Halloween Night Chili

As expected, Halloween night was a wet one.  The rain came just in time for the trick or treaters to hit the streets.

Only one of ours went out, the rest are too old for trick or treating.  But that didn't stop them from dressing up.  Halloween parties quickly take the place of collecting candy door to door.

I made a wicked batch of chili, roasted some pumpkin seeds, and ate an obscene amount of chocolate.

The next time you roast pumpkin seeds, add a splash of sriracha sauce to the oil and salt that you toss the seeds in.  Amazing!

And if you're looking for a good chili recipe, for Halloween night, or any other night, try this one.  It's got just the right mix of meat, beans, and spice.

Chili Con Carne

2 lbs extra lean ground beef

2 ribs celery, diced

1 green pepper, diced

2 medium sized onions, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 large cans tomatoes

1 can tomato paste

2 cans red kidney beans, drained

2 cans mixed beans, drained

3 tbsp chili powder

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp cumin

1 tbsp dried parsley

1 1/2 tsp oregano

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

a few dashes of Tabasco sauce

Scramble fry the beef, celery, pepper, and onions with one tablespoon of the chili powder and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt, until the meat is cooked and the vegetables are soft.  Add the garlic and stir to combine, remove from heat.   I read something once about layering flavours in dishes.  I think that's what I did here.  Spicing the meat separately adds an extra layer of flavour to the chili.

Are you laughing at me?  I really did read it somewhere.

Combine the remaining ingredients in either a large slow cooker or a large pot.  I prepared this in my slow cooker but it can simmer just as easily on the stove.  Add the beef mixture and stir well.  Simmer on the stove top for an hour, stirring occasionally, or cook 4-6 hours on low in a slow cooker.

You can play it pretty loosey goosey with the spices.  I sometimes add more or less of the amounts listed.  Go with what you love and make it yours!

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Spooky Halloween Decor

Three more days.  Our pumpkins are still waiting to be carved, and it's been too rainy and windy to put out any outdoor decorations. 

But I've got a few quick and easy things in mind for this weekend.  And a few more complicated ideas to think about for next year.

Porch Pumpkins and Crows, Pottery Barn style

Halloween Countdown Picture Tree

Pumpkin Lanterns

Flying Bats on the wall

3D Paper Haunted Village

Creepy Mummy Pumpkin

Spooky Bat Chandelier

Lawn Ghosts

DIY Chalkboard Tombstones

Spooky Creatures Framed Halloween Art

Trick or Treat Wood Blocks

Owl Night Watchers Entryway

This Halloween Window Display has become a tradition for us.  My kids get all the credit for it.

Where do you get your creative inspiration?

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Friday, it's Friday!

In keeping with my focus on gratitude for the rest of the year...

Grateful for a new puppy that is smart and surprisingly well behaved.  And now as tall as our six year old Cockapoo.

Irish pubs and amazing pub food.  Perfect for celebrating a 50th birthday.

Colourful, windy, autumn.

Monkey bread.

Our son's creative girlfriend, who made us an amazing Thanksgiving centrepiece, and a wonderful batch of cupcakes.

Kids that will eat a cheese platter for dinner, when dinner ended up taking four hours more than I thought it would.  Hello, who knew butter chicken needs to marinate first?

Discovering that acorn squash seeds taste just as good as pumpkin seeds.

We're getting ready to re-create our annual Halloween Window Display.

We're excited to be able to cheer on our Toronto Blue Jays for another series.  Cue all of the game foods, like Spinach Dip and Buffalo Chicken Dip.

 

I'm still looking for ways to use up all of the apples after our apple orchard outing.  I'm thinking about Slow Cooker Bourbon Apple Butter.  Yep, bourbon :)

And I found these Spiced Almond Butter Chocolate Cups.  Like Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, but for grown ups.

Show your dog some love with these Cheesy Sweet Potato Treats.

Show yourself some love with No-churn Pumpkin Gingersnap Ice Cream.

You know how all those awesome casserole dishes always call for canned soup?  We all need this Homemade Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup recipe in our lives.

