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Ghostly Pumpkins Double Crusted Halloween Pizza Recipe

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Did you know that October is National Pizza Month! First observed in the United States during 1984, October was designated as National Pizza Month by Gerry Durnell, the founder of Pizza Today magazine, who chose that month because the first issue of his magazine debuted in October of that year!

Double Crusted Sausage Pixxa

National Pizza Month

According to Pizza.com, people don’t really need a special month for pizza in a country where there are an estimated 63,000 pizzerias and 94% of Americans eat pizza at least once a month! Though there are pizza restaurants in almost every city across the country, National Pizza Month offers the perfect opportunity to get the family together and create your own homemade pizza dishes. Getting creative in the kitchen is a great way to bring together all members of the family and have a little bit of fun. So I did. We created a Halloween Pizza, it’s a regular pizza but a bit more fun.

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Ghostly Pumpkins Double Crusted Halloween Pizza Recipe

(inspired by: Bewitched Double-Crust Cheese Pizza on Betty Crocker.com)

Ingredients:

3 cups Original Bisquick® mix
2/3 cup very hot water
1 can (8 oz) pizza sauce
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese blend (8 oz)
1/2 teaspoon garlic
1 can of diced black olives
2 cups Hormel Italian Sausage crumble

Directions:

Move oven rack to lowest position. Heat oven to 450°F. Spray 12-inch pizza pan with cooking spray.

In a large bowl stir Bisquick mix and hot water with; beat vigorously. Divide dough in half. Press half of the dough in pizza pan, using fingers dipped in Bisquick mix; pinch edge to form 1/2-inch rim. Spread pizza sauce over dough. In medium bowl, mix cheese and garlic, olives, and sausage; sprinkle over pizza sauce.

Place remaining dough on surface dusted with Bisquick mix; roll in Bisquick mix to coat. Shape into a ball; knead 5 times. Roll dough into 14-inch circle. Use cookie cutters in Halloween shapes to cut shapes from dough (leave 1 inch of dough between cutouts and leave 1 inch of edge of dough uncut). Fold dough circle in half; place over pizza and unfold. Seal edges. Place dough cutouts on top of pizza if desired.

Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted.

 

I created this recipe as part of the Hormel Family ambassador program from 2012.

About National Pizza Month

Today, National Pizza Month is observed each October across the USA and in much of Canada too. The designation might be a bit redundant in this country though, as nearly every month could be considered Pizza Month in the United States these days. People don’t really need a special month for pizza in a country where there are an estimated 63,000 pizzerias and 94% of Americans eat pizza at least once a month. The figures equal the consumption of about 45 slices of pizza per person in the U.S. each year and show that Americans definitely love their pizza as evidenced by devouring 100 acres of pizza per day, or 350 slices per second. 

Funfetti Stuffed Cotton Candy Cookies Recipe @Smuckers #HolidayTips

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While I was at Smuckers (they paid for travel and accommodations and gave me samples), I picked out some Purple Funfetti icing to use at home and I decided to make these Cotton Candy Cookies. It’s a semi-homemade candy creation, or rather, I put two different kinds of store bought items together creating this fun fantastic creation.

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In this recipe I used a Cotton Candy Cookie Mix. My suggestion to make it home made would be to create a sugar cookie batch and when it’s ready to go into the oven gently mix in cotton candy until well mixed.

Funfetti Stuffed Cotton Candy Cookie Recipe

Ingredients:

1 bag of Cotton Candy Cookie Mix
1 egg (beaten)
1/2 stick (1/2 cup) butter Crisco
1 container of Pillsbury Funfetti Icing

Directions:

Mix the cookie mix, egg, and butter together according to the directions on the package

Cook the cookies for about 8 minutes in the oven at 375 degrees F.

Then spoon the icing on the bottom of one cookie then place the bottom of another cookie on top of the icing and sprinkle the sides of the cookie with the Funfetti sprinkles.

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Oh and I was wondering, which photo do you like more?

Ooey Gooey Chocolate Bars Recipe

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We received samples.

Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk is perfect for summer time and for baking. They sent us some samples so we could whip up some tasty frozen treats to keep us cool. They have so many amazing sweetened condensed milk recipes to choose from: Lemon Ice Box Pie, Peaches & Cream Cake, Fresh Fruit Ice Cream and Key Lime Pie. It’s been called “Magic” … a can of Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk plus a few select ingredients and the results are, well, like magic!

 

Gooey Chocolate Bars

We’ve been really busy this summer and since summer is almost over we wanted to make something you might take to school with you or to any get together because these are pure chocolate magic. We even made a video of our creation.

