Sugar Cookie Pumpkins

I relapsed this weekend but before I got sick again, I made these cute Sugar Cookie Pumpkins for my youngest's classroom party:

And, in order to keep on track with my new lease on life, I am making sure that there is always one dessert in the house. That way, we aren't jonesing for sweets. We have our reward for doing good at the end of the day:-) I made a few extra of these and without the embellishments, it is actually not that bad for you: One cookie is 133 calories and 6 grams of fat. Everything in moderation.

As for my health, I am still being tackled by my hormones. They are making me very sick and I have to be on them for another month until they can implement a permanent solution to my problem. So, send me all your positive energy. I am going to need all the help that I can get!


Playing along with Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

Tackling Bone Soup

It's time for Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom . Last week, I volunteered to bring treats to the costume party at school. Of course:-) This is what I came up with:

I was inspired by Cookies and Cups' skeleton cupcakes. Mine didn't come out nearly as good as hers but I was happy with my presentation:-)

Tackling Werewolf Cupcakes

It's time for Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom . This week, I tackled Werewolf Cupcakes for a neighborhood Halloween party:

Happy Halloween:-)

Tackling Literary Cupcakes

It's time for Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom . This week I tackled the Iron Cupcake: Milwaukee Literary Challenge. We were suppose to interprete a book, or a character or a plot in cupcake form. I chose Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven. May I present: Raven Cupcakes:

They are chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting decorated to with The Raven.

Cauldron Cake, Witch Cupcakes and Chili

Well everyone...I may have a cake wreck on my hands:-( My nephew's birthday was this weekend and once again, I made a Halloween themed cake and cupcakes. Behold, the Cauldron Cake:

This is a yellow cake with green and orange buttercream frosting to look like the gruel in a witch's cauldron. The pot was $5 at Walgreens and I put the cake inside the pot on a cake decorating stand. So, when you spun the cake with the spoon, it simulated stirring the brew. Although the cake itself isn't the prettiest, I thought the concept was cool.

These are the witches and Man, do they look pissed! I would be too if I were this ugly:-(

And here is what the whole table looked like. So everybody...what do you think? To wreck or not wreck...that is the question.

As for a recipe, my SIL, Lisa served this awesome chili at the party. It is perfect for any chilly outdoor event like Trick or Treating or a football game or even looking ahead to caroling for Christmas. Without further adeau:

Lisa's Awesome Chili Mac

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef

1 can kidney beans

1 green pepper

1 onion plus more for garnish

1 can tomato juice

1 packet chili mix

1/2 lb elbow macaroni

1 can diced tomatoes

Shredded Cheddar Cheese, for garnish

sour cream for garnish

Oyster crackers, for garnish

Directions:

1. Brown ground beef in pepper and onions.

2. Add the rest of the ingredients (except macaroni) to slow cooker and cook on high for 45 minutes or low for 2 hours.

3. Meanwhile, cook the macaroni until almost al dente.

4. Add macaroni to the beef mixture in the last 30 minutes of cooking.

5. Serve with garnishes on the side.

Spider Cake

Time for Candid Carrie again:-)

With fall coming (along with Halloween), I decided to post my 3rd cake: The Spider Cake:-) I made this for my nephew's 10th birthday party which just happened to land on Halloween last year.

What we have here is chocolate cake with vanilla pudding filling that was colored red to look like blood. The frosting is white buttercream and the web is black gel. The spiders are vanilla cupcakes with black sugar on the "body" and black licorice legs. The kids thought this was really neat. Enjoy:-)