Browsing the archives for the Domestic category.

Clothespin Bats, Balloon Spiders and 20 More Sleeps

Domestic

We have been decorating our home this week. There are Scooby Doo Halloween decals on windows, silly banners in the kitchen, and even purple and orange lights strung up here and there. Too cute! My littles wanted to also make some Halloween decorations, they are still in the midst of gluing and painting and getting sticky with more ideas, but here are a couple we did this week.

The clothespin bats were our inspiration for our bats. We didn’t follow all the directions, because one of my children is 4 is just wants to attack everything with glue. 😉

All you have to do is paint a wooden clothespin black, cut out two bats from black construction paper (using this template) and glue the bats to the clothespin! Super easy and so cute. My two littlest ones made these themselves! Secure the bats to the clothespin by gluing down the middle of the clothespin, and once bats have been glued to both sides, glue the tips of their wings together. Voila! Done!

clothespin bats clothespin bats
clothespin bats

This black widow balloon took literally 5 minutes, maybe less. You need a black balloon, black streamers and red construction paper. I found that this looked best in a corner, but you could really put it anywhere. I taped the streamer ‘legs’ directly to the balloon, and to the wall in two places to mimic their little knees. Are they knees?! You know what I mean. 😉 My very literal 7 year old pointed out that it didn’t really look like a black widow because there were no markings on it….so we fixed it. When we lived in the woods, we had about a zillion spiders in our lives and man am I ever happy to be away from them all.

clothespin bats

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Make a Haunted Gingerbread House with 21 Sleeps Left!

Domestic

Whenever we count down to something that is a month or more away, the kids never have a hard time being excited. It might be harder for me to muster enthusiasm if theirs was not so infectious. They are legit hyped about every holiday we celebrate and every birthday between them all, I love it. So with 21 sleeps to go until Halloween, you’d think they’d be fizzling out for a bit but no, not even close. Especially when I busted out the gear for a haunted gingerbread house. You can get a kit like this Wilton one or of course you can make your own. Usually at Christmas I make one big one from scratch but when they really want to whip one up, I’ll bring home a ready to go kit. With this, we used a kit for the house and I added a bunch of sugar embellishments that I bought for cakes.

There are a few silly ideas I’d like to try out this month that are usually reserved for Christmas, but after watching The Nightmare Before Christmas yet again, it really makes me want to do Halloweeny versions of Christmas fun. Which I guess is exactly like when I have the urge to Halloween-up Christmas stuff in December!

This afternoon we’re working on decorating and some kid’s crafts. They saw all the orange, black and purple gear and got really excited!

Make a Haunted Gingerbread House Make a Haunted Gingerbread House
Make a Haunted Gingerbread House Make a Haunted Gingerbread House
Make a Haunted Gingerbread House Make a Haunted Gingerbread House
Make a Haunted Gingerbread House
Make a Haunted Gingerbread House
Make a Haunted Gingerbread House

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Celebrating 22 Sleeps with Halloween Rainbow Cupcakes

Domestic

Rainbow cupcakes are so fun to do and you can make them fit any occasion. The first time I made them I used primary colors for Wee One #3’s kindergarten classmates. This time around, I used black, purple and orange. Since black mixed with white or an off white is usually gray and not actually black, we used chocolate cake for that part and vanilla cake for the purple and orange. It worked perfectly!

If you have your own favorite vanilla and chocolate recipe feel free to use those. It really doesn’t matter. I’m pretty partial to these though, and I’ve been using them both for a long time. If you are going to use cake mixes, please don’t tell me about it. 😉

I used my stir and bake chocolate cake for the black portions and the vanilla cake recipe from The Red Hen.

Whip up your cake batters, whichever ones you choose. Then add black food coloring to the chocolate batter, and divide the vanilla batter in two. Add purple to one and orange to the other. Then layer the colors however you like, I went with black, orange and purple. Following the baking time and temp for your recipe. Once they’re cool, melt some candy melts or tint some white chocolate to drizzle over top!

 
 
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A Really Gross Snack and 24 Sleeps To Go!

