Halloween White Chili

This year for Halloween, we didn't do our traditional invite everyone over to our house party. It was different to not have the whole family over here, but with Justin and Ashlee living in a new neighborhood with sidewalks and kids I thought they'd prefer to go there and Olivia and Jessica have been trying to split time between there neighborhoods and ours for a few years. My girls don't want to stick around with cousins anyway- they want to do off with their friends. So Ryan and I hung out at home and handed out candy by ourselves - while working on bagpipes- but that's a different story.

Anyway, every year I make my traditional chili recipe - which isn't a recipe at all. You buy cans of every and any flavor of beans, a couple of cans of beanless chili and a couple of cans of Italian style stewed tomatoes and dump them in the crock-pot and let them cook all day. Every year our neighborhood has a get together on Halloween for soup and bread before the kids go off to trick or treat. We have usually made a quick appearance at the party to say hello before going home to our own family party, but this year we went to their party instead. (It lasts less than an hour- just long enough to eat.) But they asked me to bring a chili type soup. I found this recipe on Just a Pinch and thought maybe I should make that- but since it was new I wasn't sure how it would turn out. And Adria said I should just make the same chili I always make. I ended up making both. It's a good thing too because this new chili was a HIT and the traditional chili didn't turn out as well as usual. I made it in a smaller older crock pot I have had since we got married- I don't think it got hot enough to thicken like it usually does- so I'm blaming the crock pot for that failure.  Everyone liked the white chili! Several neighbors asked for the recipe and Genna had it for breakfast this morning and Pierce took it to lunch- Always a win if the kids will eat it as leftovers at lunch!


If you know me, you know I had to make some changes to the recipe - so here it is:

2 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion
2 clove garlic
1 tsp chili powder
1 (7 oz) can chopped green chiles
3 (15.5 oz) cans white northern beans
2 (14oz) cans chicken broth
1 tsp salt - I think I added a little extra after I tasted it- but we use low sodium broth
1 tsp pepper - I didn't measure I just added some
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground oregano
1/2 c whipping cream
1 c sour cream - I didn't measure this either - just spooned some in- probably less than 1 cup.
Monterey Jack cheese, grated

Boil chicken until cooked and shred with a hand mixer. Meanwhile, chop the onion and finely dice the garlic. Saute onion, garlic and green chilies a large pan with the vegetable oil. Add the chili powder and shredded chicken. Mix until combined and then pour into the crock pot. Add the broth, beans (liquid too, although I partially drained 1 can because it seamed like a lot of liquid), cumin, oregano, salt and pepper. Mix well. Cook on low for 3 to 4 hours (I didn't really time it). During the last 30 to 60 minutes of cooking, stir in the whipping cream and sour cream. Serve hot sprinkled with cheese (and extra sour cream).

The only pics I have of the chili is the bowl Genna ate for breakfast this morning!

Pumpkin Cheese Ball and Halloween Chex Mix

Mom had her traditional Halloween party on Friday night. It was lots of fun. I made a chex snack mix that I have made 3 times already this month. I would have got a picture of it, but we eat it too fast. When I decided to make it for the party I couldn't find the recipe anywhere! I thought I had saved it somewhere or printed it but I couldn't find it anywhere - I even tried a Google search and came up with similar things but not the exact recipe. Luckily I had it still opened on a tab on my phone. So I thought I better post it before I loose it! The original is from Ease and Carrots, but of course I changed it up!

Halloween Chex Mix
6 cups Corn Chex
2 cups mini pretzels
1/2 cup  salted peanuts
3 tbsp butter
5 tsp honey
1/2 cup candy corn
1/3 cup candy pumpkins
1/3 cup Reese's Pieces

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Pour both Chex cereals, pretzels, and peanuts onto a lined baking sheet. Put 3 Tbsp butter into a glass measuring cup. Fill to the 1/2 cup line with honey (5 tpbs). Put in microwave for 30 to 60 seconds until butter melts. Stir together and pour over cereal mixture. Stir to coat evenly. Bake for approximately 45 min to 1 hour or until golden brown, stirring every 15 minutes. Pour mixture onto wax paper to cool or cool on cookie sheet. Mix in candy corn, pumpkins and Reese's Pieces.

Pumpkin Cheese Ball
1 (8 oz.) block cream cheese, softened to room temp.
1 (7.5 oz.) tub vegetable cream cheese
2 tbsp. Hidden Valley Ranch mix
3 green onions, diced
1 red pepper, finely diced (save the stem)
2 or more cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Use electric mixer to combine the cream cheeses and ranch mix until smooth. Stir in green onion, red pepper and one cup shredded cheddar cheese. form into a ball in the bowl. Spread out a double layer of plastic wrap. sprinkle about 1/4 cup of the shredded cheddar cheese onto the plastic wrap. Place cheese ball onto of shredded cheese. Put remaining shredded cheese over the top and sides of the cheese ball. Then wrap tightly with the plactic wrap. Use 4 large rubber bands to put around the cheese ball to make pumpkin like indents. Then put cheese ball in the fridge to chill. I stuck mine in the freezer for about 20 minutes to get it started because I didn't have a lot of time left. It needs at least 2 hours in the fridge. The original recipe said overnight was best, but I didn't have that long and it turned out fine. When ready to serve, but the rubber bands off and remove plastic wrap. Push the pepper stem into the top of the "pumpkin." Serve with crackers.  It was a big hit at the party and what little I brought home was finished off by Pierce and his friends later that night. 

