Cranberry-Horseradish-Cream Cheese Dip

This was soooo yummy and was a big hit and made plenty of extra sauce that I'm freezing for later.

1 16oz can of whole berry cranberry sauce
1/2 cup of sugar
1/3 cup of minced onion
2 tablespoons prepared horseradish
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ozs cream cheese

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, stir together first five ingredients. Bring to a boil, but stir frequently. Once sauce boils, remove from heat. Pour into a heatproof bowl and refrigerate for one hour. Can be refrigerated for up to three days ahead. Place your block of cream cheese on a serving plate and then top with the chilled sauce. Serve with assorted crackers.

Making an Octopus...

This really isn't a recipe but I thought that it was a cute idea and one that my girls keep asking me to make:) All you do is cut the bottom half of a hot dog into fourths... leaving the top intact. Place the cut hot dog into hot water and boil... as it boils the legs will separate and 'curl' up making your octopus:)

***Be prepared to make more of these than you would normally if you were just preparing regular hot dogs... if your kids are anything like mine, they will gobble these things up:)

Don't my girls look like they love them!?!

BBQ Spare Ribs

We were able to get a really good deal on Spare Ribs at Sam's and enjoyed a wonderful meal because of it:)

I found a recipe online that was absolutely delicious:) All you do is boil the meat in a BBQ sauce of your choice for 40-60 minutes... the longer you boil it the more tender the meat will be. You can add an onion quartered if you desire but it is not necessary (we have tried it both ways and they both turned out well:) After you boil the meat, place it on a grill for a few minutes to 'caramelize' the sauce... you will want to watch it fairly closely or you will have charred meat. This recipe is one that we will continue to make... it is that good:)

New York Style Cheesecake

This is a recipe that I've been making for a few years now that seems to be a good one. I myself am not a true cheesecake fan, but do kind of like this one. The only thing I changed from the original recipe was to add about a half teaspoon of cinnamon to the graham cracker crust (really, I just do a good puff of it from my cinnamon container).

1/4 cup butter
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
4 8oz bricks of cream cheese (Philly)
1/2 cup flour
4 eggs, beaten
1 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Melt butter in small saucepan. Stir in crumbs, cinnamon and sugar. Pat firmly in the bottom and about halfway up the side of your cheesecake pan. In large saucepan heat cream cheese until fluffy. A wire whisk works well for this to make sure there are no lumps of cheese left. Whisk in flour and eggs; mix well. Add sweetened condensed milk, vanilla and lemon rind. Carefully pour into pan over crumbs. Bake 50-55 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Cool to room temperature. Refrigerate leftovers. I have read that it is better to refrigerate it overnight before you plan to serve it; it makes for a better cheesecake. Also to help prevent cracking: Don't peek at it while it's baking...the rush of cooler air can cause cracking if you check on it before it's set.

Peanut Butter Pie

This is what we made for Aaron's birthday this year. It was a big hit with Aaron, who, if you don't know him, loves all things peanut butter. I got the recipe from a friend of mine from church, Amber Still.

1/2 package of oreos
3 Tablespoons of butter
8 ounce brick of cream cheese
1/2 of an 18 ounce jar of peanut butter
8 ounce tub of cool whip

Mix oreos, crushed, with about 3 tablespoons of butter. Press this into your pie pan and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool completely.

Mix cream cheese with half of an 18oz jar of peanut butter. (That's a bit more than a cup) Fold in the tub of cool whip. Spread into pie crust and refrigerate. We kept ours in the freezer and just took it out 30 minutes before we wanted to eat it. Shaved chocolate on top is a nice touch.

Preserving Pumpkins...

This year we decided that it would be wonderful if we bought pumpkins that we could use for cooking and baking instead of just carving and throwing them away a few days later... so after a blog that I follow posted instructions for how to preserve pumpkin (and it seemed really easy) I decided that I could do it:) So here are some basic instructions for turning this...

...into this:)

First, you cut the pumpkin in half and remove all of the seeds and guts. You may find that it is a little hard to cut through a pumpkin... you may need to microwave it for 4-5 minutes to make it easier to cut:) Second, you cut it into wedges and place the skin side up in a casserole dish with 1 1/2 cups of water. Bake at 350 until you can easily poke the pumpkin with a fork... 2 hours or less- depending on how big your wedges are:)

After the pumpkin is cooked, the skin can easily be removed- just scrape off with a spoon:) This is what you will have left of the pumpkin...

Take the cooked pumpkin and run it through a food processor, blender or mash by hand... I used a processor to get the smoothest of pulp:) Because pumpkin tends to separate (water from pulp) after it has been mashed, I used a clean towel to strain it... you can also squeeze it out some of the water to make it go a little quicker:)

Put the strained pumpkin into freezer bags... I put 2 cups of pumpkin in each bag- perfect for pies and bread:)

We are really looking forward to using up this pumpkin:)

Beef Bourguignon

Oh...my...goodness. This was so easy and was insanely yummy. Plus, it made the house smell wonderful on a lovely, rainy Fall day. I HIGHLY recommend it, and the site that I found it at is my new favorite recipe blog (crockpot365.blogspot.com).

3 pounds beef roast, or beef stew meat (I myself used half of a chuck roast that I had saved from when I made beef stir fry and about a pound of beef tenderloin that I got at a Kroger clearance meat sale)
6 slices of bacon, uncooked
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, sliced in rings
1 cup carrots, I used a bit more carrots and the baby ones
4 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped (I used a substitute of garlic powder and minced onion flakes for the missing texture)
1 tablespoon herbs de provence ( I just used a healthy sprinkling of the herbs listed here under a recipe for herbs de provence)
1 teaspoon kosher salt (I personally thought it needed more salt than this)
1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
2 cups red wine

Use a large slow cooker. Mine is 5.5 quarts and it was perfect. In the bottom of the stoneware, spread out your olive oil. Then 3 slices of bacon. Layer the onions and the garlic. Put the beef into the pot on top of the onions and garlic and sprinkle on dried spices and herbs. Toss the meat to distribute the spices to all sides. Add tomato paste. Lay the other 3 slices of bacon on top of the meat, and throw in the carrots. Pour wine over the whole thing.

Cover and let cook on low for 8-9 hours, high for 4-5, or until meat has reached desired tenderness. I did mine on low for 8 hours and it was perfect.

Serve on top of whipped mashed potatoes and a ladle full of the juices.

This is soooo a keeper and one that we will be making again.