 Happy Halloween  It's Halloween and I'm gearing up for a fun night of passing out candy to all of the spidermen, princesses, pirates and puppy dogs. I love seeing all of the costumes and it's not unusual for us to get well over 300 trick or treaters in our neighborhood on Halloween night so assuming that I factored in enough extras for my husband, I bought plenty of treats for everyone.😅 Passing out all that candy can be exhausting so I made us a charBooterie tray - you know - to keep our energy levels up.🥨🍪🍫😂  Halloween should be a fun night of indulgence for everyone so if you happen to be escorting young trick or treating through my neighborhood tonight - stop by for a special treat. No need to pick your favorite candy out of your child's pumpkin - I've got extra bags of Halloween toffee just for you.😉  This toffee is super easy to make and even though I made a Halloween themed version for tonight - you could easily make this for any occasion. I'm already thinking about swapping out the orange and yellow sprinkles and candy for red and green Christmas sprinkles or fun Valentine decorations. 😅  Halloween Toffee 35 saltine crackers 1 cup butter 1 cup brown sugar 1 1/4 cups semi sweet chocolate chips Candy eyes Reese’s pieces Halloween sprinkles
 Place in frig until hardened.  Break into pieces.  Happy Halloween - stay safe.
Ciao!
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 When I think of Halloween - these are the pictures that come to my mind.🐇🦕🐕🦺🎃🤠 (I have no idea where the sombero cowboy costume came from.😂 )
I have mixed feelings about Halloween. There are parts of it that I don't love. I hate scary movies, creepy decorations and the overabundance of sugary treats but there are things about Halloween that I do enjoy. I loved making homemade costumes for the kids, carving jack 0'lanterns and eating roasted pumpkin seeds.🎃  The goal is to hand out all of the candy in our bucket to the trick or treaters on Friday so we don't have leftovers. Speaking only for myself, of course.😅 Not to worry though - I'll be making Halloween CharBOOterie for us to snack on while we pass out treats. What is CharBooterie, you ask?😅 Basically, Halloween themed snacks and goodies like cheese cut into cat shapes and pumpkin shaped sandwiches.🐈⬛🎃 🤣 Halloween is the perfect excuse for me to break out my Jack O'Lantern cookie cutters. I've use this cookie cutter almost every year to make sugar cookies and cut peanut butter and grilled cheese sandwiches. This year I used it to make Chocolate Stuffed Pumpkin Cookies. The lightly spiced dough is the perfect base for the dark chocolate center and browned butter and cinnamon sugar topping. They're amazing and if you happen to knock on my door on Halloween night - I just might put one in your hand too.  Chocolate Stuffed Pumpkin Cookies 1 1/2 cups butter, softened 1 1/4 cups light brown sugar, packed 1 Tablespoon vanilla 2 eggs, room temperature 4 1/2 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ginger 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon salt 12 ounces chocolate, melted Cinnamon Sugar Topping 2 Tablespoons butter 3 Tablespoons cinnamon sugar
 Top each chocolate cookie with a cinnamon sugar cookie.  Ciao!
 Pumpkin lovers - where are you?? I feel like this is going to be an unpopular opinion but I will admit that I prefer to eat my pumpkin instead of drinking it. Sorry Pumpkin Spice Latte lovers but it's the truth.😬 If you don't agree - I encourage you to replace your PS latte with one of my favorite edible pumpkin treats one morning and see if it might change your mind. pumpkin gingersnaps pumpkin cupcakes pumpkin biscotti pumpkin roll pumpkin banana bread pumpkin crescent rolls pumpkin butterscotch cake pumpkin cinnamon rolls pumpkin coffee cake pumpkin pecan chocolate chip cookies 
 Pumpkin Butter Pancakes 2 Tablespoons butter 1/2 cup pumpkin butter 1 egg 1 egg yolk 1 cup milk 1 Tablespoon maple syrup 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract 1 1/4 cups flour 2 Tablespoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup chocolate chips
Add 1/4 cupfuls of batter to hot pan and cook until bubbles form. Flip and cook until golden brown.  Ciao!
