Pots and Pins

Happy Halloween!

Pike Place Market Fruits...so yummy.....Caesar the Wonder Dog in the Pumpkin Patch - he did his best to pee on each and every pumpkin!  Maybe that's why my pumpkin muffins had a strange taste this morning!   Or maybe it was the butter that had been put in the refrigerator next to an unwrapped piece of garlic?!? 

Deviled Eyes.....Eggs:

8 hard boiled eggs

1/4 cup mayonnaise

2 teaspoons dill pickle juice (from a jar of pickles)

1 teaspoon prepared mustard

1/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

Freshly ground pepper to taste

Red decorator icing for that special bloodshot look

6 green olives with pimentos, cut in half

Paprika

Cut eggs in half lengthwise; remove yolks and mash with mayonnaise, pickle juice, mustard, salt and pepper.  Refill egg whites with mixture.  Cut green olives in half, set one in middle of each egg.  Use the decorator icing to make red squiggly lines from the olive to the edge of the filling, making lines all around the egg.  Sprinkle each eye/egg with a little paprika and chill until serving time.  What do you do with a green monster?  Wait until he ripens!

Max’s….I mean Cash’s First Quilt

Since this is a food AND quilting blog....I'm going to try very hard to tear myself away from the kitchen long enough to put in a few quilts....this is my future grandson's first quilt - it has little dogs on it as he will come into this world having two big "brothers"....Symon and Murphy, two of the cutest, untrained beasts you've ever seen!

Chocolate Pumpkin Cake (adapted from Country Living Magazine)

 

When I saw this cake on the cover of the October issue of Country Living, it made me want to buy the magazine....and then it made me want to make the cake.  It's a beautiful cake to make for Halloween....double layered, orange frosting with a chocolate ganache glaze.....if nothing else, make it just to look at!  Before I made this cake, I told a friend that I was going to make it and she advised against it - said she had already tried it and that her family didn't like it but as we talked she said the cake was okay but the frosting was too soft.  I used a different frosting than the original recipe and it worked great - it's the only thing I changed.  (My friend was right about their frosting - I made it first and it was WAY too soft - so I scraped it all off and came up with the frosting below....much better!)  So, armed with the knowledge that I might be making a cake that no one would eat, and believe me, I was armed with nothing else.....I decided to give it a try anyway.  And I loved the results - I would definitely make this again but I will tell you that most of the children I served this to didn't like it - (so my friend's family was not taste-challenged!) because it's not a traditional chocolate cake and I think that's what they expected when they bit into it.  The adults who ate it loved it - because their pallet can appreciate the subtle "autumn" flavors....at least that's the theory I'm going with!  There is cinnamon in the frosting and the cake itself is very rich, it almost has a fudge-like texture because it's so moist.  Try it....I'm pretty sure you'll like it!

Chocolate Pumpkin Cake

1 1/2 cups flour

2/3 cup cocoa

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 cup canned pumpkin

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs, plus one yolk

Frosting:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 to 1/2 cup cream or milk

3 teaspoons cocoa

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

34/ teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch of salt

orange food coloring

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Line the bottoms of two 8-inch cake pans with parchment paper and lightly butter.  Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together.  Stir the buttermilk, pumpkin, and vanilla extract together in a small bowl.  Beat the butter and sugars together using an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs and yolk, one at a time.  Reduce mixer speed to low and alternately beat in the flour and buttermilk mixtures in thirds.  Pour the batter into the prepared pans.  Bake until a tester, inserted in the center, comes out clean - about 35 minutes.  Cool layers completely before icing. 

Frosting:

In the bowl of electric mixer, blend cream cheese and butter on medium-high speed until fluffy.  Add in 2 cups of powdered sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, vanilla, salt and 1/4 of the cream or milk.  Beat on medium-high speed until smooth.  If frosting is too thick, add in more cream, until desired consistency is reached.  If it's too thin add in more powdered sugar.  Add in food coloring until desired color is reached.  Mix well. 

Spread a generous amount of the frosting between the two layers and use the remaining frosting to ice the top and sides of the cake.  Chill 30 minutes and then put the glaze on.

