The BIG 300 All Treats (No Tricks) Giveaway!!!

So I am BEYOND thrilled that I not only reached over 300 blog followers this month, I also reached over 300 Facebook Page likes!  :)  All I can say is WOW and THANK YOU!!  Without all of you lovely readers & the fabulous bloggers who have been out there supporting and promoting my blog, I wouldn't be here, right? ;)

So, it is time for a HUGE giveaway this month!!  I am so, so grateful to all of my generous sponsors for chipping in some fabulous prizes for everyone.  

And because I want to spread the bloggy love around as much as possible, there will be EIGHT prizes and EIGHT lucky winners!!

So what you could you be the winner of in just one short week?  Let's take a look, shall we? ;)

(Psssstttt... each of my lovely sponsors is sharing with us what their absolute favorite Halloween candy is.  You know, the ones they stash away before handing out candy to the trick or treaters, or that they eagerly wait for the kids to go to bed so they can raid their candy buckets for it. ;) )

"My favorite candy to steal from my babies (haha) is the GOOD chocolate.  The Snickers, Milky Ways, Hershey's Bars, etc, etc. I'm a chocolate fiend."

"My favorite candy to high-jack: Reese's Peanut Butter Cups- they're always better when you get them Trick or Treating."

"My favorite candy are Nerds.  Grape Nerds to be exact!"

"My favorite Halloween candy is Nerds and SweetTarts."

"My favorite Halloween candy would have to be candy corn!  I pop 'em like tic-tacs. :)"

Mia from The Chronicles of Chaos

$10 Starbucks Gift Card

"Favorite Halloween candy: Mini-Snickers"

 

Jaime from Mom's Test Kitchen

$25 egiftcard to Restaurants.com

&

$10 Starbucks Gift Card

"My favorite Halloween candy is candy corn!"

"Oh wow... my favorite Halloween candy??  Just one? Oh, wait. This is my giveaway! ;) I can name as many as like!  My absolute favorites are Reese's Peanut Butter cups (straight out of the freezer, please) and Mounds bars. :)"

** Okay, now for a few rules and regulations.  ;)  This giveaway is open to US residents only.  This is a giveaway celebrating my blog reaching over 300 FOLLOWERS, so it only makes sense that you must be a FOLLOWER of my blog via GFC or Bloglovin to win.  There are 8 prizes and therefore 8 different winners will be chosen randomly via Rafflecopter.  If you win, you will be contacted via the email that you have provided and will have 48 hours to reply back to that email.  If you do not respond back within 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter.  (So yeah.  Reply back to that email and check your spam/junk folders!!) Winners will be chosen and announced/emailed on Monday, October 29th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Frosted Candy Corn Oreo Cookie Bars

Stuffed with Candy Corn Oreos & topped with a rich candy corn buttercream, these soft, thick Frosted Candy Corn Oreo Cookie Bars are fall perfect...

Am I the only one who cannot walk past a shelf of candy corn in the store and not pick up a bag?  It is the smell that gets me every single time.  I can be 5 feet away from the aisle that has the candy corn in it and follow the scent to that orange, yellow, and white deliciousness.  

And there is nothing like picking up that first bag of candy corn each fall and breaking into it before you have even pulled out of the parking lot of the store. 

Halloween Stash Devil's Food Cookies

These chocolaty 4 ingredient Halloween Stash Devil's Food Cookies are the perfectly delicious way to use up that leftover trick or treat candy...

Well, folks... another Halloween is done and over with and in the books! :) We enjoyed a successful Halloween weekend filled with pumpkin carving, dressing up, trick or treating, and costume party attending. 

I have to admit from our fun family traditions to the costumes and the food, Halloween definitely ranks in my top 3 of all of the holidays. 

This year Little Miss went as a princess from a very popular Disney movie (ahem, I am pretty sure we saw at least 10 other little girls dressed the same as her in the course of our 45 minutes of trick or treating). 

And I allowed my three year old daughter to choose my costume this year, and let's just say it was pretty darn magical. ;) (Trust me- you all will definitely want to click on that link and see what I dressed up as!)  

But every Halloween it seems that we are left with more candy than we know what to do with. If you happened to have found yourself in the same boat this Halloween weekend, then I have some good news for you all- these easy to make Halloween Stash Devil's Food Cookies are the perfect way to use up that leftover trick or treat loot...