Chocolate Mousse Pie

Last Sunday I decided to make the second dessert Genna wanted for her birthday and take it to the party Ashlee was having for Addie (and all the October birthday girls!) Ashlee make the MOST delicious Biscoff cake- so we didn't really eat much of my pie. And unfortunately the topping didn't look great. But it tasted good. I planned on getting some better pics, but I forgot until after the pie was gone. We stored it in the freezer- it's great frozen and all week long everyone kept sneaking a piece out for dessert.

21 chocolate filled chocolate sandwich cookies
1/4 cup butter
1 cup heavy cream
12 oz semisweet chocolate chips about 2 cups
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Use a food processor to finely crush the cookies. Pour into a pie plate. Melt butter and pour over cookie crumbs. Mix until even and press into the pie plate. Bake at 350 degrees for 5 min. Then cool in freezer.

Put chocolate chips and 1 cup in microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 1 min. May need to microwave an additional 30 seconds so chocolate is completely melted. Whisk until smooth. Add vanilla. Put over a larger bowl filled with ice to cool. Meanwhile beat the 1 and 1/2 cups cream with powdered sugar until it forms stiff peaks. Fold into chocolate mixture.

When crust is cool, fill with chocolate mixture and chill or freeze until ready to serve. I used my leftover mirror glaze to top it- but I didn't do a very good job making the filling smooth- so the topping wasn't smooth either.

Ultimate Chocolate Cake

Genna turned 14 this week! She wanted a party similar to the one she had last year with pizza and a movie and chocolate cake. We made Monster bark again. Mine never looks quite as nice as hers does, but it tastes good. I use more pretzels and less white chocolate coating - probably why it doesn't look as good, but I like the extra "stuff" in the chocolate.

We made pretzel pizza again. I found a new sauce to use! I was tired of the Campbell's soup - have you noticed all the canned soups taste the same- kind of salty and gross. I tried to decide what else we could use. I didn't really want to make a homemade cheese sauce- that didn't seem quite right either. I thought maybe I could use Velveeta. I have NEVER used Velveeta for anything, but I thought I'd try it. Anyway, when we went to the store to find Velveeta (and I had to ask someone where to find it in the store because I've never bought it) we found a bottle of Kroger cheese sauce next to the Velveeta that seemed like it might work. And it did! I think it turned better than the Campbell's sauce.

Genna wanted a chocolate cake for her birthday. I found several different recipes and showed her the pics and asked which she might like. There was a chocolate mousse pie that she thought looked good, but I wasn't sure if the rest of the party guests would like a mousse pie - and it wasn't really cake. I considered making the Nothing Bundt Cake copycat chocolate cake recipes, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to use a cake mix to make it. After all as Ryan reminded me it always tastes better from scratch! I had pinned a recipe for something called "Brickstreet Chocolate Cake" and after reading through it I realized it was really similar to the Nothing Bundt Cake one. I made a few changes so I could make it into a layer cake and I added a chocolate mousse filling - so Genna could still have the mousse part and added a chocolate mirror glaze- It turned our great!

Chocolate Cake
2 cups sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs
2 cups plus 3 Tbsp flour
5 Tbsp cornstarch
1 cup cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 small box instant chocolate pudding mix (about 1/2 cup)
2 1/4 cups buttermilk
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I think next time I will use less or skip them all together.)

Preheat oven to 350°. Spray two 8x8 square pans with cooking spray and line with parchment paper. Beat sugar, butter and vanilla in large bowl. Beat in eggs. Add soda, salt, chocolate pudding, buttermilk corn starch, and flour and mix until smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips. Spread evenly into the square pans and bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Lower temperature to 325° and continue baking for about 15 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Then remove from pans and use cut each cake into 2 even layers when cake is no longer warm.

Chocolate Mousse (Next time I might double or 1 and 1/2 times this recipe)
12 oz semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 Tbsp powdered sugar

Put chocolate chips and 1 cup heavy cream into a microwave safe bowl. Put in microwave for 1 min. Stir and repeat for 30 seconds at a time until chocolate is melted. Add vanilla and whisk until smooth. Pour chocolate into a bowl and cool to room temperature stirring occasionally. Meanwhile beat the other 1 cup cream with 2 Tbsp powdered sugar until cream forms stiff peaks and fold into the chocolate mixture when it is cool. Refrigerate until ready to use.  Use mousse to frost between each cake layer and over the top and sides of cake as well. Put cake back in refrigerator for the mousse to set up while making the glaze.

