Around the Campfire 🔥 (week 42)

Dear Campers ~

Here's a quick recap in case you missed anything at MMDC last week:

Posts ~
10/13: 🔥 week 41
10/14: paper pumpkin
10/15: Tip-sy Tuesday: Brooke's mascara tip
10/16: German chocolate pie
10/17: My Sis is Hungry: chicken spaghetti
10/18: Mary's veggie dip
10/19: mummy meatballs

What's cooking? (not much, this week was hectic and we either got take out or went out a lot!)

Miscellaneous stuff keeping me busy (other than plain old life? not much hahaha!)

• I did manage to read one book this week, "Rules of Civility" by Amor Towles recommended by Mary and I really liked it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️, good call by my bffe. It's a story about a young woman dealing with life in New York in the 30's. That sounds boring and factual hahaha but it's not, promise.

That's it - shortest recap ever I think! Stop by this week to see lots more recipes, crafts, and whatever else I can think of to make (hint: think pumpkins).

Sincerely ~


Jill
your frazzled camp counselor

Mummy Meatballs

I had a busy week and got a little behind making stuff this week - so you get a repeat of one of my favorite Halloween recipes originally posted 10/27/15 (an oldie but goodie!):

Saw this idea a few places online, they are too cute and I had to try them. Not only are they a super cute idea, they taste and smell really good! My husband came into the kitchen as I was finishing putting the eyeballs on and started eating them - in between bites he said "I feel guilty eating them, they're so cute", but he managed to eat the whole plate so I guess he didn't feel THAT bad haha!

I bought turkey meatballs in the freezer section and 1 can of refrigerated low-fat crescent roll dough (turkey and lite dough - I'm trying to make them a little healthier!). Remove the dough from the tube, press the triangles all together, don't separate them; cut into 4 rectangles. With a pizza cutter or knife, cut each rectangle lengthwise into narrow strips. Wrap dough around each meatball to look like mummy bandages, leaving a place open for the mummy eyes, and bake. 

To make the eyes I sliced a mozzarella cheese stick into thin rounds (less than 1/4"), cut out small rounds with a large straw (this is the white eye part), then cut a smaller hole in that with a little straw and inserted a black peppercorn. Use anything you can find that will fit in the small hole that you have around - pieces of black olives would work,  mini chocolate chips (might not taste great haha but you just need a dark center for the eye), just look around and you'll find something. The recipe I followed dotted on mustard or ketchup for eyes but I like the white eye with something dark in it.

You could serve these many different ways - use your imagination! Could be with spaghetti for dinner, dipped in marinara as dinner or appetizers, standing at the counter inhaling them like someone I know, whatever you want. They taste good, are easy to make, come together quickly - all good! I'm going to take the 2 that I hid from my husband for my lunch tomorrow - I think they'll even taste good cold :)

Original recipe (I only changed the eyes):

• 1 can (8 oz) refrigerated crescent dinner rolls 
• 20 frozen cooked meatballs, thawed
• Ketchup or mustard, if desired
• Marinara sauce, as desired

Heat oven to 375°F. Line work surface with cooking parchment paper. On parchment-lined surface, unroll dough and press perforations to seal; cut into 4 rectangles.

With knife or pizza cutter, cut each rectangle lengthwise into 10 pieces, making a total of 40 pieces of dough.

Wrap 2 pieces of dough around each meatball to look like "bandages," stretching dough slightly to cover meatballs.

Separate "bandages" near 1 end to show meatball "face." On ungreased large cookie sheet, place wrapped meatballs.

Bake 13 to 17 minutes or until dough is light golden brown and meatballs are hot. With ketchup and mustard, draw "eyes" on mummy bites. Serve with warm marinara sauce.

Sponsor recipe courtesy of © 2015 ®/™ General Mills All Rights Reserved
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© 2015 Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved.

Mary's veggie dip

We needed a last minute appetizer the other night and Mary whipped this dip up in like 1 minute.

Can't ask for a faster last-minute idea than this - and it's yummy to boot! Reminds me of aioli (minus the garlic), it's a perfect dip for fresh veggies - and we used light mayo so I'm calling it "healthy" (because scooping mayo up with carrots seems a little decadent hahaha).

Mix together:
mayo
lemon pepper
lemon zest
lemon juice

Adjust the seasonings until it tastes good to you, and add juice until it's the right consistency. That's it. Took longer to type it then it did for her to make it.

