Years ago I had a wonderful neighbor who for Halloween made all of the kids in the neighborhood popcorn balls. She also made cookies and we could go over once a day to get one of them. They were the best!

A few years ago at a garage sale I found a set of popcorn ball makers in two sizes, they were dark red and made by Jolly Time popcorn. I ran across them the other day and decided to try them out. One of the reasons I never liked making popcorn balls was you need to work very fast to make the balls while the syrup is still pretty warm.

Here is the recipe I used.

Night Of The Living Popcorn Balls

5 qt. popcorn
2 C. sugar
1 1/2 C. water
1/2 t. salt
1/2 C. light corn syrup
1 t. vinegar
1 t. vanilla

Keep popcorn hot and crisp in a slow 300 degrees oven. Combine sugar, water, salt, corn syrup and vinegar. Cook to hard boil stage (250 degrees). Add vanilla. Pour slowly over popcorn. Mix well to coat and form into balls.

Makes 15 to 20 Night of the living popcorn balls.

http://www.razzledazzlerecipes.com/halloween/popcorn-balls.htm

I had taken out a couple of chicken breasts last night for dinner and this is the result. It was quick, delicious and easy.

Chicken Broccoli Casserole

2 chicken breasts - cubed and browned (about 3/4 lb.)
2 heads of broccoli - blanched
1 carrot - sliced
1/4 lb. spaghetti - cooked
1 can mushroom soup
1 soup can milk
1 cup cheedar cheese - shredded
1/2 lb. mushrooms
Salt and pepper to taste

Cut the chicken into large chunks and brown. Don’t cook until done, just brown them lightly. Blanch the broccoli and carrots in boiling water. After the water comes back to a boil cook for 3 minutes. Remove from pan and drain.

Cook spaghetti until not quite done, it will finish cooking in the oven. Drain and rinse well.

Add all the ingredients to a bowl and mix well. Pour into a lightly greased baking dish.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Mixture should be hot and bubbly.

Serve with a salad and crusty french bread.

Serves 3 - 4

Note: If I was going to serve 4 people this dish, I would add another chicken breast.

I baked a pie pumpkin the other day after I got an email asking a question about pumpkin butter. I decided I’d try the recipe. I had a little left over so I decided to try a pumpkin scone recipe I had. Now I rarely leave a recipe as I see it first and this recipe was no exception.

Here’s the recipe after I adapted it.

Pumpkin Scones

2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 cup fresh pumpkin (can substitute canned)
3 tbsp milk
1 extra large egg
1/2 cup cold butter, cut into cubes

Plain glaze:
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 tbsp whole milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 425F.

Combine all purpose flour, granulated sugar, baking powder salt, nutmeg, ground cloves, ground ginger together in the food processor. Pulse a few times to mix ingredients.

Cut butter into pieces and pulse the food processor until butter is blended and resembles a coarse meal.

Add all the remaining scone ingredients and mix until mixture comes to a ball. This dough will be very soft.

I used a a tablespoon to drop the batter into my mini scone pan.

Bake for 14-16 minutes or until scones turn light brown.

While scones cool, mix ingredients for glaze, until the mixture becomes smooth. Brush glaze over scones, when they are still warm.

Make 12 mini scones.

Want to see how they turned out?

If you have never baked a fresh pumpkin here is how I do it. Cut the top off like you are going to carve it. Scrape out the seeds. Place the pumpkin with the lid back on it on a baking sheet that has been lined with foil. Bake at 350 degrees for about a hour. This will depend on your pumpkin size. It is done when you can piece it easily with a knife. Let the pumpkin cool. Remove the pumpkin from the shell and use it as you would canned pumpkin.

I use small sugar pumpkins or pie pumpkins when I cook with them. There is more pumpkin, they seem sweeter and less water. To me it is worth the time to do it and there is a taste advantage.