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It is Thursday and I am doing my first post for the week. I blame the internet router. I found these ghost dresses on my Aunt's pinterest board. I love them. Halloween is coming!

it's coming

Only one more day until Halloween decorations can legitimately come out of storage. I am excited, are you?

via martha stewart

halloween

I realize that Halloween is still well over a month away but I am already getting excited for it. I want to make one of these wreaths for October...

via pinterest 1 and pinterest 2

halloween

I saw this tutorial on Dana Made It. I am sorely tempted to spend my Friday night cutting out bats for my party on Saturday.

I spent this last Friday and Saturday painting with my Mom. This was my second attempt at painting, it went better than my first attempt but I am still lacking in the technique department. My Mom says it will come with practice, we will see...

costuming

I love Martha's costumes. Here are my two favorites this year.

via Martha Stewart
I would definitely be making one of these if I wasn't already slated to be Napolean.

halloween wrap up

My tomato costume. I loved it.

The graveyard brownies. They were easy with the exception of writing on the tombstones. That was hard, I gave up.

work costume

For work today I dressed up as a mercury thermometer. My office is the periodic table, I am mercury. This is a whole new arena for me. I can't wait to dress up in my real costume, the tomato.

halloween chili

photo via kevin h.'s flickr

Chili and Halloween go hand in hand where I come from. Every year my Mom always serves chili and breadsticks to the neighbors. It is a tradition that my siblings have continued as we have moved away from home. Here are some of our favorite chili recipes.

CHILE CON CARNE

1 lb. Red kidney beans

2 quarts Water

3 Tb. Green Chili pepper, chopped

2C. Tomato sauce

Salt to Taste

1 ½ tsp. White pepper

½ C. Bacon fat

2 medium–large Onions

2 lb. Ground beef

1 ½ tsp. Garlic powder

2 Tbl. Chili powder

1 qt. Tomatoes, chopped

Soak beans overnight, then cook in same water until tender. Drain an add chili pepper, salt, white pepper and tomato sauce. Let stand 2 hours. Heat onions, ground beef, garlic powder and chili powder in bacon fat; cook 30 minutes. Add tomatoes; cook 1 hour and serve.

This recipe is from Rancho De Los Cabelleros, in Wickenburg, Arizona. Chili con carne represents the essence of Southwestern cooking. This luxury ranch-inn is set in the high desert, about an hour’s drive north of Phoenix. Treasured Recipes of Country Inns

My sister prefers to serve this white bean chili

WHITE BEAN CHILI

6 – 8 cans white beans (small)

2 cans black beans

2 tablespoons cumin

1 large onion

1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon Old Bay spice

3 (7 ounce) cans diced green chilies

1 can Salsa Verde (Herdaz brand)

1 (4 ounce) can jalapeños

7 cans of chicken stock

2 cans diced tomatoes

1 cup chopped cilantro

4 chicken breasts, cooked

3 – 4 tablespoons lime juice

Sauté onion. Add cumin, chili powder, Old Bay and Salsa Verde. Simmer 5 minutes. Add chicken broth, tomatoes and cilantro – bring to a boil. Add beans, jalapeño, green chilies and chicken. Simmer at least one hour, can simmer all day. Before serving add lime juice. Serve with sour cream. Makes a ton. Note: if you choose to simmer all day you may want to hold the jalapeños out until near the end depending on how hot you want the chili.

haunted houses

Do you like Haunted Houses? The chainsaw guy always scares me.

photo here

pumpkin pancakes

photo via sweetladysweets flickr

I really wanted pumpkin pancakes this weekend, so yesterday I googled them and came away with this recipe. They were delicious. I added chocolate chips to mine.

Pumpkin Pancakes
from StreamingGourmet
Serves 2 people (makes 6 shapes)

2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1.5 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup whole milk
1/3 cup canned pure pumpkin
2 large eggs, separated
2 Tbsp butter, melted
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Preheat griddle on medium heat. (Don’t add any fat to the griddle yet. Just let it sit there heating up).

2. In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, pumpkin and egg yolks. Melt the butter in a small ramekin in the microwave for about 45 seconds. Mix the vanilla in with the eggs to help cool it down a little. You may have to wait a minute or two. You don’t want to cook the eggs. Add the butter/vanilla mixture in a slow, steady stream, whisking constantly.

3. Add the wet mixture to the dry and mix thoroughly. The batter will be thick. You’re going to add the egg whites next. Using an electric handheld mixer, or a crank one like that pictured here, beat the egg whites until they are stiff, but not too dry. Fold them into the batter gently.

4. Using a ladle (to control the amount of batter you use each time), pour batter into the mold, moving your hand around as you do so to spread the batter around all the little areas. Only fill the mold up about halfway. It will rise during cooking. Once the edges become firm, you are ready to gently lift the mold out of the pan. Check for places where the batter could be sticking to the mold and gently push it away with a butter knife. Once you’ve removed the mold, you can flip the pancake like normal. Let cook for another 2 minutes or so.

5. Serve immediately with butter and maple syrup.

pumpkin carving

A pumpkin village

This seems to be a popular method this year. I am intrigued by it. It looks like it might be really hard.

This one gives me the creeps, which I guess is appropriate for Halloween.

It is pumpkin carving week! I have been looking around for ideas, my pumpkin is huge this year. You can find instructions for these and more here.

pop up cards

I love the pop up cards from Tracy Chong

graveyard brownies

My work has an annual Halloween party which includes a competition for the spookiest dessert. I think I might try the graveyard brownies from Better Homes and Gardens, for my submission.

winner!

I entered a giveaway for this CD, A Broom with a View, on A Brooklyn Limestone (a new favorite blog of mine) and I won! I can't wait to get it so I can listen to it all month! Happy Halloween!

weekend projects

We used feather boas to wrap around a wreath frame and glued it with a hot glue gun.

We figured out the jingle bell wreath. 20 inches is the magic number! You can read more about this project here.

october 1

Now that it is October 1st, it is officially okay to start checking out Halloween stuff. First up, costumes.

One of my personal favorites (and selection for this year) the tomato. Just imagine it on a full grown adult. (Don't worry, it is for a party, not for trick or treating!) Rather than making my cap out of crepe paper, like Martha suggests, I am making it out felt. I figure if I am going to go to the trouble of making it, I want it to last.

Coffee Filter Fairy God Mother

Ice Queen

jim shore

I love Jim Shore's figurines, here are some of my favorites from his Halloween collection.

halloween costumes...

i think this tourist pair is probably my favorite

his and hers, how romantic...

if you are going to dress up for halloween you might as well look ridiculous, right? you can find all these and more here.
which one would you choose?

halloween in the kitchen

halloween plates and cupcake molds

tea candle holders (not so much kitchen but from a kitchenesque store) and halloween mugs



if you are a super halloweener you should probably have a halloween apron.

no sew costumes from martha

You can be a tulle ghost or a garbage bag witch.  

Personally I want to be the garbage bag witch.

 Martha must have started to run out of ideas, these are kind of creepy.