Halloween’s only a few days away. Are you stocked up on enough candy? Need a few more ideas for the perfect homemade sweet treat? We’re not sure these will help keep the ghosts and goblins away; sticky fingers will find it difficult to resist these seasonal desserts.

Speaking of fingers, Figueroa’s Witch’s Finger Cookies are spooky and delicious. This is the kind of treat that might reach for you! Don’t worry, though, it’s just a sweet almond cookie!

Trick or treat? No need to choose between the two. PKvst2’s Mini Burger Cookies look like burgers, but they don’t come with tomato slices or a special sauce! All you’ll need to put these together are a few vanilla wafers, peppermint chocolate patties and frosting! They’re the definition of an edible craft.

If there’s candy in the house, then you’ve probably got what you need to make Bujvary’s Marshmallow Witches. Glenda the good witch has nothing on these sweet witches! Why? Because they’re made out of chocolate, peanut butter cups, coconut flakes and vanilla frosting. The only thing scary about these cute witches is that they’ll magically keep you coming back for more. :)

How many of you have a whole chicken or even a few chicken breasts left over from dinner earlier this week? I know I do.

After you’ve made all the chicken quesadillas you can stomach and made enough chicken salad to last you til next summer, what do you do? Joanne and Adam from Inspired Taste say you should make a pot of good ol’ chicken noodle soup! I have to agree.

I’d say they’re even experts when it comes to the topic of chicken soup, you can count on them to offer tips on making your bowl extra delicious. For instance, I’ve never thought about adding mashed potatoes to the broth! And here I am adding flour to thicken my broths, it’s time for a change! Check out their other tips… and also, be sure to check out the yummy chicken soup recipe :).

Leftover Chicken Noodle Soup

Since its just the two of us, Adam and I almost always have leftovers. We used to be so terrible about using them up, but are getting better and actually have found that sometimes what you make with the leftovers turn out to be tastier than the original meal anyway. Here are some tips for great leftover chicken soup.

* Depending on what you have in stock, create a base using an assortment of onions, garlic, celery and carrots. Cut the onions, celery and carrots into 1/2 inch dice for a heartier soup.
* As a basic process, saute your base vegetables for about 10 minutes to draw out the natural sugars, then add any dried herbs and seasonings along with the leftover chicken and finally add the chicken stock, I usually add 4 cups and simmer for about 20 minutes.
* Add some pasta, rice or uncooked potatoes to the soup for some heartiness, for 4 cups of chicken broth use about 1/2 - 3/4 cups of uncooked rice and pasta and 1 large uncooked potato cut into cubes. If you are using rice, add it at the same time as the chicken stock and simmer for 20 minutes. If you are adding pasta, add it 10 minutes before serving so the pasta does not get overcooked. For potatoes, add them 5 minutes into sauteing the base vegetables.
* Just before you add chicken stock add a mixture of dried herbs for extra depth of flavor, my favorites are to add one bay leaf and about a tablespoon of herbs de Provence per 4 cups of chicken stock
* Season all layers of the soup with salt and pepper to create a well-seasoned soup. While sauteing the base vegetables lightly season with salt and pepper, then after adding the chicken broth season to taste, this way the soup will be seasoned not salty. By adding salt at the beginning of the process, you are able to draw out the natural sweetness of the base vegetables, adding more flavor to the soup. If you only add salt at the end, it is very easy to find yourself with a salty soup.
* If you have it in stock, add one can of diced tomatoes for a richer broth or a can of beans, just make sure you rinse the beans before adding them to the soup.
* If you have some to use up, add leftover mashed potatoes to the broth to make a thicker soup.
* For a creamier and luscious soup you could add about 1/4 cup of milk or half and half. This also rounds out the flavors nicely.

Leftover Chicken Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 carrots

1 medium onion

3 celery stalks

1 garlic clove, minced

1 cup leftover chicken

1 tablespoon herds de Provence

1 bay leaf

4 cups low-sodium chicken stock

1 can diced tomatoes

3/4 cup uncooked pasta

salt and pepper

Dice the carrots, onion and celery into 1/2 inch dice. Add the olive oil and diced vegetables to a large soup pot over medium heat, lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper (about 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper), then saute for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, add the minced garlic then saute for another 5 minutes.

