Texas Sheet Cake

The beauty of gummy worms is you can turn something tasty, but not creepy, into a great Halloween treat just by adding one or two of these bad boys. That's how this cake from Trina Bowers came to be at our Halloween night, anyway! I gotta say, I've had lots of sheet cake, but this was my favorite yet! It was thick and fudgy, somewhere between cake and brownies- just how I like it!


CAKE:
2 C sugar
2 C flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp soda
1 C margarine
4 heaping tbsp cocoa
1 C water
1/2 C buttermilk {you can use 1 tsp vinegar or lemon juice in a 1/2 C container and add whole milk until full. Let set a few minutes}
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla


Mix dry ingredients together; set aside. Bring margarine, cocoa and water to a boil and pour hot over dry ingredients. Mix together and add buttermilk, eggs and vanilla. Pour into greased and floured jelly roll pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.


FROSTING:
1/2 C margarine
4 heaping tbsp cocoa
5 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 lg box powdered sugar

While cake is baking, bring first 3 ingredients to a boil add vanilla and beat in powdered sugar. Pour and spread over cake while warm.

Halloweenies with Mustard Dip

Besides being super cute mummies, these Lil' Smokies wrapped in crescent rolls would be an awesome appetizer at a Halloween party. Catrina Bowers found this at Pilsbury.com. I'm thinking Halloween lunch...

1 can (8 OZ) refrigerated crescent roll dough
44 cocktail-size smoked link sausage
1/2 C creamy Dijon mustard
1 tbsp dried oregano leaves


Heat oven to 375 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with cooking parchment paper. Roll dough sheet out to one large rectangle, cut vertically to make two 11x7" rectangles. Cut crosswise into total of 44 strips. Pat sausages dry. Wrap 1 strip of dough around each sausage to look like a little mummy; press firmly at each end to secure. Place on cookie sheet 2 inches apart for even browning. Bake 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Meanwhile, in small bowl, mix mustard and oregano. Dot a small amount of mustard or catsup to make eyes {Trina used a baby medicine dropper for this, which worked out great}. Serve sausages warm with mustard dip.


I had made something similar for lunch a few days earlier with full sized hot dogs. Directions are pretty similar, but it took 1 can crescent dough to make about 6 hot dogs, 8 if you leave space between the wrapping. I made the eyes with a little ball of cheese.

Spicy Buffalo Chicken Dip

Trina Bowers knew exactly what she wanted to bring when she heard that we were doing appetizers! It was a fabulous mix of all those classic buffalo chicken flavors! My husband stopped by for a sample of everything while it was fresh and he said this was his favorite. I could totally see a bunch of guys sitting around watching a football game noshing on this in between plays. It just wasn't very attractive for presentation, so Jayme Welly helped me out!
Aren't you just dying to try it now?!?! ;) Thanks, Jayme!

2 (10 oz) cans chunk chicken, drained
2 (8 oz) pkgs cream cheese, softened
1 C ranch dressing {or to taste}
3/4 C pepper sauce {i.e. Frank's Red Hot. Add more or less to taste}
1 1/2 C shredded cheddar cheese

Add all ingredients to a crock pot on low until all ingredients are mixed together and warm.

Lasagna

Catrina Bowers isn't typically a lasagna fan, but she makes exception for this lasagna recipe from her grandma. Catrina left out the ricotta cheese because her family isn't a fan of it. It was good, and now I'm curious how it would be WITH the ricotta...

1 box of lasagna noodles, cooked according to directions on box

1 1/2 lbs hamburger

1 medium onion, chopped

2 (15 oz) cans tomato sauce

1/2 can tomato paste

1 container ricotta cheese

6 C shredded mozzarella cheese

Brown the hamburger with the onion. Drain the grease; add sauce and paste. Spread a little bit of the hamburger mixture on the bottom of a 9x13" pan. Place a layer of noodles, then a layer of 1/3 the meat mix, then a layer of 1 3/4 C cheese. Repeat two more times until only about 1/2 C of cheese is left. Cover with foil. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Take off foil and top with remaining cheese. Bake 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for 30 minutes.

***Tip- to take out the HUGE hassle of precooking your noodles and dealing with precooked noodles, use oven-ready noodles OR add 1 1/2 C water to the hamburger mix and cook an extra 20-30 minutes.

Applesauce Bread

I thought this was another banana bread, but it's not! Applesauce bread! It was as good as any banana bread I'd ever had! Excited to add that to the list of regulars!

1/3 C butter or margarine, softened
1 C sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 C applesauce
1 1/2 C flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 C raisins(optional)
1/2 C chopped walnuts (optional)

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add the egg and applesauce; mix well. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cloves. Gradually add to the creamed mixture just until combined. Fold in raisins and nuts. Pour into a greased 8"x4"x2" loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 60-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack.

Kolaches

Trina Bower's husband requested these for the evening. They were like mini cherry pie cookies, so if you like cherry pie{or any kind of pie!}, you'll love these! From her in-laws...

2 sticks of butter
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese
2 1/2 C flour
1 12-oz can fruit pie filling of your choice

Cream together butter and cream cheese. Add flour and stir. Roll out dough to your desired thickness and cut out circles about the size of a half dollar. Push thumb in the middle of the cookie. Top with powdered sugar then add filling. Bake at 375 for about 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Sherbet Party Punch

This isn't a high carb dish, but it was soooo super good it needed to be shared! Trina found this at Allrecipes.com, I think... If not, you're in luck- here it is!

32 oz fruit punch

2 liters sprite

1 liter ginger ale

28 oz raspberry sherbet

Ice

Mix together in a large punch bowl. It was best to allow the ice cream to thaw in the punch bowl as the evening went on.