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Something Strange is Happening
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Celebrate the Season
Welcome to October, a month where trees, ablaze with color, celebrate the season, falling to the ground creating crunchy walkways. Cornfield mazes beacon us to rustle through the stalks in a quest of discovery, while golden orange pumpkins encourage festivals and delight everyone with their hand-carved Jack-O-Lantern faces.
Bewitching encounters await as Trick or Treaters gather around, disguised in their favorite costumes while collecting sweet treats from their neighbors. Halloween becomes a time to serve strange magical snacks, melding a fantasy of imagination and the reality of celebration. It is a month of adventure and a time for enjoying ghost and goblin parties.
It is time to pretend and enjoy the strange things that are happening.
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Serving Magical Dishes
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Leche Frita (Fried Milk)
Something Strange is Happening
Lots of People in Spain are Frying Milk
Leche Frita (Fried Milk)
- About the Recipe: You probably believe that frying milk isn’t possible. However, this is really a traditional Northern Spanish street food dessert. The chilled pudding slices or nuggets are hidden inside a crunchy deep-fried crust. It’s easy to prepare and so much fun to serve.
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Poor Boy Filet Mignon
Something Strange is Happening
A Copycat Burger Looks Just Like a Fancy Steak
A Copycat Burger Looks Just Like a Fancy Steak
About the Recipe: Turn your burger into a filet mignon. It’s a great way to save money and enjoy a delicious faux filet. It can be served as an informal wrap sandwich or add some delicious whipped mashed sweet potatoes and green beans with toasted almonds to serve at a dinner party.
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Crispy Macaroni & Cheese Nuggets
Something Strange is Happening
Mac ‘n Cheese Turned into a Delicious Appetizer
Mac ‘n Cheese Turned into a Delicious Appetizer
About the Recipe: This Mac & Cheese recipe is really a fun appetizer, and we enjoyed the addition of some fresh broccoli. Broccoli is a natural veggie to go with cheese. The basic recipe can be adjusted to use it with your favorite mac & cheese recipe or prepare from the packaged product. Serve with some spicy salsa as a dipping sauce.
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Pepper Pop-Up Cheese Pie
Something Strange is Happening
It’s Forming its own crust in the oven
It’s Forming its own crust in the oven
About the Recipe: Light spicy hot melting grilled cheese wedges are topped with fiesta colored sweet peppers and chips of red onions. The surprise is that the crust forms itself in the hot oven. It’s perfect for a lunch or brunch entrée.
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Visit Exploration Acres
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Exploration Acres Corn Maze Mural
Something Strange is Happening
It’s not too cold or not too hot, the perfect sweater weather to travel to Northwest Indiana and visit 20 acres filled with cornstalks and pumpkin plants. Lewis and Hazel Beeler established the farm at Exploration Acres in the early 1920’s, and their current owners Tim Fitzgerald and Mary Branstetter have continued to maintain part of the family farm, opening it up for the public to visit with their family and friends. Visitors can enjoy the fire pits, playing in the activity area, nibbling on snacks, picking pumpkins from a sprawling patch of 38 different varieties, and finding their way through the maze of cornstalks. Tens of thousands of folks come from all corners of the world to walk through Northwestern Indiana largest corn maze. In fact, it was one of the winners in the Category Top 10 Corn Mazes for the USA Today 10 Best Readers’ Choice Awards.
Exploration Acres Corn Maze Mural – Photo Courtesy of Exploration Acres
It is no surprise that so many people have visited the Farm since their corn maze is based on the hit Netflix television series Stranger Things. The Duffer Brothers developed the series as a mix of investigative drama alongside supernatural elements. It established its time frame in the 1980’s and created an homage to the pop culture of that decade. Exploration Acres feature fun displays from the movie as well as 10 miles of paths and 4 mazes that invite fans to experience a land between reality and fiction.
Using GPS technology for corn planter steering and location, an inkjet type modified corn seed planter, and support computer programming, Exploration Acres was able to create this gigantic Corn Maze mural on their corn field. This aerial picture was taken in early July 2018 as plants were young and far from being mature corn plants. You can see the Pumpkin patch was newly planted at the right of the picture above.
Netflix – Stranger Things Corn Maze at Exploration Acres
The picture above was taken from the observation bridge on Sept 16th, 2018 as the corn field was fully matured (almost 8 ft high) and ready for harvesting. And yes, this field can be harvested in the standard fashion because the corn is planted in a standard row and spacing configuration. You can see the large inverted letter “N” that makes up the Stranger Things Netflix series mural in this corn field.
Driving out to the Exploration Acres Pumpkin Patch
Tim Fitzgerald driving us out to the Exploration Acres Pumpkin Patch where he grows 38 different varieties of pumpkins
Tim Fitzgerald, Co-owner of Exploration Acres explaining one of the 38 varieties of pumpkins growing on his farm
We stopped to chat with the Exploration Acres President Tim Fitzgerald about the exciting and creative corn mazes and pumpkins growing on his farm available for sale.
