A Happy Halloween and Yummy Cupcakes

I was going to make a cake for Halloween and instead decided to make cupcakes. I used a cake mix to make the cupcakes and I made homemade chocolate frosting for them.

I used a Price Chopper incredibly moist deep chocolate cake mix. The recipe for the frosting I got off the container of Hershey's cocoa.

"Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter or margarine

2/3 cup Hershey's cocoa

3 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium size bowl place melted butter and stir in cocoa. Add powdered sugar and milk. I used a fork to blend. Add in the vanilla and blend some more. If you need to add more milk do so, I ended up adding another tablespoon more.

Snow Already.....It's Too Early For Me!!!

Living in the north country we can always expect snow earlier than when we would like and that was the case on Tuesday. The arrival of the snow happened while I was at work. The snow continued to fall and was still coming down when I got home from work that night.

Some people are not very fortunate and are without power, we only had the power go off about four times to only come right back on again. The snow I am sure will not last for too long with the temps going to be on the rise for the weekend. So long to the snow but we all know you will be returning soon enough!!!

It Could Be Cake but No Its A Brownie

1 cup butter or margarine (2 sticks)

1/2 cup Hershey's cocoa

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13" by 9" baking pan. In a saucepan melt butter and mix in cocoa. When butter has completely melted and cocoa is mixed well, remove from heat and pour in a medium bowl. Beat in sugar and eggs until well blended. Stir in flour. Spread batter into pan. Bake 30 to 35 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in pan placed on a wire rack.

These brownies turned out very moist it is very similiar to having a piece of cake. Randy and I will enjoy some of them but we won't be able to eat them all nor do we need to. I am taking twelve small squares to work for others to enjoy!

Quick and Easy Macaroni and Cheese

I love to make macaroni and cheese but I normally do not make it this way. I had a request last night from a coworker to make some so that could be our dinner for the night. I knew the only cheese that I had in the refrigerator was velveeta. So that is how I made it. I will post at a later date the way I normally make my macaroni and cheese.

velveeta cheese (I used what I had left of the brick, wasn't too much this is Randy's favorite)

1/2 cup milk

4 cups macaroni

1 tablespoon butter

Boil the macaroni according to the directions on the box. Set aside when macaroni is done boiling. In a medium saucepan place the remaining ingredients. Melt the cheese completely. I use a crockpot when I do make macaroni and cheese for work. Place macaroni in and pour cheese sauce over top. Stir until all the cheese sauce is blended into the macaroni. I have the crockpot on the low setting since I am taking it to work later. I will turn it on high once I am at work so it will be ready for dinner time. I am going to take some out so Randy can have it for dinner tonight.

Homemade Applesauce

This is the first time I have ever made applesauce. I looked at three different variations in the Good Housekeeping Cookbook and then I decided to come up with my own take on those versions.

Place 1 cup of water and apple slices in saucepan. On medium heat bring to a boil, while stirring occasionally. I then added 1/3 cup sugar after the apples had boiled for approximately 15 minutes. Continue to stir until well blended.

Remove from heat and pour applesauce into a bowl. I mashed the apples with a potato masher.

I added a teaspoon ground cinnamon and gave it one last good stir.

I am bringing a small bowl to work for my coworkers to try and of course leaving some at home for Randy and I.

Apple Crisp from Good Housekeeping Cookbook

This apple crisp recipe was taken from the Good Housekeeping Cookbook. This cookbook has so many good recipes in it. Randy got this cookbook for Christmas in 1996 from his Aunt Kathie. I guess she knew that it would be put to good use.

You will need the following ingredients for this recipe:

6 medium sized cooking apples (I used 22 small apples)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup old fashioned or quick cooking oats (uncooked)
6 tablespoons butter or margarine (3/4 stick softened)

Peel core and slice apples. Place apples in 10" by 6" baking dish. I used my dish
that we like to make apple pie in.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In medium bowl mix brown sugar, flour, oats and
butter or margarine.
Sprinkle oat mixture over apples slices. Bake 45 minutes or until apples are
tender.

Serve warm or refrigerate to serve cold. We prefer to have ours warm with a
small scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Apple Molasses Muffins

The finished product

Ready for the oven

Mixing the batter

This recipe is from the GoodHousekeeping Cookbook. I did not have all the ingredients but I decided to make them anyway. I am glad that I did they were a bit hit with Randy and I. I will definitely be making these muffins again soon.

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice (did not have any)

1/3 cup molasses

1/4 cup milk

4 tablespoons butter or margarine (I prefer to use butter when I bake)

1 egg

2 medium sized apples peeled and diced

1/3 cup chopped walnuts (Randy didn't want any walnuts in them)

Preheat oven to 400 F. Grease muffin tins.

In a large bowl, mix first 5 ingredients. In a small bowl, beat molasses, milk, butter or margarine and egg until blended. Stir into flour mixture until flour is moistened.

Batter will be lumpy. Fold in apples and walnuts. Spoon batter into cups. Bake 25 min.

Or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Serve warm or cool on wire rack.

Everything Is Coming Up Apples

Randy and I went apple picking this morning to the field where he has been hunting. Randy had brought home an apple the day before for me to try and said we should pick some apples for baking. We ended up picking two grocery bags full. I am now thinking of what delicious things I can make.

Dinner At Work

I was going to make pumpkin cookies today but didn't have all the ingredients for them. I then lost track of the time and the day flew by and it was time to head to work. I was looking forward to dinner as we were having chicken on the grill. I wish I had brought my camera to work because I would have had some really good pics of the dinner. We had marinated the chicken the night before in State Fair dressing and it was cooked on the grill with honey barbeque sauce. Boy was the chicken ever moist and so tasty as well. Along with the chicken was toss salad and baked beans. It was a really good meal.

Streusel Cake

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Yesterday I was up early again. We had to pick the truck up at the garage and I had to be to work for 9am. I was thinking all day of something to make with the cupcake mix I had and I remember the recipe I had for Streusel Cake. I did not get up to early this morning to start baking because I knew the recipe was easy and it doesn't take long to bake. I am going to have a small piece in a bit with a cup of hot tea. Here is the recipe in case anyone wants to try it.





yellow cake mix (I used a cupcake mix instead)





Streusel topping:


2 tbsp. dry cake mix


1 tbsp. cinnamon


1 tbsp. cocoa


2 tbsp. brown sugar








In a separate bowl combine the first four ingredients. Grease or spray pan and lightly flour. I used a bundt pan and liked the way it turned out. Prepare cake mix according to the instructions on the box. Fill the pan with 1/4 of the batter. Spoon streusel topping over the batter, topping with remaining batter. With a knife, circle batter to create a swirled effect.


Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 30 minutes or until cake tests done. Cool for 5-10 minutes before removing from the pan. Lightly glaze the cake with powdered sugar mixed with a small amount of milk. I didn't use exact measurements for that and it turned out just fine. I also added a touch of vanilla.

A Busy Day Off

I have the day off today and it has turned out to be a very busy one. I was up early to bring the truck to the garage to have some work done. I wasn't going to sit around the garage all day so my friend from work picked me up. I was able to spend most of the afternoon with Randy because he is working the evening shift today. I did some housework and am finishing up the last of the laundry as I type this. Since I am going to be having dinner alone I decided to make chicken, baked potato and cottage cheese.

A Morning In The Woods

Me climbing the tree stand
Randy at the top of the tree stand

We headed to the woods Sunday morning so Randy

could put up his last tree stand. I did manage to get

my picture taken climbing the ladder this time.

Randy made it to the top. We had to call it a day

before the stand was finished because I had to get

ready for work.