Make it From Scratch Carnival

This week's Make it From Scratch Carnival was hosted by Rina the Mama Bear over at Gotta Little Space to Fill. Although I would advise stopping by her blog to get the full list of entries, I wanted to post a quick sample of some favorites here too.

These Lemon Meringue Cupcakes look soooooo good. Like seriously deliciously good.

They are just so cute aren't they? They are the creation of Liss, of Frills in The Hills. I think that they are delightful little cupcakes and I'm thinking that the men in my family would love them. (We have a few lemon fans among us)

Another post that intrigued me was a Blue Hubbard Squash Casserole recipe, posted at Local Nourishment. After working in the produce department of our local Wegmans for many years, I developed a taste for many fruits and vegetables that I wouldn't normally have tried. (I couldn't very well have given away samples of dishes without TRYING them could I???) Hubbard Squash never made it onto my list of "I've had that" vegetables. In fact recently I walked by one and thought that I'd like to give it a try but it's a very intimidating squash, quite large in stature and I would need a recipe to venture into it. Well, now I have one and I'll probably give it a try. Plus Hubby will like it because there's mozzarella cheese in it. (Get it, Hubby will like the Hubbard squash??? I crack myself up!)

One of the things that I've tried to establish at our house is a Mexican food night. I've tried to include on Mexican recipe each week and thus far it's worked well. We like Mexican food and it's not hard to make healthy versions of such things. Obviously the post for Homemade Refried Beans at Prosper & Be in Health stood out to me immediately as being helpful. And of course this post for Homemade Enchilada Sauce from Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker was of interest to me also.

These are just a few of the posts, and as always there were non-food posts that were awesome also, so be sure to stop over and check out the whole carnival!

Make It From Scratch 9/08/09

This week's Make It From Scratch Carnival is hosted by Rina the Mama Bear at Gotta Little Space to fill. Our post this week was the blackberry pie , which by the way makes my mouth water just looking at it. My mama makes the best pie. Anyhoo, the other posts shared at the carnival this week were great too.



I was intrigued by Mr. Salsa's blog. The post that he shared was Red Hot Salsa and it sounded good, but I wandered through a couple of his other salsa's too while I was there and they all sounded good to me.



There was a great Quick Homemade Breadstick recipe posted by the Homemaker Helper this week. It's definitely quicker than other breadstick recipes I've tried. And they look delicious too...

I am thinking of trying these for my Prayer and Praise night snack, along with some dipping sauce. There's nothing like a bunch of garlic-breathed people making a joyful noise.



There are a bunch of other great recipes too, so be sure to stop by that link and check them out!

Make it From Scratch Carnival Sept 1

Good Morning to you, and Happy September! I don't have any school age kids but I know that September represents a busy time for many.. I hope that you'll take a moment to explore this week's Make It From Scratch Blog carnival, hosted by Simply Forties. There are some really great posts this week, including my Best Ever Peanut Butter Fudge.



There are so many great posts in this week's carnival that I'm not even sure which ones to highlight. I'll just pick a few.. but be sure to click over to the carnival to see them all, because I'm only highlighting the food-related posts and there are some great crafts too.



I don't know if anyone else has had them but Dunkin Donuts sells a lemonade coolatta that is oh-so-good but probably oh-so-not-good for me. I'm sure it's loaded with sugar. Well Funny about Money posted a recipe for her Fizzie Lemonade, which sounds very refreshing and easy to make at home. I think I'm going to try it because I imagine I could make a whole batch for the same cost as one of those DD drinks.



Rina the Mama Bear is always a favorite of mine and this week she submitted an Applesauce Cake with Caramel Whipped Cream on one of her blogs, Gotta Little Space.

It looks delicious, doesn't it? I'll definitely be trying this one, it's right up my alley. It just sounds like such a comfort food. And I bet my dad will love it.

And the third post that I'll mention is one for Creamed Corn and Basil Baked Pudding, shared by LJM's kitchen. I love corn pudding and I'm intrigued by the addition of Basil in the recipe, especially because I feel like I've not been getting the best use out of my herb garden this year. This recipe is a unique way to use Basil, that's for sure. I think I'll try it!

Those are just three of the interesting posts on Make it From Scratch this week. Be sure to swing by HERE to see the rest!

Happy Cooking!

Best Ever Peanut Butter Fudge

Last weeke we went to our County Fair as part of my birthday celebration. I love the fair, I might as well be party carnie. I have to admit that my favorite part is the fair food. Candy apples, fried dough, curly fries... the list goes on. I think "Fair Season" might be one of my favorites.

There is always a candy booth set up with taffy, fudge, etc. and when I walked by I noticed how expensive it was! I don't know if anyone has tried to buy fudge at a candy shop lately, but it's very very expensive. I've seen it at $15lb for pity's sake! Which is why for the Make it From Scratch Carnival I'm submitting this recipe for homemade peanut butter fudge. It's better than any store bought fudge you could ever find, and much more affordable.

It's easy too, so for those of you who are nervous about candy making, just follow the directions and you'll be fine. I use a candy thermometer just because I like things black/white.. I don't like to have to drop little balls in water to test them. But you could do that if you like.

Peanut Butter Fudge
1 tspn cornstarch
1 Tbsp water
1/2 bag of brown sugar (the 2lb size)
3 Tbsp sugar
1/2 c. milk
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbls vanilla extract
8 oz smooth peanut butter. (I eyeball it and just use roughly half of my 18oz jar)
Butter an 8x8" pan. Mix cornstarch and water and set aside. Dissolve sugars with milk and butter in a heavy saucepan with a candy thermometer in it. Heat until thermometer reaches the softball stage or 234 degrees. Stir in cornstarch mixture and remove from heat. It will appear lumpy. Blend in vanilla and peanut butter, stirring carefully until it melts and is evenly combined. Pour into the buttered pan and let cool.

That's it! After it's cool you can cut it into bite size squares and package them up prettily. Then you can give someone the gift of sugar shock because the recipe makes 2 pounds so there's enough to share. Or you can just keep it all at your house and eat it all. I'm not judging you.

Make It From Scratch Carnival!

The Make It From Scratch Blog Carnival is being hosted by It's Frugal Being Green this week, and the cooks of Granny's Kitchen submitted the recipe for Chicken Salad Puffs from this post.

There were all sorts of good submissions this week. Look at this pizza crust:

It's a Summer Squash Pizza Crust that was submitted by The Daily Diner, which sounds so interesting and healthy, and yummy too. I think it would be a great way to use up extra zucchini.

Another interesting post was from The Lobster Queen. She gave this recipe for Lobster soup, using the shells to make a broth. We love lobster around here, although we don't usually splurge and buy it.. this might be a good way to make a more expensive item stretch for us.

These are just a few of my favorites so please check out the carnival, there are a lot of recipes shared this week, along with some crafts and other things.