Cheese Ball Recipe

I had a few people ask for this so here it is...

Cheese Ball

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1 ½ cups grated Cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon dried chives
2 teaspoons dry ranch dressing mix
½ cup chopped pecans

Mix all ingredients together (except pecans). Form into a ball and roll in chopped pecans. Serve with assorted crackers.

I'd pass along the bean-dip recipe, too - except Handsome Hubby never makes it the same way twice. It always starts out with refried beans but after that - it's whatever tastes good while he's putting it together. So, for this one-of-a-kind treat you'll just have to hope he makes it for you sometime!

Dinner in a Pumpkin

I forgot - I promised a few people our traditional Halloween Dinner Recipe... so 1 week later here it is...

Dinner in a Pumpkin

Ingredients:
1 Med. Onion Chopped
1 1/2 to 2 Pounds Extra Lean Ground Beef
2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
2 Cans Chicken with White & Wild Rice Soup (Undiluted)
2 Cans Creamy Chicken Mushroom Soup (Undiluted) - or I just use Cream of Chicken b/c that's what I have on hand and it still tastes good to us
1 Can Water Chestnuts, Sliced & Drained
2 Cups Cooked Rice
1 Cup Crisp Chinese Noodles
Cashews
1 Small to Medium Pumpkin Cleaned Out


What to do:
1. Paint a face on pumpkin with permanent markers (I copied my face out of a magazine this year - I thought the winking pumpkin was really cute). Cut top off and thoroughly clean out seeds and pulp.

2. In large pan, brown ground beef and onion together. Drain any grease from pan.

3. Add soy sauce, brown sugar, chicken with rice soup, creamy chicken mushroom soup, water chestnuts and rice. Simmer for about 10 minutes.

4. To Bake in Pumpkin: Spoon meat-rice mixture into pumpkin and replace top. Place entire pumpkin with filling on a baking sheet. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees or until the inside meat of pumpkin is tender. Remove lid and sprinkle Chinese noodles and cashews over the top.

5. Serve meat-rice casserole, and for vegetable, scoop out cooked pumpkin.

I usually have more casserole than will fit in the pumpkin - so I put the extra in a foil baking pan and freeze it to cook up later (don't put the noodles or cashews on until after you've baked it). To cook, let it thaw during the day - and cook at 350 for about 50 minutes.

Pumpkin Muffins

Yes it's another pumpkin recipe!

Like I said we just love pumpkin at our house!

Here's the recipe:
Ingredients
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 beaten egg
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup cooking oil
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup chopped nuts

In a mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg cloves and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Make a well in the center. Combine egg, milk, oil and pumpkin; add all at once to flour mixture. Stir just till moistened (batter should be lumpy). Stir in nuts (or you can do what I did and omit the nuts and add as many chocolate chips as look good to you. Sure, they're completely unhealthy, but completely yummy!). Use paper baking cups in your muffin tray & fill cups 2/3 full. Bake in a 400 degree oven about 20 minutes or till golden. Remove from pans; serve warm. Makes 10 to 12.

My tip: always double the recipe & always use chocolate chips!

We love Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins!

Our Pumpkin Time of Year

October and November are our pumpkin months. We have several traditions that involve eating pumpkin in one form, or another - and it's been a lot of fun.

Tonight we had Pumpkin Casserole! Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
6 cups pumpkin, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes (two pie pumpkins are plenty)
2 cups water
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
1 cup shredded carrots
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 Pkg. stuffing mix
1/2 cup melted margarine

Combine pumpkin in water in a saucepan; bring to a boil and simmer for 7 minutes. Remove from heat and drain. Combine stuffing mix with the melted margarine and place half of it into a lightly greased 9x13" baking dish. Place the drained and cooked pumpkin on the stuffing mix and top with a mixture of the sour cream, soup, onion, and carrots. Add remaining stuffing mix on the top. Bake at 350 degrees F 25-30 minutes.

And voile you have a very yummy pumpkin dinner!

Just a note: Pumpkins best for eating are the smaller pumpkins that are also darker in color - they will taste sweeter than a pumpkin you would use to make a Jack-O-Lantern.

Also, don't forget to save your seeds! We always toast ours so we can have a tasty little snack for later.