How to Carve a Turkey

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Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies

Prep: 30 minutes
Bake: 10-15 minutes per batch
Yield: 52 cookies


1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream Cheese, softened
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2-1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
4 squares semi-sweet baking chocolate, melted
1 pkg. (6 oz.) white baking chocolate
12 hard peppermint candies, crushed


Beat cream cheese, butter, sugar and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add flour and baking soda; mix well. Blend in semi-sweet chocolate.


Shape tablespoonfuls of dough into 52 balls. Roll each ball into 3-inch-long rope. Place, 2 inches apart, on baking sheet, bending top of each slightly to resemble a candy cane.

Bake at 350 for 10 to 12 min. or until lightly browned; cool 5 min. on baking sheet. Transfer to wire racks; cool completely. Microwave white chocolate as directed on package; drizzle over cookies. Sprinkle with crushed candies. Let stand until chocolate is firm.

Tips and Tricks
The dough is easier to shape if you refrigerate it briefly. Crush the candies in a resealable plastic bag to avoid messes. To make these cookies more chocolatey, drizzle additional melted chocolate over the top.
Make It Healthier
Use unsalted butter or trans-fat free spread. Use reduced-fat cream cheese.
To lighten it up, use reduced-fat cream cheese and trans-fat free spread in place of butter.
How Kids Can Help
Older kids can use the mixer. Younger kids can dump ingredients into a bowl, press buttons on microwave and crush candies.

Pumpkin Maple Pie with Fresh Pumpkin

You wanted more pumpkin and we heard you! This delicious take on a traditional pumpkin pie comes to us from Real Life. She has a great Mom Blog with lots of frugal tips and a Christian perspective. Check her out!

1 unbaked single pie crust
1/2 cu sugar
1/3 maple syrup
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 lg eggs
1 cu evaporated milk
1 (15oz) can pumpkin or 2 cups cooked, mashed pumpkin**


Place pie crust in a 9-inch pie plate, coated with cooking spray. Beat sugar and next 5 ingredients at medium speed until well-blended. Add milk and pumpkin. Beat well. Pour into prepared crust. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350. (Do not remove pie from oven) Bake an additional 50 minutes or until set. Cool on a wire rack.

Tips & Tricks: Want a home-made pie crust look without all that work?
I love Pillsbury refrigerated roll out pie crust. You can use your own decorative pie dish and decorate it any way you want. The easiest way to decorate the crust edge is to fold the extra under, and press a fork around the rim.

**How to cook with fresh pumpkin:
This is super easy, and, in my opinion, always tastes better than canned pumpkin. You can use it in any recipe that calls for canned pumpkin.

* Cut a medium sized pie pumpkin in half sideways (not up-and-down)
* Place the halves open-side down on a baking sheet
* Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until the "meat is easily scraped out and mashed
* Scrape the pumpkin out with a spoon into a bowl, then mash with a potato masher. If you need a super fine texture, such as for soup, blend in a food processor.

Strawberry Ghosts

Prep/Total Time: 25 minutes
Yield: 2 1/2 dozen

30 fresh strawberries
8 squares (1 ounce each) white baking chocolate
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Wash strawberries and gently pat with paper towels until completely dry. In a microwave-safe bowl, melt white chocolate at 50% power; stir until smooth. Stir in extract.Dip strawberries in chocolate mixture; place on a waxed paper-lined baking sheet, allowing excess chocolate to form the ghosts' tails.

Immediately press chocolate chips into coating for eyes. Freeze for 5 minutes.In a microwave-safe bowl, melt remaining chocolate chips; stir until smooth. Dip a toothpick into melted chocolate and draw a mouth on each face.

Tips and Tricks
After the ghosts are finished, keep them refrigerated. Drawing the mouth was harder then it sounds, so we just made chocolate dots where the mouth would be. The original recipe called for 1 teaspoon of shortening, but I omitted it. I also substituted vanilla extract for the almond extract.
Make It Healthier
Don't use the shortening.
How Kids Can Help
Press buttons on microwave. Dip strawberries.

Sweet Potato Fries For Fall

Prep: 5 minutes

Cook: 15 minutes

Yield: 6 servings

2 sweet potatoes, peeled

butter flavored cooking spray

Slice the sweet potatoes into 1/4 inch or thinner slices. Use pumpkin and leaf cookie cutters to cut shapes from the slices. Place in a single layer on a baking sheet and coat with cooking spray.

Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes or until tender.

Tips and Tricks

I used the Pampered Chef Creative Cutters set (see sidebar) to make these fall themed fries, but you could use any cutters you have. Make them for every holiday! I also diced up the remaining potato, coated and baked it, and it made perfect finger food for my baby. Coat with olive oil if you don't have cooking spray, but be sure to check them often, because olive oil has a low smoking point.

