For your little superhero!

My kids love dress up!  We have two dress up boxes FULL of costumes and my kiddos use them atleast 3 times a week.  It isn't unusual to see a Power Ranger, Snow White, and a bumblebee at our dinner table.  Or a superhero, a unicorn, and a witch.  Or Dracula, Princess Belle, and a little pirate.  And the list goes on!  I never buy costumes at full price.  Instead, I go AFTER Halloween and stock up when the prices are 75% or even 90% off.  Then come October 1st the following year, my kids look through the dress up boxes and see what they'd like to be.  They always have lots to choose from.  Well next year they have even more Halloween costume possibilities because this past weekend I took all of the old tee shirts in the house that had a stain or small hole in the front and turned them all into superhero capes.  It is very easy to do and it's inexpensive.  Plus, it only takes a few minutes, a pair of sharp scissors, and some chalk, plus a little velcro. 

First off, take your old tee and chalk a line around the collar and shoulder area of the sleeves. 

 You're going to leave the collar and the back of the shirt in tact and cut off all of the sleeves and the front of the shirt. 

Cut the collar right in the center of the front of it.  You can trim both sides so it fits a little more snug.  Then attach velcro to each side so it fastens.  You can find sticky sided velcro at any craft store, or sew it on. 

 

Now your little superheros have new capes to fly around with and save the world!!! 

Halloween leftovers~ Candy roll

I'm sure we all have a huge bag of candy (x3 in my house!) that we are all trying to avoid right now.  The novelty of having a ton of candy in the house wears off very quickly for my kids, and I hate to throw it away.  We usually get a big portion together to donate, shelters take candy and there are drop off sites for Troop donations.  I usually keep some for Christmas baking.  M&Ms, Jr Mints, Heath, butterfinger are all good for Christmas baking.  And the ones that are my kiddos favorites we end up keeping.  I ended up raiding the piles of their favorites this weekend and baked two different desserts.  One was a chocolate chip cookie bar, which I'll blog about later, and this one which was an experiment that turned out really yummy. 

I ended up taking refrigerated dough and rolling it out into a long rectangle.  I then took some ricotta (You can also use cream cheese.  We were out of cream cheese but had plenty of ricotta) and spread it along the dough.  I melted a few Werther's Originals baking caramels and lightly drizzled that on top of the ricotta.  Then I had the kids pick a few of their favorite candies from their piles.  We ended up using Whoppers, M&M's, Nestle Crunch bars and plain Hershey bars.  I put them in my food processor and crushed them up really good.  Then I spread the mix on top of the caramel drizzle. 

I then rolled the dough up all the way,

put it on a non stick baking sheet and baked it for about 17 min at 350* until the dough was golden. 

I then took the remainder of the melted Werther's caramel and drizzled it on top.  I sliced the roll into 1" slices and my family ended up having it for dessert one night.  It wasn't overly sweet, since the dough and the ricotta cut the sweetness, but it was just enough for a huge treat.  And it was really yummy. 

Holiday toy shopping

Just a quick little tip here.  Toys R Us now does price matching!!!  If you go to Toys R us and check the online price at Walmart or Amazon.com and the price is higher at Toys R us, you can actually bring your phone to the check out and get your item price matched!  The item has to be the exact same one as the ad shows (it can't be a different color or style, has to be the same size, etc) and you MUST show the cashier the ad on your phone.  So for instance, if you see a Lego Duplo set in the Toys R us store for $29.99, and check it out online and see that Walmart.com or Amazon.com have it for $24.99, you will be able to buy it for $24.99 at Toys R Us just by showing the cashier the ad on your phone for proof!  This saves you a lot of money on shipping now, especially since Amazon.com has now started charging sales tax! 

Happy toy shopping!!!

Pumpkin ravioli recipe

24 wonton wraps
1 can of pumpkin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp pumpkin pie spice
pinch of cayenne pepper
pinch of nutmeg
1/4 tsp thyme
2 eggs

Add all of the ingredients except for the wonton wrappers and 1 egg into a bowl.  Use a whisk to mix it all together thoroughly. 

In a seperate bowl, whisk the leftover egg for an egg wash.

Boil a quart of water on high heat.

Lay each wonton wrapper flat on the counter or a baking sheet and using a brush (or your finger), brush the edges of each wonton wrapper.  Put a decent size scoop of the pumpkin mixture on each wrap and fold the wrap over diagonally, pinching the edges together.  (each ravioli will be a triangle shape now) Put the raviolis in the boiling water and cook for 5-7 minutes.  Coat a frying pan with vegetable oil and heat on medium high heat.  Take the raviolis out of the water and fry a few at a time until they are golden brown.  You can also skip this step if you'd like, and just eat the raviolis boiled.  Frying makes them a little crispy and browned.  They taste great both ways. 