Domestic

I know, I know. This is gnarly. Not even just gross, but gnarly. Fun too though, right? Especially for the littles. I think the very first time I saw this was on Noble Pig, and since then I’ve seen it all over the place. My kids thought they were equal parts gross and amazing.

There is so much Halloween insanity going on around here. Pumpkins galore, like whoa we have a lot of pumpkins to carve. Big ones, small ones, medium ones, white ones – even those neat bumpy ones (they’re called knuckleheads, for the record). There’s also a lot of costume preparation, though again, the littles want something specific they have seen and considering I left my sewing machine in Canada, I’m not really arguing with them about it. When I get my hands on a sewing machine though, watch out!

In the meantime, I’m all about the festive food. This is not really a recipe, all you’re doing is dressing a graham cracker up like a band aid and you know, finishing it off with a little smear of blood. No biggie.

Graham Cracker Band Aids

-graham crackers
-cream cheese (or icing)
-seedless strawberry jam (or red decorator’s gel)

 

Just break the graham crackers along their ‘perforated edges’ (though really, do they ever break clean?!), use a knife to clean them up a bit. Then spread on a little cream cheese (or frosting) just in the middle. Try to level it out into nice little rectangles.

Now just add your little dollops of blood. I had seedless strawberry jam on hand and it’s yummy with cream cheese. The recipes that call for the decorator gel will work just as well though!

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25 Sleeps and Halloweeny Donut Holes

Domestic

What to make when you’re meeting up with some mommy friends mid-morning and your littles are busy doing cursive and Lit? You whip up some donut holes, of course! The prep time was maybe 10 minutes and total baking time was 15. I pointed a fan at the kitchen counter and they only took a few minutes to cool. Then I mixed the glaze and used a fork to cover and lift out each donut hole, immediately covered them in festive sprinkles and put them back on the counter in front of the fan. They dried super fast and everyone who had one really liked them. I had two left on our way home when we ran into a neighbor and gave them to her to share with her little.

Fast. Easy. Yummy.

Halloweeny Donut Holes

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar, divided
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
various festive sprinkles

Glaze:
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
2-3 tablespoons milk

Very straightforward. Mix all the dry, then cream the butter and the sugar and add the wet ingredients. Once it’s all combined, slowly mix in the dry ingredients and voila! Roll into balls, and bake.

While they’re cooling, mix the confectioner’s sugar and milk for the glaze.

 
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Zombie Eyeballs and 26 Sleeps till Halloween

Domestic

This is not really a recipe, it’s just an idea and comes together with 5 ingredients. You don’t even have to turn on the oven, the microwave will work for this too! Totally perfect for a last minute addition to a Halloween party or potluck.

Zombie Eyeballs

-square pretzels
-green candy melts
-black icing
-assorted M&Ms
-red sprinkles

Arrange the pretzels on a baking sheet (or a plate), then place one green candy melt on each pretzel square. Either pop the tray in the oven for about 10 minutes at 300 or microwave the plate for 5 minutes. Whichever method you choose, make sure to check on the candy melts so they are just melty and not burny. 🙂

Zombie Eyeballs

Once they’ve melted and you’ve taken them out of the oven, push one M&M (‘m’ side down) onto each candy melt and then dot each M&M with a tiny bit of black icing. Now sprinkle the red jimmies over all of them and voila! Creepy zombie eyes!

Zombie Eyeballs
Zombie Eyeballs

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28 Sleeps till Halloween with Halloweeny Chocolate Chip Cookies

Domestic

Truthfully, when my littlest tossed the orange and dark chocolate chocolate chips in the cart last week I had no idea what I was going to do with them. I did know however, that there can never be enough orange and black around this month. I’m trying to avoid random baking this month since I want to do up as many Halloweeny treats as possible, and when I saw that one of my favorite Canadian chefs, Michael Smith posted what he claimed to be the best chocolate chip recipe ever, I was tempted to just go off course and bake them because I wanted to see if they really were the best ever (so far each of his ‘best ever’ claims that I’ve tested have absolutely been the best). Then, I remembered those seasonal chocolate chips and started making them pretty much right away because now that they could be deemed Halloweeny, there was no reason not to make them! Right?! I know!

