Butternut Squash, Kale & Turkey Sausage Crockpot Soup

Here's a quick crockpot soup that's absolutely delicious and full of all kinds of good stuff.  I use my crockpot(s...I have six) all Fall/Winter long and this creation was a favorite with the entire fam.  Enjoy!  Feel free to make it vegetarian by substituting Vegetable Stock and omitting the Turkey Sausage.  But don't leave out my secret ingredient...just a bit of applesauce!  It gives it a tiny bit of sweetness that tastes amazing. This also makes a huge batch, feel free to halve this (but I like leftovers).

Butternut Squash, Kale & Turkey Sausage Crockpot Soup

Ingredients:
3 cups chopped Butternut Squash (bite-sized pieces)
3 cups chopped Yukon Gold Potatoes
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 cups Kale, torn in small pieces
1.5 lbs Turkey Sausage
64 ounces Chicken Broth (homemade or storebought)
1/2 cup unsweetened Applesauce
1 Tablespoon fresh sage, diced
1 Tablespoon fresh rosemary, diced
1/2 cup Rainbow Quinoa, uncooked
Shredded parmesan, optional, for serving

Directions:
Brown turkey sausage in a medium saucepan until cooked. (this is actually optional but I like to cook my sausage first).  Place  all other ingredients in a 6-quart Crockpot and cook on low  heat for 6-8 hours. Serve sprinkled with parmesan cheese and with crusty bread.  Serves 10.

Krispy Apple Treats

It's time for some fun School Snacks! How about these adorable little Rice Krispy Apple Treats?

Little C and I made these after school one day to share with her school class, they were a hit! She did a great job!

Speaking of those kiddos in the kitchen, I just added the "Featured Little Foodie" of the week to my sidebar! If you have a cooking pic of your kids/neices/nephews/grandkids/neighbors and want to be featured, email me your photos and we'll let those Little Foodies have the spotlight! (If you have a blog, we'll also link to you). I also have a secret for making your Rice Krispy Treats hold together a little better and also giving them a yummy color/flavor! Jell-o!! Add a small package to your batch after you melt the marshmallows. You will LOVE IT! I can't wait to make orang-ey pumpkins for Halloween!
I guess it's not a secret anymore...

Krispy Apple Treats
Makes 25
Ingredients:
6 C. Krispy Rice Cereal
1 pkg. large marshmallows
3 T. butter
1 small pkg. Jell-o powder, cherry or strawberry flavor
25 small Tootsie Roll Candies
Royal Icing, tinted green
Baking spray
Wax Paper
Red Food Coloring, optional
optional: you could use fruit roll-ups or those green mint leaf candies instead of the royal icing.

Directions:
Place marshmallows and butter in large microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 2 minutes. Stir and microwave for an additional minute. Remove from microwave and stir in jell-o powder. If desired, you can add a few drops of red food coloring (depending on how "red" your jell-o is). Add Krispy Rice cereal and stir well. Spray hands with baking spray and roll mixture into balls (a little larger than a golf ball) and drop on wax paper. After balls have set for a few minutes, use your thumb to press into the top to make an "apple" shape.
Add a small tootsie roll "stem" and using royal icing (or any green candy), pipe on a "leaf". I actually would have rather used some kind of green candy but didn't have any on hand. I just used royal icing and a leaf-shaped icing tip.
Serve to your favorite kiddos! These would also be a really fun "Teacher Appreciation Day" snack!

Apple Surprise Mini Pies

When trying to eat right, no need to always skip dessert, just make it fabulous and an appropriate size. So, how about these adorable
Apple Surprise Mini Pies

The surprise? There's actually a cheesecake layer beneath the apple pie filling!

How cute would these be as end-of-the-year Teacher gifts? We used half pint jars but you could use ramekins or whatever else you want.

Apple Surprise Mini Pies
makes 12

Ingredients:

1 3/4 C. (1 package) Graham Crackers
1/3 C. butter, melted
24 oz. (3 pkg) Philadelphia Cream Cheese
3/4 C. sweetened condensed milk
2/3 C. white sugar
2 eggs
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. vanilla extract

3 cans apple pie filling

2 Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crusts
12 half pint canning jars or ramekins
Drinking glass (a little larger than your jar lids), to cut out crust

Directions:
Place graham crackers in ziploc bag and crush. I think this was the kids' favorite part. Wham! Wham! Wham!

Pour melted butter into baggie with graham crackers and shake to mix well. Place 2 heaping tablespoons of graham cracker mixture into bottom of a half pint jar and carefully spread around.
For cheesecake layer, beat cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Add sugar, eggs, vanilla, and lemon juice and mix well. Place 1/3 c. of cream cheese mixture into each jar.
Fill jars to the top with apple pie filling (about 1/2 C).

