Friday, September 28, 2012

Halloween Hash


It's that big month of the year when Beaulah comes
out of hibernation and cooks up lots of 
Halloween
fun and decor!


If you haven't met Beaulah before, she hosts all kinds of 
Halloween fun at Purple Chocolat Home and is
the pretty sister of Zoulah who lives at 
Red Couch Recipes.  (Well, she thinks she is the pretty one,
but Joni and I think they look pretty identical and yes there
really are two of them!)
She whipped up one of her
 favorite snacks,  this yummy, gooey, orangey
Chex Mix treat that is filled with all of the
goodies she loves as you can tell by her
front teeth!


Look at all of the goodies, candy corn, Peanut M&Ms, peanuts, almonds
dried cherries and raisins are all ready to be tossed in the cooled
Chex Mix.  


The orange color makes it very appetizing and is perfect
for Halloween.


This fun footed bowl was something Beaulah found this year
at TJ Maxx. She just loves great Halloween serving dishes.


I think it was the trio of curly toed shoes that caught her eye
and with a wink of that eye the bowl flew right into our
cart.

Halloween Hash Recipe

11 oz box of Chex Rice Cereal
3/4 C. butter
1 C. sugar
1 C. light corn syrup
orange gel food coloring
1 C. peanuts
1 C. Peanut M&Ms
1 C. candy corn
1/2 C. almonds
1/2 C. dried cherries
1/2 C. raisins (optional)


Place the Chex cereal in a large bowl sprayed with Pam.

In a medium sized saucepan melt the butter and add the
sugar and corn syrup.  Heat until it starts to bubble around
the edges.  Add orange gel food coloring until it is a bright
orange.  

Bring to a boil and let boil for 2 minutes.  Pour over the
cereal and stir to coat.  Place on a baking sheet that is sprayed
with Pam and let cool about 10 minutes.  You don't want it so warm
that it will melt the M&Ms when you toss them in.  Add all of the 
candy and nuts and goodies and toss to coat.  Let cool and serve


Little and big spooks alike love this treat.  
BEWARE
it is hard to stop eating.

Beaulah is taking this treat to a few parties


Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Dutch Oven Roast Beast


The line from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas 
always stuck with us and when the kids were young we always
called roast beef, roast beast!

This is another one of our favorite Dutch Oven
specialties.  This was given to us by our neighbor Ken
Nichols who was a great dutch oven cook.  It is simple
but we always have people asking for the recipe.

You can see that I have used a dutch oven liner.
One of the drawbacks of dutch oven cooking is cleaning
them!  I found these wonderful liners at Wal Mart in their
camping section.  They make cleanup a breeze especially for
messy or sticky dutch oven meals.

We pack our dutch ovens up and head up the canyon just
a few minutes.  Our favorite spot is Hope Campground just
up Provo Canyon.



Dutch Oven Roast Beef

5 lb. rump roast
1 medium yellow onion
1 pkg. dry onion soup mix
1/4 C. worcestershire sauce
1/2 C. water

Line your dutch oven with a parchment paper liner if desired.
Place the roast in and then top with the additional ingredients.

Cook in a covered dutch oven with 10 coals on the bottom
and 12 coals on the top for 3-4 hours or until the beef 
shreds easily.

You can also cook this in a covered dutch oven in your oven
at 300 for 3-4 hours or until it shreds.  I often cook it in the
oven during the day and then reheat it with coals once we
have arrived at the campground.

This is great served over mashed potatoes, or over crusty bread.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Dutch Oven Potato Rolls

















Fall is here and the colors are vibrant.  Each
fall we head up the canyon and do a dutch oven
dinner and enjoy the leaves.  This is just 10 minutes from my home.


These wonderful rolls are always on the menu.  They are 
so soft, they just melt in your mouth.  We usually have to make
two pans of these.  Couldn't you just live on hot rolls?


Of course you could make them in a pan in the oven too.

Dutch Oven Potato Rolls

1 C. warm water
1/2 C. sugar
1 T. yeast

Mix the above and set aside to let soften.

1/2 C. instant potatoes
1/2 C. warm water

Mix the above and add to the yeast mixture.

1 tsp. salt
1/2 C. shortening
2 eggs, well beaten
2 C. flour

Add the above and beat until smooth, about 3 minutes.

Add 3 C. additional flour and knead for 5 minutes.

Place in a greased bowl and cover and let rise until
double, usually about 1 hour.

Punch dough down and shape into 12 balls.
Grease 10-12 inch dutch oven or line with parchment paper, or you
could use a 9x12 inch pan. 

