Happy Halloween

 

Super girl takes a ride on a horse to start the evening festivities. 

Digs through hay for candy

and had a great night gathering treats.  She’s a brave little superhero.  Whenever she saw scary costumes, she wasn’t fazed at all.  At one point there was someone dressed as a werewolf, who tried to scare her.  I screamed…but my little superhero simply asked, “Wolf, what is your name?”  At houses with scary music and costumes, she told people, “I like your face paint”.  What a brave little superhero I have. 

Spicy Chicken Soup Recipe

Recently, on my Annual Fall-To-Do List, I said that I wanted to find wonderful soup recipes.  Here is a great one I found. Yum!!

Catherine's Spicy Chicken Soup

Ingredients

• 2 quarts water
• 8 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons dried parsley
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 5 cubes chicken bouillon
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 (16 ounce) jar chunky salsa
• 2 (14.5 ounce) cans peeled and diced tomatoes
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed tomato soup
• 3 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
• 2 (16 ounce) cans chili beans, undrained
• 1 (8 ounce) container sour cream

Directions

1. In a large pot over medium heat, combine water, chicken, salt, pepper, garlic powder, parsley, onion powder and bouillon cubes. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 1 hour, or until chicken juices run clear. Remove chicken, reserve broth. Shred chicken.
2. In a large pot over medium heat, cook onion and garlic in olive oil until slightly browned. Stir in salsa, diced tomatoes, whole tomatoes, tomato soup, chili powder, corn, chili beans, sour cream, shredded chicken and 5 cups broth. Simmer 30 minutes.

This makes ALOT of soup.  My husband isn’t really a soup person but even he said it tastes really, really good.

Superheroes and A Clown

My little girl loves superheroes.  She is constantly saying she is a superhero.  She wears blankets as capes around the house, often.

So for Halloween, she is being supergirl! She’s very excited and has played dress up with her costume several times already. 

For our church trunk-or-treat, I threw together a costume in 5 minutes-quite literally 5 minutes before it was to start.  I rummaged through my daughter’s dress-up trunk and found she had some green clown-like hair.  In the hair I added feathers, bows, and put a cat hat she has to top it off.  Then, I took a shiny banner and tied it into a bow.  I have a tie-die dress and safety pinned pom-poms to it.  I added a shirt that clashed with the dress.  Then, I wore a pair of my husband’s shoes.  He wears a size 13, so they looked like clown shoes on me.  Then, I added a bit of makeup.  I was doing it fast and didn’t have time to outline it.  I was trying to look funny but some of the kids seemed scared of me…

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Pumpkin Rocks

On my Annual Fall T0-Do List one of the things I wanted to do was to paint pumpkin rocks.  This is so easy to do and your kids will love it! Simply find some round rocks in your yard, paint them orange, and then add green tops!

 

Very Good Apple Pie Recipe and Pumpkin Latte Recipe

For those of you that follow my blog, recently I had my Annual Fall To-Do List.  Two items that I wanted to accomplish on my list were to make pumpkin latte and to find a really good apple pie recipe.  I accomplished both of these items last night.

Here is a picture of Zhana trying the pumpkin pie latte.  I don’t make a habit of giving my child caffeine, but did let her have this little special treat.  I got this recipe from A Year of Slowcooking. 

Pumpkin Pie Latte Recipe

--2 cups milk

--2 T canned pumpkin
--2 T white sugar
--2 T vanilla (not a typo. it asks for tablespoons)
--1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
OR: 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp cloves, 1/8 tsp nutmeg, and a teeny tiny pinch of ground ginger
--1/2 cup brewed espresso or 3/4 cup strong brewed coffee
--garnish with whipped cream (optional)
This recipe only makes enough for two people.  I tripled the recipe.
Add the coffee/espresso and milk to the crockpot. Whisk in the pumpkin, spices, sugar, and vanilla.
Cover and cook on high for 2 hours if everything is cold. Whisk again.
Ladle into mugs, and garnish with whipped cream and additional cinnamon. This is a keeper for sure and will become a family tradition at my house.

Next, was my task to find the perfect apple pie recipe.  I am pretty sure I did.  This recipe is from allrecipes and is called Apple Pie by Grandma Ople.  Here is the recipe for the most part, but I did change a couple of things. 

• 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 8 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oven to 350. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.
2. Place the bottom crust in your pan. Mix apples with the sauce.   Take a cookie cutter and cut out shapes.  Add these to the top of the pie. 
3. Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft.
4. Five minutes before cooking is finished, make a mixture using karo syrup and hot water.  Brush this onto the pie.  Sprinkle white sugar onto the pie. 

I hope you are all enjoying the Autumn!

Annual Fall To-Do List

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.  -Albert Camus

I had already done this post…but sadly didn’t save it in Live Writer, so when my computer froze up…it vanished.  So, I can’t say that I’ve spent the same amount of time on this one, but hopefully it still helps to get your family in a fall mood with some activity ideas and helps me to work on doing everything on my list…

• Make caramel corn; Anyone care to share their favorite recipe for this?

• Drink a pumpkin-spice latte.  You can buy these from Starbucks OR people I just found a recipe for making it at home.  Any other fall nuts jumping for joy like I am? See http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/10/crockpot-pumpkin-spice-latte-recipe.html; Done
• Go on a hay ride. Done! See Post from last week.
• Visit a pumpkin patch. Done! See post from last week.

