Costume Craze

 

Before I start a crazy week of Book Fair, being the treat person for both my kids Halloween parties, and my birthday, we had a fun weekend getaway including a costume party.  I love, love, love dressing as couples to these parties, and so does my husband.   Usually, I start trolling the internet for costume ideas in August. This year, we were a mermaid and pirate (pictured above).  We have also been Oktoberfest style and Robin Hood with Maid Marian (also pictured above) in the past.  Next year, perhaps we will be a garden gnome and fairy.  Below are several ideas for couples costumes I put together on Polyvore if you ever want to try one yourself. Happy early Halloween!

Sunday Dinner

The scent of chicken, wafting from the crockpot in the kitchen keeps bringing my children upstairs to ask when dinner will be ready.  Some days, one wakes up with extra energy and inspiration.  Today was one of those days for me.  I decided to fix a delicious Sunday dinner that we could share around the table tonight.  My mom used to make chicken and noodles often when I was a child.  It was one of my favorite meals she fixed, and I have many fond memories of sitting at the kitchen counter eating that very meal with my family after watching Growing Pains in the living room.  I called her this morning to get the recipe, but she wasn’t home.  Thank heavens for the internet.  I looked up the recipe for chicken in the crockpot, and found it on Tasteofhome.com.  Taste of Home is one of the coolest magazines ever, and I have rarely, if ever had a recipe that wasn’t simply delicious from there.  I will give them most of the credit, but the reviews said it was a little bland, so I doctored it up a bit, and I am making my own homemade noodles with my daughter to go with it.  If you want to make a heartwarming meal for your family, that cooks all day while you relax or work, the recipe is below.

First, make the noodles:

2 to 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon cold water

Directions

Mix 2 cups flour and salt in a deep bowl (for a little healthier version, I substituted ½ c whole wheat flour for ½ c of the flour). Make a well in a center of the flour; add eggs and water. Gradually mix with a wooden spoon until well blended.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Gather into a ball and knead on a floured surface until smooth, about 10 minutes. If necessary, add remaining flour to keep dough from sticking to surface or hands. Divide the dough into thirds. On a lightly floured surface, roll each section into a paper-thin rectangle (this took some muscle, maybe because of the wheat flour).

 Dust top of dough with flour to prevent sticking while rolling.

Roll dough, jelly-roll style. 

Using a sharp knife, cut 1/4-in. slices. Unroll noodles and allow to dry before cooking.

For the chicken and noodles, I put 4 cups water and one can cream of chicken soup in the crock pot, and mixed it.  I added ¼ cup butter, and one chopped onion.  Then I rubbed a chicken with kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, and sage, and place it in the slow cooker.   Next, I put a bay leaf on each side of the chicken, and turned the slow cooker on auto(high four hours then switches to low).  It probably needs to cook about ten hours this way.  Make sure it is done when it is time to eat, food safety is nothing to mess with.  When the ten hours are up, I will take the chicken out, and take a slotted spoon to the broth to make sure there are no little bones that have escaped.  Then I will turn the heat back up to high, and when it is nice and bubbly, I will add the noodles for about 15 minutes.  During this time, cut up the chicken, and add the boneless, skinless pieces back to the crockpot.  Some people eat this on top of mashed potatoes (total naughty comfort food style).  I think I may be naughty tonight and do just that, but a green salad should make it a little less devilish.  I hope someone makes this and enjoys it, and feel free to comment about one of your favorite meals growing up.

Vintage Word Of The Day

"Tattie Bogles"-potato scarecrows 
In Scotland, one would make a scarecrow, and use a huge potato for a face to discourage birds from eating their crops.

"Neep Lanterns"-turnip lanterns made by scooping out a turnip and cutting through the skin to create eyes, nose and mouth. A candle was then placed inside.  Does this sound familiar?  It is the original Jack-O-Lantern.

The "Neep Lanterns" and "Tattie Bogles" were often made by Scottish children around Halloween, not knowing they were carrying on the old tradition of placing skulls on poles to keep evil spirits away.

Halloween Decor and Crafts

The above pictured poison labels come courtesy of Country Living Magazine.  They have to be one of the coolest Halloween decorations ever, and you can make your own right off the website.  http://www.countryliving.com/cm/countryliving/data/1012-poison-labels.pdf  The above pictured scary apocathary only cost me the price of the ink and the stickers.  I had the jars and bottles around the house.   It was a wonderful excuse to purchase some yummy Halloween candy as well, atlthough as you can see by the Strychnine jar, my family has almost already devoured all the "poison".   The website also had the cutest craft for lace candles.  Mine didn’t turn out as well as the ones at Countryliving.com, but if you want the directions on making them, go to  http://www.countryliving.com/crafts/projects/halloween-decoration-ideas#slide-1.  This is seriously one of my favorite Halloween issues of the magazine ever.  I love the Arsenic and Old Lace theme.  Check it out, and if you have any cool Halloween decor ideas or cool traditions, please comment below.

My haunted piano.  The vase is filled with dead rose stems.  Notice the macabre picture on the piano.  It can be printed out from Good Housekeeping Magazine online.

Some more haunted decor...

This cute little vintage ghost belonged to my beloved late grandmother...

Some evil pets I rounded up at the dollar store.

October

Butterflies have taken up residence in my tummy with the onset of October.  Fall is my favorite season, and October is my favorite month.  It seems like fall gives one a little bit of every season.  The beginning contains the last warm summer days, and the delicious harvest of the summer veggies.  Then, the gorgeous leaves change, the air becomes crisp, and delicious spicy scents fill the air.  Of course this is my favorite part.  I love the spookiness of October (perhaps because I was born on Hallow's Eve Eve). Then, we get to experience the first silent, glittery, cleansing snow.  A good book, a hot drink, and a cozy blanket are all that is needed to enjoy that.  I don't even mind pushing the snow shovel around a bit during the first snow.  I hope you all have a lovely October.  Please let me know what season/month you love best and why in the comments.