pumpkin scones and halloween

The kids love Halloween. And why wouldn't they...they get to have a week of fun festivities, parties at school, work, and church. Candy, candy and more candy! Halloween seems to get bigger and bigger every year with the hoopla stretching out for weeks prior. So I must say I feel some relief when we finally get the actual day behind us. This year it fell on Sunday so we opted to stay home and keep it low key. I left that decision up to the kids, and it seemed like a fairly simple choice for them. They already had way more candy than they were going to be allowed to keep at this point anyway. Since Halloween was on Sunday and Zig was feeling a little bit obligated, we did the Friday Microsoft trick-or-treating for the first (and last) time. Way too much candy for far too little work :)

We stopped by Zig's office. I always loved going to my Dad's office when I was a kid, and my children are no different.



chubby fish


It was all too much for Evan. He was a mad fishie when he couldn't eat candy to his heart's content.


We  had our neighbors over for dinner on Sunday evening which was very fun. I always make Dad's chili, cornbread, salad, and pumpkin scones. This year I tried a new pumpkin scone recipe and it's definitely a keeper. Lots of spice and tastes so yummy right out of the oven.

Pumpkin Scones with Autumn Spiced Glaze

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground all spice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 7 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 large egg

For the spiced glaze:

• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• 2 tablespoons whole milk
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• A pinch of all spice
• A pinch ginger
• A pinch ground cloves

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices.

With your hands, mix the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.

In a medium bowl combine the pumpkin, sugar, cream and egg with a whisk. Fold into the dry ingredients and mix with a large spoon until the dry bits at the bottom of the bowl have been incorporated.

With your hands, pat the mix into a ball and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Continue to shape into a ball, then gently press down and out, forming the dough into a flattened circle about 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick. If the edges of the circle start to crack just place the palm of your hand against the edge and gently press the dough back in. Dust a large, sharp knife with flour and cut the dough into six triangles. Slide the knife under each triangle to help you lift and transfer it to the prepared baking sheet.

I think I've finally got your chili recipe down, Dad! I got the Rotel and I think of you every time I chop the heck out of those veggies!

The kids chose their costumes and I only made one last minute run to one store this year for a pacifier and bottle for Sela who changed her costume idea many, many times. I made it to all the class parties and really enjoyed watching the kids and all their friends celebrating.

 
Sela becoming a baby.




Sela and friends

Sela's friend, Treela, with her precious baby sister.


I love this shot...both fourth graders in Sela's class! The girls are obviously having their growth spurts a bit earlier than the boys!


Nina, Maisy & Sydney


Nina's red carpet moment


Nina and her best little buddy, Kate!

And last but not least, Zig and I went to the Hansen's international themed Halloween party. I had one decent outift that would fit the theme so India it was!

Zig is a good sport. He loves dressing up. I mean just look at that face! Okay, yes, I bribed him...again.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween Fun

Our traditional Halloween meal is usually chili and cornbread but I just made chili last weekend for our church fall festival and I was not ready for chili again.

Then I saw Darcie's skeleton picture and just had to make it! I had so much fun with it! I first thought I'd do it because it was sooo simple. Then I got a little bee in my bonnet and decided to try a new spaghetti and meat sauce recipe. And wouldn't homemade breadsticks be good?! I used my regular bread recipe and the sticks worked out great and they looked like bones because they were knobby on the ends. I haven't made spaghetti sauce with meat, well ever! My energy has been low and I had my blood checked and found my iron levels to be very low. I'm trying to eat a little red meat to play catch-up and it wasn't so bad! It was actually very yummy! I kept the kids out of the kitchen and then brought them in for the big "reveal!" We had fun eating the intestines, bones and fingers and toes!

After dinner, we were off for the highly anticipated trick-or-treat. We all went and Zig even picked up a bay cow along the way (little Michael). It was a fantastic night and we bumped into lots of families we knew. Rollin was a greedy little goblin going in for triple dips. I was mortified but since he is so little everyone thought is was cute or at least indulged him. He came home with twice the take as the girls. And he guards it with his life. After they did their sorting and trading, they crashed and I wasn't far behind.

Halloween Festivities so far...

Halloween is pretty much a multiple week celebration. I'm not sure how I like that, but it is what it is. I love fall and I do get pretty excited about Halloween, but it's the steady flow of goodies that can become a bit much. But whatever...only one more day to go!

Zig and I went to Wendy and Dave's Halloween party a couple weekends ago and it was very fun. Great company and who doesn't enjoy the newlywed game?! We certainly didn't win. We did not disappoint with another year of lame costumes, but at least we made it!

