Mexican Pumpkin Soup & Jack-O-Lanterns

On Sunday I was in the mood for pumpkin, so I made a simple pumpkin soup for dinner for the four of us who were home.  Lavender refused to eat it and John and Evan didn't finish their bowls.  Fortunately I made a small batch and I was able to eat the leftovers for lunch a couple of days this week.

Tonight I decided to try again. I got the recipe from Gluten Free Goddess and changed it a little bit.  I doubled the recipe and it made a nice big batch. It was a little too spicy for Lavender, Brianne and Leighton, but the rest of us really enjoyed it.

Mexican Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients:

1 tablespoons coconut oil
1 small red onion, diced
1 7oz can diced green chiles
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon oregano
4 cloves of garlic, minced
4 cups chicken broth
1 15-oz. can pumpkin (or 2 cups fresh cooked)
1 15-oz. can black beans, rinsed, drained
5 medium red potatoes, peeled, diced


Add at the end:
Salt and pepper, to taste 
Approx 1/3 cup almond or coconut milk
1 drizzle of honey
Juice of a small lime

Instructions:

Heat the coconut oil in a large soup pot and saute the onions.  Then add the chiles, spices  and garlic. Cook gently for a couple of minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a high simmer; cover, and lower the heat; simmer for 25 minutes until the potatoes are fork tender.

Taste test for seasoning adjustments. Add salt & pepper, milk, honey and lime juice.

Warm up some corn tortillas and cut in half for dipping.

Serves 4.


I don't have a photo of the soup, but here are the jack-o-lanterns the kids carved.

Another Happy Halloween!

The Halloween Menu

Grandma's Homemade Macaroni & Cheese

Green Salad

Sparkling Cider (Thanks Molly & Ryan!)

 

The Trick or Treaters

The Big Kids

 

(and yes that is a real Israeli gas mask)

The Little Kids

with their aunties

I love how they're playing footsie!

The World's Cutest Ducky

I stayed home to hand out candy while everyone went trick or treating.  About 15 minutes later the doorbell rang, but there was no one there.  It happened again and I locked the door.  The third time I peeked out and up jumped John holding Leighton.  He thought he was so funny scaring me and he thought it was even funnier that I locked the door.  His Mom warned me about his love of teasing just before we got married.

Summer Lowlights

The first half of our summer was fantastic and the second half had some highlights.  But late July and August were tough for me.  I was sick most of the time and spent my days in bed or on the couch.  That meant that our home kind of fell apart too.  Meals were sporadic and less healthy.  The house was messy and my usual summer organizing didn't happen. Worst of all, I couldn't bring myself to do two of my favorite things; I did very little walking or blogging.

Thankfully, I am starting to feel better now. (Don't worry, I'm not dying or anything and I'll share more about my health in another post.)  I am grateful that autumn is on the horizon.  Even though we won't see many falling leaves here in San Diego, I am ready for a new season.  We are getting back into our routines and I am slowly starting to tackle our overflowing closets, cupboards and bookshelves.  I am getting back into walking/training and I promise to blog more regularly!

My kids are looking forward to fall mainly because of Halloween.  Evan and I recently got in the mood for Halloween while grocery shopping.

On the way home from the store, we pulled up to a major intersection.  As we waited for the light to turn green, we noticed the woman next to us.  Her entire face was covered with white cream.  She was rubbing vigorously, but her skin was not absorbing the sunscreen (or lotion or face paint?) very well.  It was a strange sight, but I didn't laugh until the light changed and Evan said, "Zombie! The undead are rising."

I don't know about you, but personally I'm hoping for a zombie-free autumn!

Problem Solved!

Have you been wondering what to do with all that leftover Halloween candy?

and/or

Do you have child with a pesky loose tooth?

Well this is your lucky day! Happy Hartz can solve your problem. Just follow these simple steps.

1. Find a Jolly Rancher candy.
2. Unwrap it and put it in the child's mouth.
3. Continue sucking until candy adheres to loose tooth.
4. Remove candy from mouth.

Voila! It's time for a visit from the tooth fairy.


PS: To prevent an upset child, you may want to remove the tooth from the candy immediately, or at least warn your husband not to throw away pieces of candy left on the bathroom counter. Either that or tell your child not to do anything so gross again!

The Perfect Costume

This may not be for everyone, but if you:

• Own several Rubik's cubes
• Know how to solve the cube in 1 minute 13 seconds
• Already blew your Halloween budget on a giant pumpkin
• Need a costume you can make all by yourself

Then this is the perfect costume!

