Saturday, October 17, 2015

Found on Facebook

Because there are so many awesome things on facebook that I think are awesome and since I share all sorts of things that I love I believe that this will be a new post that you will see here on annies home from time to time. It is a great way to share what I find on facebook and give credit for where I find it and sometimes who shared it originally.
 
this recipe which was given no name but I believe looks very yummy and because October is Apple Month I think it needs to be shared here
 
 
 
 
 



2 cans apple pie filling
Butter Pecan cake mix


 Sprinkle dry cake mix over apples  Sprinkle a small amount of brown sugar ...
Add pecans  Cut small slices of butter and place several over the top.  You can add cinnamon if you like   Bake @ 350 for 45 min or so

Moms Sport Secret : Baked Spaghetti

With all the ongoing sports being played at this time I think it is a great time to share with you one of my favorite meals that mom would cook on game night. Oh yes, she did cook and yes we were very involved in sports. Just like now our grand-kids play softball, soccer, basketball and hopefully the list will continue. Each sport has a beginning and an end and in the end the winner of the tournament is the champ. This is something that is taking place on the grand-stage presently in baseball, many highschool football teams are entering or will soon be entering playoffs and the cross-country runners will be needing to fuel up as well. The recipe I shared today mom always believed had the stuff to fuel us with energy again.
 
 

Baked Spaghetti was always my moms way of serving up game night. Doing her share, making sure we were there ready to play, get on the bus and do whatever it was we needed to do. It was her way of saying yes we would be playing and we would make the family proud. Now your time to put some carbs into your family and make sure they do the best they can

Baked Spaghetti
taste of home

1 package (16 ounces) spaghetti
1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 jar (32 oz. ) spaghetti sauce
1/2 tsp. season salt
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
2 eggs
1/3 c parmesan cheese
5 T melted butter
1 container (16 oz.) ricotta cheese
3 c shredded cheese
 
Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in spaghetti sauce, seasoned salt, and Italian seasonings. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, Parmesan cheese and butter. Drain spaghetti; add spaghetti to the egg mixture toss to coat Place half of the spaghetti mixture in a greased 9x13 baking dish. Top with half of the ricotta cheese, meat sauce and mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers.
Cover and bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for 10 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.
 

The recipe says, feeds 10 adults or small army. The one my mother would make would be doubled and she could feed the whole team and at times she would feed everyone that came together for one event or another. I simply hope that you Enjoy!!
 

Friday, October 16, 2015

Iron Skillet Apple Pie



IRON SKILLET APPLE PIE
From FOLK Autumn 2013
...
1 stick, plus 1 TBS butter
1 c brown sugar (can be cut in half)
1 c white sugar (can be cut in half)
1tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
4 c Granny Smith Apples, peeled and chopped into small pieces
1 box refrigerator piecrust (or homemade)
In large iron skillet, melt 1 stick of butter and 1 cup brown sugar (do not caramelize, just melt the two together). Cover with piecrust; add apples, ¾ c white sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Cover with top crust that has been slit in 3-4 places (I always cut a heart shape, feel free to choose your own cutout). Sprinkle top with remaining ¼ cup of sugar and dot with remaining TBS of butter.
Bake in 350-degree oven, for 30-45 minutes or until crust is brown and apples are tender.

Shrimp and Macaroni Salad

 


1 pound cooked shrimp
2 tomatoes, diced
2 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
2 cups cooked elbow or bowtie macaroni, cooled
1/4 cup chopped celery
2 teaspoons onion powder
1/3 to 1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste
 
In a large bowl combine all of the ingredients, adding mayonnaise a little at a time until you like the taste.

recipe source here

Ways to Ease Your Child's Cold




Flu season will soon be here and colds and allergies have all ready arrived. Everyone who gets sick seems to struggle maybe none more than mothers of babies. The little ones seem to be so uncomfortable when they are congested. One thing that many moms depend on is the little bulb syringe to clear the snot and allow the little one to breathe a bit better. There may be a problem with this idea though.

The problem is that giving the bulb a cleaning in hot soapy water may just lead to a case of mold as the water has no real way to escape. Exposure to mold in children under the age of 1 often leads to a hike in asthma conditions. Many mothers have no idea that this even happening.

Ideas to help your baby sleep better when congested include

allowing baby to sleep upright. I often allowed the little one to sleep in their car seat which allowed them to feel comfortable with their head up.

using a cool mist vaporizer

turn on the shower the steam will help the baby with congestion

saline will help their little nose with being so stuffy



boogie wipes works great to help get rid of dry mucus in their nose.





Find Boogie Wipes at any of the following social networks


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Thursday, October 15, 2015

Get the Stink Out

 

I believe one of the best parts of being a grandma is the messes we get into. From sports to searching for buried treasure we do a bit of everything. Sometimes we don't come home smelling as good as when we left, but we always come home and trust that the products we use will keep us smelling good. One of the newest products that we have been using is Febreze In-Wash Odor Eliminator.