Cover and let rise until double.  

Prepare coals about 30-45 minutes before you are ready to bake
the  rolls.  Place 10 hot coals on the bottom of the pan and 12
on the top of the pan.  Bake about 15 -20 minutes.  Check for over
browning especially on the bottom.  If they are getting brown on the
bottom too quickly remove them from the bottom coals and just
let the top coals finish baking them.
(If you are baking them in the oven, bake at 400 for about 15 minutes.)

When done baking, butter the tops.


















I usually drive up the canyon ahead of time
just to make sure the colors are perfect as I did today.


I hope you are enjoying the beautiful colors of fall.

I will be posting a few more dutch oven dishes as we
continue to enjoy this short wonderful season.




Sunday, September 16, 2012

My First Tile Job - A Backsplash


I know most of you think I have just been playing all of August
and into September, but I have been working on the 
other
summer building project (that I had mentioned.)
 As soon as we finished the
we turned to a remodel of our condo in St. George.

My husband had promised me granite countertops there for
my birthday five years ago.  He should have come through
then because five years later it became a complete remodel!
(Actually, I am glad he didn't as it needed the remodel.)

He started his bathroom business
and his newest international imaging productsbusiness
(which I featured on the houseboat post)
as a tile setter.  It was to get him through college.  That
first summer we were married a cultured marble 
manufacturer contacted him and they went into business
together and the businesses grew from there.  While we
were newlyweds I would go on tile jobs with him but
never learned to set tile.  I changed that with my oldest
daughter and she learned and then taught her husband
(a very handy skill to have!)


So as we began this backsplash job I took over and laid almost
every tile (while hubby did the cutting on the tile saw).  Setting tile
is a very satisfying creative project.

My husband had tested out this wonderful product we
found at 
Home Depot.
It is called
The Tile Setting Mat
"The quickest, easiest, cleanest way to install tile."
(www.thesimplemat.com)

You apply it kind of like contact paper, peeling the backing off
and then applying it to the wall, pressing it on firmly and then 
peeling the front plastic off.  You can easily cut it with a blade
or a scissors.  I agree, it was quick, easy, and clean!)

He had tried it on the houseboat backsplash 


and figured if
it could stand the heat of Lake Powell it could take just
about anything.

I wanted a classic look using tumbled travertine,
 with a touch of modern,
 so I included a stripe of glass tile and put glass tiles in the
medallion. Once you
press the tile on, it really sticks.  If you have made a mistake
you can get it off, but you really have to pull.


Here is a completed section, missing a few cuts.  We finished
everything except the medallion behind the stove and grouting
but we had to hurry home.

NOW.........
the instructions do say to grout 
WITHIN 24 HOURS!

BUT.........
we had to go home!!!!


A few weeks later when we were able to get back down there -
it is four hours from our home-
some of the tiles had buckled and popped off.


Hubby's first reaction was that we would have to start again.
NOPE!
Just press it back on.  A few pieces, especially the small pieces
needed a little premixed mastic and then we were ready to grout.


Grouting is messy and takes time to apply and then clean off
but it is all easy and very doable.  
We taped off the edges with painters tape first and put paper
 down on the counters to help with cleanup.


Here is just a sneak peek at my completed tile backsplash,
 new countertop, new cabinets and my new aqua Kitchenaid.

We are almost done with the remodel and I will show you the
rest then.

Now you know why I haven't had time for tablescaping and much
visiting, but I have tried to have at least two posts a week so you
don't forget me completely!

We have guests coming soon so I am furiously
sewing pillows and curtains, etc., etc., etc.!!!

Need a vacation after that!
I will be posting with



Thursday, September 13, 2012

Grasshopper Cookies


Creamy mint frosting and chocolate ganache
on a cookie
that is so light you don't need to chew.  These cookies
literally melt in your mouth.


I wanted to try something new from all of my Pinterest
recipes 
for a luncheon I was going to 
and so I was perusing my board 
on Pinterest called 
Killer Cookies.

The beautiful chocolate and mint caught my eye and 
I had all of the ingredients.  



These elegant and luscious cookies  by
start with a chocolate cake mix.  I love Betty Crocker's
Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix.  
They are then topped with
a creamy mint frosting and topped with the chocolate ganache.

Mint brownies have always been one of my favorites but
these are even better.


