Mother Nature's Fall Decorations

Mother Nature has just begun to share her beautiful fall decorations with us here in this part of NC. The beautiful colors are starting to peek out in several places.

Unfortunately, to go along with the beautiful scenery, the seasonal flu bugs have hit our home. My son has been home from school with Bronchitis since the end of last week. My plans for starting "Tuesdays with Dorie" will be put on hold until next week because I am enjoying some rare moments of hugging my "baby" during this time. You know how 11 yr. olds are...most of the time they don't want anything to do with Mom hugging them; but when they are really sick, they don't seem to mind it. ;) Hopefully he will be able to return to school tomorrow. We were aiming for today but that didn't happen.

These pictures were taken down by the river about 2 1/2 miles from our home. I took them yesterday while waiting for the pharmacy to fill my son's prescriptions. The news reports that prime viewing time for the rich, bright colors will be in about two weeks. I sure hope so!

In the meantime, here's what it looks like here:

Cooking with Alicia & Annie Contest - Amish Funnel Cakes

We love to go to the fall festivals in the little towns around us. What I don't like is the price that they charge for a funnel cake! $5.00!! This recipe for Amish Funnel Cakes can be found at Annie's recipes. This batter makes the best funnel cakes that I've had in years, no kidding! The best part is that it doesn't cost me $5.00 to make this entire recipe! :)

I mixed the batter using the exact ingredients listed. This makes a lot of funnel cakes--probably at least 12 large. I made 8 and some batter left over. I'm refrigerating it and will try to use it again tomorrow night. (not sure if that will work?) I thinned the batter out a bit more with 2 tablespoons of water because I was using a measuring cup to pour the batter and not a funnel.

It doesn't say what kind of oil or how much of it to use. I used about a 1/2 in. of vegetable oil in a large frying pan.

Here is the recipe with the changes I've made:

Amish Funnel Cakes

3 eggs, beaten
2 c. milk
1/4 c. sugar
4 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt


Instructions

To beaten eggs, add milk and sugar.

In separate bowl sift dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to egg mixture, beating until smooth.

Heat oil to 375 degrees and pour batter into hot fat through a regular household funnel. Control the flow of batter by holding your finger over the bottom of the funnel. Make patterns, designs, swirls or whatever with the stream of batter as it flows into the hot fat.

When "cakes" are golden brown, drain on paper towels, and then sprinkle with confectioners' sugar and/or cinnamon sugar. Serve warm.

Cooking with Alicia & Annie Contest - Amish Oven Fried Chicken

It's not often that we eat fried chicken at home. My kids have been asking me to make them fried chicken for a while now. I added it to the menu for this week and then had to set out to find an easy recipe for it. While looking over the recipes on Annie's Recipes for the "Cooking with Alicia & Annie Contest", I came across a recipe called "Amish Oven Fried Chicken". I figured that it would be worth a try since the oven would "fry" it and I wouldn't have to stand over a pan for a long time.

The recipe is easy to follow, though I did make some simple changes- I used a Ziploc baggie to hold the flour mix instead of a paper bag. I baked the chicken for 15 minutes at the end instead of 5 or 10, as directed.

I substituted poultry seasoning for the marjoram and added 2 TBSP. of spicy creole seasoning to the flour.

A good tip* -remove the chicken from the pan to a plate lined with paper towels to help remove some of the oils. The next time I make this I will reduce the butter and oil to 1/4 C. each.

Here is the recipe with my changes:

Amish Oven Fried Chicken

1/3 c. vegetable oil - use 1/4 C. next time

1/3 c. butter - use 1/4 C. next time

1 c. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. black pepper

2 tsp. paprika

3 tsp. garlic salt

2 tsp. poultry seasoning

8 or 9 pieces chicken -- I used 5 whole leg/thigh pieces

Instructions

Place oil and butter in a shallow cooking pan and place in 375 degree oven to melt butter, set aside.