As I was making them I realized I had used the last of the brown sugar on some butter tarts and though I swear there is an extra bag (there is always an extra bag) I couldn’t find it anywhere and ended up using granulated sugar instead. Guess what? They’re amazing. I’m going to do them again with brown sugar and I have no doubt they’ll be even better.

Best (Halloweeny) Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon corn syrup
1 egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips

Fairly simple. Preheat to 375 and whisk the flour, baking powder and salt.

With a mixer or food processor cream the butter and sugar until smooth. Then add the corn syrup, egg and vanilla. Scrape down the bowl before slowly adding the flour mixture. Now stir in your chocolate chips and you’re ready to go!

Halloweeny Chocolate Chip Cookies  Halloweeny Chocolate Chip Cookies

I scooped out the dough with a 1/2 tablespoon and overpacked it a little. I rolled it into a ball and then flattened it out with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar for a little sparkle and crunch on the top of the cookie. I baked for exactly 13 minutes and my kids have nearly eaten the whole batch already. That’s a win!

Halloweeny Chocolate Chip Cookies
Halloweeny Chocolate Chip Cookies
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Candy Corn Brownies and 29 Sleeps Till Halloween

Domestic, Kids

When I find a recipe that works for run of the mill things like brownies, I tend to stick with it and only deviate when it changes the flavor. I don’t know how many times I’ve made this recipe, but I know it by heart and didn’t even bring the cookbook it’s in with us to California. I love that cookbook too, The All New Good Housekeeping Cook Book. My go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe is from the same book. 😉

I love how 1953 it is to point to a Good Housekeeping recipe as my family’s favorite. Probably more than a person should, really.

Candy Corn Brownies

via The All New Good Housekeeping Cook Book

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
+ handful of candy corn

The brownies are crazy simple. Melt the butter in a small saucepan and mix all the dry in a medium bowl and set aside. Add the sugar, eggs, and vanilla one at a time, stirring until each ingredient is mixed in. Whisk in the dry ingredients and pour it all into a greased brownie pan. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

Candy Corn Brownies and 29 Sleeps Till Halloween

Then? Make them Halloweeny by studding the tray with candy corn!

Candy Corn Brownies and 29 Sleeps Till Halloween
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Super Easy Apple Dumplings

Domestic

Generally, when I come across a recipe that uses something premade in it, I shy away from it. Mostly because I’m a full blown bit of a kitchen snob. However, I’m madly in love with Miss Ree Drummond and she uses a very popular refrigerated dough in these dumplings so I went with it and honestly? They’re so so good, it doesn’t even matter. Also? This recipe is totally weird but I trusted it and my neighbors loved them too! In her description about these dumplings, The Pioneer Woman says she had to toss the rest of the tray after trying one (and then another and another). That’s pretty much what happened to me as well, but since we don’t live in the woods anymore I just packed up the rest and took them to my neighbors.

Ok so I classified this recipe as ‘totally weird’ because it involves two sticks of butter, refrigerator crescent roll dough AND a can of Mountain Dew. I know, right?! It feels so wrong, but it’s crazy amazing.

Super Easy Apple Dumplings

via The Pioneer Woman

2 Granny Smith Apples
2 8oz cans refrigerated crescent roll dough
2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
cinnamon (enough to cover)
1 12oz can Mountain Dew

Super Easy Apple Dumplings

So first, butter up your baking pan and cut your apples into equal slices and wrap each one in a crescent roll segment. Arrange the wrapped apple slices in the buttered pan.

Super Easy Apple Dumplings

Make the first part of the sauce by melting the butter and adding the sugar and vanilla but don’t stir it much, you want it to have some sugar chunks. Now, pour the butter mixture all over the prepared apple crescents. Theeeeeen, put the Mountain Dew on it. I know, I know. Just just do it, I swear. It looks very, very wrong at this point. I was a little iffy about putting it in the oven, but I did. So glad I did. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake at 350 for about 30 – 45 minutes. Your house will smell alarmingly good.


