Happy Halloween!

I hope you are all having a Happy Halloween!

We carved our pumpkins this past weekend and they turned out really pretty cool. They were all Harry Potter themed (obviously, with this HP month thing going on). Tyler did the Hogwarts Crest, I did Fawkes (Dumbledore's phoenix), and Elanor's was a regular jack-o-lantern, but with HP glasses and a scar.

Elanor loved getting all the pumpkin guts out.

Elanor showing me the pumpkin guts.

Elanor watching Tyler carve her pumpkin.

Watching from the other side.

While Tyler was carving Elanor's pumpkin, Elanor and I made some movies to entertain ourselves. Here is one of them:

The pumpkins all lit up:

(they are right outside our living room window, since we don't really have a porch and that way we can see them!) 

Elanor's Harry Potter Jack-O-Lantern

 Tyler's Hogwarts Crest

My Fawkes pumpkin

All three pumpkins right outside our window!

It should be a fun Halloween this year because we are actually going trick-or-treating! Hopefully, trick-or-treaing will be fun because Elanor did not nap (she always does) and will most likely be quite cranky. I really hope she will be in a good mood....

I hope you all have a Happy Halloween!

Elanor.

She is such a funny kid.

Really.

This is what she does for fun (for quite a long time).

She lays out her blankets (rather obsessively--they have to be perfectly straight).

She then puts one stuffed animal/doll on each blanket, leaves one blanket empty for herself, and then lays there on her blanket contentedly.

I love her and her funny quirks. She also really likes to straighten people's clothes and beds (she enjoys making my bed and her own). She can do one task for a really long time and sometimes over and over.

We sure love our little straightening perfectionist.

Recent Photos of Fall

We got our first snow of the year last Thursday!

Elanor and I out in the snow...yes, we do need to get her some snow clothes. This snow only lasted the day and part way through the next and then warmed up.

Last Friday, we went on a walk to Mt. Olivet Cemetery with our neighbors. So beautiful!

I love this one.

Dancing in the leaves (in between melt-downs).

She looks so happy here, hmmmm..... I seem to remember her crying an awful lot on this walk, but she seems to be enjoying herself.

Throwing leaves and jumping!
....and then we had to leave because everyone had had enough and cried the whole way home.

Fall is beautiful here! I am loving it.

In the Kitchen: Pumpkin Bread

Here is another Harry potter recipe! I am actually doing this one on time, imagine that! Pumpkin bread is not specifically mentioned, but in Book 1, Harry wakes up to the smell of baking pumpkin on Halloween day. Dinah Bucholz (author of the cookbook), included a pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread recipe to go with the smell of baking pumpkin. Yum!

This pumpkin bread does not disappoint. It is delicious. So, juts in time for Halloween, make yourself a loaf of this tasty bread!

Pumpkin Bread

1 1/2 cups flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp. ground cloves

1/2 cup butter (1 stick),  at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

3/4 cup pureed pumpkin (don't use pumpkin pie mix)

1/3 cup whole milk

Confectioner's sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a loaf pan.

Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves in a medium bowl. Set aside.

In a separate bowl or mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add the eggs in one at a time, beating after each until incorporated. Add the pumpkin and beat until combined. Add the milk and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until combined. Using a rubber spatula, scrape and fold to finish.

Pour/scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour, rotating halfway through baking. Bake until the loaf is feel risen and feels firm.  Remove from oven and cool in pan, before removing it from pan. Dust with confectioner's sugar, if desired.

I also really like to spread cream cheese on pumpkin bread.

Book update: I am over halfway through Book 4. I really have not been reading all that often ( I mostly just read right before bed). I need to read a lot this week. I might not finish.... I am giving myself until my party, which will be next weekend.

I hope you all have a Happy Halloween!

We sure will with this happy, little princess!

In the Kitchen: Kreacher's French Onion Soup

Yes, we are still on the Harry Potter food thing, thus it being Kreacher's soup. I meant to post this so long ago, but I did not take pictures of the soup because we had people over and everyone was hungry and I forgot. So, I kept telling myself I would cook another Harry Potter something and then I never did. Sorry. I am making Pumpkin Bread from my HP cookbook this week, so look forward to that recipe this weekend!

Since, I do not have any pictures of the soup, you can instead look at this cute picture of Elanor:

(Recipe follows)

It is pretty blurry, but she was quite proud of herself because she got dressed by herself (mostly). She is still in her pajamas but she put on Tyler's shirt (inside out) and put that headband on all by herself. 

I love soup, especially in the fall. Onion soup is so easy and delicious. It is great with some delicious, crusty bread. This recipe is of course from my Harry Potter cookbook. Kreacher (a house elf) made Harry, Hermione, and Ron this French Onion soup in Book 7 when the three of them are briefly staying at Grimmauld Place. Harry thinks the soup is the best French Onion soup he has had (Ch.12).

