I thought I would share a bit of our Halloween 2019 and a few fun recipes - for Halloween or Autumn in general.
If you've been following me for a while now you know that I was one that always went all out for Halloween and many of the holidays. Yep, I'm one of those moms. Lol I used to work months ahead figuring what the kids wanted to be and work on getting their costumes. Our house was the hang out house - friends and family would come and trick or treat from here. I'd make fun themed snacks and cover many of them in fake spiders and bugs. Carve pumpkins, toast seeds. Set up spooky things outside. Hot cider on the stove waiting when they got back from going out searching for treats more than tricks. You get the idea.... If you want to check out some halloween's past around here just click on the halloween word in the right column of my blog layout.
So it's kind of sad to me that my Aaron is off at college and Annie is just getting past the age of wanting to trick or treat anymore. I had to pick up Annie from her hockey tryouts that night so I missed getting to see my nieces and nephew that were going to stop by. But Annie had a friend from school come home with her and another friend from the neighborhood came by after. She wasn't going to go out but she found an old Dodgeball costume and they went out around the neighborhood. We made it a fun and festive night. Annie and I had carved pumpkins and I had toasted up the seeds. We had them all lit up. I had hot cider on the stove for when they came back. They did their fun candy exchange where they dump everything out and decide who likes which candy bar better and trade. We jammed to music and I made a jack o lantern pizza and we had a great night! 🎃 🍁 I hope you did too!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! 🎃
Easy Halloween chocolate bark: in a large bowl melt 3 cups of chocolate chips. I just did mine in the microwave. Do 1 minute to start and stir. Then do 30 second intervals as needed stirring after each time until smooth. Pour onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and spread smooth with an offset spatula. Sprinkle on halloween candy of choice - I did candy corn and pumpkins, kit kats, reeses cups, mini m&m's. Put in fridge for 1/2 hour to set. Then take out and break into pieces.
My favorite way to do pumpkin seeds - Dry seeds well. Place on cookie sheet and toss with some olive oil, salt, pepper & a little garlic powder. Mix well and spread out. Bake in preheated 325* oven for about 20-30 mins until crispy.
caramel apple nachos: slice apples and toss in pineapple juice (they won't turn brown then). Arrange on plate. Heat up ice cream caramel and drizzle over top. Sprinkle with mini choc chips, nuts or whatever you like. I used to top this with plastic or gummy worms too 😉
trick-or-treat
Hot apple cider: pour cider into a pot and set on stove on medium. Sprinkle in a little brown sugar and mix until all dissolved. Put in splash of lemon juice, and some fresh squeezed orange juice. Slice another orange into slices and place whole cloves in them and float on top. Throw a cinnamon stick on the bottom. Heat until good and hot and serve. For grown ups can throw in some butterscotch schnapps for caramel apple cider. 😉 🍎
the big candy bar debate and trade - it's serious business folks
Annie's favorite pizza right now is cheese and pineapple. So just threw in cheese pizza but topped with pineapple tidbits I made into a jack-o-lantern face design. 🎃
You did good Mama! It's hard sometimes as our kids grow and all those traditions start to change. Good for you for changing and still making it fun!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great Halloween time you had Carrie. Always love your recipes, especially the chocolate bark and the apple nachos. Fantastic carved pumpkins too. As for the pizza, well that is so darned clever. Cheers for Carrie xxx
ReplyDeleteIt's so sad when they get to that age, but at least you're still the hang out house and their candy trade looks like it was a BIG success! It must be REALLY hard on you with Aaron gone, but as you well know there is a season to everything and there is ALWAYS a light on the other side to something better - sending you BIG hugs and positive thoughts. Those caramel apple nachos and hot apple cider are calling my name!
ReplyDeleteYou are such a good mommy. I'm sure Annie knows how lucky she is, but as she gets older, she'll apprecite you more and more because you truly are a Supermom. You should have a cape like all the other heros. Skip the Wonderwoman look - she'd freeze her tush in your neck of the woods. Love you much, AP
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