Cozy warm in the kitchen

There is nothing like spending a morning in the kitchen (when my energy is higher than later in the day) to perk me up. Especially when I've found a few new recipes, or ways to present tried and true favorites.

I have the ingredients to make The Pioneer Woman's Cake Balls. I'm definitely going to make them tomorrow, although dipped in a simple vanilla coating without all the Halloween decorations. I'm sending many of them over to my neighbors along with a Dutch Apple Pie as thanks for standing out in the cold recently, helping my hubby burn a huge pile of wood that had been left by previous owners. Actually, he managed the wood burning and they kept a hose on the trees over it so they wouldn't burn.

Ummmm... I may mention that as I went to bed that night around 11:30 pm, I noticed sparks shooting out from the wood pile. Said husband believed there was nothing to worry about but I hastily put on shoes and a coat over my nightgown and spent about forty minutes watering that same pile down until I thought it safe.

I will not say anything about men and their strange ideas of what poses no harm but when one lives in a forest area, leaving a smouldering fire is not a good thing. Smokey the Bear says so. I remember my father doing something similar when I was a child... sigh.

Now, I don't like to be cold or wet or in the dark and I especially don't care for combining all three at once. Thankfully, a young man came outside to protect the queen mother from Bigfoot and other things that go bump in the night. He kept his distance from the water and chatted on his cell phone with a friend but just knowing he was there and keeping Bigfoot away gave me great peace.

Anyhoo, I digressed... a lot. Back to really good recipes.

I absolutely loved the look of the pumpkin cookies on By Sun and Candlelight. The next time I make my own recipe for pumpkin cookies, I plan to add some autumnal sprinkles. I'm already thinking iced sugar cookies with sparkly Christmas type sprinkles, too. :)

Then I came across a beautiful tea time luncheon and yummy recipes on the A Little Loveliness blog.

Stephanie has a great recipe called Potato Skins For One Mommy and Four Kids on her blog. Since she cooks a lot like I do, I expect it took some time for her to figure out just how much of "this and that" she put together to make these.

Many of these dishes will be served in my home soon. I just love cold weather and warm kitchens. :)