Wise Owl Cheese Ball

This fun cheese ball inspiration comes from my Great Balls of Cheese cookbook, by Michelle Buffardi.  I adapted the recipe for what I had on hand and I think he turned out pretty cute.    My friend Debbie, from Mountain Breaths is going to LOVE this owl! 
Here's the recipe, if you give a "hoot"!

1 8-ounce package of cream cheese, softened

1 8-ounce tub of cream cheese with onion and chives

1 cup extra-sharp cheddar cheese (I used white)

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

a dash of Worcestershire sauce

For Decorating the owl:

1 cup sliced almonds, toasted

2 small round butter crackers

2 small pitted black olives, sliced

1 carrot

2 scoop-shaped corn chips, such as Fritos Scoops

crackers for serving

Using a stand mixer, mix together the cream cheeses, cheddar, mustard, salt and Worcestershire sauce in a bowl.  Set aside 1 teaspoon of the cream cheese mixture for attaching the eyes.  Form the remaining mixture into an owl shape-it should look like a large egg.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.  

When ready to serve, layer the almonds around the back and sides of the owl for the feathers, leaving the breast area plain.  To make the eyes, spread each small butter cracker with a little of the reserved cream cheese mixture, and stick an olive in the middle.  Affix the eyes to where the owl's face will be.  To make the beak, slice two 1/4" pieces of the carrot into triangles, and make a mouth below the owl's eyes.    To make the feet, slice six slivers from the remaining carrot and arrange at the bottom of the owl.  Finish the owl by pressing the 2 corn chips into the head for ears.  

This would be fun to serve for a Thanksgiving appetizer.  You can also check out my Turkey Cheese Ball recipe here. 

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Harvest Bars and A Snickerdoodle Candle

 My tea today is in honor of my Snickerdoodle candle that I won from bj at bj's Sweet Nothings!  Oh my goodness I wish you could smell this heavenly aroma!  The lovely people at Goose Creek Candles let me choose the scent that I wanted.  I, of course, LOVE foodie scented candles and chose Snickerdoodles.

 I'm a blogger copy catter and made this sweater-encased pumpkin that I found from

Debbie at Confessions of a Plate Addict.   You can find the directions here.  I even had a few of my grandchildren make these. 

 Here's a close up of my candle.  I couldn't for the life of me get a good picture when it was lit!  Thank you bj and Goose Creek Candle Company for this wonderful candle.  When I light it, my house smells like I've been baking.  The candle came wonderfully packaged, too. You can find the candles at their website here.     Stop by and say "Hi" to bj for me.  Bj is like the Susan Branch of Texas.  When you visit her blog, she just makes you smile and she oozes warmth and happiness.

Now for these delicious Harvest Cookie Bars, which won first place in the Easy Cookie Category of Holiday Cookies at the Dallas Morning News in 2013.  My adaptations are italicized.

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats, uncooked (I used Old Fashioned Oats)

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 (5-ounce) package dried cranberries

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter or margarine, melted

1 1/2 cups prepared pumpkin butter (I used Trader Joe's Pumpkin Butter, which is only 10 ozs, but worked and it's only $2.29!)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 13x9x2-inch baking pan.

Combine flour, soda, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl. Add oats, sugar and dried cranberries. Stir in margarine and mix well. Press half the mixture into the prepared baking pan. Top with pumpkin butter. Sprinkle with remaining crumb mixture.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until brown. Cool and cut into bars.

Makes 36 bar cookies.

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Spider Pizzas

 

I had three granddaughters spend the night and we made Spider Pizzas to get in the Halloween spirit!  I saw this idea in a magazine when I was at the hairdresser.  You could do this with bagels or English muffins. The girls enjoyed helping with this fun edible project.  Here's how we did it:

1 package of English muffins, split apart

Pizza sauce

grated mozzarella cheese

pepperoni

black or green pitted olives

Spread some sauce on the English muffin halves.  Top with pepperoni and cheese.  Add a large black or green olive to the top.  Cut  8 legs for each spider and place around his body.  Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes, or until cheese is melted.  

Enjoy!

 

Aren't they adorable??

We also made witch hats and candy acorns and remember...

What happens at Nana's stays at Nana's!!!

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Thank you for your visit!  xo