Gooey Chocolate Bars Recipe

sweetened Condensed Milk recipe

Ingredients:

1 can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk

two eggs
1/3 cup olive oil
1 box chocolate cake mix
2 cups chocolate chips
1 bag of marshmallows

 

Directions:

Heat oven to 350

Mix chocolate cake mix with two eggs and 1/3 cup olive oil

Place chocolate cake mixture into a 13 by 9 glass baking dish

Place Marshmallows

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Place chocolate chips

Pour Sweetened Condensed Milk over

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Cook for 20 – 25 minutes

Let cool for 20 minutes

Cut into bars

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Enjoy!

sweetened condensed chocolate bars

Star Spangled Toast

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If you haven’t noticed yet, I really enjoy making simple recipes. Simple and delicious makes a great combination. Tonight for dinner, I had no idea what to make. I didn’t have any meat defrosted and I just didn’t know what to do. So my husband said I should make the toast with eggs in the middle, Bird’s Nest, Egg Toast, it has quite a few different names but the concept is very simple. Since the Fourth of July is around the corner I figured we’d call this recipe Star Spangled Toast. And be sure to wash it down with a strawberry smoothie.

 

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How to Make Egg Toast:

Star Spangled Toast Recipe

Ingredients:

Toast
Eggs
Salt
Butter

Directions:

Cut a hole in each piece of toast (we used a star shaped cookie cutter)
Heat a Skillet (frying pan)
Melt 1/2 tablespoon of butter in the frying pan
Place the toast in the frying pan
Crack an egg and pour the yolk in the whole of the toast
Lightly salt for flavor
Cook until the egg is mostly done (bottom will be white)
Flip the toast and brown the second side

Disney Fourth of July Crafts and Dishes

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Patriotic Popsicles Berry Flag Pull-Apart Cake 4th of July Flag Cake
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Uncle Sam Hat Treat Holders Red, White and Blue Paper Napkin Wreath Firecracker Crowns
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Mickey’s Patriotic Tie-Dye Minnie’s 4th of July Headband Printable 4th of July Candy Box
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With the 4th of July coming up, I wanted to share some of Spoonful.com’s new and patriotic ideas to help you celebrate the holiday! Spoonful.com features easy to navigate categories (cook, create, play and celebrate), allowing you to find just what your’re looking for to celebrate Independence Day – including delicious July 4th inspired treats in “cook”, colorful crafts in “create” and so on.  Best of all, the site was built to allow for easy viewing across computers, tablets and mobile devices – perfect for parents on the go.

Pear Quinoa Muffins With Truvia Baking Blend

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Truvia Quinoa Apple Pear Muffins

Muffins made with Truvia, Truvia Quinoa Apple Pear Muffins

I was a Truvia Brand ambassador and compensated for my time, opinions are always my own.

We decided to come up with a mostly healthy recipe using Truvia. We made some muffins, Truvia Quinoa Apple Pear Muffins using whole wheat flour and of course some quinoa. Substituting Truvia in the place of sugar in recipes is a great place to start. Truvia baking blend is designed for easy, at-home baking, and is a blend of Truvia® natural sweetener and sugar. Truvia® Baking Blend provides sugar-like taste and texture in recipes, but with 75% fewer calories and twice the amount of sweetness than sugar. Truvia® Baking Blend is available at retail stores nationwide in a 1.5 pound bag with a closeable, easy-to-use pour spout. I love how easy it is to store and pour.

Truvia Quinoa Apple Pear Muffins

Ingredients:

2 eggs
1 cup low-fat milk
1/2 cinnamon applesauce
4 cups diced unpeeled pears
3/4 cup quinoa
3 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup Truvia Baking Blend
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground allspice

Directions:

1 Whisk together eggs, milk, and apple sauce until completely blended.
2 Stir in diced fruit.
3 Combine remaining ingredients in separate bowl.
4 Add dry to wet ingredients and stir just until blended.
5 Let batter sit for 15-20 minutes
6 Divide batter into greased muffin cups and bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown on top.

Then Enjoy!

Mint Chocolate Chip Sugar Cookies Recipe

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Thanks to Truvia® Baking Blend, you can now enjoy sweet and tender sugar cookies with 75% less sugar* than the sugar-sweetened version. I decided to take the recipe and change it up a bit, I added some mint instead of vanilla and some mint chocolate chips for a yummy variation.

Truvia® Baking Blend Conversion

· When baking, use ½ cup of Truvia® Baking Blend in place of one cup of sugar.

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Mint Chocolate Chip Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup Truvia® Baking Blend
2 eggs
2 tsp mint extract
1 Tbsp skim milk
4 cups all purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 12 oz. bag of mint chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and Truvia® Baking Blend until smooth. Beat in eggs, vanilla and milk.

2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl. Gradually add the flour to the creamed mixture, beating well after each addition.

3. Gently stir in the mint chocolate chips

4. Preheat oven to 350°F.

5. Scoop out with a cookie scoop and place cookies 1 inch apart on lightly greased cookie sheets.

6. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges of cookies are lightly browned.