 

 

About Febreze In-Wash Odor Eliminator7532.jpg



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Use Febreze In-Wash Odor Eliminator in any of your laundry loads with odors that can be hard to remove with detergent alone. These loads often include items such as work uniforms or clothes, sports or fitness clothing, cooking towels, or restaurant uniforms.
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Note: we did not receive any products or compensation for sharing this post.

Oh No Here Comes Trouble.....


Friends of mine who are ready to go to the monster match dance. Thing 1 and thing 2 are sure to have a blast seeing what trouble they can get into

Soft Caramels

I can remember the holidays at my grandma H's. Each year my grandma, aunts, uncles and the rest would all come together to enjoy a delicious meal. Everyone brought something depending on how talented they were in the kitchen and how much time they had or in many cases how much $$ there was to go around. My aunts always surprised me when they brought in the sweets. There was one year that one of my aunts brought delicious soft caramels. Oh my how yummy. I will never forget everyone getting together, how delicious they were or those yummy caramels that mom and grandma would not let me continue to steal .(sorry I really was an angel as a kid or at least that's how I remember it)
 


2 cups sugar
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup Butter
1 cup milk
1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
 
Butter 13x9-inch pan; set aside.
Combine all ingredients except vanilla in heavy 4-quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, 15-20 minutes or until butter is melted and mixture comes to a boil.
Continue cooking, 25-30 minutes or until candy thermometer reaches 244°F or small amount of mixture dropped into ice water forms a firm ball.
Remove from heat; stir in vanilla. Pour into prepared pan. Cool completely.
Cut into 1 1/2x1-inch pieces; wrap candies in plastic food wrap. Store refrigerated.

recipe source here

Hot Apple Cider

How do you keep warm when the weather gets cold?? This is a great way and perfect for time with friend, while enjoying nature in your back yard or any good old time. I hope you enjoy!!
 
 
 
 
large apples
lemon juice
apple cider, either homemade or store-bought
optional: cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, allspice and/or star anise for garnish
 
On a cutting board or sturdy surface, use a knife to cut off the top of the apple. Then take a paring knife and carefully outline where you'd like the "rim" of your apple cup to be. (My rims were about 1/4" wide.) Use a spoon to carefully begin scooping out the center of your apple until you have a nice "cup". (A melon baller also works well for this.)
Also, if your apple doesn't sit exactly level, take your paring knife and just slice off a few millimeters to even off the bottom to make it even. Just be careful not to let your knife cut through the bottom or sides of the apple when hollowing it out, or the cider will leak out!
Once you have the inside of the apples hollowed out, brush a little lemon juice over the inside of the apples (to prevent browning). Then fill with your favorite apple cider, garnish with cinnamon or spices if you'd like, and serve!

recipe source here

Dinner and Dessert all Mushroomed up

Sausage-Stuffed Mushrooms
source: adapted from Ina Garten, How Easy Is That?
blog source smells like home




16 extra-large white mushrooms (or about 3 dozen medium to large white mushrooms)
5 tablespoons good olive oil, divided
2 1/2 tablespoons Marsala wine or medium sherry
3/4 pound sweet Italian sausage, removed from the casings
1/4 tsp ground fennel
2 large shallots, chopped
2/3 cup panko crumbs
5 ounces mascarpone cheese, preferably from Italy
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan
2 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Remove the stems from the mushrooms and chop them finely. Set aside. Place the mushroom caps in a shallow bowl and toss with 3 tablespoons of the olive oil and Marsala. Set aside.
Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the sausage, crumbling it with the back of a wooden spoon. Cook the sausage for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until it’s completely browned. Add the chopped mushroom stems and cook for 3 more minutes. Stir in the ground fennel and shallots and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the panko crumbs, stirring to combine evenly with all the other ingredients. Finally, swirl in the mascarpone and continue cooking until the mascarpone has melted and made the sausage mixture creamy. Off the heat, stir in the Parmesan, parsley, and season with salt and pepper, to taste.  Cool slightly.
Fill each mushroom generously with the sausage mixture. Arrange the mushrooms in a baking dish large enough to hold all the mushrooms in a snug single layer. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until the stuffing is browned and crusty.





Meringue mushrooms piped out onto a Silpat covered baking sheet. Baked at 250℉ / 120℃ for about an hour and a half. (great step by step guide here)
 
Meringue.
* 3 egg whites whipped to stiff peaks with
* 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
* 1/3 cup cane sugar
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
 
The mushroom caps are squished out rather flatly, the stems pulled up rather tall. Just do best you can manage. Press down the peaks with a wet finger, should peaks form which they probably will. Otherwise your mushrooms will have pointed peaks and that's just wrong! Kidding. Actually, you can cut off the peaks of the stems once they're sufficiently dried in order to create a flat surface for the ganache glue to adhere to the bottom of the cap.
Smear ganache or plain ol' melted chocolate onto the bottoms of the caps like mushroom gills, and onto the top of the stems and glue together. Position upside down to help the chocolate set. Mind, the chocolate is merely melted, not tempered, so the bond will not be as strong but it'll suffice for this. Incidentally, these little vanilla meringue mushrooms with spots of chocolate are oddly delicious, in a cotton candy sort of way. Kids would really dig 'em. I recommend making extras just in case you goof. Plus they're fun.