• Visit a corn maze. Done! See post from last week.
• Boo A Family. Here is a link if you don’t know what that is.
• Make caramel apples

 

• Pumpkin carving of course.  Do you all carve or paint your pumpkins.  I’ve been debating which of these Zhana would like to do more. 

 

• Make pumpkin rocks: Basically, just paint some rocks orange! Done!

• *Go to an orchard and pick apples.  Clicking here will take you to a listing of a nearby apple orchard. 

• Pumpkin pancakes at IHOP or make my own using this recipe. 
  *Buy gourds to paint. There is A LOT of information about painting gourds for birdhouses here. 
  *Watch Charlie Brown It’s the Great Pumpkin. I haven’t found when it is on yet this year.  If anyone knows, please let me know.
• Watch 2 scary movies a week starting the first week of October. Anyone know of any good new releases? Your favorite horror movie? Done!
• Make pumpkin poop for friends. See
  http://christmas.organizedhome.com/poop-gifts/pumpkin-poop

• Go to Spooktacular. Check and see if your local zoo has any special events going on for Halloween.
• Go on a woodland walk.  During this time, collect acorns for crafts.  There are SO many cute crafts to do with acorn caps. BTW, I found this site that tells about the fall foliage state by state.  Done!

• For a year now, I’ve wanted to learn felting.  Make some fall felted projects.
• Do a color themed picture scavenger hunt-looking for colors of red, brown, orange, yellow
• Make a velvet pumpkin (see tutorial at http://gingerbreadcrumbsandcompany.blogspot.com/2009/09/pumpkin-tutorialwell-sort-of.html)

• Make a Halloween Garland; I like the tutorial Make and Takes has at http://www.makeandtakes.com/mod-podge-halloween-banner or Roots and Wings: http://rootsandwingsco.blogspot.com/2009/09/fall-pumpkin-and-leaf-garland.html

• Find a fabulous apple pie recipe. I’d love all of your apple pie recipes or favorite fall foods. I might try this one here.  Done.

• Play Bobbing for Apples as a family
• Go to a football game.
• Make a fall themed scrabble necklace.
• Have pumpkin shake or concrete
• Find fabulous soup recipes.  Again- would LOVE recommendations.  Done!
• Taking a thermos or cocoa and cider and drinking it in the middle of the forest.
• Find a wonderful sweater in fall colors that will make me smile when I drag it out year after year.  Not just a sweater. A special sweater that screams autumn. Done!

Seriously, you guys if Autumn was a drug, I’d be an addict.  I’m basically in love with the season.  When I sense fall is near, I can almost feel in physically! I become so very, very happy.  I want to soak up every second of it.  If you all have more ideas-please send them my way! I’ll love you for it!

Fall is Here!

  Welcome Fall! A visit to the pumpkin patch is always one of my highlights of the fall season. 

Pounding golf tees into a pumpkin.

Here is Miss Zhana building her very first scarecrow.

Who doesn’t love a corn maze?

Going on a horse led hayride. 

Cider Days on Walnut Street

Some people had this cute little horse on a leash walking it like a dog. How cute is this?

BTW, let me take this opportunity to introduce everyone to our puppy Maggie.  She’s a little bassett hound and oh so sweet!

My little girl found a street musician and dancers and had a blast twisting and twirling with them.

Zhana really enjoyed scarecrow village. 

This is another family tradition.  I’ve been going to Cider Days since I met my husband, when I was Sophmore in college.  I used to live one street up from Walnut Street, where it takes place.  I wish I would have taken more pictures.  Basically, it is a fall festival with cider, musicians, crafters, and artists.  It always signals to me, that Fall is near. 

Japanese Garden Festival Days

Okay, so I’m very behind on posts. I’m going to go ahead and add several today so that I’m not posting things we did over the Summer,  when there is snow on the ground, lol! Here are some pictures of our fun day at the Japanese Botanical Garden. 

Japanese Festival Day is always the first weekend after Labor Day.  We go just about every year going all the way back to our dating days. 

There are fun little discoveries all over the Garden.

The walking bridge has always been a favorite of mine.

There is a little Japanese tea room on the property where you can watch tea ceremonies.Throughout the festival are various entertainers.  This was the “Magical story teller”.  The city flies in performers from Springfield’s sister city in Japan during the festival. 

Here is a top performer.

If you live in this area or are traveling through, this is a great activity to bring your family to.  This is one of our traditions. 

A Visit to The Farm

This park is the cutest ever! I can’t believe I’m just now discovering it! There is a city park in Springfield called Rutlidge-Wilson Farm that is a working farm park ran by the city! I have this obsession with red barns and white picket fences, so needless to say I was in love with this place.

I also have this thing about haybales.  I love them. Anyone else, or just me?

There is a fishing pond where you can fish with a cane pole on the farm.

Lot’s of fun little places to discover.

Farm animals to dicover and pet such as chickens, babydoll lambs, miniature horses, mini goats, cows, and turkeys.

There is this cow that is like a big puppy dog.  When you go near her she’ll give you a big lick and loves to have her ears scratched.  When the cow licked Zhana, I’ve never seen her so scared, though. 

They have saddles set up so the little ones can pretend to be cowgirls.  There is also a plastic cow with udders that you can pretend to milk and water comes out.

The farm has flowers and crops growing as well.

Zhana really liked watching the turkeys.

 

There is a cute little miniature horse that does tricks such as shaking its head yes. So cute! There are haybales to climb.

  They also have a farm themed playground.  I wish I would have taken a picture of the playground because it is adorable.  It looks like a big barn.

All of this for free! What a great city park! We’ll be spending a lot of weekends at this park.