Cranberry Muffins Recipe

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Cranberry Muffins
 

MomStart is a Truvia Ambassador.
There’s nothing like a hot, buttered muffin fresh out of the oven to start your day off right! Muffins from scratch are a lot faster to make than you might think. I always like to switch things up, and I had inspiration for a cranberry muffin recipe that I wanted to create. So this morning, I pulled out one of my vintage cookbooks, Favorite Recipes of America: Desserts from 1968. This cookbook has a neat collection of recipes from state fair winners and other amateur cooks around the country. The muffin recipe I chose as a base to adapt was called “Yummy Nut Muffins” by Ann Denise Kirking of the Dane Country Fair. I changed her recipe so much as to be pretty much unrecognizable, but it provided me a good base to know the ratio of flour, eggs and other ingredients to use.

Muffin with melted butter
What resulted was a delicious muffin with healthier ingredients. Where the original recipe called for 1/4 cup of melted fat, I used applesauce; I also substituted Egg Beaters for a whole egg, soy milk for whole milk, and used Truvia Baking Blend, which cuts out 75% of the calories you’d get using regular sugar. But as Jai said, it doesn’t taste like anything has been cut out because it’s very yummy!

Cranberry muffin cut in half

Cranberry Muffins

Ingredients:

2 C all purpose flour
3 tsp. baking powder
2 TBSP Truvia Baking Blend
1/4 C Egg Beaters
1 C organic vanilla soy milk
1/4 C unsweetened applesauce
1/2 C dried cranberries

Directions:

Add all ingredients to a large bowl, then beat with a hand mixer until combined – roughly 1 minute.

Heat your oven to 350 degrees. Put liners in a muffin/cupcake pan, and divide the batter evenly between each one – each muffin liner will be around two-thirds full of batter.

Bake the muffins until done – between 15 and 20 minutes. I pulled mine out at the 20 minute mark and they were a little overdone, sticking to the liners, so I won’t cook mine as long next time; since this recipe has applesauce in it, they are moist even when done, so bear that in mind when testing them. Makes 12 muffins.

Bowl of cranberry muffins
MomStart is an ambassador for Truvia and compensated for my time, my opinions are always my own.

Rustic Dried Cherry Salad Recipe

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Bertolli Olive Oil is celebrating its 150th Anniversary and I was inspired to create a salad. Actually my daughter picked out this recipe. She LOVES salads and I love that she likes to eat healthy. Plus after making this salad we found out that it’s actually quite delicious!

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3 cups cubed French bread
1/4 cup walnuts chopped
1/2 cup dried cherries chopped
2 celery stalks, trimmed and diced

3 Tablespoons Berolli Olive Oil
3 Tablespoons Raspberry vinegar
1 Tablespoon honey
2 Tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon curry powder

 

Preheat oven to 350. Spread bread cubes on a cookie sheet and toast for 15 minutes, cool completely.

Toast walnuts in medium skillet over medium heat constantly stirring

Combine walnuts, cherries, celery and bread

Combine dressing ingredients and toss salad with dressing.

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AirFryer Potato Croquets Recipe & Giveaway

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We all love the taste of deep fried foods, but not the calories or the mess of cooking with so much oil. The Philips Airfryer was created to solve this dilemma as its unique design lets you fry food with just a tablespoon or two of oil and drains excess fat from food while cooking. It’s super easy to clean up as it is dishwasher safe and makes delicious food. I’ve cooked in mine quite a bit since I received it.

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Here is one of our last recipes:

AirFryer Potato Croquets Recipe

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FOR THE FILLING

6 Small red potatoes, cubed
1 egg yolk
½ cup parmesan cheese, grated
2    tablespoons    all-purpose    flour
1 pinch salt
1 pinch black pepper
1 Cayenne pepper

FOR THE BREADING

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1    cup    all-purpose    flour
2 eggs, beaten
½ cup panko

Directions

Boil the potato cubes in salted water for 15 minutes.    Drain    and    mash    finely    in    a    large    bowl    using a potato masher or ricer. Cool completely. Mix    in    the    egg    yolk,    cheese,    flour.    Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Shape the potato    filling    into    the    size    of    golf    balls    and    set    aside.

Preheat the Airfryer to 390°F. Mix the oil and breadcrumbs and stir until the mixture becomes loose and crumbly. Place each potato    ball    into    the    flour,    then    the    eggs    and    then the panko and roll into a cylinder shape. Press coating to croquettes to ensure it adheres. Place half of the croquettes into the cooking basket, cooking each batch for 7-8 minutes or until golden brown.

 

Now as part of working with Phillips we have a special giveaway.

Enter to Win:

recipe box
seasoning set
Misto oil sprayer
measuring spoons
Philips Airfryer coupon [good for 20% off on up to two Airfryers (any model) per customer]
Philips Airfryer recipe book

To Enter:

Tell me what you love to fry but want to try a healthier version

Extra Entries:

Use the rafflecopter

a Rafflecopter giveaway