. Place a whole, raw, unpeeled onion in the refrigerator and chill for approximately one hour before serving, or peel and cut into slices and place in a bowl of ice water for approximately 30 minutes and then drain on paper towels. Either of these methods will bring out a sweeter flavor when eating raw onions.

Onions Frugal Onions

We use tons of onions and today bought a 50 lb bag for 7.89 at Cash and Carry. Makes it 15.8 cents a lb. Now what do we do with all those onions ? I chop and freeze one half and the rest become dinner. ONION COOKERY Cooks over much of the world would be lost without the onion. These pungent bulbs are prized and often referred to as "lilies of the kitchen."

ONION RINGS

1 cup flour

1 cup beer

(the brand of your choice since there will be some left to cool you during the cooking!)

3-4 cups shortening for frying purposes

3 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons salt

seasoning salt (optional).

Combine flour and beer in a large bowl, blending thoroughly. Cover and allow batter to sit at room temperature for at least 3 hours. Afterwards gently stir in the sugar and salt. Cut onions into one-fourth inch or larger (depending upon preference) slices. Separate slices into rings. Heat shorting to 375 degrees F. (You can determine this temperature by dropping a sample ring into the hot grease -- it should begin to immediately sizzle and quickly rise to the top or a one inch square piece of bread will brown in one minute in 375 degree oil.) Dry sliced rings and roll in flour. Then dip onion rings into batter and fry until delicate golden brown. The batter can be made thicker by adding more flour or thinner by adding more beer. .

Popsicle sticks From Hjvagar at HGTV

Now at the beginning of this I will tell you - these are the directions from the book. I did make a few adjustments because it just didn't seem right to me. My adjustments did not make my life any easier lol. Take 2 double pages of newspaper. Cut or rip them in 1/2 so you have 4 pages. Stack them on top of each other. Mark 4" down from the top and 3" in from one side and cut. Once it's all cut fold the papers in 1/2 bringing the top 1/2 to the bottom edge. Fold the papers in 1/2 again the same way - top to bottom. Fold the papers in 1/2 a 3rd time but this time bring the left side to the right side of the papers. Take a pencil or a bone folder and crease this fold. This crease will be the center of the popsicle. Open up the last fold and roll one side toward the crease in the middle. Use a clip to hold it in place. Then roll the other side in and clip it. Take masking tape and put it down the crease between the two rolls, around the bottom and up the back between the two rolls. Take off the clips. You can add your hanger now if you want. It said to put your sticks in now but I will add here - up to this point they can be flattened kind of easy so I added more newspaper like paper mache. Once it was dry I made a slit on both sides of the bottom. Then I started putting hot glue inside and shoved the sticks in. Another thing I will add - try to get them as smooth as you can. You end up using more of the diamond dust to hide all those blemishes if you don't. In the book it said to use another layer of colored tissue paper over the newspaper. I didn't have any (just white) so I went ahead and painted them. Let it dry completely. Then I took some glue, put it in a dish with some water (not much, just enough to water it down so it's easy to brush on), brushed it on one side at a time and sprinkled the diamond dust on while it was still wet. Voila - popsicles. I want to make more in different colors. In the book it had them in green, red, yellow and purple. I thought the red and purple looked the best but that's probably because those are my fav flavors lol. Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

Mythical Origins of Jack O'Lantern

An Irish tale tells us where the origins of the name Jack o'lantern came from. There once was a man named Jack who liked to play tricks on people. He lived a long, mischievous life. One day he tricked Satan into climbing a tree. Jack then carved the image of a Holy Cross in the trunk of the tree. This trapped the Devil up the tree. Jack made a deal with the Devil that: he would let the Devil down the tree, if the Devil promised to never tempt him again. After Jack died, he was not permitted into Heaven because of his evil ways. He was also denied access to Hell because he had tricked the Devil. The devil gave him a single ember to light his way through the freezing blackness. This flame was put inside a hollowed-out turnip to keep it glowing. As Jack walked his neverending journey as punishment for his trickery, he carried a burning coal inside a turnip to help him see along the roads everywhere he traveled. Soon he was known as "Jack of the lantern" or Jack O'Lantern. In Ireland, turnips were used as their Jack's lanterns originally. However, immigrants to America, found pumpkins more plentiful than turnips. The Jack-O-Lantern in America was a hollowed-out pumpkin, lit with an ember.

Get Organized for the fall Season

The Fall Cleaning Chore Checklist Farmers Almanac 1. Add leaves and grass clippings to your compost pile. 2. Dig and harvest all vegetables before frost. Place green tomatoes on shelves in a cool area so they can ripen slowly. Parsnips, turnips, and carrots may be left in the ground. Some gardeners say this improves their flavor. 3. Mulch strawberry beds, roses, tender perennials, and plants with peat moss or straw to help prevent winter damage. 4. Do an over seeding where lawns are sparse. Fall is nature’s seeding time so a little help now will help eliminate bare or thin spots later. 5. Apply wilt-proof sprays to tender, broad-leaved evergreens to help reduce the drying effects of winter winds, especially on newly-planted shrubs. 6. Stake any newly-planted trees to help them get through their first winter. 7. If bagworms or late insects attack, physically remove and destroy them. Check trees and shrubs for scales and other pests. If you find any, plan an early dormant oil spray before flowers or leaves appear on fruit trees. 8. Pull up annuals and prune perennials as a good cleanup practice. 9. Begin fertilizing plan for houseplants. As home heat goes on, it stimulates plant growth which means you will need to pay more attention to fertilizing and watering. 10. Do final mowing raking and make notes of lawn care projects for the spring. 11. If you have wet spring weather, plan to dig or till your vegetables garden in the fall so you can get an early start next spring. 12. Remove old fruiting canes of berry bushes. Prune grape and blueberries.

tincat cards