Glaze:

Place 4 ounces of chopped bittersweet chocolate (chop into really small pieces,) 1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter, and 3 tablespoons corn syrup in a medium heatproof bowl.  Bring 1/2 cup heavy cream to a boil, pour it over the chocolate, and let sit for 3 minutes.  Gently stir, using a whisk, until smooth.  Let sit for 3 to 5 minutes, until the glaze thickens slightly.  Pour the glaze onto the center of the frosted cake and smooth out to the edges to allow the glaze to drip over the sides.  Makes 1 cup.

Deadman Over Worms…..

DEADMAN OVER WORMS...... 

Herewith I submit my award winning recipe for Deadman Over Worms....well, I actually didn't win any award, but I did win Emeril Live's Halloween Contest last year....okay, so I was one of four winners....but I was definitely Emeril's favorite - fine, so I wasn't his favorite....but my meatloaf was....trust me on this, his exact words were:  "Folks, this is a really good recipe....BAM!"  Now I'm not making this up.....afterall, would I lie about meatloaf?  So out of all of the thousands and thousands of entries - probably millions - this was one of the winners!

Deadman Over Worms (Meatloaf over Spagetti) - Pots and Pins

3 eggs

2/3 cup milk

2 slices French bread torn into small pieces, or 1/2 cup bread crumbs

1 cup oatmeal

1/2 cut grated carrot

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 thyme

1/2 teaspoon sage

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

2 pounds lean ground beef

1 pound mild Italian sausage

1 (16 oz.) package spaghetti noodles, cooked according to package directions

Butter

Topping:

1 cup tomato ketchup

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons prepared mustard

1/4 cup maple syrup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook the sausage until almost done, breaking up into very small pieces. Remove from heat and set aside. (I cook the sausage this way to make sure it is done and there are no large pieces of uncooked sausage in the meatloaf. If you don't want to pre-cook the sausage, make sure to use a meat thermometer so you'll know the meatloaf is cooked all the way through (to 175 degrees). In a large bowl, beat the eggs.  Add milk, bread (or bread crumbs), and oatmeal.  Stir in carrots, onions, cheese, herbs, and seasonings.  Add beef and the almost cooked sausage and mix well.  In a shallow baking dish, shape beef mixture into the shape of a body.  Round ball for head, (about the size of a softball) oval shape for body, mounding up for tummy.  Shape arms and place next to body (you don't want them sticking out or they will cook too quickly.)  Shape legs and place next to each other, not apart.  Smooth meatloaf so the "seams" are not apparent. 

Make topping. Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and mix well. (This topping is very sweet, but it's the perfect "sticky-bloody-glaze" for this meatloaf.) 

Bake meatloaf for 45 minutes, then spoon half of the sauce over meatloaf.  Return to the oven and continue baking for an additional 45 minutes or until meatloaf is cooked thoroughly. (Total baking time about 1 1/2 hours - cover with foil if it gets too brown.) While meatloaf is baking cook spaghetti noodles according to package directions.  Rinse noodles and put butter, to taste, on them; set aside.

When meatloaf is done, remove from oven and let stand for 10 minutes.  Put buttered spaghetti noodles on a tray.  Carefully place meatloaf on top of spaghetti noodles, using two spatulas.  Don't worry if an arm or a leg falls off - just "reattach" and cover with sauce.  Before serving place a knife in the "heart" of the  deadman. Pour remaining sauce over top of deadman.

Reality has slapped me in the face and this quilt is just not going to get done in time for halloween.....I had visions of wrapping up in this while eating my son's halloween candy....yes, he's too old to trick or treat but he won't listen to me.....so while my quilt hangs forlornly on the wall - begging to be finished - I am feverishly trying to finish my nephew's soccer quilt, my niece's halloween quilt, the cutest Thanksgiving placemats you've ever seen and my daughter's baby quilt....did I mention that she is having a baby....a boy baby?  His name will be Cash....as in Cash Machine or Cash Only or Cash or Check?  I plan to call him Max.....afterall I'm the grandma so I can do what I want.   

Many thanks Jenny!!!

