Pumpkin Dip

Pumpkin Dip:
1 cup solid pack pumpkin
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup Cool Whip, thawed
Chopped pecans - optional
Wedged apples & pears - optional
Combine pumpkin, sour cream, brown sugar & cinnamon in large bowl with Whisk. Fold in Cool whip. Pour mixture into serving bowl and sprinkle with pecans, if desired. Serve with cinnamon chips, and apple or pear wedges.

Autumn Food and Decorating Tips

Here are some fun ideas for your October festivities:

• Mix dry roasted peanuts and candy corn together for a great treat that tastes like salted nut rolls.

• Core out the top of an apple for a candle holder.
  

• Wedge an apple with the Apple Wedger. Spread some peanut butter on 1 side of 2 pieces. Put candy corn on the peanut butter and put pieces together and you have monster teeth.
  

• Using V Shaped Cutter, cut out a Jack O'Lantern face on an orange bell pepper. Sprinkle with cinnamon and add a tea light. It is so cute and tiny---great on a veggie tray or just on the table for a family dinner.
  

• Sprinkle cinnamon inside of the pumpkin after carving... when you light the candle, you will also get a wonderful aroma of warmed pumpkin and cinnamon.
  

• Make a simple potpourri with left over apple peels. Place the peels from 2-3 apples, 1 cinnamon stick, 2 tablespoons cloves, the zest from 1 orange, and 2 cups water in a saucepan. Simmer over low heat for 1 hour. This will fill your house with a delightful fragrance.

• Cut the bottom out of your pumpkin instead of the lid when carving Halloween pumpkins!! Safer and easier to put a votive type candle w/metal container down on steps/walk, etc. and set the cleaned, carved pumpkin over the top of it!

Manicotti Mania

My friend Jenni just made my family the most delicious manicotti and I had to share the tip she gave me. If you are like me, any entree that requires hours of stuffing cheese into slippery, fragile pasta is more than a bit intimidating. But Jenni's process makes it so easy:

1) Undercook the manicotti noodles to a pre-al dante state.

2) Add a little extra grated cheese to the mixture to stiffen it up a bit and then form the cheese mixture into cylinders that can be shoved into the pasta.

She says these two steps cut the prep time a lot and, like I said, it was the best tasting manicotti I've ever eaten!

Pop-tops - Revisited

I have owned the smooth edge can opener for several years and I never could figure out what that flat edged thing on the end of it was for. Thanks to my genius friend Kaylene, I am now enlightened. She sent me this great tip:

"The pop-top cans can be opened with the top edge of our fabulous PC can opener. The flat edge that's on the top goes right under them and pops it up easy as pie. Give it a try. I love my new can opener for many reasons, and that's one of them! :) "

I guess now I can't dislike pop-top cans so much.

What's in My Pocket?

You know that handy-dandy little pocket thermometer that I love for barbecuing and cooking pot roasts? I realized that it's not just for meat!
I was making the Mexican Chicken Lasagna in my new Deep Covered Baker last night. It cooks in the microwave and since it was my first time with the recipe I wasn't sure when it was going to be hot enough in the middle. I was having friends over for dinner (ah, I love guinea pigs in my kitchen!) so I wasn't sure how they'd feel about having my finger stuck in the middle of their food, which is my usual method for testing the internal temperature of casseroles. As I was peeking under the lid, a light went on: use my pocket thermometer to check it. I found this website that tells me a casserole (with all ingredients previously cooked) should reach an internal temp of about 165. Voila! No more sticking my finger in the middle of a casserole to check the temperature and no more burnt fingers! At least not from that cause, I'm sure it won't be the last time I burn my fingers. That would take the fun out of it, right? ;)

A spoonful of sugar

I've raved to many people about my love for the Easy Adjustable Measuring Spoon and Cup.
My friend, Ginger, has just given me another reason to love these fabulous tools. She pointed out how convenient they would be to use for measuring liquid medicine for children. No more digging through the cupboards and drawers for those little plastic cups that (sometimes) come with children's medicines.
I'm almost looking forward to the next fever so I can use my favorite measuring spoon. ;)

Getting out of a "scrape"

I'm sure I'm one of the last ones to think of this, but for those of you who haven't thought of this yet, I thought it would be a very helpful tip to pass along:

I hate pop-top cans. I just bought several cases of canned soup and every single one has those stupid pop top lids that shred my beautiful PC scraper spatulas. I was making dinner the other night and lamenting about the lids on the cans when I had an epiphany. Choirs singing, pillar of light radiating, goose bumps kind of experience (I know, I'm pathetic): I realized I could open the lids with my smooth edge can opener. I don't HAVE to use the pop top. Duh!

I'm very happy about this discovery! This has been one of my top 10 grievances about cooking. Hmmm, I guess I'd better bump up one of the top 20 into the top 10...