Five on Friday: Spooky Tour

Happy Friday Friends! 

Today I wanted to share my spooky house tour with you, however, please know that I say "spooky" with a snicker. I did get out all of my jack-o-lanterns, spiders, ghosts etc...but they're all pretty tame - and probably fit more in the "cute" category.  Although, tonight my hubby will be working on getting out the true scarier decorations we have to put in our trees and around the outside for the enjoyment of our trick-or-treaters. Annie and I will be working on food prep for some ghoulish goodies we'll be having at our Halloween gathering...and I will share those on the blog next week.  

But for now - here are some photos from rooms around my home. Beware: lots of photos ahead! Lol

ONE: The Living Room

Love this Dracula: he was a thrift store find and is musical and his face bobs up and down behind his cape.

TWO:The Dining Room

THREE: The Kitchen

A unique way to give your pumpkin some decoration without carving. Take patterened stockings and tie around, or glue around your pumpkin. It will look stenciled without all of the work!

FOUR: The Master Bedroom

For the party I will have the bed made up all pretty with lots of pillow piled on too. So please don't mind the quick every day version of how I make up our bed.

FIVE: Outside

And here are our freshly carved jack-o-lanterns that haven't made their way outside yet:

Do  you feel spooked yet?? If that didn't do the trick, maybe this will:

You can see our shed from out our bedroom window and I noticed this structure popped up next to it the other day. Stacked landscaping brick? - or make shift grave site?? You decide (insert scary evil laugh here). ;) 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! 

I'm linking with Amy of Love Made My Home for Five on Friday.

Easy Apple Pie

Just about any kind of apple dessert is wonderful this time of year. A big favorite around here is apple crisp - see my recipe here.  

But another favorite is good old fashioned easy apple pie, and that's what I want to share today.

This is the recipe from Pillsbury - and I used their refrigerated crusts instead of homemade this time. It is a simple recipe, but a wonderful one! I didn't think about taking photos until I was part way through photos, but here are the steps and the recipe:

First, I thawed out pie crust on counter for 15 minutes. Then I unrolled one crust into bottom of my pie plate. I then took my peeled and sliced apples (I used honey crisps) and tossed them with the filling ingredients I will share below. The only thing I changed in this part is where it calls for 3/4 cup of sugar....I made 1/4 of that brown sugar and the rest (1/2 cup) regular white granulated sugar.  Here is the full recipe:

Ingredients

Crust

1

box Pillsbury™ refrigerated pie crusts, softened as directed on box

Filling*

6

cups thinly sliced, peeled apples (6 medium) 

3/4

cup sugar

2

tablespoons all-purpose flour

3/4

teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4

teaspoon salt

1/8

teaspoon ground nutmeg

1

tablespoon lemon juice

Heat oven to 425°F. Place 1 pie crust in ungreased 9-inch glass pie plate. Press firmly against side and bottom.  In large bowl, gently mix filling ingredients; spoon into crust-lined pie plate. Top with second crust. Wrap excess top crust under bottom crust edge, pressing edges together to seal; flute. Cut slits or shapes in several places in top crust.  Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until apples are tender and crust is golden brown. Cover edge of crust with 2- to 3-inch wide strips of foil after first 15 to 20 minutes of baking to prevent excessive browning. Cool on cooling rack at least 2 hours before serving.

I made the filling and crust as instructed. I then used the excess crust that I had from cutting around the edge of the pie crust and rolled it out separately and cut it out into leaf shapes.

I then place the leaves on the center of the top pie crust and cut some slits on the top before baking.

I then brushed on some milk and sprinkled the top with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. I then baked as it's directed above.

Then cut into slices and eat warm topped with vanilla bean or cinnamon ice cream. Yum!! I'm linking with Sherry from The Charm of Home for her Home Sweet Home party.

Wednesday Wonder

Not Many Leaves Left on the Trees

Happy Homemaker Monday

Good morning dear Friends! 

