Lazy Blogging Monday

Well, guys, I don't have a lot to report today. I've been pretty busy making preparations for my little one's upcoming birthday party, but I don't have any pictures ready or anything to tell you about that. I kinda wanted to do an political opinion piece now that the elections are over, but gosh, if you're like me, you need a little break from the onslaught, so I'll hold off on that. So today is lazy blogging day. Yep! I am going to use the work of others as material for my blog today. A friend of mine on Facebook shared this link, and now I'm going to share it with you:

Baked Fundamentalist Macaroni and Cheese

There's a couple of reasons I shared this. One, it's pretty funny, no lie. Be warned, he drops the F-bomb once, if you're sensitive to that kind of language. On the whole though, the article is pretty tame. Secondly, I shared this because it sounds like an OMG tasty recipe, even if you're constipated for a week because of all the cheese. Finally, I shared this because he and I have the exact same opinion on macaroni and cheese. I see all these recipes (Pinterest, I'm looking at you) that call for mustard, or bread crumbs, or ham, or some other such nonsense in your macaroni and cheese, and I hate it. That's not macaroni and cheese, dang it! Now I admit, I fix it differently than he does. I have two versions, depending on who I'm fixing it for. One is a baked variety for my Southern friends and family, the other is a creamy stovetop variety for my husband and little girl. The main ingredients in both of these varieties are macaroni and cheese; they comprise roughly 85% of the dish. There are no meats, no crazy spices, no vegetables. Simple. Pure. And that's how it should be.

Frosted Luminaries

There was one decoration that I did for my Pumpkin Party that I didn't talk about in my previous blog. They're frosted glass luminaries, and they can be used for any occasion where you need a little ambient lighting:

Like so.

 All I did was save up some glass jars, wash them, put on some foil star stickers (the kind you get in the office section of your local big box store), and spray on some glass frosting spray. I've seen ideas similar to this floating around on Pinterest, but most of them call for spray paint, and I personally didn't want to use anything so opaque. For my project, I used Krylon Frosted Glass Finish, mainly because it was the only kind my craft store had at the time. Just make sure your jars are good and clean, make sure all that sticky junk that holds the labels on is gone, and follow the instructions on the spray can. These would be great for Christmas, or even a wedding. You can customize your stickers to any shape, or just leave them off entirely. It's a great little upcycling project that takes only minutes to do.

Now, in case you're wondering, the sticky stuff on the jars I used was pretty stubborn. What I did to get it off was remove the label and rub some petroleum jelly on the adhesive. I let it sit for a day or two, then I scraped as much off as I could with a razor. After that, I washed the jar with HOT water and soap. If it didn't all come off after that, I spritzed it with some Pine-Sol and re-washed the jar with hot water and soap. I've also heard you can used peanut butter, rubbing alcohol, or nail-polish remover. Basically, these things are supposed to weaken the adhesive so that it isn't quite so sticky. I tried them all, and the petroleum jelly worked best for me; I only had to use the Pine-Sol a couple of times as a last resort.

I'm proud of how these turned out. I'm going to keep them handy for my next evening porch get-together. Anyway, that's it for now. Stay tuned for more crafty stuff!

Recipes as Promised

Here are the recipes that I promised from my Pumpkin Party post a couple of weeks ago! This week, I'm doing a couple of different blogs because I've been slack in the blogging department, but not in the life department! I have several things I'd like to share with you. So lets get to those recipes, shall we?

Caramel Cheesecake Fruit Dip

• Two 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, softened
• One 8-ounce tub of whipped topping
• One 16-ounce container of caramel dip

Beat cream cheese in a medium bowl until fluffy. Add whipped topping and caramel dip and beat until smooth. Chill until ready to use.

This can also be poured into a ready-made pie crust and served as a no-bake cheesecake. You can top it with chocolate sauce, nuts, toffee chips, whatever strikes your fancy!

Stuffed Jack-o-Lantern Peppers
This is a large recipe. Feel free to scale it down to fit your family!

• 18 bell peppers
• 1 large onion
• 1 Tbs. oil
• 3 chicken bouillon cubes
• 3 cups white rice
• 6 cups water
• seasoning salt to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large pot, add rice, water, and bouillon cubes. Bring rice to a boil on high heat, stir, and cover. Turn heat to low and forget about it for 20 minutes. (I mean it! Don't you lift the lid or stir it at all!) Meanwhile, wash peppers and cut tops off. Clean out the seeds and pith, then carefully cut out a simple jack-o-lantern face. Chop up the usable part of the pepper tops. Finely chop the onion. Add the onion, pepper bits, and oil to a skillet and simmer on medium heat until tender. After the rice is finished cooking, add the peppers and onion, then season with seasoning salt to taste. Loosely pack the rice evenly into each pepper. Place the stuffed peppers on a greased baking sheet so that they lean on one another. Bake in the preheated oven for about 1 hour.

Eggnog
This recipe comes from The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook. Keep in mind, this recipe uses raw eggs. Consume at your own risk.

• 12 eggs, separated
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups bourbon
• 1/2 cup brandy (for a non-alcoholic version, we omitted the booze and substituted 2 tsp. rum extract)
• 6 cups milk
• ground nutmeg
• 1 cup heavy or whipping cream

1. In large bowl with mixer at low speed, beat egg yolks with sugar. At high speed, beat until thick and lemon-colored, about 15 minutes, frequently scraping the bowl.
2. Carefully beat in bourbon and brandy (or rum extract), once Tbs. at a time to prevent curdling the mixture. Cover and chill.
3. About 20 minutes before serving: In chilled 5-6 qt. punch bowl, stir yolk mixture, milk, and 1 1/4 tsp. nutmeg.
4. In large bowl with mixer at high speed, beat egg whites until soft peaks form.
5. In small bowl, using same beaters, with mixer at medium speed, beat cream until stiff peaks form.
6. With wire whisk, gently fold egg whites and cream into yolk mixture until just blended.
7. To serve, sprinkle some nutmeg over top of eggnog; ladle into 6-oz punch cups.

Apple Pie with Crumb Topping
This recipe came from the 12th edition Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. I actually found a link to the recipe on the BHG website here. The only difference is on the website, it calls for a premade pie crust bottom, whereas in the book, they tell you how to make a single pie crust. I will now give you the single pie crust recipe from the book, so you can choose whether you want to save some time or make a 100% from scratch dish.

Pastry for Single-Crust Pie

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 4 to 5 Tbs cold water

1. In a medium bowl stir together flour and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in shortening until pieces are pea-size.
2. Sprinkle 1 Tbs of the water over part of the flour mixture; gently toss with a fork. Push moistened dough to the side of the bowl. Repeat moistening flour mixture, using 1 Tbs of the water at a time, until all the flour mixture is moistened. Form dough into a ball.
3. On a lightly floured surface, use your hands to slightly flatten dough. Roll dough from center to edges into a circle about 12 inches in diameter.
4. To transfer pastry, wrap it around the rolling pin. Unroll pastry into a 9-inch pie plate. Ease pastry into pie plate without stretching it.
5. Trim pastry to 1/2 inch beyond edge of pie plate. Fold under extra pastry. Crimp as desired. Do not prick pastry. Bake as directed in individual recipes.

Well that's that, folks! That's how we made all the yummy stuff we served at our Pumpkin Bash. Because I'm a little obsessed with Halloween, I've already started making plans for next year's get-together. Our theme is going to be Lousiana Voodoo House, and the food is going to be Cajun/Creole faire. Our dessert is going to be beignets, and I've got some cute plans for snacks such as frog leg cookies and voodoo-doll breadsticks. See you next time!