Unroll pie crust. Find a drinking glass or round cookie cutter that is about 1/2" larger than your jar lid and cut out 4 circles. Re-roll remaing dough and cut out 2 more circles. Repeat with other pie crust. If desired, cut small slits or a little shape in the middle of your crust.
Place one cutout crust on each jar and pinch edges to resemble a pie crust. Finish with a light dusting of white sugar.
Place on a cookie sheet (just in case any of them leak, you don't want to clean that out of your oven!) and bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes until pie crusts are browned. I came back in the kitchen to find these two little bakers waiting veeeeeery patiently for their pies to come out of the oven... Remove from oven. Tie a small ribbon around each jar, if desired, and serve. I can't wait to make these for our next sit-down dinner, they'd be adorable served to each guest for dessert!
A note: if you aren't serving these within an hour or so, you should refrigerate them. They're also fabulous right out of the fridge, we had some for breakfast.:)

Pumpkin Mousse & Salted Caramels

Whew! I'm officially done with Halloween until next year. It was fun, but time to move onto bigger and better things...Holiday foods! Here's an easy and elegant favorite: Pumpkin Mousse!

...maybe add some made-in-the-microwave salted caramels, a little belgian chocolate & caramel sauce? That's what I'm talkin' about!;) The flavor combination of all these things is AMAZING, not to mention an impressive dessert for entertaining.

Pumpkin Mousse
Ingredients:
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
5 large egg yolks
3 cups heavy cream
1 cup superfine sugar
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt

Directions:
Combine egg yolks, 1 C. sugar and 3/4 C. cream in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring continuously, until mixture thickens and coats the spoon (8-10 minutes). Remove from heat and add pumpkin, spices and salt. Stir well and cool completely. (You can speed up this process by putting it in the fridge or an ice bath).
Whip remaining heavy cream and vanilla to soft peaks and fold into cooled pumpkin mixture.
Serve in store-bought chocolate cups, or you can make your own easy chocolate balloon bowls.
For the spun-sugar garnish, I made this recipe for microwave hard candy, drizzled it on a cookie sheet sprayed lightly with cooking spray, and broke it into pieces once hardened.

To assemble dessert, put some melted chocolate into a ziploc baggie (I used Cacao Barry Dark Chocolate), snip off one end of bag and swirl on plate. When set, carefully spoon in a small amount of caramel sauce into several swirls. Add various cups of mousse and a couple salted caramels (recipe below).

Salted Microwave Caramels adapted from Bakespace
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup Light Karo Syrup (not dark-doesn't set right)
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup SWEETENED CONDENSED milk
1 t. vanilla
Sea Salt (I used a pink sea salt)
melted chocolate (optional)
Buttered 8x8 baking dish

Directions:
Melt butter in large microwave bowl. Stir in Karo syrup, both sugars and sweetened condensed milk. Mix until dissolved. Microwave on high 3-1/2 minutes. Stir down and scrape sides of bowl. Microwave on high 4 minutes. Stir in vanilla. Pour into buttered dish and refrigerate until set. When set, remove from fridge and cut into squares. Sprinkle a small amount of sea salt on each piece and drizzle chocolate on top (optional).

Harvest White Hot Chocolate

We just had the yummiest, "Autumniest" treat...

White Hot Chocolate spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg
with some frozen Orange & Candy Corn whipped cream!
The best part? If you are watching your fat/calories, you can substitute fat free half & half and use a tub of fat free cool whip to make this delicious treat guilt free!

Harvest Spiced White Hot Chocolate
Drink Ingredients:
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream
4 cups half-and-half (you can also substitute fat-free half and half and it’s good!)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. ground nutmeg

Directions:
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine white chocolate chips, half and half, and heavy cream (or fat free half and half if you are cutting fat/calories). Stir often until white chocolate chips have completely melted. Stir in vanilla extract, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir occasionally until heated through. Pour into cups and top with a dallop of frozen Harvest Whipped Cream (recipe below).

Harvest Frozen Whipped Cream Ingredients:
1 c. heavy whipping cream
1 Tablespoon powdered sugar
½ c. candy corn, chopped
zest from one orange (optional)
orange food coloring (optional)

Directions:
The fabulous Bridget over at Bakeat350 put it into my head that I could freeze whipping cream for later use....I thought "PERFECT for hot drinks, it won't melt as fast!". Thanks, Bridget!:)
Put heavy cream and powdered sugar in a mixing bowl, beat on high speed for 2 minutes, until fluffy and firm. Add orange zest and a few drops orange food coloring (optional)Drop by spoonfuls on cookie sheet lined in wax paper. Sprinkle with candy corn and place in freezer. When frozen, you can remove them and keep in sealed container in freezer until ready to use. They will store for several weeks!