These Oreo Truffle Bats are the coolest Halloween treat I've seen.

And this Deathly Hallows Cheese Board blew me away.  I have never seen anything like it.  Wow. just wow.

In other news, we're under a snow squall warning for tonight and tomorrow... AND we turned on the fireplace for the first time last night.  Maybe it really is time to put my flip flops away.  It's all downhill once that happens.

And hey, did you like my Facebook page yet?

Happy Friday, happy weekend!

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Where to Begin

It's mid November.  And it's full on winter.  I know we had autumn... I remember the leaves.  I remember admiring them as I drove past them every day, vowing to take photos of each and every tree.  And I remember noticing one day that the leaves had turned brown, and most of them were blowing across the road and collecting in ditches.  The gallery of photos I imagined never came to be.  I remember the first frost, and the panic when I realised that Halloween was two days away and we hadn't bought any candy yet.  I know there was a Thanksgiving dinner.  But it all seems to have passed in the blink of an eye.

And that makes me feel all panicky inside.  I've tried to be more intentional with my camera, but sometimes there doesn't seem to be anything worth capturing.  Day to day life is usually pretty ordinary.  And then I remember that it's not just about the events...the birthdays, the holidays, the family outings, the sporting events.  It's also about the routines that make up our days and weeks.  These ordinary, mundane things make up a large part of our lives, and they deserve a spot in our memory keeping too.  Even if it means a quick shot with a cell phone because the real camera isn't handy.

Waiting at the train station for our girl that commutes to the city for school.  Packing lunches and making dinner.  A Trader Joe's surprise after hubby's trip stateside. The dropping price of gas, and a weekly Costco trip.  Homework and traffic.  Sunset by 5pm, and discovering a new tea shop.  

More food.  Eating is a big part of the story, after all.  If you've never made smashed potatoes, you need to.  SO good.  And leftover fried rice is the tastiest way to clean out the fridge.  Early morning baking, and loading the dishwasher.  Seasonal coffee cups and dogs in sweaters.  Frosted Flakes for lunch, just because.  Hockey games and the first snowfall of the season.

I did manage to get a few photos on Halloween.  Including matching towels and pumpkins.

We created a Halloween window display like the one we made last year.

There were a couple of birthday's.  One of the birthday boys wanted steak dinner and fudge instead of cake.  The other one chose taco night for his celebration.

The kids put their Christmas tree up over the weekend.  Now the pressure is on to get a few more Christmas decorations up around the house.

Yesterday we had the first snowfall of the season.

Which meant homemade hot chocolate.

And tonight it's snowing, again.

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November

October has packed it's bags and November has waltzed in.  Soon we'll be caught up in the madness of the holiday season.  But today I feel like I need to pause and just be.

Esse Quam Videri ~ To be, rather than to seem.  I like this, so I got a little creative with it.

We got through yet another round of  Halloween.  We weren't quite as organized as last year, but managed to get the pumpkins carved with time to spare.

And all of the decorations were up before it got dark.  The kids did all of the work while I ran around cleaning up shoes and hockey bags from the entryway, finding last minute costume items, keeping the dogs out of the way and taking care of dinner (ie. ordering pizza). We were finished in less than an hour.

They put together a Halloween window display.  A few strands of orange mini-lights, some black poster board cut-out shapes, and a white sheet backing.  Did they do a great job or what?

Pumpkin seeds were roasted, and candy was eaten.

This weekend we'll put away Halloween and pause.  Just for a short time, because I know they're already playing Christmas carols at the mall.

 

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'Twas the Night Before Halloween

We didn't make it to the pumpkin patch this year.  Too many schedules to juggle... our calendar seems to be relentless right now.  Instead, this momma whipped out the camera at the grocery store pumpkin display. How embarrassing.

The weather forecast is for a rainy night of trick or treating.  I'm thinking we bought too much candy.

Some of you may remember last year's Halloween confession.  I did it again.  Those boxes were open within half an hour of being brought home.  Clearly I can't be trusted around chocolate.

Happy day before Halloween :)

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