Thanksgiving Oreo Turkeys

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. It's so festive, and little pressure is placed upon the holiday. I could go on my soap box and talk about how Black Friday is no longer on Black Friday, but has instead intruded on a holiday where we reflect on the blessings that have been bestowed upon us and are thankful for what we have and the people that surround us. But I won't go take that step onto my soap box, I will, however,  talk about about turkeys.

Thanksgiving has long centered around the family table that is topped with a roasted turkey, a side of stuffing, and a slice of pumpkin pie. That's the way it is, and that's the way I like it. Because of this magnificent fact it is so easy to be festive on Thanksgiving. I can put pumpkin in anything, and everyone's cool with that. I can make food to look like turkeys, and that makes everyone more festive. And that is exactly what I did. 

I try to do this every year. Last year, I made cupcakes, and I made them into a big turkey shape.

One of my brothers and one of my sisters wanted a pic with the cupcake turkey. 

This year I decided to use OREOS as my medium for creating my turkey. 

These Oreo turkeys are fairly easy to make. I put each Oreo on a sucker stick (which can be found at Walmart or other craft stores). I used candy corn as the feathers, and M&Ms as the eyes. For the beak, I used frosting that I dyed orange.

Thanksgiving OREO Turkeys:

Ingredients:

Oreos

Sucker sticks

White almond bark or white chocolate

Chocolate chips (semi sweet or you can use almond bark)

Frosting

Frosting dyes (red and orange)

M & Ms

Candy corn

Directions: 

1. Melt some white almond bark in the microwave in a microwave safe bowl (about 2 squares).
2. Gently twist each of the Oreos apart, so that the cream stays on part of the cookie and the other is clean. 
3. Put melted melted chocolate in a baggie with a small tip clipped at one end. Squeeze a small amount of chocolate onto the cream side of the Oreo. 
4. Next, place a sucker stick on the small amount of the chocolate that is on the cream side of the Oreo. Add the top back onto the Oreo. Repeat until all of Oreos have been done. 
5. Next, melt the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl in the microwave. 
6. Dip the pointy end of the candy corn in to the chocolate. Then put in between the two cookie halves of the Oreo. I put 4-5 pieces of candy corn on each Oreo.
7. After all of the Oreos have candy corn on them, place in the freezer or fridge so that the chocolate can harden up (In the freezer for about 15-20 minutes).
8. For the eyes, you will need more white chocolate or just remelt the leftovers the  from previous steps. Using the same bag as before, pipe two small circle dollops on the Oreo (This makes the white of the eye). Then place an M&M on each of the dollops. Repeat for rest of Oreos.
9. Next, dye half of the frosting orange, place in a sandwich baggie with tip cut off. Pipe the beaks on the Oreos. (I basically did a squiggle; I started the squiggle bigger at one end and then taper off; refer to picture).
10. To make the snood (the red thing that hangs off a turkey's beak), dye the other half of the frosting red. Using a sandwich baggie with the tip cut of, pipe the snood on the larger side of the beak (I made a little line on the larger side of the beak).
11. Place in freezer or fridge to allow the chocolate to solidify if it hasn't already. 
12. Share with the family and friends!

I'm sorry if the directions are thoroughly confusing. It was sometimes hard ot explain what I was doing. If you have any questions please feel free to email me or contact me. Have a Happy & Blessed Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving,

                              Andrea

Halloween Cupcakes

I hope everyone is having happy fall. Halloween is upon us. I was busy tonight making treats for my brothers and sisters to take to school for their Halloween parties. I had a lot of fun. They were fairly easy to make, just time consuming to do. They ended up looking pretty great. 

I found a lot of ideas off Pinterest. I love Pinterest. Pinterest has everything a person could ever need know(well, at least about cupcakes). 

    

1. The first cupcake I made was a mummy cupcake. I just made my own version of grease frosting (I call it Crisco frosting). It makes really white frosting because there isn't any butter in it. I then cut a small tip off the end of a sandwich baggie. I piped frosting on the cupcake, and then added Reese's Pieces for the eyes (or M&Ms). This was really easy to do. 

2. The second cupcake I made was the ghosts. I made these ghosts on mini cupcakes for my little brother's class. He has a fairly large class, so it made it easier. I made Crisco frosting again. I cut a tip off of a sandwich baggie again, but this time I made a slightly larger cut. A tip when doing this, make sure to make a clean, straight cut. If you have the 1A or 2A frosting tip then you could also use that. I then colored some left over frosting black, and then piped little dotted eyes on each ghost. 

3. The last cupcake I made were green monster cupcakes. I made more frosting, which I then dyed green. I pipped the cupcakes in a swirl using a baggie; you could again use the 1A or 2A tip here. I couldn't find mine. I melted some white melties (white almond bark). I put the melted chocolate in a baggie with a small tip cut off. I piped enough to make eyes for my cupcakes. After, I placed a M&M on each of the dots I just made with the white chocolate. Now you have your eyes.

While those cool, I cut up Airheads in different shapes. I did triangles and rectangles. After the eyes cool and harden, place on frosted cupcake, and then add eyes. I then added Mike and Ikes on the side for ears. I let the kids help decorate these. It was a fun activity to do with them. 

I hope ya'll have a happy Halloween. Keep warm, and trick or treat to your hearts content. Eat as much candy as you can get, I know I will. 

Happy Halloween.

                         Peace, love, bake on.

                                  Andrea 

           

Baked Creamy Macaroni and Cheese

Allow me to first start off with that my dad hates macaroni and cheese, and he also happens to dislike cream cheese. But does that stop me from making dishes with my first love, cream cheese, and making gooey comforting macaroni and cheese? No.

That does, however, make me stop and think of a macaroni and cheese recipe that I hope everyone will like. You see, I had been using a mac and cheese recipe for a year so that was just mediocre. My dad wasn't a big fan nor was the rest of my family; it was truly just meh-- not bad tasting just meh. I wanted something extraordinary that was creamy, filled with flavor, and extra cheesy (of course). 

What I found and created, I believe is truly yummy and extremely comforting. The secret ingredient is cream cheese. I had never really thought of cream cheese in mac and cheese. I never thought of combining the two, but I'm glad I did. 

When I ever use cream cheese in any dish, it's always treat and oh-so-delicious. So, enjoy the dish (and the calories). 

Baked Macaroni and Cheese
adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
8 oz. macaroni
1/4 cup butter
3 Tbs. flour
1 1/2 milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
(or just do 2 cups of milk instead 1 1/2 milk and 1/2 cream)
1 pkg. cream cheese
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. dijon mustard
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
1 cup Italian bread crumbs
2 Tbs. butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
2. Cook noodles according to directions. Cook to al dente.
3. In 3 quart sauce pan, melt butter and then stir in flour over medium-high heat. Cook for a minute or less, or until smooth & bubbly. Stir constantly. 
4. Mix in cream cheese, milk, salt & pepper, and dijon mustard. Cook sauce until it has thicken. Mix together thoroughly so that the cream cheese softens and mixes in throughout. 
5. Before adding noodle, add cheese. After adding cheese, mix in the noodles. 
6. Pour in a greased greased 2-3 quart casserole dish. 
7. Melt butter (I melt mine in the microwave). Mix butter and bread crumbs together. Sprinkle on top of macaroni and cheese. 
8. Bake for 15-25 minutes or until golden and bubbly.
9. Serve and enjoy!

Please enjoy and savor this recipe like my family and I do. Please comment or email me with your questions or comments. Have a happy fall!

Peace, love, bake on.

                                The Fiery Redhead