Add the herbs de Provence and chicken to the vegetables then saute for another minute. Add the bay leaf, chicken stock and tomatoes then bring the soup to a boil, reduce heat and allow to simmer for 10 minutes, then season to taste.

After 10 minutes, add the pasta and continue to simmer for an additional 10 minutes or until the pasta and vegetables are cooked.

There’s an art to preserving fruit. It really does require a bit of detail and precision, but not in the way you might think, if you’ve never canned anything before. The most important thing to remember when preserving your favorite fruits is this: sterilize the jars, both the lids and the jars themselves! The other tough part is figuring out whether you’re going to make a jam, preserve, marmalade or even a chutney!

Let’s start with a familiar classic, FoodieWife’s Strawberry Jam, she says it’s been perfected and… it’s made without pectin. Pectin sounds like it should be the name of a bird, but it’s the substance with the sandy texture that gives jams their gelatinous texture. FoodieWife’s secret to making pectin-free jam? Boil the fruit down and thicken it with sugar!

Martasalmon also has a great recipe for beginners; her Fig Preserves are what you’ll want to smother on toast in the morning. I have a secret, though, I don’t just use fig preserves for breakfast! Think about enhancing the flavor of your favorite savory dish with fig preserves (it works, believe me!).

Speaking of adding preserved fruits to savory dishes, that’s where chutneys come in. Justopia’s Peach Apple Chutney Surprise is flavorful and fragrant. Sweet and tart, this chutney is worth smothering on lamb, pork, or even chicken, says Justopia.

Remember fondus? Chocolate or cheese, which one was your favorite? I’ll take chocolate. But why did they give us only two options? There’s more to savor when you mix it up, try one of these dips when you’re looking for a change.

Gone are the days of serving just melted butter and salted asparagus. Chefkk’s Asparagus with Citrus Ginger Dip brings together an interesting combination of ingredients to create a fresh summery dip that’s full of flavor.

I love what CheapFoodHere has to say about this Homegrown Spinach Dip Recipe, “find what you need in your backyard…” Oh, what I wouldn’t give for a back yard. If you’re like me and don’t have a yard, use fresh or even frozen spinach. Instead of microwaving the frozen spinach to thaw it out, rinse it under lukewarm water until it just begins to melt so that it’s still cool enough for your dip.

What could possibly be better than Pumpkin Pie? That’s a really tough question, but I have to say that crisscrossqz’s Pumpkin Pie Dip with Apples is a pretty close match. Who needs caramel sauce?

Halloween is just around the corner, take a look at this cute way you’ll be able to serve dip to your trick o’ treaters this year.

Want to know something? I prepared that dish in under half an hour! If you missed yesterday’s post, where I discussed Dr_Mom’s Moroccan Chicken with Green Olives and Lemons, then it’s a good thing you stopped by today. Everything I said about the recipe yesterday still holds true today: the aroma of this dish is heavenly!

If you don’t have time to stand in front of the stove all evening, think about preparing the sauce in advance then cooking the chicken in the crock pot with the sauce a little later. I was curious to see how the dish would come out if I baked it. So that’s exactly what I did. I snapped the photo before popping the cast iron pan in the oven, then I covered it with foil and baked it at 350 for about an hour and 15 minutes.

What else did I do differently? Not much, because this recipe works as is. I did add a little bit of honey and also thickened the sauce by reducing it and adding a bit of potato flour. The end result? A slightly sweet and savory dish with so much flavor, you can serve it over a bed of plain white rice and still feel like you’re enjoying a fancy meal… without the headache of having to prepare a complicated recipe. Simple and delicious!

Planning a birthday party this weekend? Good news, little kids and big kids love cupcakes, especially when they’re made with a creative twist. What else do we love about cupcakes? They usually come with more frosting than a piece of cake :).

Makingbananapancakes serves up a creative batch of cupcakes with her Blueberry and Strawberry Cupcakes with Whipped Cream Frosting. Fresh fruit tops off a light cake made with apple sauce, only a quarter cup of butter go into these berry lean cupcakes :).

The overripe brown bananas on your countertop will be making their way into the mixing bowl instead of the trash can when you hear about MyTastyTreasures Banana Cupcakes with Honey Cinnamon frosting. The bananas not only add great flavor, but they make these cupcakes extra moist.