The church party was at the Christmas tree farm again which I think is wonderful. It makes for a very low key atmosphere and the kids love it. Rollin was very assertive when it came to the trunk or treat...I'm a bit worried about Friday night!

Nina had her preschool party today. Lots of volunteers as always and not too crazy or overwhelming. More calm then what I remember from past years. Little Rollie was included and even behaved like a good preschooler. He's entered a bit of a "stage" lately for lack of a better word (where are you Darcie when I need a what to expect from your two year old book?!). Lots of sticking tongue out at mommy, growling, and calling me rude and mean mommy for such horrible offenses as wiping his face, clothing the child, or trying to pull him off from standing position on top of the very high monkey bars. I feel so very warm inside when he yells out "YOU'RE SO RUDE, MOMMY!!!" in the grocery store, playground or wherever. A true proud parenting moment, for sure.

OH, and how can I forget, if I happen to hit a tiny bump in the road, it's "DARN IT, SHOOT!" He gets very irritated that I can't control the road conditions. I can't win.

These little incidents happen on a daily basis right now, but as always with Rollin, there is lots of laughter and tons of cuddles and sweetness. Thank goodness, it helps me shrug off the other behavior, or at least try to.

The girls ran in the Great Pumpkin Run for our school district. Nina snuck in again and raced with the kindergarteners. She did much better than last year and finished in the top third of about 80 kids. Sela ran her little heart out and came in 5th place of about 70 kids. Rollin tried to kill himself the whole time jumping down the bleachers like all the big kids he was admiring.

Sela and Nina decorated pumpkins at PCC last weekend. It was very fun because there were so many fun little items provided to embellish the pumpkins to their hearts content.

We attempted meringue ghosts for family home evening and they came out very cute, vaguely resembling ghosts and tasted yummy. The thing we haven't done yet is carve pumpkins. I've got to psych myself up for that one! Where's my energy drink?

Halloween

Oh wow, what a week. Halloween is always an exciting time. I try to plan ahead each year and get the kids to nail down what they want to be. It never works. Both Sela and Nina changed at the last minute. Sela decided to be a spider witch after we planned for Little Red Riding Hood. Nina was the newest barbie princess, Island Princess, instead of the mermaid she had wanted to be for the last two months. Rollin was going to be a dalmation, but he had a cold and it was pretty chilly, so he went to sleep before he could debut his cute little costume, the only homemade one I was actually proud of. But, it was all fun. We tried to keep the actual day of Hallween pretty low key. I made pumpkin cream cheese and bagels for breakfast and a Butternut Squash Soup for dinner so I did my best to be festive with the food. I also was able to get them to eat lots of veggies and pretty much anything I wanted all day so they could indulge in their candy that evening.

I have never met a butternut squash soup recipe I didn't love, but this one might be my favorite. It was so simple but the almond sage topping just made it. We have sage growing all over the yard so this was a perfect use.


Trick or Treating was really fun for the girls. Much to Sela's delight, we met up with Sela's best friend from school, Treela, and trick or treated with her family. We didn't even plan to see them and we met them at our first stop. We went to the only actual neighborhood on Hollywood Hill called "The Farm." It was so fun to go to each house.... the people really went all out with the decorating and seemed to love all the kids. When it got too chilly, and the little buckets were overflowing, we came home. The girls sorted the candies into like pieces and then asked me what all the candies were. That made me swell with pride. Just kidding. They threw away everything with colors or dyes very willingly and kept the chocolate. We put it up in the cabinet and they have pretty much forgotton about it. A piece here and there, but most went to the candy fairy who left them a small treat in exchange for the loot.


Nina made playdough for her friends at preschool.




Sela and Treela...Treela is so sweet, always holding hands and hugging Sela. She is very kind. They are best buddies for sure.


All week I prepared to teach this class at church on Holiday Gifts for Neighbors and Friends. I agreed in order to help my friend who was in charge, but it was actually a lot more work than I realized. I enjoy trying out new recipes and getting ideas, but it was just a busier week than usual, so it was a little stressful to have the class looming in my mind. I made Triple Ginger cookies from the new amazing cookbook, Macrina (a local seattle bakery), and Cranberry Orange cookies. Some of the other things I made for were a healthy party mix, cranberry almond granola, vanilla almond granola, herb nut couscous mix, Exfoliating grains, mexican spiced hot chocolate, two kinds of spiced nuts, and other non-food type gifts. It was really fun. I'm glad it's over, but also glad it got me organized for my own gifting for the holidays.