Archive | October, 2012

Spooktacular Punch

Halloween Punch Recipe

Want something spooky to sip on this Halloween? Toni Spilsbury with The Organized Cook whips up a perfectly ghoulish punch that family and friends will love!

 

More Halloween Fun!

Halloween recipes and crafts

Halloween recipes and crafts

Email this to a Friend Email this to a Friend
Comments { 0 }

FALL!

An Unexpected Fall Photo Shoot

While in Denver on media tour, my friend and business partner, Noelle, couldn’t resist the urge to take advantage of my girls’ sugar high and snap these fun and amazing photos.

 

Ready…

 

Set…

 

Fly!

 

 

Fall photo shoot

Picking leaves out of the hair before heading off to the airport to fly home.

Email this to a Friend Email this to a Friend
Comments { 0 }

Dinner In A Pumpkin

Dinner In A Pumpkin

Looking for some Halloween dinner inspiration?  Why bake a casserole in a regular-ol’ baking dish when you can use a pumpkin.  These simple recipes are fun and delicious for Halloween entertaining or family dinner.

Dinner In A Pumpkin Casserole

Dinner In A Pumpkin Casserole

Spiderweb placemats from HomeGoods.

For a quick cooking demonstration, check out this video from Toni Spilsbury, The Organized Cook.

 

Chicken and Brown Rice Dinner In A Pumpkin Recipe

Chicken and Brown Rice Dinner In A Pumpkin

Chicken and Brown Rice Dinner In A Pumpkin

Ingredients

  • small to medium pumpkin- 1
  • celery- 2-3 stalks, trimmed and diced
  • fresh sliced mushrooms- 1 container
  • vegetable oil- a few tablespoons
  • rotisserie chicken- (chicken pulled from one store-bought cooked rotisserie chicken)
  • dried rosemary and dried thyme- 1 teaspoon each (or a tablespoon of poultry seasoning)
  • cream of chicken soup- 1 can
  • cream of celery soup- 1 can
  • cooked brown rice- 2 cups

Instructions

  1. Wash off outside of the pumpkin.
  2. Cut off top of the pumpkin and save, and thoroughly clean out seeds and pulp.
  3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  4. In a large skillet, saute celery and mushrooms in oil until tender.
  5. Add chicken and season with rosemary, thyme and a little salt & pepper.
  6. Stir in soup.
  7. Simmer for just a few minutes, stirring occasionally.
  8. Add cooked rice.
  9. Spoon mixture into clean pumpkin shell.
  10. Replace pumpkin’s top.
  11. Place filled pumpkin onto a baking sheet.
  12. Bake one hour or until meat of the pumpkin is tender.
  13. Put pumpkin onto a serving plate, remove pumpkin “lid” and serve casserole!
  14. Make sure to scoop out and eat the cooked pumpkin – Enjoy!
https://tonispilsbury.com/dinner-in-a-pumpkin/

Dinner In Pumpkin Recipe

Chicken and Mushroom Dinner In A Pumpkin Casserole

 

 

 

Mushroom Beef Dinner In A Pumpkin Recipe

Mushroom Beef Dinner In A Pumpkin

Mushroom Beef Dinner In A Pumpkin

Ingredients

  • small to medium pumpkin- 1
  • onion- 1/2, chopped
  • fresh sliced mushrooms- 1 container
  • vegetable oil- a few tablespoons
  • ground beef- 1 1/2 to 2 lbs.
  • ginger- 1 teaspoon
  • soy sauce- 3 tablespoons
  • brown sugar- 2 tablespoons
  • cream of mushroom soup- 1 can
  • sliced water chestnuts- 1 can, drained
  • cooked long grain rice- 1 1/2 – 2 cups

Instructions

  1. Wash off outside of the pumpkin.
  2. Cut off top of the pumpkin and save, and thoroughly clean out seeds and pulp.
  3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  4. In a large skillet, saute onion and mushrooms in oil until tender.
  5. Add meat and brown with a little salt & pepper- drain drippings from skillet.
  6. Stir in ginger, soy sauce, brown sugar and soup.
  7. Simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  8. Add cooked rice and water chestnuts.
  9. Spoon mixture into clean pumpkin shell.
  10. Replace pumpkin’s top.
  11. Place filled pumpkin onto a baking sheet.
  12. Bake one hour or until meat of the pumpkin is tender.
  13. Put pumpkin onto a serving plate, remove pumpkin “lid” and serve casserole!
  14. Make sure to scoop out and eat the cooked pumpkin – DELICIOUS! Enjoy!
https://tonispilsbury.com/dinner-in-a-pumpkin/

Dinner In A Pumpkin Recipe

Mushroom Beef Dinner In A Pumpkin

 

Dinner In A Pumpkin Recipe Photo Tutorial:

Dinner In A Pumpkin

thoroughly clean out seeds and pulp

Dinner In A Pumpkin Casserole

brown meat with sauteed onions and mushrooms

Dinner In A Pumpkin Casserole

transfer beef mixture to clean hallow pumpkin

Dinner In A Pumpkin Casserole

bake on 350 for about an hour

Dinner In A Pumpkin Casserole

place chicken mixture in clean hallow pumpkin

Dinner In A Pumpkin Casserole

Chicken and Mushroom Dinner In A Pumpkin

Dinner In A Pumpkin Casserole

Chicken and Brown Rice Dinner In A Pumpkin

Dinner In A Pumpkin Casserole

Mushroom Beef Dinner In A Pumpkin

Email this to a Friend Email this to a Friend
Comments { 3 }

Crafty Halloween Treats

Crafty Halloween Treats

For years I’ve been making my popcorn Witches Hands and Sucker Pumpkins for school parties and home entertaining.

Here are a few ideas for crafting Halloween treats and entertaining:

Sucker Pumpkin

With cake pops being all the rave this year, this sucker pumpkin would be perfect to hold Halloween Cake Pops as well as suckers.

I made one of these pumpkins for my daughter’s preschool a few years ago and they still use it every year around Halloween.

Simply take a craft pumpkin (I found mine at Michael’s) and drill holes about two inches apart using a drill bit the size of a sucker stick, approximatly 11/64 of an inch.

Halloween DIY Crafts

 

Witches Hands

I use food handler gloves (non latex) found from Smart & Final or anywhere food service supplies are sold, and fill with candy corns for the fingernails, popcorn and tie off with black string.  Then I use a spider ring to decorate the ring finger.

Halloween DIY Crafts

Witches Hands

 

Spooktacular Punch

Spooktacular Punch Ingredients:

  1. Kool-Aid Grape or Ghoul-Aid mix- 2 packets
  2. Agave Nectar- 1 cup
  3. All Natural Lemon-Lime Soda
  4. Orange Peels

Halloween DIY Crafts

Halloween DIY Crafts

 

For Halloween Dinner Fun- Dinner In A Pumpkin Recipe:

Dinner In Pumpkin

Dinner In A Pumpkin

 

Weekly Meal Planning for Busy Families

Weekly Meal Plan

 

 

Email this to a Friend Email this to a Friend
Comments { 0 }