How Kids Can Help

Cut shapes from slices. Stir to coat.

Halloween Spider Cupcakes

Prep: 1 hour
Yield: 24 Cupcakes

1 cake mix prepared according to package directions to make 24 cupcakes
1 container chocolate icing
1 bag skittles
1 bag twizzlers pull-aparts
1 bag candy corn

Bake cupcakes, cool, & frost. Create spiders by arranging 8 twizzler strings, 2 skittles, & 2 candy corns to resemble leggs, eyes, and fangs.

How kids can help:
Kids can help assemble spiders

Halloween Mummies

Prep: 20 minutes
Yield: 8 sandwiches

8 hot dogs
1 package of crescent roll dough (8 rolls)
ketchup
mustard

Preheat oven according to roll dough directions. Cut dough into thin slices using a knife or an egg noodle cutter. Wrap each hot dog in strips to resemble a mummy. Bake according to directions for rolls. Create eyes & mouth using mustard & ketchup by putting each into a ziploc bag, cutting off the corner and using it as a miniature pastry tube.

How Kids Can Help:
Kids can help wrap mummies

Pumpkin Pudding

I know you are all still craving pumpkin, so here you go! I'm trying this one out this week, as my parents are in town. This recipe is from Lei at My Many Colored Days. She has posted a great list of fun Fall things to do, so check her out.


Prep: 15 minutes, plus 60 minutes baking
Yield: 12 servings

2/3 c white sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
1 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t salt
1/4 t ground cloves
1/4 t pumpkin pie spice
1/2 package spice cake mix
1/4 cup margarine, melted
1/2 c chopped walnuts
1 29 oz can pumpkin

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9x13 baking dish. Blend together sugar, eggs, evaporated milk,pumpkin, cinnamon, salt, clove and pie spice. Pour into baking dish. Spread dry cake mix over pumpkin mixture. Sprinkle with cinnamon, margarine, chopped nuts. Bake for 60 min. or until knife comes out clean. Serve with whipped cream if desired.

Spiderweb Eggs

This recipe is from Martha Stewart's Halloween issue. Serve these fun eggs for breakfast on Halloween or for a fun spooky snack!

Yield: 1 dozen eggs

1 dozen large eggs
8 cups water
2 cups frozen blueberries
salt & pepper

Place eggs in a single layer in a large saucepan, cover with water and blueberries. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat, cover, let stand 10 minutes.

Using a slotted spoon, remove eggs one at a time, and place on a folded kitchen towel. Lightly crack shell on one side with the handle of a whisk or wooden spoon. Transfer egg to medium bowl; cover with cooking water. Repeat with remaining eggs & cool completely in water in refrigerator.

Carefully peel shells from eggs. Serve with salt & pepper.

Tips & Tricks:
I didn't want to waste perfectly good blueberries, so I just added blue food coloring to the water. My blue eggs are brighter & lighter blue than Martha's results with blueberries. For eyeball eggs instead of spiderwebs, make eggs to resemble bloodshot eyes by using red food coloring instead of blue food coloring or blueberries.

How Kids Can Help:
Kids can help peel eggs.

Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake

Prep: 10 minutes plus baking

Yield: 1 pie

2 cups mashed pumpkin
1 10 oz package cream cheese
1/2 cup milk or vanilla soymilk or ricemilk
3/4 cup chopped pecans
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup rum
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Combine all ingredients, pour into graham cracker crust. Bake at 325 degree for one hour, or
until a knife inserted in middle comes out clean.

Tips & Tricks:
I omit the rum with no ill effects.

How Kids Can Help:
Kids can help measure & dump ingredients, and take overwrap off store bought pie crust.

Spotlight on Produce: Pumpkin

Autumn is upon us! As we lead into 3 months of fall weather with Halloween and Thanksgiving just around the corner, plan your festivities around the pumpkin, a healthy, delicious and versatile member of the squash family!

In fact, many of your squash recipes can be substituted interchangeably with pumpkin! For those who are interested in saving money, watch for pumpkins to go on sale, and then serve them up mashed with gravy, cooked into soup, baked with butter & salt & pepper, or candied like yams for a delicious dish high in fiber, potassium, and alpha and beta carotene.

Pumpkins are believed to have originated in North America. Seeds from related plants have been found in Mexico dating back to 7000 to 5500 B.C.

Native American Indians used pumpkin as a staple in their diets centuries before the pilgrims landed. They also dried strips of pumpkin and wove them into mats. Indians would also roast long strips of pumpkin on the open fire and eat them. When white settlers arrived, they saw the pumpkins grown by the Indians and pumpkin soon became a staple in their diets. As today, early settlers used them in a wide variety of recipes from desserts to stews and soups. The origin of pumpkin pie is thought to have occurred when the colonists sliced off the pumpkin top, removed the seeds, and then filled it with milk, spices and honey. The pumpkin was then baked in the hot ashes of a dying fire.

