Sunday, October 25, 2009

In the kitchen

At the recommendation of Jenny from Picky-Palate I went in search of Pumpkin Spice Kisses from Hershey. I finally found them at Target in the Halloween section. On a whim, and in a moment of weakness/desperation (take your pick), I purchased 4 bags. I was pleasantly surprised to find out how much I truly love this wonderful creation from Hershey's.

Today, while waking up from a much needed Sunday afternoon nap, I had a moment of inspriration. I got up and ran into the kitchen to put this together before the thought left me completely.
I am calling it...Toasted Coconut Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispies Treats. You will need:

Toasted Coconut Marshmallows - have you tried these. Please, go get some of these ASAP!
A few of these, and then if you are unsure if you have enough, add a few more.

You will obviously need Rice Krispies cereal, or other cereal of your choice. Melt the marshmallows, a small bit of butter and the Kisses together in a microwave-safe bowl. Do this in short intervals so as not to overcook the marshmallows. Once the mixture is smooth and melty, stir in the cereal; combine well. Place on a pan lined with aluminum foil (easy clean up).

It may not look like much in this picture, but it is definitely one of the best treats I have had in a while. I'm not a huge fan of Rice Krispies treats in the first place, but I think it is safe to say that these will not last long (luckily - I only made 1/6 of a batch).

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I don't actually have recipes for the next few things, but I was having fun and was feeling a bit creative. This is what can happen when you're hungry and have some extra time on your hands.

Pasta and veggie dish....thing
Fruit Kabobs

Boiled peanuts - not my creation, or idea. When my parents came back from Georgia they brought back A LOT of peanuts. Boiled peanuts are one of those things - you either love 'em or hate 'em.


There is one more creation in the works, but I won't post about it until after Tuesday - the Trunk or Treat activity at church...

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Playing catch up

So I'm getting my daily dose of blog-surfing in and came across this blog which hadn't had any sort of an update in over a month! Then I realized it was MY blog. I can't even use the excuse that nothing has been going on, because, let's face it - a ton of things have happened.
This past month I...(in no particular order):
-went to the fair for the first time (thanks Jenny). We went to see the Jeff Corwin show at the Topsfield fair which means we got to see some animals that were, um, not your typical farm-type animals. I enjoyed walking around, looking at the GINORMOUS pumpkin, watching silly goats try to attack each other from separate pens (thank goodness they were separated by a fence), and most of all - eating yummy fair food.
-ate clams for the first time; realized that I am not missing A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G! I imagine if you went to the bottom of the ocean floor and licked it, they would taste something like that - YUCK!! It was also the first time ever in my memory that we ordered a fish platter at a restaurant to share - no chicken to be found. It wasn't half bad...except for the clams.
-have been doing homework - surprisingly I enjoy it. I haven't completely worked out organizing my time yet - but it's getting better every week.
-have been practicing the piano. I figured that I wasn't a very good piano teacher if I assigned homework to my students and didn't make myself really practice. I have been learning new songs outside of the necessary requirements of 'songs I have to know to play in church'.
-went to Boston and, for a little while, new exactly where I was.
-went fishing in the dark (wow, that sounds like a song), didn't catch a thing
-experimented with several varieties of microwavable Chinese noodles. My suggestion - find a good take out place; they were disgusting!
-went to Smolak Farm on what may have been their busiest day ever. It was fun though and I got THE most awesome cookbook ever!
- watched it snow for the first time this season in our town on Sunday. It was the best kind of snow - no cleanup!
-had a conference call for work with our Corporate office in the middle of a power outage. Picture it - my boss and I in her office, door closed, in the dark on her cell phone. It was working great until the wind and rain really picked up and I totally freaked out. Worked out for the best though, I didn't really want to be on that call.
There have been other things going on, but I'll spare you the details...for now.
I'm totally getting excited about Halloween coming! I have a costume, a reason/place to wear it, and have recently discovered all sorts of Halloween/fall crafts, recipes and other randomness that will be invading our house in the coming week or so.