Candy Corn Popcorn Krispie Balls

These sweet & salty Candy Corn Popcorn Krispie Balls are the perfect easy to make treat for a fall or Halloween celebration...

Post updated 10/25/17- These perfect for Halloween Candy Corn Popcorn Krispie Balls deserved some updated photos. I did leave one of the originals below just so you all can see for yourself why this recipe so desperately needed a little face lift. ;)

Snickers Peanut Butter Rice Krispies Treats

A classic no-bake treat gets jazzed up with the addition of creamy peanut butter, Snickers, & honey roasted peanuts in these Snickers Peanut Butter Rice Krispies Treats...

Okay, let's have a little confession time here, folks- how many of you all purposely buy extra bags of candy for Halloween just to make sure you have enough to make some tasty treats with? (Raises hand.) Or maybe you are the one who waits until November 1st, and then picks up a few bags while they are on clearance. (Also guilty on that charge.) 

I mean, there is just something about having hoards of extra trick or treat candy on hand that makes me want to get into the kitchen and whip up a few goodies. If you find yourself with some extra Snickers on hand after those porch lights go off this weekend, then you will definitely want to make sure that these Snickers Peanut Butter Rice Krispies Treats happen.

The classic rice krispies treats recipe gets jazzed with up with the addition of creamy peanut butter, Snickers, and honey roasted peanuts making it a quick and delicious no-bake treat...

Haunted Pumpkin Patch Popcorn Crunch

Candy pumpkins and ghost shaped sprinkles are tossed with peanut butter coated popcorn in this irresistible Haunted Pumpkin Patch Popcorn Crunch...

This ghoulishly delicious recipe was created in partnership with Dixie Crystals. As always, all opinions & thoughts expressed below are 100% my own.

This post may contain affiliate links. Purchasing through them helps support this website.

Can you all believe that the month of October starts this weekend?? It would be a bit of an understatement to say that I am just a tad excited. 

I have always been more of a fall kind of gal since I was a kid. There is just something about the smell of fall leaves, the crisp air, our annual pilgrimage to the apple orchard and pumpkin patch, and of course one of my favorite holidays of the year- Halloween! :) 

I just love everything about Halloween- the pumpkin carving, taking our youngest trick or treating, dressing up for my parents' annual costume party, and all the holiday inspired spooky recipes. In fact, I make it a goal of mine every fall to come up with a couple of new treats to bring to my parents' house for our family Halloween party.

This year I will be whipping up a batch of this crunchy & chewy Haunted Pumpkin Patch Popcorn Crunch. Candy pumpkins and ghost shaped sprinkles are tossed with peanut butter coated popcorn in this hauntingly addictive sweet treat for Halloween...

Scary Salted Caramel Apples

A big thank you to Urban Accents for providing their Spooktacular Halloween Party line to try for myself & for one to giveaway to a lucky reader. All opinions expressed below are my own.

This post may contain affiliate links. Purchasing through them helps support this website.

I have to admit that for years the thought of trying to make homemade caramel apples at home sort of scared me. Fresh apples covered in gooey caramel seems easy enough, but it is the actual caramel making part of it that left me hesitant. I am sort of candy making challenged. ;) So when Urban Accents reached out to me to try their new Scary Salted Caramel Apple Kit, I was all for it. A kit that took most of the caramel apple making guesswork out of the equation? Yes, please! Sign me up.

It just so happens that I have a lot of apples from our apple picking adventure weekend before last that I need to put to tasty use soon, so I set to work right away whipping up these easy and delicious salted caramel apples. The kit includes the caramel mix, the wooden sticks, and sea salt for sprinkling. You just need to pick up a few ingredients from the grocery store to make these Scary Salted Caramel Apples happen in your kitchen...

Gore-licious Chocolate Cherry Shake

This perfect-for-Halloween Gore-licious Chocolate Cherry Shake has just two simple ingredients in it...

Halloween will be here in just a few short weeks, folks. 

That means costumes, and carving pumpkins, and of course trick or treating.

