Halloween Buffalo Chicken Dip

Halloween is almost here and per usual, my favorite month of the year is just flying by. I’m still not sure what our Halloween will look like here, but I’ve been busy making Halloween-themed foods all month because we need the extra fun this year!

I always enjoy making savory Halloween snacks and dishes because there’s never a shortage of the sweet stuff out there. Buffalo chicken is always a great choice for Halloween because duh, it’s orange! Buffalo chicken dip + pizza dough is the perfect combo! I used my usual Buffalo Chicken Dip to make this. I then used pizza dough to roll up around the sides to create the perfect dippers!

Chicken Pot Pie Soup

I’ve been on a huge soup kick lately. Even though it’s still 90 degrees outside in So Cal, I have to at least pretend it’s cozy season. I love a good pot pie, but I never make them mostly because 1. they aren’t super healthy, especially when you consider the buttery crust and 2. I don’t feel like making crust. I thought a chicken pot pie soup sans crust sounded like a lovely idea though!

This soup has all that creamy goodness of a regular pot pie: onions, carrots, celery, potatoes, chicken, peas, and corn! The base is made with chicken stock and just a touch of half and half with some flour for thickening. This soup is a great way to satisfy a pot pie craving without the heaviness of pie crust and heavy cream is not required.

Of course though, I had to totally ruin that by making biscuits to serve with it. Honestly, the soup is delish on its own, but some nice little buttermilk biscuits or these cheddar chive biscuits (or your favorite store-bought brand) are a nice compliment to the soup!

I like to shred rotisserie chicken for this soup. If you want to make your own, I recommend cooking it in some broth so you can shred it yourself. You could also add diced chicken, but I personally prefer the tenderness of shredded chicken.

For maximum flavor, I like to add poultry seasoning which includes dried herbs like sage and thyme. Italian seasoning mix would also suffice or you can add individual dried herbs if you don’t want to buy the seasoning mix. I also add a good splash of white wine. I love the flavor it adds, but it is optional.

If you are vegetarian, you can swap the chicken broth for veggie broth and omit the chicken and add some additional potatoes and the other veggies.

This soup was so dang good, it’s honestly one of my most favorite soups I have made in a while and it will definitely be in my regular rotation! It also reheats really well so it’s great for meal prepping too!

Caramel Apple Crisp

Fruit crisps are truly one of my most favorite desserts, especially this time of year. They are the best warm and cozy dessert on a chilly night! And apple crisp is without a doubt at the top of my list for best fruit crisps! I made this Caramel Apple Crisp a few weeks ago and oh my, is it dreamy!

Eating this apple crisp makes me yearn for chilly nights comfy up on the couch with a soft blanket and a bowl of this dessert and a fire. Yeah, I know, I’m basic like that.

The mixture is basically your traditional apple crisp with a good amount of brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and other spices. I decided to add in some caramel baking bits and they really took this apple crisp over the top! It’s basically pure heaven taking a bit of tender sweet apples with small pockets of melty caramel!

I am madly in love with honeycrisp apples so I used those for this recipe, but you can absolutely use whatever apples you prefer to bake with. A combination of green and red apples would also be really yummy! You just need 8 apples so break it up however you’d like!

The crisp topping is also the stuff dreams are made of. I like to leave larger chunks of the topping in tact when mixing because they are my favorite to bite into, but you can break it up more if you prefer to do that.

This dessert is great for groups. It’s definitely very rich so this crisp easily serves 8 so it’s perfect for the holidays too! Like most crisps, this one is definitely served best warmed so that caramel stays melted. Don’t forget a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream or whipped cream on top! I love the cold ice cream paired with the warm apples!

Cheesy Zucchini Bake

Zucchini is truly one of my most favorite low-carb swaps. Where do I even begin? How about zucchini cheesy bread, zucchini fries, enchilada zucchini boats, zucchini pad thai, and so many more! See? Total zucchini lover here!

And anything cheesy zucchini has my heart! I had a bad craving for scalloped potatoes recently, but decided to try my hand at a zucchini version that was also a bit lighter on both cheese and free of heavy cream, and of course, lower in carbs!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Pastry Mummies

It’s the best month of the year and we are so ready to celebrate Halloween, however it may look this year! Best of all though is that Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, so that means Halloween breakfasts are totally in order!

These Pumpkin Cream Cheese Pastry Mummies are kind of a mouthful. I legit struggled with naming these. Let’s break them down. First, you’ve got the filling which is made with pumpkin puree, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and some spices. Then you just need some frozen puff pastry sheets, slice ’em up as instructed, fill them with some of the pumpkin filling, bake, and then top with a good drizzle of cream cheese icing and candy eyes and you’ve got the perfect little Halloween danish pastry for breakfast!

Let’s talk about the steps for putting these mummies together for a minute. Here are some very crappy cell phone pictures of the steps that I took in my dark kitchen to kind of show you the 4 main steps. Essentially, each sheet of puff pastry gets cut into 4 pieces. Then you will slice smaller strips for the mummy.

The egg wash is an important part of this so do not skip it. It helps keep the strips together. Trust me on this one! I was pretty sloppy with it the very first batch I made of these and the strips did not stay put and lifted while baking.

So, as pictured, you should brush the egg wash on the top and bottom strips as pictured. Then, you will alternate with wrapping each of the strips on the side, also brushing them with the egg wash. Doing this helped to keep the mummies together when baking.

Apple Margaritas

There’s really nothing better than enjoying a nice refreshing margarita on a Friday night. I love them all throughout the year, but I always crave all things apple and pumpkin this time of the year and you don’t see a lot of fall margaritas out there.

Enter these perfectly festive Apple Margaritas! They taste like Fall, but are also still refreshing and best of all, only require five simple ingredients!

For the margaritas themselves, you just need some silver tequila, apple cider and ginger beer! You can use plain apple cider, but spiced apple ciders are also really yummy if you prefer the added flavors! The ginger beer also lends itself to fall flavors and adds a nice little fizz to the drink. If you cannot find ginger beer (check the soda aisle in your grocery store), ginger ale can be substituted.