Samantha's Appetizers for Thanksgiving

Alison was only really interested in the goldfish crackers.





Samantha slept over the night before Thanksgiving.
She made puppy chow and then in the morning she set up a whole table full of appetizers for her family to snack on when they arrived a while before Thanksgiving dinner would actually start. She made ants on a log and ants on snow.
Mostly we just found random things in cupboards and she found lots of small bowls or platters or trays for displaying them.

Orange Salad

Orange Salad

In my family, we have this funny habit of calling things by their color.  We have a pink salad, green salad, orange salad...and we all know exactly what those are.  We used to have a couple of cars:  the red car, the white car, the blue car, etc.  People think it's funny, but to us, it's pretty normal.

1 carton cottage cheese
1 8 oz pkg cool whip
1 small pkt orange jello (as powder)
1 can mandarin oranges (drained)

Mix all ingredients together very well.  Chill in fridge for 1+ hours till you are ready to serve it.

Shaunika's Notes:
I like to use fat free cottage cheese and sugar free cool whip--and it's still so yummy!

Oreo Turkey Treat

This is just one of those things that Thanksgiving means to me! 

 It's tradition! 

I made these every Thanksgiving for years as a child. 

So this year, I passed on the tradition and made them with mine.

 Scrape the Oreos.

 Glop on some chocolate frosting.

 Put the cookies together like this and add a Whopper.

 Line up some Candy Corn.

 Add a Raisinette with a little frosting as the glue.

 Use Red Gel for the gobbler thingy.

Samantha had so much fun!

Samantha makes Puppy Chow

9 cups Chex type- rice cereal squares or Crisp-ix
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 c powdered sugar

Directions:
--put the chocolate chips and peanut butter in a large glass measure-cup
--heat in microwave for 30-40 seconds at a time -stirring after each time, until the chocolate chips are melted and are all stirred into the peanut butter
--mix until smooth
--measure cereal into large plastic bowl
--pour chocolate-peanut butter mix over the cereal and stir to coat it
--put the powdered sugar in a large plastic bag, add the coated cereal and shake until it is all well coated
--if you have any left after people get a chance to eat it then store the left-overs in a plastic zip-lock bag

Gingered Carrots

This was a really easy way to dress up baby carrots.

Cook them in a pot with not too much water. When it starts to boil turn the pan off and leave the lid on to steam the carrots inside the pan.

In another pan melt 2-6 Tablespoons butter, (depending on how many carrots you have cooked) add 1 T fresh snipped parsley (or dried), grate about 1 tsp. fresh ginger into the butter.

Drain the carrots, put them in a bowl and pour the melted butter mixture over them.

Oreo Turkey

Open the Oreo cookie and scrape out the frosting. Use a bunch of chocolate frosting on the bottom cookie, and put a malted milk ball on it, then more frosting on the back cookie and arrange the candy corn for feathers. Dip a chocolate covered raisin in some frosting and stick it on top of the malted milk ball for the head. Use some red gel for a little turkey gobbler.

Amish Breakfast Casserole

It was fast Sunday so we didn't let it brown quite enough, but was so yummy.

1 pound bacon, diced (I used sausage)

1 medium onion
6 eggs -lightly beaten
4 cups frozen, shredded hash browns ( I used cubed)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1-1/2 c small-curd cottage cheese
1-1/4 c shredded Swiss cheese

( I also added 2 cups of shredded zucchini)

In large skillet, cook bacon and onion until bacon is crisp; drain.
In a bowl, combine the remaining ingredients; stir in the bacon mixture.
Transfer to a greased 9x13-inch baking dish. Bake , uncovered, at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until set and bubbly.
Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.

Yield: 12 servings.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

Source:  Taste of Home:  Halloween Party Favorites

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

2 cups canned pumpkin

1-1/4 cups vegetable oil

1-1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

In a large bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda.  In another bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, pumpkin, and oil.  Stir into the dry ingredients just until moistened.  Fold in the chocolate chips.  Pour into two greased 8x4x2 inch loaf pans.

Bake at 350 degrees for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. 

Sam LOVES to bake and help in the kitchen!