Happy Halloween :)

Halloween is my favorite holiday. Some years, i go all out and make themed foods all days, handcmake costumes, decorate and all that. Some years i don't do as much, this was one of those years. Halloween fell on Monday, and with it being a school night i had a hard time totally getting into it.

We did our pumpkin carving on the weekend, roasted seeds and i made a harvest stew served inside a pumpkin. i failed to get a picture of it, but it was delicious. i used veggies from the garden, red potatoes, sweet potato, onion, carrots, turnip, garlic and a yellow beet. Chopped them up and saute'd them in EVOO and then added some organic veggie broth. Let it simmer a while. i diced up a red and a yellow tomato, and add a couple handfuls of kale shredded. Then i added a can of garbonzo beans..and let it cook until everything was tender.
i roasted the pumpkin separately, and used it to serve the soup in. YUm!

We had cheese quesadillas for lunch. These were super easy, i used a pumpkin cookie cutter and cut the jack-o-lantern face with a sharp knife.

For dinner we had 'candy corn' mini pizzas. These were made by placing mozzarella cheese in the center, and chedder cheese all around it. Then i spooned a little ring of pizza sauce over some of the cheddar and baked it.

This was my daughter's costume this year. Tinkerbell on a toadstool. :) Several years ago, i made my son a gnome on a toadstool after seeing it in the Family fun magazine. It was such a fun costume, i thought it'd be a good way to spice up the Tinkerbell costume Sage wanted to wear. The toadstool was made using materials i already had here at home, and the costume was a garage sale/goodwill find that my mom had picked up. Hee hee. i think it turned out pretty cute.


We took the kids trick or treating in Hillsville at the 'Safe Halloween'. My boy dressed up as a dementor. It was a quick, throw together costume that required a lot of pins to keep it together. :) i really love that HIllsville does the 'Safe Halloween'. All the area businesses pass out candy, and treats. Almost all the candy has a tag/business card letting you know where it is coming from. Many times the businesses include a coupon or discount for the parents.

The county gave out candied apples to everyone. How generous!! There were also several churches and groups that were giving out free donuts and hot chocolate. Besides candy, the kids received coupons for free frosty's (Wendy's), water bottles from the Town of Hillsville, local apples and bags of pretzels. The kids get the fun experience of Halloween, but they really didn't get an overwhelming amount of candy.

This year they had live music, which was new. They always have a haunted house, a hay ride and two bounce houses set up for the kids.


They also have free carnival games. The prizes are silly junk, but the kids have a blast.
i know i've said it before, but i really love that the community puts this together every year. We usually attend the Dugspur carnival as well, but totally missed it this year.

Hope your Halloween was just as wonderful!