Grasshopper Cookies Recipe
(slightly altered from Six Sisters recipe)

1 chocolate cake mix (I used Betty Crocker's 
Triple Chocolate Fudge)
1/2 C. almost melted butter (they used oil)
2 eggs

Heat oven to 350 and line pans with parchment paper.
Lightly spray parchment paper with Pam (they stuck a little
without Pam.)

Mix the above in your mixer until well blended.  If your butter was warm
let the dough cool a minute until you can make balls out of it.

Make about 18 golf ball sized balls and flatten slightly
on pan.  Bake for 7-8 minutes, just until they look dry.
Let them cool on the pans.  The cookies are so soft and delicate
that I popped them in the fridge to firm them up before frosting 
them.

Mint Frosting Recipe

1/2 C. soft butter
2 C. powdered sugar
2 T. water (they used milk - I like water
when working with mint flavoring)
1/2 tsp. Lorann oil, creme de menthe
or 5-6 drops peppermint oil
(They used peppermint extract.  I like the smoothness
of the creme de menthe oil if you can find it.  I think
it has a softer peppermint flavor.)
2-3 drops green food coloring

Whip the above in your mixer.  Add a little more water if the
frosting is too stiff.  You want a soft frosting so you don't tear
your delicate cookies.  If your frosting is too soft, add a little
more powdered sugar.

When the cookies are cool, frost each cookie.  I placed them
back in the fridge again
so that it would be easier to spread the chocolate
ganache.

Chocolate Ganache

1 1/8 C. semisweet chocolate chips
3/8 C. butter

Place the above in a microwave safe bowl and heat
at 30 second intervals, stirring in between so that
the chocolate doesn't scorch.  Let the ganache cool 
about 10 minutes after it is all melted so it doesn't melt
the frosting as you spoon it on.

Spoon it on and swirl it with the back of your spoon.

I popped them in the fridge one more time.

(I halved their ganache recipe and still had quite a bit
left.  I guess I will have to make another batch.)


After the lunch I asked my daughter if she wanted to take home
the leftover cookies to her children.

She said, "What leftovers, they are all gone!"

Definitely a keeper.

Thank you Six Sisters.  Visit their blog.  They have such
delicious looking recipes.

Posting with


Monday, September 10, 2012

Arugula From My Garden

Until a couple of years ago, I didn't even know
what arugula was!  Isn't it wonderful all of the
fresh flavors we now enjoy?  

Arugula is native to the Mediterranean and 
although it is described as peppery, I can't
really place a flavor with it except to say it
is savory and I am absolutely in love with it!


I tried growing it last year but as it is a 
cold weather plant
 and I planted it in May, it didn't
do well.  This year I got it in in February and
it was everywhere! Now a second planting
and I have some for fall.  You can also purchase it at the store.


I can't get enough of it.


I had some homemade French Bread (actually it was my leftover
which is the same as a French bread dough -
no oil in it - and I made it into a large round loaf and baked it
in the pizza oven), and I just made a simple sandwich with deli 
turkey and mayo and mustard, then piled the arugula on top.


Personally, I think arugula must have addictive qualities to it!
It will now be a spring and fall garden staple.  I will let some of it 
go to seed  so it will come up early next year.


If you haven't met up with arugula yet, give it a try!

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Birthday Kids


Sometimes it is hard for a grandmother to know what to give her
grandchildren so this year I decided to try something new with
two of my grandchildren who have birthdays on the same day -
money cakes - one for a girl and one for a boy.


I made six inch cakes using three layers in graduating colors and
then frosted them in the appropriate colors.

Before frosting them I covered their money in foil and stuck
the little packages in the cakes.


My youngest daughter has a birthday the day before these two.  Two
years in a row we had someone expecting a baby on her birthday
and both times she said she didn't want anyone born on her birthday
(her birthday is a big deal to her!)  Both babies respected her
request and were born the day after, the little boy born to my
oldest daughter and the little girl born the next year to my oldest
son.

We still laugh at that.


You should have seen how excited they were when they walked in
and saw the two cakes.  They immediately figured out that they
each got their own.


After the candles were lit and the birthday songs sung,
each was so excited to find the surprises grandma
had told them that were hidden in their cakes.


I had envisioned it that they would just make a mess and 
tear the cakes
apart with their hands but grandpa and mom cut the cakes into
slices as they searched for the surprises.  


She came dressed in her new Merida dress from the Disney movie
Brave.  She is licking the cake and frosting off the foil before
she opens it.


They were pretty excited with their money cakes.  The little 7 year
old granddaughter was wondering if she could have a money 
cake for her birthday.  Maybe grandma has started a
new tradition.


Happy birthdays to wonderful grandchildren.

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