Ganache.
 1/4 cup chocolate chips
 1/6 or so cup milk. Cream would be better but I don't have any of that right now.
 
 Zap for 20 or so seconds until the milk foams. Stir. At first it looks hopeless, but keep stirring until all the milk (or cream) is incorporated. It takes a little while for it to complete. If it's too thin, then add a little more chocolate chips while it's still warm. The chocolate need only be a few degrees warmer than body temperature for this to work so don't overdo it with the zapping. Zap, of course means microwave. If you don't have one of those, then a few seconds on the stovetop should do it. Just enough to get the liquid warmer than your body, which should be about 100℉ / 38℃ or a little bit more. This is the thing about chocolate; it's a gentle art.

The real cake for this sort of thing is a Génoise or another type of sponge cake, and the real frosting is a buttercream, but I didn't bother with that because I'm not trying to impress anybody I just wanted to try my hand at meringue mushrooms and to see if I could come close. This is what I learned: I need to get a few larger platters. I have a few that are silver but they're a pain in the butt. I have about eight inches of extra rolled cake that didn't fit on my platter. I also learned this boxed cake is a little bit too tender. I need something sturdier. Also, those meringue mushrooms don't last forever. I have no idea how to protect them for anywhere longer than, say, a day. But all in all, in'nit it purdy?
Dust the finished mushrooms with cocoa once they're stuck to the log.
 

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

National Dessert Day

 
 
 
October 14th of every year will find a very sweet day. It is national dessert day. Yes you must eat your meal before you can still have your dessert but you can feel extra special eating a delicious dessert. Desserts come in many different categories including cakes, cookies, jello, pastries, ice cream, pies, pudding, candy and yes even fruit.
 
The early desserts required minimal effort or prep and have been dated back to ancient cultures. Desserts were primarily fruit and nuts. Over the years the desserts have grown to a great variety of desserts ranging from simple to complex soufflés and multi-layered cakes.
 
Today I share with you a recipe from a fellow blogger. This recipe is perfect for any of your fall parties, Halloween treats or even the Thanksgiving dessert table. Yummy!!!!
 
 
 
 
 
Pumpkin Spice Cookie Cups
Serves: 24
 
These peanut butter cookie cups are super fun with pumpkin spice Hershey's Kisses added to them. Kids of all ages will love this fall treat.
 
½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened
½ cup sugar
½ cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1-1/4 cups bread flour {or all-purpose flour}
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
24 Pumpkin Spice Hershey's Kisses
 
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Spray 24 mini muffin cups with cooking spray; set aside.
Beat together butter, sugar, and brown sugar until smooth.
Add peanut butter and mix just until blended.
Add egg and vanilla and mix well.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Gradually add flour mixture to wet mixture, just until blended.
Roll out your cookie dough into balls. {The size of each ball will depend on how big you want your cookie cups. I did about 1-inch ones}
Place one ball into each of the 24 muffin cups.
Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until lightly golden. Unwrap Hershey's Kisses while cookies are baking.
Immediately press one pumpkin spice Hershey's Kiss into the center of each cookie cup. Allow to cool about 5 minutes, remove cookies from pan and let cool completely on rack.
 

This Day In Musical History




Kiss released this song, that to me is one of the best that rock n roll has to offer, on this day October 14, 1975. I was a kid (at the age of 5) when this song was released. Way before internet, video games or the such life was in my opinion easier and a bit different. I can remember the popularity of KISS. In my little life the fall fest in the school gym included a face painting as many others did. The thing that was different was that the faces that were painted included the 4 faces of KISS.

Did you have memories of this song? Would love to read any comments you had to share.

Monday, October 12, 2015

Decorate for Harvest


Here is a great way to welcome fall into your home. Get an old chair any old chair as long as you like it will do. Now take a bit of fall and decorate it. Whether you use an old branch, a pumpkin, squash, gourds or whatever it may be. Sit it near the entrance of your house, by the door, on the porch or somewhere where it will say welcome

shared at
our world
make your home sing
busy Monday

Weekend Special


One thing that we love to do on the weekends is to sell our goods at the market. Here I am with my son and grand-daughter, his girlfriend and my hubby. We look forward to doing more and more of this

shared at
blue Monday
randomosity

Sunday, October 11, 2015

We Love Colors Giveaway



It's that time again here on annies home blog. It is time for a giveaway. this time the sponsor is

oh yes!!! One of our favorite sponsors. We love colors offering a fresh splash of color in everything from leggings to shoe strings. Who does not love to wear a bit of color when the weather starts turning so gloomy. We Love Colors offers beautiful splash of color for men, women boys and girls and don't forget the littlest among us as well. We Love Colors has tights, socks, leggings, shoelaces and gloves available for sale

Today, We Love Colors has offered Annies Home to host a giveaway where one of our great readers (yes that is a requirement that you are a subscriber) a great giveaway where winner will get a free pair of kids tights and 4 pairs of shoe laces. Ready to enter?? Then wait no longer here is the giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway