Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Caramel Corn

2 1/2 poppers of popped corn
1 cup brown sugar
1 cube butter or margarine
1/4 cup light Karo Syrup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla

Pop corn and pour the corn into a large brown grocery bag. The popcorn should be about 6-inches deep in bag. Bring the other ingredients to a boil and continue to boil for 2 minutes. Add the soda and vanilla and pour over the corn in the bag. Shake well. Microwave the corn in the bag for 1 1/2 minutes, shake, cook another 1 1/2 minutes, shake and open the bag and let stand open to dry off, shaking the bag occasionally to break popcorn apart. When dry, store in an airtight container.

Pear Nut Bread

The pear is Oregon's state fruit. Rich and I grew up in Southern Oregon which used to have hundreds of pear orchards and a pear cannery. Now the cannery has closed and the pear trees are being replaced with vineyards. So sad!!!!!!!!

Pear Nut Bread

16 ounce can Bartlett pear halves
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup oil
1 large egg, beaten
2 teaspoons grated orange rind
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
1-2 Tablespoons orange juice

Drain pears, reserving syrup; reserve 1 pear half for topping. Process remaining pear halves in blender until smooth; transfer to 1 cup measure. Add as much of the reserved pear syrup as needed to make 1 cup. Reserve remaining syrup for other uses.

Mix flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt and nutmeg in large bowl. Mix pear puree, oil, egg and orange rind in medium bowl. Add to flour mixture; stir just until moistened. Fold in walnut; batter will be stiff.

Spoon batter into greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 3/4 - inch loaf pan. Cut reserved pear half into 6 slices; arrange crosswise in a row on top of batter.

Bake in preheated 350 degree oven until wooden pick inserted near center is withdrawn clean; 50 - 55 minutes. Cool in pan on wire rack 5 minutes.

In small bowl, mix powdered sugar and as much of the orange juice as needed to make thin, smooth glaze. Remove bread from pan; spoon glaze on top of bread. Cool completely on wire rack. Wrap bread in foil; let stand overnight before slicing.

Coconut Macaroons

Coconut Macaroons

7 ounces flaked coconut
2/2 cup sugar
6 Tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 egg whites
1 teaspoon almond extract

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Mix coconut, sugar, flour and salt in large bowl. Stir in egg whites and almond extract until well blended. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto lightly greased cookie sheets. Bake 20 minutes or until edges of cookies are golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheets. Cool on wire racks. Makes 3 dozen cookies.

Chocolate Macaroons: Stir in 2 squares semi-sweet chocolate, melted, before baking.

Krispy Marshmallow Treats

These treats have become a tradition for the Goodie Baskets I make for family and friends for Christmas.

10 ounces marshmallows
1/4 cup margarine
5 cups Rice Krispies***

Combine marshmallows and margarine in large glass bowl. Cook at High 4-5 minutes, stir twice. Stir until smooth. Add cereal and stir to coat well. Press into greased 9 x 13-inch dish. Cool, cut into squares to serve. Yield: 2 1/2 dozen bars.

***13 ounce box of Rice Krispies makes 2 batches of treats. I usually buy the store brand of Crispy Rice cereal and nobody ever knows the difference.

Rocky Road Marshmallow Candy

Rocky Road Marshmallow Candy

12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chunky peanut butter
3 cups mini marshmallows - white or pastel colored
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Microwave chocolate chips and peanut butter on High 2-3 minutes until melted, stirring after each minute. Fold in marshmallows and chopped nuts. Spoon into a buttered 9-inch square pan. Chill until firm and cut into squares. Makes 36 - 1 1/2-inch squares. Keep refrigerated.

Snowball Cookies

These cookies are so simple to make........they look like they take hours to make them. The secret is you start with packaged cookies.

3 cups finely shredded coconut
18 ounces vanilla candy coating
16 ounce package chocolate sandwich cookies**

Spread coconut on waxed paper. Melt candy coating in a heavy pan over low heat. Remove from heat. Place each cookie on a fork and dip into candy coating until covered; roll in coconut. Place cookies on waxed paper and allow to harden. Makes approximately 3 dozen.

**I usually go to the Dollar Tree and get the big packages of sandwich cookies. The peanut butter filled ones are especially yummy used in this recipe.

Monster Cookies

These cookies can be for any time of the year. Rich and I received a gift of these cookies one Christmas from a friend. She included the recipe with the cookies. They are so pretty wrapped in clear wrap and decorated with ribbons and bows.

Wrap 6 of these cookies in plastic wrap and tie with ribbon for a festive gift.

6 eggs
1 pound brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups granulated sugar
4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 pound butter
1 1/2 pounds peanut butter
9 cups oatmeal
1/2 pound chocolate chips
1/2 pound M and M's
1/4 pound chopped nuts

Combine all ingredients. Use a ice cream scoop to form balls of dough, then place 3-4 balls on cookie sheets, gently flatten dough on cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Yield: 8 dozen.

Happy Birthday, Nancy!

Happy Birthday to my sweet sister, Nancy. Just seems like yesterday you were born and now you're all grown up with grown children of your own. Hope that you have a wonderful birthday and hope to see you soon.

Love, Shirley

I Won!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I received a email this morning letting me know I had won the contest at Rustic Tarts I don't wear a lot of necklaces so I decided that I would like to have the hat in shades of red. I can hardly wait until it arrives.

Holidays

I'm still decorating for Fall and Hallween and the stores are displaying Christmas Goodies. Can't I enjoy one holiday at a time???????? It seems that the stores have forgotten there is other holidays in the last part of the year besides Christmas. I understand that they are concerned about earning their millions of dollars that consumers will spend on Christmas. Christmas season can be make or break for some businesses. I just want to focus on one holiday at a time.......starting with Fall. I enjoy my fall colors and items. I start decorating in early September with fall items and colors and then add Halloween items through October. Starting in November I remove the Halloween items I have added and replace them with Thanksgiving items. After Thanksgiving I put away the Fall items and start decorating for Christmas. I enjoy my Christmas decorations until mid-January and then I decorate for Winter. I want to be able to enjoy each and every holiday and season without feeling pressured to hurry along for the holiday that is 3 months away.

I can remember when I was a child that you would never see a Christmas item in the store until the day after Thanksgiving. Then Mom and I would go to town to see all the beautiful Christmas decorations that were displayed in the stores. Now from about the time school starts you start seeing Christmas items being offered in the stores. Call me old-fashioned but I don't like it one little bit.

Yes, some might thing I'm being a hypocrite about this subject because I have started posting Christmas Goodie recipes on my blog already. The reason I am doing this is because I know that in todays times we have to plan ahead for buying the extra ingredients for our recipes. Also this gives us a chance to try out new recipes before making them for our families and gifts.

Chicken Wing Appetizers

I've made these appetizers for several family gatherings. I've never had to take home any leftovers.

1 cup Kraft Thick N' Spicy Barbecue Sauce
1/4 cup orange juice
1 - 1 1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper
1/2 teaspoon grated orange rind
3 1/2 pounds chicken drummies

Combine barbecue sauce, juice, red pepper and rind. Place chicken drummies in two 9x13-inch baking pans that have been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Brush with barbecue sauce mixture. Bake at 375 degrees, 40 minutes or until tender, turning and brushing with sauce mixture every 20 minutes. Serve with remaining barbecue sauce mixture. Approximately 3 dozen chicken appetizers.