Super Easy Apple Dumplings

Just look at this thing!! It’s runnier than you probably think it should be, but don’t worry about it. Lift them out one at a time and spoon some of the sauce over top.

Super Easy Apple Dumplings

The butter and the soda make the bottom of each dumpling soft and mushy in the best possible way. They are not crescent roll-esque at all – butter and soda and heat magically transformed them into dumplings. You can add some ice cream if you must, but the built in sauce is awesome enough!

Super Easy Apple Dumplings
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Mozzarella Sticks

Domestic

Mozzarella Sticks are standard pub fare and often accompany pizza on family game night with garlic bread, because when are you ever going to have time to make them yourself – and why would you? They must take hours right? And you can’t just make it with stuff you probably already have in your pantry RIGHT NOW, can you? I swear, these little snacks go from passing thought to burning your greedy fingers in less than 30 minutes. No, honest. I have seen versions of them kicking around online but I didn’t trust that any recipe I could make myself would come close to the glorious fried gooeyness Mr So Very Domestic adores so much. And you know, given that I clearly refer to myself as ‘so very domestic’, I take kitchen fails as crushing blows to my womanhood a little harsher than most others. Ahem.

Then my husband got me The Pioneer Woman’s cookbook and this little gem was in there! I adore Miss Ree so much I’d never reprint a recipe from her book – however, she first posted this on her recipe site Tasty Kitchen over 3 years ago, so I think it’s ok. 😉

I am all over any excuse for my husband and I to play around in the kitchen (no, not like that). He especially likes to offer up help with frying, shaping and any cutting that looks the least bit complicated or fun (hello scalloped potatoes and my mandolin). When we make these, we save even more time by working together so we can get back to the movie watching / Chinese checker playing / whatever silly thing we are doing at 1am while making food we shouldn’t. We have been known to even make these for the kids, but since only 1/3 of them likes them it’s still a pretty self indulgent endeavour. I set up the bowls of flour / egg / crust and he opens and cuts up the cheese.

I bread a few while the oil heats up and then he fries as I finish breading. Match made in heaven, really.

Here are the deets!

Mozzarella Sticks

Mozzarella Sticks via The Pioneer Woman
16 pieces string cheese, (removed from wrappers)*
½ cups flour
2 eggs
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
canola oil (for frying)
2 cups panko bread crumbs

*you’ll get two mozzarella sticks per string cheese, so just use as many as you need

First, unwrap all the string cheese you need and cut each piece in half. We’ve also experimented with making the sticks smaller by cutting each string cheese in three pieces. It works better that way for a crowd so you have more pieces but if there are just two or three people, halves is fine. Then prep the bowls. You’ll need one with the flour, one with the egg and milk and one with the panko and parsley. Just like when you’re making fish and chips, roll the cheese first in the flour, then the egg and then the breadcrumbs. Make sure each piece is well coated each time so it all sticks!
Mozzarella Sticks
Mozzarella Sticks
PW flash freezes these before she fries them but really ain’t nobody got time fo’ that!, so we just jump on in. Fry as many at a time as you feel comfortable with. We usually do about 6 or 8 at a time, but we have been known to be snacky and impatient (a dangerous combo really) and make them all in two batches. It doesn’t take long to cook these babies! The entire operation in the pan is under two minutes for sure. Just marvel as they turn a lovely golden brown about 45 second after you drop them in the oil, poke them a bit to turn them over around the one minute mark and take them out before the two minute mark.
Mozzarella Sticks
Mozzarella Sticks
I know right?!
Mozzarella Sticks
My husband eats them with nothing at all, I love them in marinara sauce or a sweet and sour sauce. Our one, lone mozzarella stick loving child (how are the rest even related to us?!) looooves them with ketchup. She’s 4, so ketchup is still socially acceptable on pretty much everything, right? No matter what you eat them with, they’re crazy amazing and so much better than they are at restaurants or from frozen.
Mozzarella Sticks
Mozzarella Sticks
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