You might’ve tried a banana cupcake before, but I bet you’ve never heard of porcalina’s French Toast and Bacon Cupcakes. Breakfast isn’t complete without maple syrup and these breakfast-inspired cupcakes aren’t complete until they’re frosted with homemade maple buttercream! Make these a part of your balanced breakfast or serve them at your next party, either way, they’ll be the dessert that everyone remembers.

Now that it’s warming up, we’re probably not doing much baking (unless you have an incurable addiction to baked goods, like myself ;). That doesn’t mean we have to sacrifice sweets, we might just have to think out of the box, the recipe box. How about opening up the veggie drawer for ideas? But remember, zucchini bread and carrot cake require cranking up the oven!

I shouldn’t have brought up carrot cake, in that case. But there’s hope! Avi’s version of Carrot Halwa is the answer, he even says it reminds him of a ‘creamy carrot cake’. That description comes from the naturally sweet carrots and ricotta cheese. The flavor of the cardamom powder might also remind you of the warm spices in a carrot cake.

Avi’s Carrot Halwa comes together quickly over the stove, in under half an hour! Because there isn’t any frosting involved, this is also a dessert that travels well. Speaking of traveling, be sure to check out Avi’s blog Aambrosia to read about other tasty recipes that he tries out while documenting his travels in India.

Puran Boli, also known as Puran Poli, is a South Indian sweet bread that’s aromatic and flavorful. The filling, or puran, provides the most flavor. Madhumathi from Madhu’s Food Journal makes her puran with chana dal. Chana dal is a dark-seeded chickpea without the skin. You might be surprised to find chickpeas in the filling of a dessert, but they are soaked and cooked so that they become soft; they are later combined with sweet ingredients.

Madhumathi puran is a paste that consists of ground chickpeas, coconut and jaggery, or brown sugar. Unlike baked desserts, Puran Boli is cooked on a griddle, where it is lightly fried with gingely oil on both sides until its exterior becomes golden brown.

You might’ve grown up with your mom telling you to not touch the cake until it cooled, but you can go ahead and enjoy the Puran Boli while it is still warm. In fact, Madhumathi says it’s the most tasty that way! Just don’t forget to sprinkle on a bit of ghee to make it extra mouthwatering!

Grilled cheese’s aren’t the only gooey warm sandwiches you can enjoy on a cold day with your favorite cup of soup. Cheese has it’s place in a sandwich, but it doesn’t always have to take center-stage ;), especially when ingredients like turkey and BACON are also in that sandwich.

Simply Yummy Goodness isn’t just the name of Katy’s blog, it’s also what you’ll say when you take a bite of her mom’s Turkey Devonshire Sandwich. After enjoying the sandwich while on vacation at an Inn about 20 years ago, Katy’s mom decided to recreate it at home. If they’ve been making it for 20 years, there’s no denying it’s worth trying at least once :).

Katy’s family loves to eat this around the holidays, she says it’s their tradition to enjoy a Turkey Devonshire dinner after Christmas tree shopping. You can count on turkey, bacon, tomatoes and melted cheese to warm you up after a cold day spent outdoors. Meals like this make me wish Christmas was every day! But Katy’s recipe is also great for busy working families. Just stick a turkey breast (or even chicken) in the slow cooker and, at the end of the day, you can prepare this tasty open-faced sandwich in minutes.

When the cat’s away, the mice will play…or bake up a fabulous batch of addicting brownies, of course :)! Chef Dennis of Beyond the Kitchen Wall invented a brownie recipe when he had the kitchen all to himself one afternoon. His Chestnut and Armagnac Brownies are a bit different from the ones you might find in grandma’s kitchen. Though the recipe includes some familiar ingredients, like chocolate, butter and flour, you’ll find there’s plenty more to sink your teeth into than just rich chocolatey goodness.

Chef Dennis says that chestnuts are quite the underrated nut. We sing about them, we like roasting them on an open fire around the holidays… but we just don’t bake enough with them. Dennis shows us how to use chestnuts in one of the tastiest ways possible, in a dessert. Not just any dessert, but in what he refers to as sophisticated brownies. He says that their amazing flavor will transport you to French Southwest. A top-notch brownie it is, with ingredients like tahitian vanilla and armagnac, also known as brandy with a French accent :).

Warm and gooey, these are heavenly when served fresh, right out of the oven… or, take Chef Dennis’ suggestion: let them cool for just a little bit then serve them with a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream, for a sundae you can enjoy on any day of the week :).