Thick Marinara with Ground Turkey

J - I hope you don't mind that I share this recipe that I made a little while ago!

Ingredients:
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 whole onion, chopped
4-5 basil leaves, chopped
1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
1 can of diced tomatoes
2 Tbsp. oregano
1 lb. of ground turkey
1/2 bag of spinach
6 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. sugar
salt and pepper to taste
pot of water
1 box of whole wheat penne pasta
Paprika (optional)

Step 1: Sautee the garlic in the olive oil until brown.  Add in the onions and sautee until the onions are transluscent.  Meanwhile, get a big pot of water going for the pasta!  I add a tablespoon of olive oil so the noodles are less likely to stick to the bottom.

Step 2:  Add the ground turkey and oregano.  Mix until the turkey is cooked/light brown.

Step 3: Pour in the jar of spaghetti sauce.  Add the can of diced tomatoes and basil leaves.  Stir.  Add in spinach.  Stir.  Cover until it begins to boil.

Step 4: Once you see the boiling bubbles, add the sugar and stir.  Lower the heat to low and let it simmer. 

Step 5: After your pasta is ready, pour the sauce over the noodles and serve.  This is a thick sauce.

Sweet and Sour Treat - Sugared Lemons

This is a quick refreshing snack that my kids enjoy from time to time.

Sugared Lemons:

- Cut a lemon into slices or wedges

- Prepare a small dish or bowl with sugar and serve

My kids dip them in the sugar and have a wonderful time sucking lemons.

It's just like Lemonade

Buttercream Frosting

This frosting is a big hit with Everyone!

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:
- 1/2 cup butter, mix with beaters until VERY smooth
- 2 cups powdered sugar, slowly blend into butter making it very smooth and fluffy
- 1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt, blend in to taste (Note: 1/4 enhances flavor, 1/2 you can taste the salt)
- 1 tsp. vanilla, blend in until very smooth again
- Add up to 4 T milk and up to 2 more cups powdered sugar adding alternately and a little at a time until the consistency you want

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:
Prepare as above, then
- Mix in 2-4 T cocoa powder to taste.
- To thin add 1 to 2 T milk

Tip: When working with frosting, if you need it stiffer but not thicker, refrigerate for an hour or so and then pipe or frost. If you need it less stiff, just stir until the consistency you want or you can even microwave it for a few seconds before stirring.

Tombstone Cookies for Halloween

I attended a Halloween party recently and was asked to bring a dessert. Late the night before I was searching the Internet for Halloween themed ideas and found several that I liked but nothing that I had all the ingredients for. I didn't have any time to shop so I had to come up with something else.

I made a "Haunted Graveyard" using No Bake Oatmeal Cookies shaped and decorated like tombstones.

Here is the recipe I like (It doesn't use any peanut butter).

No Bake Oatmeal Cookies:

In a pot put,

- 2 cups sugar

- 1/2 cup butter

- 1/2 cup milk

- 1/3 cup cocoa powder

-Bring to a boil over medium heat stirring constantly

- Boil for only 3 minutes, stirring constantly

- Remove from heat

- Stir in 3 cups Quick Oats

- Using two spoons to scoop and drop mix onto wax paper in the shape of an oval or rectangle

- Shape each one with the spoons as you drop them by arching the top and flattening the bottom
- Now let them cool

Tip: You will need to move quickly so they don't harden too much to shape. If you want to do a double batch, Either get help when you form them or make the batches separately so you will have enough time.

While they are cooling, prepare your frosting (or just use premade frosting)

I made Vanilla Buttercream Frosting and Chocolate Buttercream.

Tip: To make it chocolate I just made the vanilla and then added cocoa powder until it was the flavor that I wanted. If it is too thick, add a tad more milk.

Tip: To pipe frosting without the piping equipment, simply put some frosting in a Ziploc bag and squish it into one corner at the bottom. Then snip (a very small section) the corner off with scissors and start squeezing the bag to force the frosting out the opening.

Piping:

When the cookies have cooled, turn them over and pipe onto the flat side. You can pipe an outline of the tombstone if you choose, I did this on some of them and letters I could fit 4 characters across max, but that depends on the size of your piping bag hole.

Here are some ideas,

- C. U. Soon

- U. R. Next

- U. R. DEAD

- RIP

- FRED DED

- WHY TRY

- I. CRY

- I. M. DED

- NO MO

After piping, place the cookies on a baking a sheet and put them in the fridge to set the frosting

Display as a Haunted Graveyard:

I placed the headstones at an angle in lines in a baking dish.

-First I melted Crunch bars and rubbed it on the bottom of the dish.

- Then I dusted it with cocoa powder

- Using the Chocolate Buttercream I adhered the cookies to the bottom. This worked pretty well, but it did take a lot of frosting to keep them in place.

It may be easier to just make a large cake, frost it with the chocolate buttercream, push the cookies down into the cake, sprinkle with chocolate rice crispies and dust with cocoa powder. Everyone gets more dessert this way as well.

You can also add gummy worms and bugs, plastic spiders and bugs, or if you are even more ambitious and happen to have an at home cotton candy machine (I do), you can spin plain white sugar and make edible cobwebs.

Have Fun!