My Sis is Hungry: Chicken Spaghetti

Finally my sister has taken pity on me and fed me again.  I have waited so long!! I was practically wasting away..

So now .. with a full stomach ... I will review this  pasta.  😊

So first off it looks delicious. But that’s not saying much because I think you can put cheese on cardboard and it would look delicious.  Oddly the cheese never really melted but it was bubbling hot.  Not sure what kind of cheese my sister tried to slide me that doesn’t melt?   I tried cooking it both uncovered as directed and then covered just to see if I could get it to melt but no luck.  Just got harder.  Anyway- weird note but didn’t affect the taste.

The taste of this reminded me a lot of tuna noodle casserole- except the chicken was way better.  There was a perfect amount of chicken in this one, loved that.  Not too much , not too little.  Also loved the little red peppers (if that’s what they were)..  possibly would have liked with more veggies?  Wondering as usual if this is healthy in any way?  (that would affect my review).  As a fun note I tried it with hot sauce as well just for variation – didn’t like that.  Tried it also with Sour Cream and that was good. (maybe already has sour cream in it though and I just added more calories that weren’t needed?)  either way, it was good!  good dish to pass for a banquet or something also as it seemed like something everyone might like.  Safe I think for that purpose. 

All in all, Husband gave it a 7- I’ll say 7 as well.  Whether I would make this again of course depends on how easy it is and how healthy (or unhealthy) it is!! I guess I’ll wait for the blog to come out so I can check the recipe and decide.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked chicken (note: I boiled chicken breasts then chopped and shredded once cool enough to handle)
• 3 cups dry spaghetti, broken into 2" pieces
• 2 cans cream of mushroom soup
• 3 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
• 1/3 cup diced sweet pepper (recipe calls for green but I used red)
• 1/3 cup diced onion
• 1 4oz. jar diced pimentos, drained
• 2 cups reserved chicken broth from pot (after boiling the chicken, save the pot water)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon Lawry's seasoned salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or less, to taste)
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Boil raw chicken breasts in water until done. Carefully remove from the pot, set aside to cool. Remove 2 cups of water from the pot, set aside. Bring remaining water used to cook the chicken back to a boil (add more if necessary) and cook the spaghetti pieces until just al dente (don't overcook, just until it's barely done). Drain spaghetti and place in a big bowl.

2. Chop and shred the chicken into bite-sized pieces, add to the bowl along with 2 cups shredded cheddar, soup, pepper, onion, pimento, seasoned salt, salt and pepper to taste. Mix well. 

3. Add 1 cup of the reserved water from cooking the chicken in, stir to incorporate, add more if needed to reach a creamy but not too soupy consistency. Adjust seasonings if needed.

4. Place mixture into a casserole dish, top with remaining 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese. Bake at 350' for 35-45 minutes until hot and bubbly. If the cheese on top starts to get too cooked, cover with foil. Or you can cover and freeze unbaked up to 6 months, or refrigerate unbaked up to 2 days.

credit: The Pioneer Woman, click here for original source

German Chocolate Pie

Yep, I keep finding different German chocolate things to bake for L's birthday -  I don't even like German chocolate and Dave can't eat it because of his nut allergy so having leftovers or taste testing isn't very fun LOL. What I'll do for my friends... 😉

This one got rave reviews, no one shook my hand like with the German chocolate poke cake  (click to read about that haha!) but there was still raving - so if you've never made (or heard of) German chocolate pie I can definitely recommend this recipe.


Ingredients

For pie:

• 10" deep-dish single-crust pie crust (or homemade crust if that's your jam. it isn't mine when the Marie Callender frozen one is just as good as mine!)
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
• 4 oz. German sweet chocolate, broken into pieces 
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3 T. cornstarch
• 1/4 t. salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 t. vanilla
• 1 (12 oz) an evaporated milk
• 1/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut (note: I use unsweetened coconut)
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans
• 3 oz. bittersweet chocolate

For frosting:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup evaporated milk
• 3 egg yolks, lightly beaten
• 1 t. vanilla
• 2 cups sweetened flaked coconut (note: I use unsweetened coconut)
• 1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped pecans
• 2 oz. bittersweet chocolate

Directions:

1. Arrange a rack in the lower third of the oven. Preheat to 330' (if your oven doesn't allow that setting preheat to 325').
2. Melt butter and sweet chocolate together, stir to combine.
3. In a large bowl, combine sugar, cornstarch and salt; stir to break up any lumps. Stir in eggs and vanilla, then stir in the chocolate mixture. Add evaporated milk and mix well. Pour into prepared crust.

