Playing around with pics from Mardi Gras last year and wishing I wasn't missing it this year. Shots of wine early in the morning with the Angelicos was a good time.
Today consisted of laundry, cleaning and packing- three of the least fun chores in the history of the world (except maybe UN-packing.) did find time for a fun craft, which is really simple. It promises pretty results- as long as you like the two main "ingredients"- pumpkins and glitter. I saw these gems on Oasis Accents and knew I had to try them ASAP because pumpkins and glitter happen to be two of my favorite things. Luckily, our local dollar store had the pretty superfine glitter and mini plastic pumpkins, so game on! What you need:
Your glitter "stripes" can go anyway you'd like, but I found it easiest to follow the natural lines on the pumpkin. Simply paint on Mod Podge on the section you are working on, sprinkle glitter on, and let dry for a few moments. Repeat with each section. You can grasp the pumpkin stem and do it quickly, or if this is uncomfortable, just wait until the first half of the pumpkin is completely dry before doing the rest so you can hold the side you have already glittered. I can't wait to do more with different color combinations! They look like they took much more time/money/effort than a few moments and some dollar store supplies.
Now off to do some baking- Pumpkin Mini-Muffins. Recipe to follow soon! Posted by Caroline There's no use in denying it. I get ridiculously nerdy about Halloween. Honestly, I love everything about fall, but there's just something about Halloween that conjures nostalgic feelings of being little, dressing up, and being creeped out by all the spooky stuff that Halloween entails. When I was younger, we had a Halloween party every year. My mom dressed up as a gypsy (Madame Zelda) and told fortunes around her "crystal ball." My dad dressed as a scarecrow and jumped out at unsuspecting guests. We had dry ice "fog" (this was before Party City stocked fog machines like fireworks on the fourth of July), apple bobbing, costume contests, and kitschy decorations my mom made decades before (think bats made of construction paper suspended from the ceiling.) It was AWESOME, and I'm a firm believer that any Halloween decoration is a good decoration. Now usually I don't wait until less than a week before Halloween before doing dorky Halloween-inspired things (I've been decorating our house on and off since mid-September) but tonight we finally pulled out our go-to favorite Halloween-inspired dinner: Mummy Dogs. I could eat these once a week, if I were more of a hot dog fan, because they are SO MUCH BETTER than your typical hot dog in a bun. You know how hot dog buns are good and all, but they get a little doughy and soggy when you add your toppings? These don't. The Crescent dough stays crispy, flavorful, but not overwhelming. Delicious and cute...the only down-side is the disgusting name, which I should explain. We intended on making 8 Mummy dogs, but I got a little over-zealous with the mummy wraps and we ran out of dough, except for a few small pieces. So we split the last dog and, well....those small little pieces of crescent dough all rolled up look eerily like my least favorite wiggly insect larva. Stuffed with some cheese...it was not a waste of a dog, despite it's disgusting appearance. What to serve on the side, you ask? Why not chili cheese infected puke fries? I know, I know, disgusting. But it is Halloween, right? Choose your favorite hot dogs and refrigerated dough. We ended up only using 1 can of dough and it covered 7 dogs...it's up to you whether you want use the dough more sparingly and stretch it or more generously to make it worth opening the second can. Cut the dough into thin strips (I used a pizza cutter for convenience.) Wrap the strips around the hot dogs so they look like mummies. Split last hot dog in half and use left over dough to make it look like maggots are feasting on the meat. Or if you're not disgusting like us, skip this step. Stick in the oven at 375 for about 15 minutes, or until the dough is nice and golden. Decorate with mustard and/or ketchup to make "eyes" and "blood." As for the Infected Puke fries, simply bake or fry your shoestring fries according to the directions on the bag. Once nice and crispy, cover with cheese on a cookie sheet and stick in the oven (400 degrees) until cheese in melted (less than 5 minutes). Then cover in your favorite chili sauce, and enjoy. Don't dwell on how gross they look, because they are delicious. There you have it. An easy, inexpensive, kid-friendly Halloween-themed dinner. Now if only we had kids in this house to justify the effort...
Hope you enjoy! Posted by Caroline One week until Halloween! What an awesome display to get into the Halloween spirit! I wonder how much time/energy/talent went into this! Autumn Harvest Cookies. Isn't there something about the very name of this cookie that conjures images of everything that embodies fall? Hay bales, indian corn, pumpkins, brightly-colored leaves, apples, squash, candy corn? Well fear not, none of those things are in these cookies, because that would be gross. They do have flavors that scream "Fall! Autumn! Yum!" though, like brown sugar, oats, cranberries and pumpkin pie spices. They are like autumn-ized oatmeal raisin cookies, with a hearty spiciness that goes great with the season. Plus they are easy! Cream together butter, brown and white sugars. Beat in the eggs, orange extract and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder and pumpkin pie spice; stir flour mixture into the sugar mixture. Add the rolled oats, chopped walnuts and dried cranberries. Mix it all up. Scoop the dough out onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (we swear by Silpats in this house.) I recommend somewhere between a teaspoon and a tablespoon depending on how big you like your cookies. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Allow to cool for as long as you can wait, and enjoy! Autumn Harvest Cookies
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