Halloween Cake

Cole's cake recipe, topped with Pillsbury chocolate fudge frosting, Lorna Doone and Vienna Finger tombstones, crushed Oreo cookie dirt, and candy pumpkins. Full of artificial colors, flavors and preservatives, but not a drop of egg or dairy!

Slow Cooker Autumn Pot Roast

It's rainy and chilly out. Chase LOVES the beef chunks in Wegman's slow cooker minestrone, so today I made this autumn pot roast. We ate it with steamed broccoli on the side, and warm crusty French bread. Finished off with warm apple pie with butter almond ice cream, it was a perfect fall comfort meal.

1 chuck roast, approx. 3 lbs
olive oil (although today I seared the chuck roast in the bacon grease that was left in the cast iron skillet from breakfast)
1 yellow or Vidalia onion, sliced
3 to 4 sweet potatoes, peeled and quartered
3/4 cup low sodium beef broth
1/4 t. celery seed
1 - 2 t. cinnamon, according to taste
ground black pepper to taste

Trim roast. Heat oil (or bacon fat) in large skillet until shimmery. Brown the roast on all sides to seal in flavor. Remove from heat. Place sliced onions in crock pot, followed by sweet potatoes. Place meat on top of vegetables. Whisk together beef broth, celery seed, cinnamon and pepper. Pour over roast. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 to 10 hours (or HIGH 4 to 5 hours), until meat is very tender.

Monster Cupcakes

After I realized that my hubby is working on Columbus Day and most of the kids' friends are out of town, I decided to make the day off from school special. I gave them their "invitations" over the weekend. Then I bought so much processed artificially colored and flavored high fructose corn syrup at Target, it actually hurt to pay for it. When the clerk gave me a quizzical look, I shrugged and said, "I'm dieting." I just finished these three "starter" cupcakes to get the creative juices flowing, and the kids will spend part of tomorrow decorating the remaining two dozen. Happy Columbus Day (or Thanksgiving, if you're Canadian)!