Monday, October 31, 2016

Trick or Treating

The kids were excited all night to get out. A little after 6 pm we saw some other little trick or treaters out and about so we got all our lights turned off, headed downstairs to the wagon and got their costumes on. They were pretty excited.

First house a few houses down. As Isaac said "my first customer".

When there was a gap in houses we had the girls ride in the wagon. Mary wanted to pull it which was super cute n


Isaac's costume was adorable and he kept cracking me up. He randomly was walking in a yard in the dark and he just looked like a wondering ghost.

Emma was done by the end. Here we are pulling back into our garage at roughly 7:00.

They took their costumes off and Isaac and Mary had a ball handing out candy at our door. They all got to dig into their candy buckets. Then things really slowed down about 8:00. We waited a while then called it quits and brought the porcelain pumpkins inside and shut off all the lights.

Halloween Day Arboretum Visit

We made a trip to the arboretum today with a friend. We did this last year on Halloween as well. It's a fun little activity that doesn't overload the kids with treats. They had trick-or-treating throughout the building and consisted of an Apple, two pieces of candy, and a cookie. Perfect!


They were setting up and getting ready for the upcoming light show exhibit.




Isaac being a goof eating his cookie

Once we were finished exploring inside we ate our packed lunch in the cafeteria then headed back to the car. We took a jaunt on the 3-mile-drive. Pretty woodsy and winter approaching scenery.


We drove by the pumpkin houses and some more scarescrows.


Friday, October 28, 2016

Homemade Sauerkraut

This isn't my first go round with fermentation, we used to enjoy brewing beer before all our time got taken up with three little monkeys. But this is my first time experimenting with lacto-fermentation to make sauerkraut. 

I don't want any of our CSA to go to waste so I wanted to come up with a new idea for our recent head of cabbage. I made clean coleslaw last week and frankly we are slawed out. I love using jar methods to use up foods because I can utilize the food now for consumption later. Giving us more opportunity to get through the other fresh produce we have. 

I found instructions for making the kraut here





ZooBoo 2016

I tried to get this posted the night we went but the blogger app on my phone crashes and it's been almost a week before I could sit down at the computer to get it typed out. Sorry for the delay.

This has become an annual event and we love going! Last Year 2014 2013 It was also great because Emma has expressed fear in costumed characters and throughout the night she was starting to handle them better and even enjoyed seeing the people dressed up.

We arrived a little after opening so we had to park farther away. After a near encounter of a speeding car almost hitting Mary as she darted into the streed, dad and I removed our hearts from our throats and continued on.

I had to continue the tradition of decorating the wagon. With toddler twins you know someone is going to not want to walk so it's nice having it with us. And good to make them get in to move a little faster or contain them. Emma tends to be our little pokey puppy so it's nice when she is willing to ride so we can move a little quicker.

Isaac forgot his pumpkin bucket at home and after moving on from this tragedy he accepted it and took a ride in the wagon himself.

And we've arrived. Kyle and I's costume was a last minute dig through the costume chest, we landed on Mr. & Mrs. Frankenstein.





Emma warming up and enjoying the volunteers in costumes.

Isaac loved being a 'spooky ghost' but friendly and saying boo to everybody.

What a cutie:




We got to see some of the animals!


My cutie Carebears! Funshine Bear and Cheer Bear.

Photo bombed by a friendly ghost!



Isaac hasn't seen the star wars movies but he has read a few books and loves it. Later he told me "I was afraid they were going to shoot me" as he approached them for a high five.







It was a fun evening and the kids loved their treats and goodies. 

Jack-o-Lantern Stuffed Peppers

These were a fun dinner idea I came across on the Beachbody Blog. I did a little different of a recipe though.

The kids were huge fans of them. Emma calling them "pumpkin! pumpkin!" Mary dug right into the meat filling and Isaac and Emma munched on the pepper.


Topped with cheddar cheese.


Ingredients:
6 peppers

Filling:
Package of ground turkey
1 onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp cumin
dash of salt & pepper
12oz package of frozen cauliflower rice

Instructions:

  1. Cook meat, onions, garlic in large pan. Add in spices. Once meat is cooked, add in frozen cauliflower rice for 3-5 minutes. 
  2. Preheat oven to 400°F
  3. While meat cooks, cut off tops of peppers, set aside. clean out peppers and carve fun jack-o-lantern faces in each. Place in baking pan and pour in 1/4 cup of water. 
  4. When filling is cooked, add 1 cup to each pepper, place pepper lid on and cover pan with foil. Place in oven for 15 minutes. Remove foil and tops, sprinkle half a blue fix container of shredded cheddar cheese on each pepper, return to oven for 3-5 minutes or until cheese is melted. 
  5. Add tops and serve, enjoy the festiveness. 


Fix Count:
2 green, 1 red, 1/2 blue

***Side note: we found the mixture to be lacking a little in flavor (typical for turkey) if I make this again I'd probably double the seasoning and maybe add in some cayenne for a little kick.***


All images are copyright of Daisy Simpson. It is unlawful and illegal to copy, scan, alter or edit the images in any way. This depreciates the photos value as well as my reputation, I take great care in capturing and editing each image and they are each important to me. Thank you for respecting my passion and my copyright.