And with trick or treating comes candy... lots & lots of candy, aka a sugar high disguised in various colorful wrappers. ;)

Now, don't get me wrong- I am not one of those parents who hides all the candy from the kids or switches out all their trick or treat loot for apples and raisins and trail mix. (Not that there is anything wrong with that if you do. It just isn't my personal style.)

But I do like to have a few lower sugar, healthier, & fun spooky treats in my Halloween arsenal to provide some balance to the candy overload that is about to ensue us all.

This Gore-licious Chocolate Cherry Shake just happens to fit that bill! :) This perfect-for-Halloween chocolate shake has just two simple ingredients in it...

Trick or Treat Pumpkin Pie Dip

Your favorite candies from the kids' trick or treat bags come together with a favorite fall dessert in this creamy Trick or Treat Pumpkin Pie Dip...

This recipe post first appeared on the Kroger Inspired Gathering site.

This content was created in partnership with Kroger Family Stores using free products provided by Kroger.

Each fall around Halloween, my parents have hosted a costume party for the family. This Halloween tradition actually started with my grandparents when I was kid. They would decorate their garage like a haunted house and everyone in the family would show up dressed up in their Halloween costumes and with a fun treat in hand. 

We always did it potluck style, and there were also lots of games for the kids to play and a costume contest for all in attendance. This is a tradition that my parents decided to take over some years back, and now we have a family style Halloween celebration each October in my my parents' garage. 

Every single year, I try to bring a different sweet treat to the party.  This year I am bringing this creamy and fun Trick or Treat Pumpkin Pie Dip. I combined some of our favorite candies from the kids' trick or treat bags with one of my favorite fall desserts- pumpkin pie. :) 

You just really cannot go wrong with this easy to make dessert dip for a fall family get-together, an office or school party, or just because you end up having more Halloween candy than you know what to do with... 

Pumpkin Butterfinger Blondies

Okay, who has leftover Halloween candy in their homes?  *Raises hand*  Due to the extremely miserable weather we had here the night of trick or treat, I was left with a little more than I had hoped.  I am in one of those rare Halloween seasons where the only candy that is in my house is the candy that we bought to hand out to the costumed little ones who came knocking at our door.  My son is now 14 and trick or treating doesn't really appeal to him anymore, and my daughter isn't even 9 months old so candy isn't really something she understands or can eat anyways.  Even though I handed out HUGE handfuls of candy to the kiddos who did bundle up and brave the 30 degree sleet nasty weather, I was still left with about a third of the huge bowl of goodies I had started with.  What to do?  What to do?

Oh yes!  How about some Pumpkin Butterfinger Blondies? ;)  I adapted this recipe from one of my absolute favorite brownie recipes, Cooking Classy's Secret Ingredient Brownies.  (Psssttt... the secret ingredient is evaporated milk!)

What you will need:

1 cup of flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup evaporated milk

1/4 cup (4 tbsp) butter

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tbsp canola oil

3/4 cup pumpkin puree

1 tsp vanilla

5 Fun Size Butterfingers, chopped

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly spray a 9x9 inch baking pan with cooking spray.  Over medium heat, melt the butter into the evaporated milk in a small saucepan.  Heat and mix until the butter is completely melted and incorporated into the milk.  Remove from the heat.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and cinnamon.  Set aside. 

Pour the warm butter/milk mixture into a large bowl.  Whisk in the brown sugar and oil.  Then the eggs, pumpkin, and vanilla.  With a wooden spoon, mix the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture.  

Now chop up all those fun little Butterfingers. 

And then mix them into your blondie batter.  Pour into your prepared baking dish and bake for about 30 minutes.  Let the blondies cool for about 10-15 minutes before cutting them.  Depending on how large you cut them, you will have about 9-12 blondies from this recipe.

These Pumpkin Butterfinger Blondies are thick, chewy, and fudgy and studded with crispy, chocolaty goodness from the Butterfinger bars.  

What leftover Halloween candy is your favorite to bake with?  Have a great recipe for them? Feel free to leave the links in the comments below! :)  (Come on... it isn't nice to not share!)

Vampire Mickey Pudding Cups

These easy to make Vampire Mickey Pudding Cups would be perfect to hand out at trick-or-treat, for a classroom party, or a fun neighborhood Halloween get-together...

