Thanksgiving is in 6 days!! YAY! And that means my FAVORITE day of the whole year is only 7 days away — Christmas Decorating Day! Forget Black Friday; I’m all about staying home, eating leftovers, and pulling out every single box of Christmas decorations while listening to my favorite Christmas CDs (hello, Amy Grant, Bing Crosby, and Harry Connick, Jr.!). It’s a happy day, I tell you!
But that really has nothing to do with this recipe. I just felt like sharing. 
I recently bought a giant bag of quinoa from Trader Joe’s (LOVE that we have one of those now!) and have been using it like crazy lately. I’ve never used it in a soup before, but I’ve always loved the idea of using quinoa in place of rice or pasta in a soup. I decided to whip something up using the huge amount of kale in my fridge and some frozen chopped butternut squash leftover from baby food-making. I loooove the combination of hearty, flavorful kale with the creamy butternut squash. And the quinoa adds a great nuttiness. There are so many textures going on- it makes for one great soup!
Kale, Butternut Squash, and Quinoa Soup
2 cups kale, rinsed and chopped
1 cup quinoa, thoroughly rinsed
1 cup cubed butternut squash
1/3 cup pancetta, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
5 or 6 carrots, chopped
6 cups chicken stock or broth
salt and pepper
In a large stock pot over medium heat, cook the pancetta for 2-3 minutes; add the onion and cook until translucent. Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add carrots, kale, butternut squash, and salt and pepper and bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium-low and cook for about 15 minutes, until the carrots are tender. Add the quinoa. Cook for about 20 minutes more, until quinoa is translucent. Serves 4.
Recipe source: Sing For Your Supper original
I don’t post political rants. I don’t even post my political opinions. This is a food blog, not a place for me to try to sway others toward my ways of thinking. That’s why I had to chuckle while reading my twitter feed during the days leading up to and during the election.
“Oh, I’m a big, important food blogger with my own cookbook (who doesn’t have one these days?….ok, me…. womp, wah), so naturally, people will change their votes based on my snarky, foul-mouthed tweets…”. Really? Really??
I just couldn’t help but laugh. In fact, that’s all you can do when people you normally look up to and respect are posting things that are mean, condescending, and downright nasty about others. So food bloggers, let’s stick to what we know – food. Speaking of food- Thanksgiving is a mere 2 weeks away! Do you know how exciting that is?! Get those cans of pumpkin ready, because the best time of the year (next to Christmastime, of course…duh) is UPON US! Yippee!!!
This cake rocks. Moist, pumpkiny, cinnamony, cake drizzled with sweet, sticky sweetened condensed milk. I’m in love!
Sticky Pumpkin Cinnamon Cake
1 boxed yellow cake mix
1 can pumpkin
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, pumpkin, oil, eggs, and cinnamon; beat until smooth. Spread into a greased 9×13 pan; drizzle the melted butter over the top of the batter (I used a knife to swirl the butter into the batter so it would be a little more evenly drizzled over the cake, but you don’t have to do this.) Bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Meanwhile, mix the sweetened condensed milk and cinnamon.
While the cake is still warm, poke holes all over the top using a toothpick or fork. Pour the sweetened condensed milk over the top of the cake and spread evenly. Let sit at room temperature until all the glaze has soaked into the cake. Serve immediately. Serves 12.
Recipe source: Sing For Your Supper original
We’re so excited about Cassidy’s first Halloween! We’re taking her trick-or-treating dressed as the world’s cutest pumpkin. 
The poor baby had to get 2 shots at her 9 month checkup today, so she deserves lots of goodies (even though she can’t eat candy…). I hope everyone has a fun, fun, FUN Halloween! Be safe!
Love,
Joel, Amy, Cassidy, and Izzy
One bright, sunny, fall day, Cookies and Cream Popcorn met Halloween Popcorn.
Cookies and Cream Popcorn loved Halloween Popcorn‘s bright, colorful sprinkles and Halloween Popcorn couldn’t resist Cookies and Cream Popcorn‘s bits of crunchy, creamy Oreos. They instantly fell in love and that’s how Halloween Oreo Popcorn came to be. And they lived happily ever after….in my tummy.
Since Halloween is only 5 days away (wahoo!!!), I knew I just had to post something to get us all in the spirit (right, like I need any help…). This Halloween Oreo Popcorn is the perfect treat for snacking on the couch while watching The Nightmare Before Christmas with your little pumpkins!
Halloween Oreo Popcorn
2 bags microwave popcorn, popped (this time, I used buttered popcorn and it turned out great!)
10-15 Oreos, chopped
1 bag candy corn
1 16-ounce package white chocolate bark or candy coating**
Halloween sprinkles
wax paper
Place the popped popcorn, Oreos, and candy corn in a very large bowl (you need plenty of room to stir the popcorn). Melt the white chocolate bark in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring after each time, until melted. Drizzle over the popcorn mixture and stir to coat each piece of popcorn.