Another week has begun already. The time is flying with lightening speed to Halloween now - and my daughter is SO excited! I think the teenager is too, but he'd never show it of course. Lol! He's too cool for that now. We've been preparing more...and so more of the Halloween decorations have been coming out. Great fun! We had a lovely weekend and accomplished lots. We did more yard work and my hubby did some leaf blowing (AGAIN), but this time it might hold up better as many of the leaves are off the trees now in our yard (sad face). We also had some lovely family time - with a belated bday dinner for me at my Dad & step Mom's home. So lovely.  And then a nice dinner out last night with my Mom and my in-law's as it was my Mom's birthday and my in-law's anniversary yesterday. They've been married 52 years. Pretty cool, huh? We actually have several dates in common between our families. I always tell my hubby it's because 'we were just meant to be'.  Lol

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

Cool, gray and rain on and off.  No rain now and no wind, which is nice. The bay looks so calm and peaceful. It looks and feels like one of those very late Fall days. With so many trees bare now and the skies hanging heavy and dark. Only in the 40's today. Need to go put on a favorite sweater kind of weather.

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

A piece of leftover pumpkin chocolate chip bread from the weekend and a cup of coffee with natural sweet cream creamer.

  AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW:

Gray and gloomy out, but just makes it feel that much more snuggly inside. I haven't seen as many geese flying over lately (maybe many have left already) - but there was a big group swimming on our bay this AM. They made a pretty sight on the calm water - reflecting in it like looking in a mirror.

RIGHT NOW I AM:

Ok, no judging - but right now I'm listening to the classical Christmas station on Pandora. It was just a day that called for it! Plus, I'm only a week ahead of my rule. I usually never let myself listen to holiday music until the week after Halloween. Plus, it's classical so it's really almost more like listening to church music. Lol I lit some new candles I got for my birthday and they're sitting right next to me as I type. A yankee autumn wreath one and a spiced orange and cinnamon soy candle. It smells amazing and I'm definitely in my happy place. 

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE:

A little bit of pick up after the kiddos' clutter they've left around before heading to school, but otherwise pretty tidy yet from the weekend cleaning.  Throw in laundry - OF COURSE!

ON TODAY'S TO DO LIST:

I will have my MIL to care for soon and I'm thinking we'll snuggle in around here a bit and she can help me with a bit more Halloween decorating. We'll do some coloring together and work on some easy puzzles I recently picked up. Then later today I think we'll run a couple errands to get some walking in since it's icky outside, and always nice to have a change of scenery by later in the day.

CURRENTLY READING:

I haven't ready my book all week and have been more into catching up on my People magazines and I purchased my first holiday magazine to read - again don't judge me! Lol

ON THE TV TODAY:

I finished catching up on Good Wife - LOVE that show!! But we still have shark tank to watch, I have a few episodes of the Voice to catch up on - and some cooking shows.

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

MONDAY: sausage, egg and cheese sandwiches on Hawaiian buns that I will toast all together in the oven & a side of breakfast potatoes, fruit

TUESDAY: ham steak, baked potatoes and Normandy vegetable blend (carrots, cauliflower, zucchini, squash)

WEDNESDAY: didn't have pasties last week so maybe this week, or something else easy from the freezer as it's a busy night of sports and religious educ for kiddos.

THURSDAY: slow cooker meatballs & sauce over penne pasta, garlic toast & salad

FRIDAY: probably leftovers - be prepping a bit for Sat's Halloween fun!

* Annie and I will be doing our yearly tradition of baking cupcakes. She has usually liked something cute and sweet. My little Girl is growing up, though, as she just wants ghoulish stuff this year!! (sniff)  Even her costume is creepy too (stay tuned) So we're making severed finger cupcakes (eewww), and a meat, cheese & cracker platter and a tray of veggies and dip that will have spiders crawling over all. We'll also do a tray of apples with caramel toffee dip that will have worms sharing in it. I will get photos to share next week!  We always have several friends & family come share in Halloween with us and we order pizzas too.  I keep a big pot of apple cider simmering on the stove. So much fun!

WHAT I AM CREATING AT THE MOMENT:

Still the usual things - scrapbooking, some cross stitch, and some future projects I'm still sorting out.

NEW RECIPE I WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:

An easy fried ham steak recipe I haven't made before.

TIP OF THE WEEK:

When I do my apples and dip platter each Halloween I always toss the cut up apple slices in some pineapple juice. They won't taste like pineapple, just apple, but they will NOT turn brown. It works brilliantly!!

FROM THE CAMERA:

more Halloween decorations showing up!

first thing this gray morning - I lit my new candle and watched the glow chase away the dark

The trees are getting so bare - still a little color in the shrubs though 

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

I'm linking with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.