My daughter's childhood friend is now also my friend - and expert blogger extrodinaire! This is Jenny on the left and my daughter Lyndsey on the right - many years ago - we made a quick trip up to Butchart Gardens in Victoria BC - had a great time even though I wrecked the car....but I digress...... This post is about Jenny, not my driving ability.....She is an amazing talent - If you don't believe me, check out her wonderful site, www.jennyvorwaller.com and you'll be transported - literally - to Buenos Aires where she now lives.  Jenny is an artist...jewelry designer...photographer and a wonderful writer....but more to the point, I owe her my most heartfelt thanks as she has been my resource to get my site up and running.  She has been so patient - never once calling me retarded or stupid or dumb - although she certainly had every right to!  After working with me for the last couple of weeks, I would like to nominate her to Sainthood but won't because then she would have to be dead or at the very least sealed in concrete.  Anyway, a big thank you to Jenny for all of her help!  Now, with that being said.....I hope you'll forgive me for any mistakes you find - they would be my mistakes, not Jenny's!  I'm still new at this so be patient, grasshopper, I'm doing the best I can with what I've got to work with! 

Halloween House!

 

 I saw the Halloween House that Macy's has by Martha Stewart - it's $70 and, if I may say so, not nearly as cute as mine!  This was a cinch to make - a basic gingerbread dough that is overcooked so it's really hard, and then royal icing, colored with black food coloring - and used as glue to attach the candy.  The windows were made with a squeeze tube of decorator's icing and the faces in the windows, which are hard to see, are sugared candies that I bought at a cake decorating store.  Hey....when your last name is Slaughter then halloween has to be good!

 

Dinner in a Pumpkin?

 

 

This is so easy - and so yummy....make it for your mummy today! (I realize this looks completely gross....vile really, but it's really, really good! )

1 small to medium pumpkin

1 can tomatoes (29 oz.)

1 medium onion, finely diced

1 medium yellow bell pepper, finely diced

1 medium red bell pepper, finely diced

3 tablespoons butter

3 cups cooked rice (I like brown rice)

1 lb. lean ground beef

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon allspice

Salt and pepper to taste

Cut top from pumpkin and scoop out seeds and pulp (save seeds to season and bake later.)  Brown onion, peppers and ground beef in butter.  Mix in spices and season with salt and pepper to taste.   Mix in tomatoes and rice, season again to taste.  Butter outside of pumpkin, and pumpkin lid.  Put lid in a pie pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray.  Spray 9 x 13 inch baking dish with cooking spray and put pumpkin in.  Carefully pour rice and meat mixture into pumpkin.  Put lid in pie plate and pumpking in the baking dish in a 350 degree oven for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, checking frequently after an hour of baking to make sure pumpkin doesn't get overcooked - or it will collapse!  When the pumpkin is soft and the mixture is bubbly it is ready to serve.  When serving scrape out some of the pumpkin with the rice mixture.  (Since pumpkins have a lot of water in them it might be necessary to drain some of the liquid from the pan while baking.)  Serves 8.

 

 

 

Severed Fingers...

There is less than one week before halloween arrives - and the clock is ticking! So, with only a few days left, I've decided to send you a few  of my favorite halloween recipes - don't procrastinate - get in the kitchen and whip one of these up - your little goblins will thanks you!

To start you off, I offer up Severed Fingers - you will love gnawing on these almond flavored, shortbread-esque cookies:

Severed Fingers - Pots and Pins

1 cup butter at room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons water

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups flour

1 cup finely chopped almonds

whole almonds for "fingernails"

1 tube red decorators icing

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add water and vanilla; mix well. Blend in flour and nuts. Mix until incorporated. Scoop dough into a ball and refrigerate until well chilled, about 2 hours.

To make cookies, shape dough into fingers about 3 inches long by rolling a piece of dough between hands, pinching slightly on either side of the "knuckle" area. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and put a whole almond on the end for the nail, pushing down slightly. Leave the other end of the finger a little uneven to get that "severed" look! With a knife, make three tiny lines across the "knuckle" area of the finger...whats a knuckle without a few wrinkles?

Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove and let cool completely. When cool, squirt some of the red decorators icing onto the "severed" end of the finger - but don't make a bloody mess of it!

Makes 36 Severed Fingers.

Hello world!

Wasn't it Shakespeare who asked what's in a name?  Well, let me tell you, a rose might be a rose by any other name but when it comes to blogs, there's no such thing as sharing!  So I picked a name for my blog..... it was taken.....so I picked another....it, too was taken....and then another and another and another - all taken!  Sheesh!  Think of the brain power I wasted!  And with that being said and with what limited brain functions I had left I came up with pots and pins.....humor me and pretend it's clever and avant gaard.....and I arrived at this name because I wanted my blog to reflect my two favorite hobbies/passions/time-wasters....food and quilting.  So, there you have it - pots and pins.