Pour the mixture over wax paper and spread into an even layer. Sprinkle with Halloween sprinkles and allow to cool for at least 15-30 minutes. Break into pieces. Serves 6-8.
Recipe source: Sing For Your Supper
**Almond bark or candy coating can be found on the baking aisle next to the chocolate chips. You can substitute white chocolate chips if preferred.
…….HAPPY HALLOWEEEEEEEEEN!!
My house is an absolute wreck. A disaster zone. A nightmare. We’re still in the big middle of renovations (we should be long-since finished by now, but you know how these things go…), so all of our furniture is piled in the middle of rooms, half of our carpet is rolled up and disgusting looking, our stairs don’t even have carpet on them, so all that’s there is ugly, torn up padding and tack strips, and up until last night there was a layer of dust 1 inch thick covering every surface of my kitchen and dining room. And on top of all that, we just had a baby shower recently, so there’s baby stuff all over the place and nowhere to put it! It’s. A. Mess. Luckily, (hopefully…) everything will be finished by the end of this week (please, Lord!). So, with all this madness, stress and clutter everywhere, you can imagine I haven’t done much cooking. And by much, I mean practically none. That’s where the beauty of this recipe comes into play. You throw your oats, water, spices and fruit in the slow cooker and let it do its’ thing overnight. In the morning, you’ve got hearty, delicious oatmeal waiting for you. No standing over the stove stirring involved. It’s a beautiful thing. Not to mention really, really delicious. Give this a try this week- your family will love it!
Overnight Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal
1 cup steel cut oats**
3 1/2 cups water
1 medium-large apple, peeled and chopped (I like Honeycrisp or Pink Lady)
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup brown sugar
Spray a slow cooker with non-stick spray and place the oats, water, apple, cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar inside. Stir to combine. Cover, set to low, and allow to cook overnight (about 8 hours). In the morning, stir the oatmeal one last time before serving. Serve with milk and additional brown sugar if desired. Serves 4.
**you don’t have to use steel cut oats, but it’s highly recommended -the texture will be mushier with regular oats since they cook for so long.
Recipe source: adapted from allrecipes.com
Happy November!!! I hope everybody had a fun, safe Halloween and lots of yummy snacks and candy were eaten! I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a leftover bag of Reese’s minis sitting on my nightstand just waiting for me.
But now the fun of Halloween is over and it’s time to start thinking about Thanksgiving! Yippee! In fact, it was a Thanksgiving side dish that inspired me for this soup- mashed sweet potatoes with brown sugar, butter, a splash of orange juice and a sprinkling of pecans. I had four very large sweet potatoes I wanted to use and the idea of soup just popped into my head. I made it just like I make my mashed sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving, except I pureed the whole thing until I had a silky smooth, creamy soup, just perfect for a chilly fall evening. This came together so quickly and easily, and it made a pretty big pot of soup, so we had delicious leftovers to look forward to! I’d even recommend this for a Thanksgiving soup course; it really is a breeze to throw together and it’s easily customizable – you can add any number of seasonings or toppings to suit your tastes!
Sweet Potato Soup
4 large sweet potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped into chunks
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
salt
pepper
2 tablespoons butter
1/3-1/2 cup brown sugar (depending on how sweet you want it)
splash orange juice
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
In a large pot, bring the sweet potatoes, chicken broth and water to a boil; cook for approximately 20-30 minutes, until the sweet potatoes are very soft. Using an immersion blender (or a regular blender in 2 or 3 batches), puree the soup until very smooth and no lumps remain. Add the salt, pepper, butter, brown sugar, orange juice and cayenne pepper. Check for seasoning. Garnish with chopped toasted pecans, if desired. Serves 4-6.
Recipe source: Sing For Your Supper original
During the Halloween season, there’s nothing better than being snuggled up on the couch, watching Halloween movies and eating fun snacks (well, unless you’re a kid, in which case trick-or-treating is pretty hard to beat!). We make it a tradition every year to watch our favorite Halloween movies- Disney’s Icabod Crane (the cute animated version with Bing Crosby narrating), Hocus Pocus, Young Frankenstein, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and of course, my all-time favorite- The Nightmare Before Christmas (ok, so I watch that one pretty much year ’round…). And watching those great movies just wouldn’t be the same without some kind of yummy snack; like this popcorn. It’s just a simple mixture of popcorn and candy corn coated in white chocolate bark and Halloween sprinkles. Nothing hard or complicated, just fun and downright yummy! Perfect for parties, trick-or-treaters or movie-watching! Whatever you make to snack on this Halloween, I hope you have a wonderful, FUN, safe time with your friends and family! Happy Halloween!!!