In a large Ziploc baggie, add dry ingredients. Roll the chicken pieces- 1 at a time- in butter and oil then drop into a bag and shake to cover. Place on a plate until all pieces are coated. Leave any excess butter and oil in pan.

Place chicken in the pan skin side down or its just as good if you remove all the skin first.

Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes with spatula, turn chicken pieces over and bake 15 minutes longer or until crust begins to bubble. Remove chicken from pan to a plate lined with paper towels.

Cooking with Annie & Alicia Contest - Halloween Cupcakes

Since Halloween is in the air, I decided to make some Halloween Cupcakes for the Cooking with Annie & Alicia contest.

I have to admit that when I mixed up the batter for the cupcakes, I had little hope that they were going to turn out like cupcakes--but I was wrong! They did indeed turn out to be very good. The finished cupcake is more like a cheesecake cupcake than an ordinary cupcake. It's not overly sweet, which is nice. There's no need to use any type of frosting on them. I used silicone baking cups and had no problems with the batter sticking to the cups.

You could easily change the color of the cheesecake and the cholate chips to represent any holiday...red coloring and cherry chips or peppermint candies for Christmas, green coloring and Andes Candies chips for St. Patricks Day, or even pink and purple coloring for Easter. ;)

Here is my version of this recipe with the few changes that I made:

Halloween Cup Cakes

Ingredients for Filling:
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, room temp.
1 egg
1/3 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 (6 ounce) package chocolate chips
orange paste food coloring

Ingredients for Cupcake Batter:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1/3 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions:Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Filling:
Beat together cream cheese, egg, sugar, and salt. Add chocolate chips.

Add paste fooding coloring to make the filling light orange. Blend well

and set aside.

Batter:
In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
Stir in water, oil, and vanilla.

Fill 15 cupcake liners 1/2 full with chocolate batter.

Drop 1 heaping teaspoon of cream cheese mix on top.

Bake 30 minutes. Remove to cooling racks to cool completely.

Fruit Salsas with Cinnamon Tortilla Dippers

Give a new meaning to "chips and salsa".

These fresh, fruity salsas are a healthy alternative to candies and other sweets. Kids of all ages will enjoy this treat

This was another way for me to get my kids to eat more fruit. :) Of course, it helps to have the cinnamon tortilla dippers to go along with the salsas. lol!

To Make Strawberry Apple Salsa:

1 c. of fresh strawberries
2 medium apples
1/2 c. mandarin oranges, drained well
1/4 c. fresh pineapple or unsweetened canned pineapple
1-2 tbsp Splenda - to taste
2 tbsp sugar free strawberry jam

Peel apples and pineapple. Chop all fruit into small pieces and put into a food processor. Sprinkle Splenda over the fruit. Process the fruit using the pulse button on the food processor until the mixture resembles chunky salsa. Pour the salsa into a small bowl and stir in the jam until all of the fruit has been coated. Cover and chill at least 15 minutes before serving.

To Make Melon Berry Salsa:

1 c. cantaloupe
1 c. frozen berry mix consisting of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries, thawed and very well drained
1/4 c. sugar or Splenda
2 tbsp lime juice
Chopped fresh mint (optional)

Peel cantaloupe and cube into very small bite-sized pieces. Add to a small bowl. Add berries to a food processor. Using the pulse button on the food processor, chop the berries until it resembles chunky salsa. Stir berries into the cantaloupe pieces. Stir in sugar and lime juice. Sprinkle in mint, if using, and stir well to mix. Cover and chill at least 30 minutes before serving.

To Make Cinnamon Dippers:

4 large 10" tortillas
1 tbsp Splenda or sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
butter-flavored cooking spray

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Stack tortillas into one pile. Cut the tortillas vertically into longs strips. Lay the strips in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Don't crowd the strips; instead do 2 batches if necessary. Lightly spray the tortilla strips with the cooking spray. Mix sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle over the tortilla strips. Bake for 7-8 minutes or until the tortillas are lightly browned and crispy.


Linking up to:

Gooseberry Patch: Fall's Favorite Fruit!