Tim Fitzgerald – Exploration Acres Interview
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Discover Recipes with a Touch of Adventure
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Fun with Corn
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Sweet ‘n Smoky Corn Hummus with Blue Corn Chips
Something Strange is Happening
A Midwestern Ingredient adds a New Flavor
A Midwestern Ingredient adds a New Flavor
About the Recipe: Swirl sweet corn into your next hummus dipping bowl for a fresh farm harvest surprise. Add a touch of spice and serve with blue corn chip dippers. Double the corn is double delicious.
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Quick Fix Jerk Butter Roasted Sweet Corn
Something Strange is Happening
This Frozen Corn Tastes Like Spicy Farm Fresh Corn-on-the-Cob
Quick Fix Jerk Butter Roasted Sweet Corn
About the Recipe: Summer corn has disappeared, but frozen cobs of corn can be found at local markets. This is a perfect time to add some spicy seasoning and vibrant flavors. The prepared butter can be used also to top meat entrees or with other side dishes.
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BBQ in a Soup Bowl
Something Strange is Happening
What is Making This Soup Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Black, and White?
BBQ in a Soup Bowl
About the Recipe: If you love barbecue flavors, you will really enjoy this soup. It’s filled with multi-colored sweet peppers, onions, corn and lots of barbecue pulled pork flavor. It’s a quick cooking soup, since the BBQ pork is already cooked for a long time. It’s a barbecue party in a bowl!
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Lemon Lime Corn Risotto
Something Strange is Happening
There’s an Unexpected Splash of Lightness in this Creamy Risotto
Lemon Lime Corn Risotto
About the Recipe: The golden creamy risotto is combined with chewy corn kernels for an interesting combination of textures. The finishing add-in of lemon and lime juice adds an unexpected splash of lightness. Some people like their risotto very creamy, spreading over their plate. Add more broth for a thinner consistency.
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Dinner Dishes Full of Flavor
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Layered Peppered Pumpkin Polenta
Something Strange is Happening
How did that Pumpkin Get into our Polenta?
Layered Peppered Pumpkin Polenta
About the Recipe: Celebrate the season by making some peppered pumpkin polenta. Pumpkin’s golden color and flavor has a touch of spicy peppers. Serve it in a simple style or layer it for an elegant holiday side dish.
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French Pork Chops with Sweet Relish
Something Strange is Happening
This Chop has a Built-in-Handle
This Chop has a Built-in-Handle
About the Recipe: These pork chops are easy to prepare and add a simple creamy mustard sauce that’s flavored with sweet pickles or relish.
For an elegant touch, prepare the pork chops using a French cut.
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Warm Roasted Vegetable Salad
Something Strange is Happening
Salads are Cold, But not this One!
Warm Roasted Vegetable Salad
About the Recipe: The hot roasted vegetables, covered with the warm honey mustard dressing, are delightful when served with a mixed blend of lettuce leaves. Preparing the salad dressing ahead of time makes it very easy to serve this chilled yet warm salad.
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Tailgate Custard Pumpkin Cake
Something Strange is Happening
Pumpkin Custard Covers the Top, but What’s that Swirling Inside
Tailgate Custard Pumpkin Cake
About the Recipe: It’s a sweet take-along cake to serve. Each cake square looks like it is just topped with some pumpkin, but the surprise is irregular tiny spirals occasionally appear within the cake. Also, a sweet spicy pumpkin topping is covered with a thin smear of orange fig spread. Serve them plain or top each with a small dollop of whipped cream.
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Enchanted Sweet Treats
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Magic Maple Custard Walnut Pie
Something Strange is Happening
This Pie is Making its Own Maple Custard Filling
Magic Maple Custard Walnut Pie
About the Recipe: Magically the filling ingredients blend together into a maple flavored custard, topped with lightly spiced walnut pieces. It’s easy to make using an unbaked refrigerated crust. Add a touch of whipped cream and garnish with some fresh forest chopped walnuts.
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Quick Mix Maple Apple Harvest Cake
Something Strange is Happening
This Cake has a Maple Flavor but doesn’t use any Maple Syrup
Quick Mix Maple Apple Harvest Cake
About the Recipe: It’s hard to believe that a delicious dessert can be mixed and baked so easily. This mix quick one bowl cake highlights the harvest flavors of fall apples, cranberries, and walnuts in a butter flavored moist cake. Just for fun, order some candy cap mushrooms and add some to the cake and sauce. What’s the surprise? A fantastic maple or butterscotch essence that will surprise and delight everyone.
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Fall Flavored Fresh Apple Fritters
Something Strange is Happening
A Dessert Turns into a Breakfast Treat
Fall Flavored Fresh Apple Fritters
About the Recipe: Fresh apple slices are covered with a thin batter and lightly cooked like pancakes in a skillet. These can be served as a dessert but are fun to have as a breakfast treat, drizzled with sweet maple syrup.
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