When you have a child under 3, everything seems to be "scary". My two and a half year old daughter is presently at a stage where spiders, skeletons, and occasionally zombies are on her "too scary" list.  

(Well, not always zombies. In fact, most of the time she loves them. My husband and I will take full responsibility for that since we have been watching The Walking Dead since she was in the womb. ;) ) 

This Halloween will be her first where she actually kind of gets what is going on. So this year I wanted to make a not-so-scary treat for her that would still be Halloween perfect. 

My inspiration for these Vampire Mickey Pudding Cups comes from her love of all things Disney... And of chocolate pudding and Oreo cookies, of course. ;) 

13 Quick & Easy Last Minute Halloween Recipes

These 13 Quick & Easy Halloween Recipes can be ready to serve in 30 minutes or less making them the perfect last minute treats for that Halloween party or get-together...

Is it just me or did October just seem to totally fly by? This time next week it will officially be the month of November, and we will all be getting into Thanksgiving mode. 

But before we start thinking all things turkey, and pumpkin pie, and stuffing, we still have this business of Halloween to take care of this weekend and next Monday. ;) 

Whether you are hosting a little Halloween costume party, just attending a fall get-together, or bringing a special treat for the kiddo's classroom party, you all are going to love this collection of quick and easy Halloween recipes I gathered to share with you all today.

Not only are each of these delicious recipes simple to make, but that also happen to perfectly capture the fun spirit of Halloween. And the best part? Every single one of these party perfect recipes can be made and ready to serve in 30 minutes or less! 

That means more time for those finishing touches on that costume, more time to go trick or treating, and more time to spend time with family and friends. Who wants to be stuck in the kitchen missing out on all the Halloween fun anyways? ;)

Puking Pumpkin Dessert Dip

This Puking Pumpkin Dessert Dip may be gross to look at, but your Halloween party guests are going to go crazy for this disgustingly delicious sweet treat...

Okay, so I will be the first to admit it- this dessert dip looks gross, folks. But no worries because it also happens to be deliciously gross! And it is for Halloween. 

I mean, on what other day of the year can you get away with making a dessert dip that looks like vomit and actually impress your party guests- am I right? ;) 






I actually made this dip for my parents' costume party last Halloween. At first, the adults were a little hesitant to dig right in. But after they tried it, this dip disappeared pretty quickly. 

And the kiddos at the party immediately loved it & thought it was the best thing ever right from the get-go! (Shocking, huh?)






This dessert dip comes together pretty quickly- in less than 10 minutes. 

The carving of the pumpkin can take a little more time, but it is still pretty easy. I picked up a smallish medium white pumpkin (like the Cinderella variety) and had it scooped out and carved in about 15 minutes. 

You can totally use an orange pumpkin for this if you can't find a white one, but I just love how the paleness of this pumpkin worked so well with the theme of the dip. ;)

Haunted Graveyard Rice Krispies Treats

Whip up a 100% edible "graveyard" for Halloween this year with these easy to make Haunted Graveyard Rice Krispies Treats...

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Kelloggs® Rice Krispies®. 

As always, all opinions are my own. 

I always get excited when I see the calendar flip over to October each fall because I know that means that the month of all things Halloween has finally arrived. Ever since I was a kid, Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays. 

I was fortunate to have been blessed with a very crafty & creative mama who always made my sister & I the best Halloween costumes each year for trick or treat. My grandparents hosted a big family costume party each October complete with games (bobbing for apples, anyone? ;) ), costumes, haunted decor, and of course spooky dishes and treats. 

My parents took over hosting the Halloween costume party about 10 years ago, and I am always trying to come up with new boo-licious treats to bring to the party. This year I will be whipping up a 100% edible haunted graveyard using one of everyone's favorite classic treats- Kelloggs® Rice Krispies® treats! 

Classic Kelloggs® Rice Krispies® treats forms the base for this hauntingly tasty sweet treat. I simply topped them with chocolate frosting and chocolate sandwich cookie crumbs, and then employed my 4 1/2 year old daughter to help me go crazy making our haunted graveyard come to life (or should I say come to death?). 

We made tombstones from graham crackers, "planted" a few candy pumpkins, and liberally applied ghost-shaped sprinkles all over. I mean, what's a haunted graveyard without the ghosts, right? ;)