4.  Mix together coconut and pecans, sprinkle over filling. Bake 1 hour or until the center is just set. Let cool. Melt bittersweet chocolate in microwave on medium power, spread over cooled pie. Let set.

1. To prepare frosting: In a heavy saucepan, combine butter, sugars and evaporated milk. Bring to a boil oven medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir a little of the hot liquid into egg yolks, continue adding a little at a time until yolks are warm. Gradually stir yolk mixture into the pot. Stir in vanilla, then coconut and pecans. 
2. Gently spread frosting onto pie. Melt chocolate and drizzle over frosting.

notes: Above is the original recipe, here's how I went rogue and did things a little differently ~

• German chocolate anything is really sweet, that's why I use unsweetened coconut to cut the sweetness a little bit.
• I baked the pie an additional 10 minutes and it still didn't seem set but I pulled it out anyway and after it cooled it did set up.
• Instead of melting the chocolate in microwave and spreading over cooled pie, I just chopped the chocolate in small pieces and sprinkled on the hot pie after removing from the oven. Once it melted I just spread it over the top. 
• The reason for stirring a little of the hot liquid into the egg yolks is to keep them from curdling like scrambled eggs. If that happens you can strain the clumps of cooked egg out. 
• I put it back on the heat for a couple minutes after adding the yolks because it seemed like they might be raw and not everyone is good with that. 
• This frosting made way more than the pie needed (and I like lots of frosting!). I froze the rest for the next German chocolate thing I find to bake hahaha. Also I forgot to drizzle the chocolate as a garnish and it was not missed. 

original recipe found here


10.16.18: white chicken chili
10.16.17: Ronda's October display table
10.16.16: burger salad
10.16.15: jack o'lantern gift enclosure

Tip-sy Tuesday: layering mascara

These are not the best photos in the world, but I asked Brooke to share how she does her mascara because her lashes look amazing!  She learned this new technique (well, new to us anyway!), it's simple but very effective - after curling her lashes she applies one coat of lengthening mascara and then another coat of volumizing mascara. Maybe there's a mascara that does both of these things already, but the combination of the 2 different types really works for her. Try it, tell us what you think!

before

after

10.15.18: sequin pumpkin

10.15.17: birthday hat bottle topper

10.15.16: old bay knock-off recipe

10.15.15: kitten miniature pumpkin

Paper Pumpkin

Clicking around online looking at different fall crafts, because I have all kinds of time with nothing better to do than waste time get inspired to make more stuff! HA! I saw this cute paper pumpkin idea and went right into the craft room to see if it came together as quickly and easily as it looked - and it did. All you need are 2 sheets of 8.5"x11" cardstock, hot glue, and something for the top (the directions I mostly followed put a stick, paper leaves, and a piece of twine on top - I did 2 curled green pipe cleaners instead).

Cut each piece of paper lengthwise into 5 strips (1 and 1/2 inches wide and 11" long),  you need 10 strips total.

Cut 2 of the strips 7" long and 4 strips 9" long - leaving 4 strips 11" long

Join 2 same-size strips together with hot glue. You now have 1 strip about 14", 2 strips about 18", and 2 strips about 22" long. Accordion fold each strip in about 1/2" folds and join the ends together with hot glue to form a circle, see the photo below.

Push down on the top of the circle to form a pinwheel - I had a little trouble at first pushing it into the pinwheel shape, but keep trying and you'll get it. Once I realized I had to push pretty hard the rest of them came together quickly. Hot glue the center of the pinwheel to hold the shape.

Stack the pinwheels on top of each other and hot glue in place. Hot glue whatever topper you decide to use in place - I curled 2 pipe cleaner/chenille stems around a pencil to make them corkscrew and glued into the center of the top pinwheel.

 Note: I decided to only use 4 pinwheels instead of 5 like the original directions. I just liked it better that way because the cardstock is so thick it made the pumpkin too tall in my opinion. Next time I think I'll try lighter weight scrapbooking paper and then probably use 5.

click here for original source and more pictures/instructions.

