But, boy, Halloween is Ti.R.Ing.

Jacob was a peapod.  But only long enough for a few pictures.  The costume was tight in the neck area, which concerned me.  So off it went.

But he was pretty stinkin’ adorable, wouldn’t you say?

At the last minute, I made some scary cookies for the Halloween party.   They’re called Bones of the Dead, and I found the recipe here.

Though they were a little tough, they seemed to go over well with our friends.  And they looked cool too. :)

Emily went trick-or-treating.  Once around the block was more than enough.

Definitely.  And here’s the proof:

How was your Halloween?

I have this problem: I cannot bear to eat an apple by itself knowing all the wonderful things that could be done with it. But when it came right down to it (as in, my apples were going to rot if I didn’t act fast), I couldn’t choose a recipe for my last 4 apples. So I improvised!

I call it “Saucy Apple Topping” because it was meant to be a topping for ice cream, but came out a bit like glorified applesauce. But no matter.

Ingredients:

• 4 apples (I used 2 Granny Smith and 2 McIntosh), peeled, cored, and chopped
• 1/4 cup Water (probably why it’s saucy)
• 1/3 cup Butter
• 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
• 1/4 cup White Sugar
• 1/2 cup Wheat Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons Wheat Germ
• 1/4 cup Oats

Preheat oven to 325. Place chopped apples and water in buttered baking dish. Mix remaining ingredients thoroughly and place on top of apples. Bake for 45 minutes (I covered it with foil for the first 10 or 15 minutes). Serve with vanilla ice cream. Or caramel ice cream. Or just caramel!

The true test was serving it to friends at a 3 year old’s birthday party last night. When they (the adults, that is) went nuts over it, I decided I should probably share! :)

Enjoy!

This is a little crocheted granny-square-ish bowl I made to corral all the plastic container lids.  They drive me nuts.  But, alas, they are necessary.  So now they have their own special place, and they are still easy to grab in a hurry.

I’m thinking about embellishing this with a little flower.   I think it needs some bubblegum pink. :)

Also, I’ll probably use fabric stiffener on it to help it maintain its shape.  I’ve never done this before, so does anyone have any experience with it?  Anything I should know?

On the cooking front (you know, what the kitchen is actually intended for… one might suspect that all I do in there is decorate), yesterday I was aching to make something apple-y, and I came across this Apple Crumble Cake recipe.   I added cinnamon and replaced some of the white sugar with brown sugar.  I also used a mix of whole wheat and all-purpose flour.  Unfortunately, we baked it a little too long (about 50 minutes), and the cake part was not very moist.  But it was still delicious served with vanilla ice cream.  And it was even better a few hours later when all the syrupy goodness had settled a bit.  Mmmmm.

These yummies were inspired by this recipe. When I realized I didn’t have enough powdered sugar, I found this recipe (which has a couple mistakes: says “butter” in the ingredients list and “margarine” in the directions, and doesn’t tell you when to add the vanilla extract). The dough was weird and mushy in some spots, but they turned out pretty great and very buttery (a plus in my book!).

Then I made Culinary Concoctions’ cookie icing, dipped a couple dozen cookies in it, and sprinkled on some stars (you know, for the Star Wars-themed party). Yum!

I almost bought cookie icing from the grocery store, but then I looked at the ingredients list. Yikes. Definitely a few too many questionable bits in that. I love that this recipe has 3 ingredients (I left out the food coloring) and takes about 30 seconds to whip up.

As for sprinkles… your safest bet is to sprinkle on some raw sugar, but I like color.

How about Black Bean & Salsa Soup:

Last night (at the last minute) I stumbled across this super-easy recipe.  We had all of the, um, 4 main ingredients on hand.  So I gave it a go. And… yum.

I doubled the recipe thinking that it wouldn’t be enough.  But this is a very hearty meal! So we’re having it 2 nights in a row.  It’s so delicious that I don’t mind at all!  Great with chips, sour cream, cheese, perhaps even with extra salsa.  Oh, and next time I make it, I won’t blend all of it.

What are your favorite soup recipes?

P.S. Looks like Martha’s got a blog.  Is there anything she doesn’t do? :)

UPDATE: Thanks for the encouragement, everyone.  Nora, I really like the idea of putting some embroidery and perhaps appliqué on it.  Great suggestion!  Maybe as I get closer to finishing, I’ll start getting creative. ;)  Oh, and a local crafting friend told me that she uses a straight stitch for this kind of work.  So I might stop using the zigzag, since it uses a ton of thread.

