Category: HOLIDAYS

GRAVESIDE CUPCAKES

Hi there! This is Emily from EZ’s Recipes posting! Since “my” Simply Delicious Sunday fell on the week before Halloween, I decided to post something fun and, well, simply delicious in honor of the occasion. I went with these Graveyard Cupcakes. I actually found this recipe months ago and bookmarked it way back then with the intent of making them in time for Halloween.
I realize that unless you are a regular follower of my blog, you do not know me very well, seeing as this is only the second time that I have posted over here at Our Krazy Kitchen. But if you are a regular visitor over there, it is no secret to you how much I love Halloween. I have been talking about it all month! And now we’re so close! Halloween for me, as a 30-something married adult with no kids yet, means getting all decked out in costume and going to a Halloween-themed party with friends. Hopefully in the near future I will become a mom, and it will take on a whole new meaning for me. My focus will shift from making Halloween awesome for myself and my adult friends to making it awesome for my kids and my friends’ kids.
But it’s not just about the costumes and the costume parties. It is about the change in the season. Here in the Midwest, that shift in the weather in mid-October makes for that perfect chilly-but-not-unbearable temperature that just tells you that Halloween is around the corner. The leaves are turning color and falling. And then there’s the best part… the food. Which leads me to the point of my blog post today… my Graveyard Cupcakes. Which I have been dying to share with you, my readers.
Just sharing this makes me all that much more excited for Halloween! They were a lot of fun to make, and they are so incredibly versatile that you can be really creative and there’s no going wrong with it.
Ingredients:

  • 1 box chocolate cake mix (if you want to go the “easy” route… feel free to make the batter from scratch as well. If you use boxed cake mix, bake according to the directions for cupcakes)
  • Chocolate or Vanilla frosting – made from scratch, or store-bought, also up to personal preference
  • Sandwich cookie crumbs OR chocolate sprinkles for graveyard “dirt”
  • Cookies such as Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies or something similarly rounded to make a “tombstone”
  • Icing to write on the tombstones with – preferably black in color but other colors could work. Or, if you want to make “grass” you could always use some green!

And from there it is pretty straightforward… make the cupcakes and decorate to your heart’s content! Have fun with it! I went with “grass” and “dirt” with mine, and experimented with both chocolate and white frostings. This is something that could be fun to make for a child’s Halloween party at school, or for an adult party… kids and adults will love them all the same!


Every have a very safe, fun, and Happy Halloween! I will see you next month, just in time for Thanksgiving! Please visit me at EZ’s Recipes!


Cheese Latkes

            For more recipes, join me at Comfy Cook and My Sweet and Savory

Cheese Latkes – This comes from the Holiday Series on My Sweet and Savory.  I was looking at some of the pancake recipes, I had posted on my blogs and saw cheese latkes and felt hunger pangs.  I decided to share with you since, I was not going to cook.
I happen to love cheese latkes. For those of you, who do not use the word latkes, try pancakes. There is something heartwarming about pancakes. It brings back memories of when my children were little and pancakes were a Sunday morning breakfast, particularly “puzzle pancakes.” There will be a photo below. That was the part of making pancakes that was fun, creating shapes that looked like animals or familiar objects. Sometimes, we didn’t know until the pancake was on the plate, what it turned out to be, if anything. The ones, below had no significance to me but if you find something in them, do share.
Although I found this recipe on Goldmine.com, it comes from one of my favorite cookbooks and chances are that I have made these, several times, over the years. The book is a big purple hard covered book which is well worn and it is called, Spice and Spirit, The Complete Kosher Cookbook. There are good solid recipes in the book and has been a go-to book up until I began my journey to learn how to cook gluten free. Then, I expanded and picked up a few gluten-free books to later find, I did better with regular cookbooks, making my own adjustments.
As a result, I built a new library (small but good for me) and attempted to get books by many of the cooks we bake or cook “with” online. Today, I got the best one, so far, Baking, from my home to yours, by Dorie Greenspan. I thought I would sit down and put a sticky on a few pages that caught my eye. I found that every page had a great recipe and that the sticky solution is not a solution, with this book. I think now, I will look at the recipes, that Tuesdays with Dorie has used, and make some of them.

Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup cottage cheese, drained   (use Ricotta for a more refined taste)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used a gluten-free mix)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup oil for frying
Method:
Place all the ingredients except oil together in a large bowl. Mix until smooth.
Heat 1/4 cup oil in a skillet.
Using a large spoon, drop the batter into hot oil.
Fry 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until lightly browned.
Continue until the batter is used up, adding oil when necessary.  The latkes may be served topped with sour cream, applesauce or maple syrup. (I went for the maple syrup. Hubby ate them plain.)
These make a good weekend breakfast, a lunch dish, even a snack.

Happy Father’s Day

Today we were going to go to Forbidden Gardens after church, BUT with 96 degree temperatures and a heat index of 103 degrees and a 3 hour outdoor tour we decided to go see the new A-Team movie instead.  We think it’s good choice, it’s miserable outside and the movie is supposed to be really funny – perfect for Father’s Day.
aprons 3

3PM

“The National Moment of Remembrance, established by Congress, asks Americans wherever they are at 3 p.m., local time, on Memorial Day to pause in an act of national unity (duration: one minute).The time 3 p.m. was chosen because it is the time when most Americans are enjoying their freedoms on the national holiday. The Moment does not replace traditional Memorial Day events; rather it is an act of national unity in which all Americans, alone or with family and friends, honor those who died for our freedom. It will help to reclaim Memorial Day as the sacred and noble holiday it was meant to be. In this shared remembrance, we connect as Americans.”

 aprons 3

Always remember and never forget!

It is the 
VETERAN,  not the preacher,   
who has given us freedom of religion. 

It is the 
VETERAN,  not the reporter,    
who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the 
VETERAN,  not the poet,
who has given us freedom of speech.
   
It is the 
VETERAN,
not the campus organizer,
who has given us freedom to assemble.    
 
It is the 
 VETERAN,  not the lawyer,
who has given us the right to a fair trial.  
 
It is the 
VETERAN,  not the politician,
Who has given us the right to vote. 
It is the
VETERAN 
who salutes the Flag, 
It is the
VETERAN 
who serves under the Flag.

Always remember and never forget!

    
aprons 3