Pumpkins and Halloween
The origin of Halloween dates back at least 3,000 years to the Celtic celebration of Samhain (pronounced "sow-ain"). The festival was held starting at sundown on October 31st and lasted until sundown on November 1st. It was similar to the modern practice of the New Years celebration.

On this magical night, glowing jack-o-lanterns, carved from turnips or gourds, were set on porches and in windows to welcome deceased loved ones, but also to act as protection against malevolent spirits. Burning lumps of coal were used inside as a source of light, later to be replaced by candles.

Samhain was not the name of a "Lord of the Dead", no historical evidence has ever been found to back this up, it was simply the name of the festival and meant "Summer's End". It was believed that the souls of the dead were closest to this world and was the best time to contact them to say good bye or ask for assistance. It was also a celebration of the harvest. It is still treated as such today by those who practice Wicca or other nature based religions. It has absolutely nothing to do with Satan, this inference was a creation of the Christian church.

When European settlers, particularly the Irish, arrived in America they found the native pumpkin to be larger, easier to carve and seemed the perfect choice for jack-o-lanterns. Halloween didn't really catch on big in this country until the late 1800's and has been celebrated in many ways ever since!

Fun Facts About The Pumpkin!

• Pumpkins contain potassium and Vitamin A.

• Pumpkin flowers are edible.

• The largest pumpkin pie ever made was over five feet in diameter and weighed over 350 pounds. It used 80 pounds of cooked pumpkin, 36 pounds of sugar, 12 dozen eggs and took six hours to bake.

• In early colonial times, pumpkins were used as an ingredient for the crust of pies, not the filling.

• Pumpkins were once recommended for removing freckles and curing snake bites.

• The largest pumpkin ever grown weighed 1,140 pounds.

• The Connecticut field variety is the traditional American pumpkin.

• Pumpkins are 90 percent water.

• Eighty percent of the pumpkin supply in the United States is available in October.

• Native Americans flattened strips of pumpkins, dried them and made mats.

• Native Americans called pumpkins "isqoutm squash."

• Native Americans used pumpkin seeds for food and medicine.

Cooking With Pumpkins

Pumpkins can be used to make breads, cookies, cakes, cheesecakes and even main dishes! Soups and stews can be brewed or baked right in a pumpkin shell.

What is your favorite thing to do with pumpkins?

Pumpkin Cookies

Delicious Seasonal Cookies!

1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup cooked, pureed pumpkin (fresh or canned)
1 egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup cashews, coarsely chopped
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add pumpkin, egg and vanilla and mix well. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, & cinnamon. Stir into butter mixture until well blended. Add nuts and chocolate. Drop by teaspoonful onto very lightly greased baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake about 13-15 minutes, or until golden. Cool.

The great thing about these cookies is they stay soft even if you forget to cover them.

Pumpkin Bread

Autumn is upon us, and what better for Fall than a delicious Pumpkin Recipe?

Yield: 3 loaves
Prep: 15 minutes plus 1 hour baking

3 1/2 Cups Flour
1 1/2 tsp Salt
2 tsp Soda
3 Cups Sugar
4 eggs
1/2 cup chopped cashews
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1 Cup extra virgin olive oil
2/3 Cups water
2 Cups cooked, pureed pumpkin

Grease & flour bread pans. Mix all dry ingredients. Stir in liquid. Add nuts. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

How Kids Can Help:
Kids can dump dry ingredients. Kids can help grease pans.

Make it Healthier:
This bread is a great source of beta carotene. To make it even healthier, reduce sugar and replace oil in part or completely with unsweeted applesauce.

Pumpkin-Beef Stew

Dinner in a Pumpkin, anyone? This seasonal favorite is great for a potluck dinner. Use a 10-12 pound pumpkin, and be sure not to over bake!

• 2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
• 1 cup water
• 3 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 4 carrots, sliced
• 1 large green bell pepper, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, chopped
• 2 tablespoons beef bouillon granules
• 1 sugar pumpkin

1. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Place beef in the saucepan and cook until evenly brown. Mix in the water, potatoes, carrots, green bell pepper, garlic, onion, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer approximately 2 hours.
2. Dissolve the bouillon into the beef mixture. Stir in the tomatoes.
3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
4. Cut top off the pumpkin and remove seeds and pulp. Place the pumpkin in a heavy baking pan. Fill the pumpkin with the beef mixture. Brush outside of the pumpkin with remaining oil.
5. Bake in the preheated oven 2 hours, or until tender. Serve the stew from the pumpkin, scraping out some of the pumpkin meat with each serving.

How Kids Can Help:
Kids can help clean out the pumpkin, and dump ingredients.