Apple Brownies

Mmmmm.....it's apple season and my friend Darlene makes the best Apple Brownies, you MUST try them! She gave me the recipe a year or two ago and they're a favorite around here. They're oh-so-good, I even like them better than apple pie.

I whipped up half the batter in mini-loaf pans to give to my kids' teachers with a cute "apple note" attached.

Apple Brownies
Ingredients:
1 c. butter
2 c. sugar
2 eggs
2 C. flour
1 tsp. Baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
3 large or 4 small apples, peeled and diced
granulated sugar (for sprinkling on top after baking)
Caramel Ice Cream topping (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Choose your pan size: either a 9 x 13 pan, two pie pans, or a pie pan and four mini-loaf pans. Spray with nonstick cooking spray. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and apples. Mix well. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with sugar.

When cool, drizzle with caramel sauce if desired.

May I have a mintue for a personal note? I miss you Darlene! She was my next door neighbor in Hershey and we had so much fun together!

Scarecrow Cookies

Big C had Scarecrow Day at school today. I saw these on Family Fun and we whipped up a batch. They're easy and super-cute! As you can see, we changed a few ingredients to fit what we had on hand.:) So, have fun using up all that trick-or-treat candy & Happy Halloween!
Scarecrow Cookies
Ingredients:
round Cookies (I made sugar cookies and cut them out with a drinking glass)
1 can White frosting
Assorted sugar wafers (about 2 1/2 inches long)
Candy corn
M & M's candies or Chocolate chips
Bran cereal (such as All-Bran) or Shredded Wheat
Licorice Strings

Directions:
Frost the top of each cookie. Cut a sugar wafer in half. Add a dollop of frosting to the top edge of the cookie and stick a wafer half to it for a hat top. Place a whole sugar wafer just below the hat top for a brim. Add a small licorice piece for hat trim. Press pieces of Shredded Wheat hair into the frosting around the hat. For the face, press on a candy corn nose, M & M eyes, and a licorice string mouth.

Cheesy Mini-Pumpkins

I saw a big cheeseball pumpkin in a magazine and thought, "how about mini ones for party appetizers or after-school snacks?". We whipped up a batch today and they were gobbled up! Use any cheeseball recipe you like, we just picked something easy since my kids are big Ranch fans. These would be absolutely adorable at a Fall Party!!!

Cheesey Mini-Pumpkins
makes about 20

Ingredients:

2 pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 package Ranch dressing mix
1 C. shredded cheese, any kind (we used a Mexican blend)

1 C. crushed cheese crackers
Green Onion, for garnish
Green Pepper, for garnish

Directions:
Mix cream cheese, ranch dressing mix, and shredded cheese in a bowl until combined. Take a heaping spoonful, roll it into a ball shape and roll in crushed cheese crackers.

Set on a plate and make a small indention with your finger to form the pumpkin shape. Add a green pepper "stem" and green onion "leaf". (see video tutorial)

Serve with pretzels, carrots, crackers, pea pods, whatever your family likes to dip.

Runs with Scissors and Eats Crayons...

9/16/2015 UPDATE

I've had a lot of people asking for crayon labels recently, apparently someone made them on TV.  I designed these 7 years ago so don't have access to all my files anymore BUT do have three labels I uploaded to Google Drive for you to download.  Have fun!

Back to School Crayon Labels HERE

Halloween Crayon Labels HERE

Blank Crayon Labels HERE

Last Valentine's Day, I made some edible crayons. They were such a hit that we decided to make them for Back-to-School treats! I made some Back To School crayon labels that you can download here. Just print them out and you're ready to go!

Edible Crayons
Ingredients:
*Pretzel Rods
*Candy Melts (or white chocolate bark/chocolate chips with a little of your favorite food coloring added)*Paper Labels (make them yourself or download mine here. Print on colored paper of your choice)
Instructions:
-Break or cut pretzel rods in half.
-Melt candy melts or chocoalte chips in microwave on medium heat for 1 minute. Stir and continue cooking at 15 second intervals until melted. Stir well. Add a few drops food coloring if desired.
-Dip ends of pretzels in melted candy.

-Place on wax paper or aluminum foil to dry.

-When dry, wrap with crayon label and secure with tape. "CrayonEatr" got the most giggles since our baby is quite the professional. :)

We put some in inexpensive pencil boxes for back to school gifts!

Notes: You can buy Candy Melts in white or brown at Wal-Mart. They're in the craft section in the wedding supplies. Wal-Mart also had white chocolate bark in the baking aisle. For colored Candy Melts, check your local cake supply store or you can get them at http://www.sugarcraft.com/. On sugarcraft.com, do a search for "compound coating". To color melted white chocolate chips or chocolate bark, oil-based candy food coloring is best. If you have regular food coloring, just make sure the chocolate isn't too hot (just warm) when you add it or it might make it clumpy.