We serve these with a brown butter and sage sauce.  They are the perfect meal for a cool fall or winter night. 

A special Holiday offer from Sports Illustrated Kids

Just in time for the holiday season, Sports Illustrated Kids is now offering a special subscription for Monkeys and Moustache readers. Now, when you purchase an entire year of SI Kids in print and on tablet for $19.95, you can send a second gift of 12 issues (1 year) for only $5!

Here is a special code to receive this deal, www.sikids.com/gift.

The magazine is jam-packed with action photos, easy-to-read stories, tips from the pros, hysterical comics, and engaging activities for boys and girls who love sports. SI Kids has won highest honors from the Association of Educational Publishers, as well as the Parents’ Choice Award.

Here are more reasons to give the gift of Sports Illustrated Kids:

• It is the perfect stocking stuffer

• It promotes reading to children who are reluctant readers

• Each issue is full of exciting stories, photos and games- the perfect distraction for holiday travel

• It is delivered straight to your door

• No gift wrapping required

• It’s the gift that keeps on giving the whole year through

I just ordered a subscription for my 9 year old son and know he is going to love it!  If you have a kiddo who is into sports like my guy, please use this code to order www.sikids.com/gift 

Apple and bacon tartlets with caramel drizzle

Apple, Bacon, caramel, brown sugar and cinnamon.  Yup, that's right.  I put them all together in one delicious bite.  And it was AMAZING.  It was a little creation I came up with after seeing all of the apples my family came home with from the orchard.  So easy, so yummy.  And with a hot caramel drizzle, it makes the perfect dessert!  Thank you, Werther's!


Take a few slices of bacon and bake it on a cookie sheet for about 10-12 minutes at 400*.  While that's cooking, I take a can of biscuit dough and slice each biscuit in half.  Then I slice it open to make a little pocket.  I take a smear of cinnamon cream cheese and spread it inside the pocket. I take my apples, slice them up, peel them, and toss them in a bowl with cinnamon and brown sugar.  Then I take a few slices and stuff each pocket with them. 

 When the bacon is cooked, I let it cool and chop it into small pieces. I then add enough bacon to each pocket for my liking. More if you are a bacon fan, and less if..... wait, is there anyone who ISNT a bacon fan???? Stuff it full of BACON!!!!  Then I close up the pocket, sealing each edge closed. 

I sprinkle each pocket with a little more brown sugar and cinnamon.  Then I bake them at 350* for about 10-15 min, when they are golden brown, I take them out of the oven. 

While they are baking, I take my Werther's baking caramels, unwrap them, and toss them in a small sauce pan with a tiny bit of cream. 

I used a salted caramel creamer today, but you can use regular cream, also.  2 Tbsp is usually enough cream for a whole bag of Werther's.  Cook it on a low heat, stirring every 2-3 minutes.  It takes a while to get melting, but once it starts to melt, it gets soft pretty fast. Melt until its nice and creamy.  Then I use my stirring spoon to drizzle the caramel over the bacon apple tartlets. 

Serve warm.  It would also be an awesome dessert served hot, over vanilla ice cream. 

I received free Werther's Original products in order to make this sponsored recipe and more.  The opinions expressed here are my own.  This recipe will be found on the Werther's recipe page, http://werthers.werthersecloud.us Please visit this site for more yummy treats made with Werther's Originals. 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

To all my little ghouls and goblins that read this blog, I want you to have a fun but safe Halloween!  Enjoy your nights, whether you are trick or treating with your little Monkeys or headed out to a party.  HAVE FUN!! 

 This is my Captain America, my little Unicorn, and my Rockstar!

And for all of you who need a quick and easy snack idea for preschools or kids Halloween parties.......


Tomorrow is my daughter's day to bring in snack for her kindergarten class.  So I made her Mummies and bones to bring in! 

 

The mummies are just small boxes of yogurt covered raisins.  I took white crepe paper, cut it lengthwise to make narrow strips, wrapped the boxes and added googly eyes.  The bones are pizza crust dough!  I made a salted dough, rolled it in my hands, snipped the ends with scissors

 

 And folded the snipped pieces in towards each other.  It made a femur bone shape. 

I lightly sprayed a cookie sheet and put the bones down on it. Then I sprinkled kosher salt on it and baked for about 12 minutes on 425* until they were golden brown.  They make really yummy pretzels!  I make these each year for Halloween parties and the kids love them.  And so easy!  It only took me about 40 minutes to make everything this morning.  Happy Halloween!!!