"A Wink and a Smile"

Baked Cinnamon French Toast with berries h/t Pioneer Woman

Looks good, eh? I'm cheating a little with a ready chicken from SAMS. Instead I cooked my spaghetti in chicken stock. This big guy loves to lay on my vent in the winter and the summer months ... hogging any sort of air to make the family room comfortable. This is the "I was sleeping look". I've said it before, but this puppy is work. I'm sure you couldn't tell at all from this photo. He looks all innocent and sweet. You almost want to kiss those pink dog lips. Slightly out of focus picture of Comet. Here he is enjoying a quiet moment chewing the bone that he almost never gets to eat in peace. I'm cooking one of Pioneer Woman's dishes tonight and couldn't help but to share some doggies as well. They go hand in hand, don't they?

An idea for those who may happen to STILL have some stuffing leftovers. Take your stuffing and mix in 3-4 eggs.  I had about a 2qt. dish leftover ... my girls won't touch the stuffing so it is always just the hubby and me (and other family when they are visiting).  Let it sit for a little bit to absorb the liquid.  Form little balls/dumplings.  Bake for 25-30 minutes (at 350) ... turning at the 20 minute mark. Then serve these little babies with some cranberry/orange relish.  We just love to use the recipe from the back of the Oceanspray cranberries bag.  Basically it is a whole orange or two, one cup of sugar and the bag of cranberries pulverized in the processor. YUMMY ... I think I may just like this better than the stuffing on day one.

Is is silly on Halloween to be baking sugary icing chocolate chip pumpkin muffins? Lately I feel like I have a big fat "F" in the special treats department . So today my children will get my pumpkin muffins for dinner.  There is some nutritional value with eggs and pumpkin ... right?  Dessert will be CANDY and lots of it. *Don't worry before crashing from their sugar high those girls will BRUSH THEIR TEETH a long, long time. Recipe for Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins YUM YUM! Ingredients: 1 cup flour 1 cup sugar 1tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp of baking soda 1/4 tsp. salt 1 tsp. of cinnamon 2 eggs beaten 1 cup canned pumpkin 1/2 cup cooking oil 1/3 cup of miniature chocolate chips Directions: 1. In one bowl combine ... eggs, pumpkin, and oil. 2. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients, then fold in the chips (you can also addpecans, but I am allergic). 3. Spoon batter in to muffin cups (2/3 full) and bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees

FEED MY FAMILY BETTER! I will admit that this is a big weakness on my part.  I love eating good food, but I don't necessarily like being the one to prepare it.  Most of the time it is because I am not well organized in this department.  My family doesn't eat all that much junk food, but the variety and creativity is just not happening.  To be creative means that I have to search for good recipes, menu plan, make detailed grocery store lists, and actually COOK.   The usual routine in our house ... Big grocery shop on the weekend (although since I no longer homeschool, I am trying to avoid weekend BIG trips) with one or two short stops in the week. Plan 3 dinners (I know that there are 7 days in a week ... I need to plan more) "Think" about what dinner will be sometime in the day, but not really decide until minutes before I need to feed my family Cook that dinner within 45 minutes (on a good slow day) of sitting down to eat it. THIS PLAN REALLY DOES STINK! The witching...

During the 3x a week that I run at the gym, I usually set myself up to listen to music and watch whatever they show on the many television screens placed in front of the cardio machines. Mostly the shows are news, cooking, or comedy. I try to find my inspiration with the cooking shows. Running while watching good food being made seems like an oximoron sometimes, but I enjoy it. Yesterday I caught wind of this segmant of Rachael Ray ... Turkey Sweet Potato Shepard's Pie It isn't the prettiest of recipes, but it was soooooooo yummy. I did some modifying of my own, but basically I cooked it as described. ALL OF MY GIRLS loved it. 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 2 pounds ground turkey or chopped leftover turkey Salt and freshly ground black pepper 2 teaspoons poultry seasoning 2 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed 1 onion, cut into 1-inch dice 2 carrots, peeled and grated 4 ribs celery, chopped 4 tablespoons butter, divided 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 2 cups turkey...