Whew! I really dodged a bullet this year. After everything that happened with my Mom, Halloween costumes were the last thing on my mind. Fortunately, Evan has CUBES on his mind. I tried watching a youtube video with him once to learn how to solve one, but my eyes just glazed over. Not only is he smart enough to solve the cube, but he came up with a creative costume idea. We spent 86 cents on a square box and $4.99 on paint. We already had electrical tape in the tool box. As a bonus, Evan did his art project for the week. All I had to do was take the pictures!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

The End of the Line

I come from a long line of strong women,

so I like to think of myself as a strong no-nonsense type of gal!

But these pictures tell a different story.
Apparently, I'm a bit of a softie.

Exhibit A
First, I let this guy buy a giant pumpkin.
55 pounds!
He has plans for an enormous jack-o-lantern.
To be completely honest,
I didn't just let him buy it--I paid for it.
He is my baby after all.

Exhibit B
I let this girl
(pictured here as an Indian with her cute friend
at the YW big sister/little sister costume party)
break into our stash of Halloween candy!
But I have a good excuse . . .

She needed the candy bars to make these cupcakes!
They were gorgeous and delicious, but it's a slippery slope
opening that Halloween candy. You know what happens!


Exhibit C
It's a good thing this little one can't talk yet.
The way she smiles in that adorable
hat her mom made,
I'm afraid I'd give her anything she asked for!

I can't help it!
Who wouldn't be a softie when
you've got this sweetie grinning at you?

I can be strong and soft at the same time, right?!

Getting Ready . . .

for Halloween.


My kids say I'm a natural and don't need any more practice.

November Titles

Harvest Time

When your 18 year old son sends you flowers just to say
"I love you Mom"
it feels like harvest time
after many years of sowing, watering and weeding.

Ryan loves BYUI.
He has great professors and friends
and he's only had to make one trip to urgent care!

In the Thick of Things

Aaron is busy with:
pre-calculus
biology
writing a law brief for a supreme court simulation
Eagle Scout project
seminary class president

He did take some time out for fun with friends on Halloween.
He also carved this happy pumpkin in the middle.
(Marianne's is on the left and Evan's scary one with the "dark mark" is on the right)

From Baby to Young Woman

Marianne seems to have grown up overnight!
Babysitting
Going to plays with friends
Studying Shakespeare
Singing in 3 different choirs
Writing essays
Playing the flute
Finally has her own room, complete with new furniture!

Full of Fun

Evan collected 14 pounds of candy on Halloween
beating his big brothers' records.

More fun stuff:
Webelos
piano
soccer
Reading
Puzzles
Swordfighting
"Classic TV" (Sponge Bob & Hogan's Heroes are two favorites)

Countdown to Halloween

Halloween is still several days away, but my kids have been ready for weeks.
Here's a glimpse of the preparations.

Marianne is in full decorating mode. Even our flowers fit in with the color scheme.

The boys helped decorate outside.

A close up of our front door.

Apparently decorating was too much for them, or else they needed to release some of that pre-trick-or-treating energy. The kids had a huge styrofoam war in the yard. It looked like a snowstorm had hit.

Aaron also attacked the dinner calendar that was posted on our frig. I left Halloween blank because I figured we'd have pizza or something. (Everyone is always in a big hurry to get out of the house on Halloween!) Anyway, I found our Halloween dinner listed as:
"little children that come along"

Here's Marianne formulating her plan of attack.

On a calmer day, Evan played at his Halloween recital.
He was hauntingly terrific!
He performed "I'm Not Afraid" and "In the Hall of the Mountain King" from the Peer Gynt Suite


Marianne gave her baby costume a test run at the Young Women "Big Sister, Little Sister" Halloween party. Here she is with her little sister from Primary.

The final sign that Halloween is on the way is
the CANDY and treats that are all around me!
Yikes, that's the scariest part of Halloween.
My willpower doesn't seem to be working lately.

Today we made my cousin LaRae's delicious pumpkin cookies.
Click HERE for her wonderful recipe.

But I'll bet she's never made them like we did!
We had 8 girls come over to our house this afternoon to discuss Helen Keller's autobiography, The Story of My Life. Last week we toured the Braille Institute, but this week we decided to try something a bit more hands on. We made the cookies while blindfolded. Actually, each blindfolded girl had a "seeing" partner (hey, even Helen had her teacher Anne Sullivan). The girls gave verbal instructions and helped their "blind" partner measure and mix all of the ingredients. It wasn't easy, and it took a long time, but the girls had fun and the cookies turned out perfectly!

Black Cat Cookies

Making Black Cat Cookies is one of our favorite Halloween traditions. We usually take them to "Boo" our neighbors. (Another fun tradition of leaving treats on the doorstep!)

Here's the recipe.

Beat together:
1 C creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup water
2 eggs

Gradually add:
1 box chocolate cake mix

Form 1 1/2 inch balls & flatten with the bottom
of a glass dipped in sugar.

Pinch ears & make whiskers with a fork

Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes

Remove from oven & immediately add candy corn eyes & a red hot nose.