 There's something special about spending time with your adult children. And if that means driving to the coast so we can spend the day boating and fishing together - I'm here for it.🎣😅
We had the best time catching all those fish but if I'm being honest, it was equal parts fun and exhausting - and I did very little of the work.😂🤷🏻♀️ By the time we packed up the poles and cleaned our fish, we were too tired (and hungry) to cook so we took our fish to Fish Tales and let them prepare a delicious fish dinner for us. It doesn't get much better than eating the red fish and trout for dinner that we caught the very same day.🐟😋  Since we don't live near the coast - or own a boat - we don't have the option to go out and catch fresh fish for dinner every week so we have to rely on the next best thing - fish given to us by generous fishermen who live in Savannah.😉 @phillip.may.581 We were given this Cobia fish a few months ago which was a fish that I had never tried before and it was delicious. 😋 I was raised eating fresh water fish that we caught in Lake Erie so salt water fish is something that's relatively new to me. I've been introduced to so many new varieties of salt water fish and it's fair to say - I'm a big fan and I'm slowly learning how to cook it. No matter what kind of fish it is, I'm usually partial to grilled or sautéed fish as opposed to fried filets. I love a good blackened fish but sometimes I feel like blackened seasoning is too salty or spicy. This recipe has a seasoning blend that hits that blend perfectly. It's got a lot of good flavor but it's not spicy or overly salty. If you're a fan of deliciously seasoned grilled fish - give this recipe a try.  Cobia Taco Bowls 4 cobia fish fillets, skinned 4 teaspoons chili powder 2 teaspoons garlic powder 2 teaspoons paprika 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 1 teaspoon salt Fish Taco Bowl 2 cups brown rice, cooked 8 oz pre-shredded slaw mix 1 mango, sliced 1 Tablespoon lime juice 1/2 teaspoon honey 2 teaspoons olive oil 1/4 cup mayonnaise 1/2-1 teaspoon hot sauce chopped cilantro
 Top with cobia, mango, spicy mayo and cilantro.
Ciao!  Do you know the different between GRANOLA and MUESLI? I'm not really sure if this is common knowledge and I'm just not up to date on the latest food trends or if this is information that the average person actually doesn't know. Regardless, I'm here to bring some clarity to the granola/muesli quandary today for anyone else who might be in the same boat as me. Sugar and fat - it's as simple as that. Granola almost always contains some sort of sweetener (honey, maple syrup, brown sugar, etc) and a fat (usually oil) that helps bind the mixture together. Muesli doesn't contain either of those which is why it doesn't form clusters the same way that granola does. I've enjoy eating both of these but I never realized that there was the fundamental difference between them.  If you take the fat and sugar out of a granola - it naturally becomes healthier - albeit less appealing to my raging sweet tooth.😅 The addition of dried fruit adds a nice hint of sweetness but I definitely prefer to enjoy my muesli with something sweet. At the end of the day, I still feel like I come out ahead of the nutritional game by swapping my granola for muesli even if I do eat it with a giant scoop of stevia sweetened low fat yogurt. If you've ever wanted to try to make muesli for yourself - this is a great recipe to start with. Do some experimenting and swap out the nuts or fruits for your favorites. I like walnuts and almonds in my mix but if you're more of a pecan or hazelnut person - give that a try. I also went with craisins and dried apricots - mostly because that's what I had on hand - but I plan to try this recipe again with dried cherries soon.🍒  Coconut Muesli 4 cups old-fashioned oats 3/4 cup sliced almonds 1/2 cup raw pepitas 1/4 cup raw chopped walnuts 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes 1/2 cup dried apricots, finely diced 1/2 cup dried cranberries  Combine oats, almonds pepitas, walnuts, cinnamon, cardamom and salt. Spread onto a baking sheet and bake 10-15 minutes at 350.  Sprinkle coconut over baking sheets and bake another 3-5 minutes.   Cool 10 minutes. Add dried fruit and toss to combine.
 Ciao!
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