Antipasto

This zesty Italian salad is a perfect addition to any Italian dish, or makes for an excellent healthy lunch. "Homemade" Italian dressing really adds a kick, and meshes nicely with pepperoncinis. If you like spice and zest, you'll love this Italian salad! 

Salad Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp of croutons
• 2 tbsp of pepperoncinis--sliced
• 3 slices of salami, cut into strips (I used turkey salami)
• 2 cups of mixed Romaine lettuce--chopped
• 2 tbsp of Parmesan cheese cubes

Dressing ingredients:

• 2 tbsp. of Roquefort, ranch or blue cheese dressing
• 1 tsp of balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp of olive oil
• A dash of black pepper

Salad:

Toss ingredients in a large bowl, or arrange separately in a carry container, like above. This is best if the salad won't be served right away. 

Dressing:

Combine all ingredients, and whisk well with a fork.

Whole jar of dressing for refrigerator storage:

• 3/4 jar of blue cheese, Roquefort, or ranch dressing
• 4 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
• 4 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 tsp black pepper

Add all ingredients to jar, cap tightly, and shake well. 

Shake well before serving. 

Optional

• We keep a couple of glass salad dressing jars handy for mixing our own dressings. 
• Raspberry dressing: Substitute 1/2 jar of raspberry balsamic vinaigrette dressing for balsamic vinegar, and add to 1/2 jar of of your choice of creamy dressings listed above. Omit olive oil, and add 1 teaspoon of black pepper. 

Spooky Pumpkin Liqueur Cake

This spooky pumpkin cake is perfect for your Halloween party. Don't let its ghoulish exterior scare you! This cake is made from scratch, and one of the softest, moistest cakes you'll sink your fangs into. 

This cake would be perfectly presented with plastic spooky spiders and slimy slugs. 

Creepy Cake Ingredients:

• 2-1/2 cups sugar
•   1-1/4 cups canola oil
•   3 Eggs
•   3 cups all-purpose flour
•   2 teaspoons baking soda
•   2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
•   1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
•   1 tablespoon of maple extract
•   1/2 teaspoon salt
•   1 can (16 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin
•   ½  cup pumpkin cream liqueur 

Ghoulish Glaze Ingredients

•          2 tablespoons of melted butter
•          2 cups of powdered sugar
•          2 tablespoons of pumpkin cream liqueur
•          Green, red, and yellow food coloring

Deadly Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, combine sugar and oil until blended thoroughly with an electric mixer. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, vanilla, maple extract, pumpkin cream liqueur, and salt; add to egg mixture alternately with pumpkin, beating well after each addition. If mixture seems stiff, add a bit more oil.

Transfer to a greased 10-in. Bundt pan. Bake 45 minutes, or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before inverting onto a plate.

Ghoulish Glaze Directions:
Combine melted butter, powdered sugar, and pumpkin cream liqueur, and whisk well. Reserve 3 heaping tablespoons of glaze to a separate small dish. Add 1 drop of red, and 3 drops of yellow food coloring to larger bowl of glaze. Mix well. Add more yellow and one drop of red for a more orange color. 

Add 8 drops of green to smaller dish of glaze, and mix well. 

Using your whisk, drizzle peach colored glaze over cake, allowing it to run down the sides. Drizzle green glaze just over the top of the cake. Some will run down the sides, but that's the idea. ;-)

Optional: 

• Garnish with plastic spiders. 
• Add more food coloring to orange icing for a deeper orange color. 
• Add one upside-down green ice cream cone to center, as a stem.

Yield: 12-16 servings. 

Simple Harvest Soup

Fall is here! Warm your taste buds with this easy-to-make harvest soup. Rich, buttery autumn flavors of yam, carrot, and spices melt in the mouth with this cozy creation!

Ingredients:

2 15oz cans of yams

1 14.5oz can of sliced carrots, drained

1 clove roughly chopped garlic

1 1/2 cups nonfat milk (or cream, if you desire)

1 Tbsp. butter or margarine

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 - 1/2 tsp. fine ground pepper (depending on how much heat you like)

1 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

Place the two cans of yams, juice and all, in a blender or large food processor. Drain the carrots and place those in as well, with the chopped garlic, and blend until smooth.

Mixture will be thick.

Pour the mixture into a medium or large sauce pan on medium heat. As the soup heats, stir while adding the milk and margarine. 

Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and parsley and stir until well combined. Simple, easy, and yummy in the tummy!