10.14.18: around the campfire recap

10.14.17: paper sunflower wreath

10.14.16: Brooke's curly hair tip

10.14.15: bats in a pumpkin

Around the Campfire 🔥 (week 41)

Dear Campers ~

Here's a quick recap in case you missed anything at MMDC this past week:

Posts ~
10/6: 🔥 week 40
10/7: creamed corn
10/8: tip-sy Tuesday: mushrooms and onions
10/9: yellow squash soup
10/10: carved pumpkin wine cooler
10/11: Brooke's Dia De Muerdos cookie
10/12: baked spaghetti squash

What's cooking ~

• meatloaf
• steak, potatoes, asparagus, sautéed mushrooms and onions
• baked spaghetti squash
• grilled tuna, sticky rice, wilted spinach
• chicken enchiladas
• chicken in sun-dried tomato sauce (recipe to follow)

Miscellaneous stuff keeping me busy other than the blog ~

• took down everything on my garden wall in the garage and reorganized it (I have a big pegboard wall that all the stakes and garden accessories hang on). 
• after getting the peg wall ready, I cleaned out most of the garden other than a couple tomato plants that still have tons of green tomatoes and hung everything on my wall until next Spring. Hated doing it because it was pretty nice and sunny this week, but decided to do it before it turns super cold and I'll have to do it in bad weather - that's usually what happens, I wait too long and then regret it! 
• also pulled all the herbs out, for the first time I transplanted the rosemary into an indoor container and will try to keep it alive on my kitchen windowsill. It was doing so good that I couldn't bear to throw it out. 
• read "Redemption" by David Baldacci, book 5 in the Amos Decker series. Had to wait for it from the library for a long time, worth the wait and I read it in 2 days ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Hope everyone had a great week - check back often to see more crafts, recipes, and whatever else I can think to make!

PS: I made LeDonna's yellow squash soup with zucchini and it is delicious. It's even good cold - click on the recipe above and try it!

Sincerely ~


Jill
camp counselor and bummed gardener

Baked Spaghetti Squash

It rained again this week and Dave didn't want to grill (if the weather is decent he's grilling something- seriously every night he's working the grill, but since that's one less thing for me to cook I'm ok with it haha) and I didn't want to go to the store, so I whipped together this easy healthy "pasta" dish; it's more of a "throw ingredients together" thing instead of an actual "recipe" but it turned out so good I thought I'd share how I did it so I don't forget, we will definitely make this again.

Cut a spaghetti squash in half the long way, scrape out the seeds, put cut sides down on a baking sheet sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Bake at 375' for about 45 minutes until tender. I turned the oven off and just let it stay in the oven for about an hour until I remembered that it was in there. Maybe because it sat so long (?) it was not wet at all doing it this way - I usually cook the squash in the microwave and it's so watery that I have to wring it out! Using a fork, scrape the spaghetti strands out of the rind and put in a casserole dish.

Add spaghetti sauce, a can of mushrooms (or sautéed fresh, I was lazy and used canned!), and a few pieces of cubed fresh mozzarella; mix it all together, sprinkle with grated parmesan, and bake until heated thru and the cheese is melted.

I didn't add any more veggies since it's already solid veg, but you can add if you want! It'd also be good if you added meat (chopped chicken, italian sausage, ground beef, etc) or serve as a side dish. We kept it veggie and served with a side salad. Yum, this was perfect on a rainy night!


10.12.18: Halloween flamingo

10.12.17: paper covered wood owl

10.12.16: Cassandra's no-bake cookies

10.12.15: Halloween tree

Dia de Muertos Cookie

Cleaning up photos and came across this very cool cookie that Brooke decorated for a Spanish class assignment and even tho I thought I blogged it already I can't find it - so I'm sorry if it's a repeat! But look at what a great job she did! One of these years I'd like to paint my face like this for Halloween, but I'm not sure my makeup skills are up to the task.

As a side note and reminder to myself - don't let the kid take her cool Dia de Muertos cookie to school on one of your favorite cookie sheets if you want to see the cookie sheet again 🤦‍♀️

10.11.18: butterscotch sugar cookies
10.11.17: german chocolate bread
10.11.16: fixing the toilet lever
10.11.15: meatloaf stuffed acorn squash