Halloween Popcorn
2 bags microwave popcorn, popped
1 bag candy corn
1 16-ounce package white chocolate bark*
Halloween sprinkles
wax paper
Place the popped popcorn and candy corn in a very large bowl (you need plenty of room to stir the popcorn). Melt the white chocolate bark in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring after each time, until melted. Drizzle over the popcorn and candy corn and stir to coat each piece of popcorn. Pour the mixture over wax paper and spread into an even layer. Sprinkle with Halloween sprinkles and allow to cool for at least 15-30 minutes. Break into pieces. Serves 6-8.
*I know I’ll get questions about this: white chocolate bark (or white chocolate candy coating) can be found in your regular grocery store on the baking aisle with the chocolate chips and nuts.
Recipe source: Sing For Your Supper original (however, this isn’t exactly a new concept- I’m sure it’s been done many times before me)
I guess this pregnancy has me really digging caramel, because I feel like I’ve been making lots of caramel-y treats lately even though I’m normally not a huge fan. Hey, there are worse things to crave! Last week I had a whole afternoon to myself and thought I’d try my hand at homemade caramel corn. I’ve made it once before, but with my mom’s help (in fact, I believe it was during the Halloween season and we munched on our homemade caramel corn while watching Halloween movies!) and lucky for me, she wrote the recipe down for me! Yay! So I got in the kitchen and whipped up this delicious caramel corn- man, oh MAN! What a TREAT! This was rich, buttery and most importantly, good ‘n crunchy! I took a big bag to work and none of us could stop munching on it! I will most definitely be making this again; probably on Halloween, in fact. A perfect snack to munch on while watching Hocus Pocus!
Caramel Corn
6 quarts popped corn (3 bags microwave popcorn- I used Tender White)
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Cook brown sugar, butter, corn syrup and salt in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda and vanilla. Pour over popcorn and stir to coat. Place popcorn in a large roasting pan or spread out over two baking sheets lined with greased foil. Bake, stirring every 15 minutes for about 45 minutes. Caramel corn will be crunchy (with no sogginess) when done. Let cool and break into pieces. Makes enough to serve a large crowd- approximately 10-12 people.
Recipe source: my mom
While visiting my Nana a couple of weeks ago, I was flipping through a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook that had come with one of her latest magazines. It was nothing but cookies, so of course I was finding recipes left and right I wanted to try. The first one to catch my eye was one for sugar and spice espresso cookies. Sounds great, right? Well, they really are! I came home and immediately baked up a batch of these cookies! The verdict: we loved them (even Joel, who isn’t crazy about coffee!)! Just a teensy bit chewy with a good amount of crunch and the coffee flavor is nicely complimented by the cinnamon. They tasted like cinnamon coffee, which happens to be one of my favorite fall treats. I loved the way my house smelled while these were baking, too! I marked the recipe with a little star and put it in my recipe box, which means I’ll definitely be making these over and over again!
Sugar and Spice Espresso Cookies
2 tablespoons, plus 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1 tablespoon hot water
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/4 cup shortening
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
In a small bowl, combine the 2 tablespoons espresso powder and water, stirring until coffee powder is dissolved. Set aside.
In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or using a hand mixer), combine the butter and shortening; beat for 30 seconds. Add 1 cup of the granulated sugar, the brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Beat in the egg, vanilla and coffee mixture. Slowly add the flour a little at a time until fully incorporated.
Divide the dough into thirds. Shape each portion into a 7-inch log. Wrap each log in plastic wrap and chill about 2 hours or until dough is firm enough to slice.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut logs into 3/8-inch slices. Place slices 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. In a small bowl, stir together the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon espresso powder; sprinkle over slices. Bake for 9-10 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Makes approximately 48 cookies.
Recipe source: Better Homes and Gardens Best Ever Cookies recipe book
One of my very favorite things about fall is the smell of apples and spices cooking. It really puts me in the perfect “fall” state of mind…even if it is still 90+ degrees outside (we’ll get there, Dallas, we’ll get there!). The other night we had a nice “cold front” (86 degrees instead of the usual 97 or more), so I decided to whip up a quick pot of homemade applesauce. Joel and I both love applesauce, but when it comes to homemade, there’s no contest. The beauty of this recipe is, you can just throw it all in a big pot and leave it. And of course in the meantime, your house will smell amazing!
Homemade Applesauce
4 apples, peeled and cored (I used Red Delicious, but Honeycrisp or Pink Lady would be ideal)
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
pinch salt
juice of one lemon
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup water
Cut the apples into large chunks and put them in a heavy pot over medium heat; add the brown sugar, salt, lemon juice, cinnamon and water. Bring to a simmer and reduce heat to low. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the apples are extremely soft and mushy. Using a potato masher or fork, mash the apples together until you have an applesauce-like consistency. Serves 4.
Recipe source: Sing For Your Supper