The cooler weather we’re experiencing may only be related to Gustav, but it sure makes me want to knit, make yummy soup, and cuddle up under a favorite old quilt. Unfortunately, that favorite quilt needs some extra love. So much that I’ve decided to forgo the handstitching and mend this baby with my trusty machine! I’m using the zigzag stitch, but if you have any advice, do tell.

We’ve missed this dear quilt for two winters now because it’s in such bad shape.

A brief history: It was a wedding present to Evan’s parents (about 30 years ago?), and it went into storage in the ’90s (while the family was in China). Then, when Evan was in college (in SC), he found it in his grandparents’ shed and acquired it for his own. He loved it so much that Grandmother Derrick had to mend it multiple times for him. The last time was just before our wedding.

So the burden, ahem, baton has been passed on to me.

I’m setting an arbitrary deadline to finish the mending by October. Oh, Quilt. You are a Lucky Beast. If I didn’t love you so much, I would cut you up and throw you on the scrap pile. Alas.

And completely off topic: I found this awesome and economical black bean soup recipe. It was a hit for us, so I’m passing it on. We didn’t have any celery or onion, but it still tasted great (we never eat onion ’round these here parts). I also cooked it on the stovetop, but it would be nice to smell cooking all day in a Crockpot. Especially on a crisp, autumn day!

First, I want to say thank you for all the great chocolate chip cookie recipes you guys suggested!  Here are 3 winners for future reference:

• Nestle’s Toll House
• Neiman Marcus Urban Legend (Mom D emailed me this one)
• Heavenly Chocolate Chunk

They all sound delicious, and I might just have to test each one.  You know, to review and such. :)

So last night I realized that I never told you all about this review of sorts that Evan and I did together for a column at Movie Zeal.  It’s pretty silly, but that’s the charm of it.  And believe me, I’m not into horror films.  At.  All.

I’m into cute things.  Like blocks covered in pictures from old children’s books.  (Nice segue, huh?)  Anyway, I stumbled across this tutorial from Martha and literally jumped up to go make some.  Has anything ever inspired you in that way?  Please share!

I used some of Emily’s blocks and an old Scuffy the Tugboat book that was otherwise deteriorating as quickly as possible.  And I didn’t do any of the fancy painting or decorative edging.   Easy peasy.

Sometime about 2 weeks ago, I stumbled across this recipe on Money Saving Mom.  Since I had all the necessary ingredients on-hand, I decided to give it a go.  I have now made it about 5 times.  Yes, we like it that much.

A few alterations though: I only make half of the recipe, use applesauce instead of oil, cut down on the sugar, and I add in about 1/2 cup of coconut and a couple tablespoons of wheat germ.  It’s great with milk and fruit, but it’s also fine straight out of the oven by itself.

P.S. How do you like the new banner?

We’ve been experiencing a good kind of problem all week: too many parties.  And we’re pooped.  We love people, but I think we all crave some alone time now.

I have something really fun that I want to share tomorrow, but right now…

I’m going to read while my babies sleep.  Happy Friday.

Last night was quite frightening here in Tulsa. What began as a lovely storm to help one fall asleep evolved into more hail than I’ve ever seen in my life, waking me around 3:30 and sending me into a panic about going into labor. Obviously, I did not go into labor, but I was worried that my anxiety might cause contractions. And then how would I get to the hospital in the middle of a hail storm? (Ridiculous, I know.) So I calmed myself by looking at pretty blogs and thinking of new projects.

The storm is over, but it’s damp and chilly today. I can think of no better excuse for my favorite hot cocoa. If you’ve never tried homemade cocoa, you need to right now. Before the summer hits. We have some Green & Black’s Cocoa Powder that we used in a bread recipe, and on the side of the canister is the simplest recipe ever: “To make one cup: Mix up one teaspoon of Green & Black’s organic cocoa with cold milk to make a smooth paste. Add hot milk, stirring well. Sweeten to taste.” That’s not much harder than adding hot water to a packet of Swiss Miss.

I like to add some heavy cream to the mix and sweeten with two spoonfuls of raw sugar. I typically fill my mug with milk, pour most of it into a pot to heat (But don’t boil.). While the milk is heating, I add a couple teaspoons of cocoa powder and sugar to the cold milk left in my mug, and then I make the paste. Add cream and hot milk. Stir. Enjoy!

It’s so perfect that you want to savor it slowly and, yet, can’t help but gulp it down all at once. So perfect.