turkey hat day

Clementine and her friend, Addie, had a little turkey party yesterday. On the agenda: turkey hats, "turkey" snacks, turkey cupcakes, and a whole lot of gobbling.

Oh, turkey hats!

I searched online for some inspiration and came up with this.

The real feathers are my favorite part!

I had all of the pieces cut out and ready to glue. Since the girls are only two there is only so much crafting they can do.

They showed us where the google eyes and beak would go on the turkey face and then carefully chose each feather and placed it on the turkey body for us to tape down. Afterwards, I hot glued a piece of brown paper over the feather tips to cover all of the tape. The sides were stapled together at the appropriate head size and then red wings were glued over the staples to hide them.

g o b b l e .  g o b b l e.

And for the snacks?

Well, it wouldn't be a true craft party without some reference to Martha! Thank you, Sara Westbrook, for coming up with this clever idea as featured on Martha Stewart. Check out this link to see how it's done. It is VERY easy and so FUN!

No, I didn't make them.

Cupcakes were not on my list. You (I) can't do everything! These bright little guys caught my eye in the Whole Foods bakery display. Perfect finale for our turkey party!

bee-lated

Yes, I know Halloween was nine days ago but I thought I would still share this year's costume.

Just like last year, I found a costume at a store and added to it to make it a little better; semi-homemade.

I sewed this great sequined material onto black leggings and added a white with sparkly black polka dots tulle to the wings.

And of course, a string of tiny warm white lights to the inner tulle petticoat completed the look.

The mister was a good sport and wore a bee costume, too. We even found one for Weezie!

Me? Well, the beekeeper, of course!

mummy meatballs

A couple of years ago I made mummy meatloaf.  It's so fun, but so much food for two and a half of us. The solution? Mummy Meatballs!

(And if you're into gore, you could even say they are floating in blood! Ew!)

I have to admit I'm kind of overly pleased with myself right now. These were perfect! They are relatively easy to make and I actually like the idea of my pasta and meatball wrapped up in one little package.

Here's what I did:

Make meatballs.

While they are cooking make fettucini. It is very important that you do not overcook it. Al dente! Drain the pasta and arrange on a cookie sheet.  This makes it easier to work with.

I used pre-sliced and packaged mozzarella, cut it, and wrapped it around my meatball.

I wrapped one piece of the pasta around the meatball which then held the cheese in place.

Keep wrapping pasta around the meatball to form your little mummy.

Place on a baking sheet.

I put the tray in our toaster/convection oven at 400 degrees to melt the cheese.

Next, I used a toothpick to make indentations where the eyes would go. I placed peppercorns in the holes and the melted cheese held them in place. You could also use little capers.  Serve in a bowl of red sauce.

Why hello, little mummy.

Happy Halloween!

monster cupcakes

I came across a package of children's vampire teeth and a light bulb went off in my head:

Monster cupcakes!

They were purple and green and perfect.

Once I remembered that Wilton makes candy eyes my whole vision came together very quickly:

chocolate cupcakes

(Oh my! A new favorite recipe from the farm chicks blog. This will surely be my go to chocolate cupcake recipe; so moist! Next time I will add mini chocolate chips for a little more chocolate lovin'.)

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Fluffy white icing (that I tried to make orange)

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colored sugar

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Halloween FUN!

It was super fun to make these. The frosting is so light you can really pile it on your cupcake and then it just holds it's shape! Stick the teeth in (cut them in half to make a closed mouth or even just use one), add eyes, one or three or more, and sprinkle with sugar. Perfection is definitely not what you're going for; with these monsters the crazier the better!

Fluffy White icing recipe from The Modern Baker by Nick Malgieri

4 large egg whites

Large pinch of salt

1 Cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup of light corn syrup

Fill half a saucepan with water and bring to a boil over medium heat. Combine egg whites, salt, sugar, and corn syrup in the bowl of an electric mixer and whisk by hand, just to mix together. Regulate the heat under the pan of water so that it boils gently and place the bowl on the pan. Whisk gently just to keep the mixture moving until it is hot (130 degrees F/55degrees C) and all of the sugar is dissolved. Place the bowl on the mixer with the whisk and whip the icing until it has cooled and become white and fluffy.

an apple crisp kind of day

This is my favorite apple crisp recipe.

It's bright citrus undertones are old fashioned and lovely like being cozy by the fire with your family on a snowy holiday.

pumpkin ice cream served in a mini pumpkin

I love pumpkin ice cream (especially Double Rainbow Perfect Pumpkin. It lives up to its name.)

I thought it would be fun to serve it in a mini pumpkin.

I carved one out, rinsed it, dried it, and placed it in the freezer.

After about an hour I took it out and scooped the ice cream into this ever so appropriate bowl.

Imagine a whole tray of these! They can be assembled ahead of time and popped backed in the freezer.

halloween costume make-over

This year's Halloween costume decision for Clementine was an easy one;  she has been wearing a witch's hat since September. Plus, I think there is something really funny about a tiny little cutie dressed up as a witch. I found a costume at store. Gasp!! A store bought costume?!?! Could I really do it? I couldn't say no.

When it was all said and done I got it for $2.50. It was worth it for me to get it and give it a "home-made costume" make-over.

I added some sequins and sparkle...

and replaced the original skirt with pieces of multi-colored tulle and a top layer of sparkly polka dot tulle.

It lights up too! I pinned a small strand of purple LED lights to the lining under the tulle and made a pocket for the small battery pack. I bustled it up so she didn't trip and you could see her sweet striped leg warmers and sparkly black shoes.

I've always loved Halloween but there is just something about being a mom and experiencing it all over again in a new way that makes it even more fun!