Chocolate Mirror Glaze (this make extra so you'll have leftovers)
1 Tbsp powdered gelatin
3 Tbsp water
½ cup water
1 cup sugar
½ cup heavy cream
1/3 cup cocoa powder

In a small bowl, SLOWLY sprinkle the gelatin over the 3 tablespoons water and let bloom for 5 minutes. (The gelatin should absorb into the water before you sprinkle more on top of it. I stirred it around some too.) In a small saucepan, bring the ½ cup water and the sugar to a boil. Whisk in the cream and cocoa until smooth and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and Add the gelatin, mix thoroughly so there are no lumps and gelatin is completely melted. Then poor the chocolate glaze into a small bowl nested inside a larger bowl filled with ice let cool to about 75 F stir frequently. I don't think I stirred enough and when I was ready to use mine, some of the outside edges of the glaze was a little too thick. The glaze needs to be 75 degrees so it will flow nicely. Use a ladle to pour glaze over top of cake and allow it to drip down the sides. Return to the fridge until ready to serve.

Pumpkin cupcakes with cinnamon frosting

Steven came into town for a quick visit and so we threw together a quick birthday party for him. Of course we had to eat the traditional Hawaiian haystacks! Mom made yummy pumpkin cupcakes from a recipe Jessica found on the internet. We all asked Mom for the recipe and so she sent us the link. I am re-posting it here so we can find it again because otherwise we will never know where it came from. Not sure if mom made any changes or if she just made it as is. I know she did mini cupcakes instead of regular size ones and she decorated hers with candy corns too. The kids ate all those so fast there was no way to get a picture!

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tin with paper liners; set aside.
In a large bowl, combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.
In another bowl, whisk together pumpkin puree, sugars, vegetable oil and eggs.
Pour mixture over dry ingredients and stir just until moist.
Scoop the batter evenly into the muffin tray. Place into oven and bake for 15-18 minutes, or until a tester inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

CINNAMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, at room temperature
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
pumpkin candy or candy corns for garnish

Beat butter and cream cheese on medium speed until light and fluffy, approximately 2-3 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add confectioners’ sugar, beating just until incorporated. Add vanilla and cinnamon until well combined. Increase speed to medium high and beat until frosting is light and fluffy, approximately 1-2 minutes.
Use a small offset spatula or a pastry bag fitted with decorative tip to frost the cupcakes. Top with candy corn or pumpkins.

Molten Chocolate Cake

For Pierce's birthday he asked for Chocolate Lava Cake or Molton Chocolate cake. I have made these before but I always struggle trying to find the recipe that I like - so I'm posting what I made this time. I think Pierce liked them. I liked them too- but I don't know if the rest of the family does- they are a little too gooey they thought. But this recipe I  made makes 6 - which is the perfect number for our family and the other recipes only make 4.

1 and 1/2 sticks butter
9 oz semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate. I used a 4 oz Baker's Semi-sweet chocolate bar, a 3.17 oz Ghiradelli dark chocolate bar (either 72 % or 86% cacao - I don't remember which) and then 2 oz of nestle semisweet chocolate chips.
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
3/8 c sugar (6 Tbsp)
pinch of salt
3 Tbsp flour

Preheat the oven to 450°. Butter and flour six ramekins and put them on a baking sheet. In a Pyrex bowl set over a pan of simmering water, melt the butter and chocolate. In another bowl, beat the eggs with the egg yolks, sugar and salt at high speed until thickened and pale. When the chocolate is smooth, quickly mix it and the flour into the egg mixture. Spoon the batter evenly into the ramekins and bake for 12 minutes, or until the sides of the cakes are firm but the centers are soft. Let the cakes cool in the ramekins for 1 minute, then cover each with an inverted dessert plate. Carefully turn each one over, let stand for 10 seconds and then unmold. Serve immediately with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and garnish with raspberries.

Breakfast Pizza

Last week, Pierce turned 17! He planned to have his D and D crew hang out in the evening as they usually do on Friday nights. What we didn't realize is that 3 of them were spending the night. He says he told us about it and even his sister remembered he was doing it- but I guess we missed it somehow! So I had 4 hungry teenage boys to feed in the morning and had to come up with something to make. I remembered I had made this breakfast pizza once before and decided to try it again.

20 oz shredded hash browns
1 onion, chopped fine
1/4 to 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
2 tbsp butter
12 eggs
10-12 slices bacon
4 oz diced ham (half a package)
shredded cheddar cheese - about 2 cups
salt and pepper for seasoning

Spray a 14 inch pizza pan with cooking spray. Melt the butter in a pan and add onion. Cook until soft. Mix cooked onions into shredded hash browns and spread onto a pizza pan. Season with salt and pepper. Bake at 425˚F for 20-25 minutes. Meanwhile, scramble the eggs and cook the bacon. When crust is done, remove from oven and sprinkle with scrambled eggs. Crumble the bacon and sprinkle over the pizza. Add ham and red bell pepper and any other toppings you want. (My family won't do mushrooms, but I thought they sounded good here.) Top with shredded cheese. Bake for an additional 20 to 25 minutes.

While the crust is baking, fry the bacon and cook the scrambled eggs.

Remove the crust from the oven and sprinkle with the scrambled eggs.
Next, crumble the bacon and sprinkle it over the eggs.
Follow the bacon with the diced ham and any other toppings your family loves such as onions, peppers or mushrooms.
Top it all with shredded cheese.
Return the breakfast pizza to the oven and bake for an additional 20-25 minutes.