Kreacher's French Onion Soup

4 medium onions, cut in half from pole to pole and sliced as thinly as possible

1/4 cup butter

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1/4 tsp. sugar

1 tbsp. flour

6 cups beef stock (not the canned kind--since it has a metal flavor)

1 baguette

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

1/4 cup melted butter

In a large dutch oven or pot, melt the butter over medium high heat. Add the onions when the butter is melted and add in the sugar, salt, and pepper. Cook until the onions have browned, about 15 minutes. Next, blend in the flour. Gradually, add the stock while stirring and bring the soup to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook uncovered for 30 minutes.

Really, that is it. 

While the soup is simmering, you can cut up the baguette and brush with melted butter. Place the pieces of bread on a baking sheet and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Toast the bread in the oven for 10 minutes or until browned. 

Ladle the soup into bowls and top with a few of the cheesy baguette pieces and sprinkle on some more parmesan.

Another bread cheese option is to use Gruyere cheese. Ladle the soup into oven proof bowls and put a buttered piece of bread in the bowl and put your cheese on top. You then put your bowls in the oven and broil until brown.

So many options! I did not even do toasted bread and cheese... I made some of this quick french bread and it came out of the oven right when the soup was done, so I did not have time to toast it. Instead, we just sprinkled some mozzarella cheese on the soup and dipped our bread in.  It was still quite tasty.

HP update: I am done with book three and am well into book four. I think I will be able to finish by my Harry Potter party (1st weekend on November). The later books are thicker, but better, so I read them faster.

Pumpkin Patch Fun

We went to the Petersen Farm Pumpkin Patch last week and had such a lovely time! We went to the same pumpkin patch as last year, since we liked it so much. The weather was muddy and chilly last year but it was warm and dusty this year. I wish it was a little chillier, but oh, well...

Elanor had a hard time choosing a pumpkin. We finally just gave her the option between two and she picked one of them.

In the Kitchen: Jam Tarts (HP recipe)

Here is yet another Harry Potter recipe for Harry Potter Month. Jam tarts are very easy and delicious treats. They are basically like little pies with jam for the filling. Jam tarts are mentioned in the fourth Harry Potter book (The Goblet of Fire) when Fred and George are testing out all of their joke shop experiments during the Gryffindor victory party following the first task. Hermione passes on the Weasley twins' jam tarts, thus they are mentioned (ch. 21).

Sorcerer's Stone: Favorite Part/quote

If you don't care about Harry, by all means don't bother with this post (or most of the month) and I will not be in the least offended. I might wonder what is wrong with you, but I will not judge. 

The 1st book was a tiny bit tedious for me this time around. Maybe it is because I know almost all of it word for word or because it is really so much better if you are nine. It was overall enjoyable and I love little 11 year old Harry. Adorable.

Elanor at about 7 months reading the 1st Harry Potter book.

My favorite part is as follows (yes, I am making you read it):

"I'm going out of here tonight and I'm going to try and get to the Stone first."

"You're mad!" said Ron.

"You can't!" said Hermione. "After what McGonagall and Snape have said? You'll be expelled!"

"SO WHAT?" Harry shouted. "Don't you understand? If Snape gets hold of the Stone, Voldemort's coming back! Haven't you heard what it was like when he was trying to take over? There won't be any Hogwarts to get expelled from! He'll flatten it, or turn it into a school for the Dark Arts! Losing points doesn't matter anymore, can't you see? D'you think he'll leave you and your families alone if Gryffindor wins the house cup? If I get caught before I can get to the Stone, well, I'll have to go back to the Dursley's and wait for Voldemort to find me there, it's only dying a bit later than I would have, because I'm never going over to the Dark Side! I'm going through the trapdoor tonight and nothing you two can say is going to stop me! Voldemort killed my parents, remember?" 

He glared at them.

"You're right, Harry," said Hermione in a small voice.

"I'll use the invisibility cloak," said Harry. "It's just lucky I got it back."

"But will it cover all three of us?" said Ron.

"All---all three of us?"

"Oh, come off it, you don't think we'd let you go alone?"

"Of course not," said Hermione  briskly. "How do you think you'd get the Stone without us? I'd better go and look through my books, there might be something useful..."

"But if we get caught, you two will be expelled, too."

"Not if I can help it," said Hermione grimly. "Flitwick told me in secret that I got a hundred and twelve percent on his exam. They're not throwing me out after that."

I loved this bit, it made me get all sentimental. Harry, Ron and Hermione's character's are so obvious in this scene. In every book, Harry always tries to do these dark and daring things alone but Ron and Hermione always step in and go with Harry (think end of book 6 especially). They are very loyal and brave friends and Harry has such a clear view of right and wrong.

Giving HP kisses.

 Yes, they are wonderful books. Please read them if you have not!

In the Kitchen: Harry Potter Recipe

*This recipe is for last week's recipe, I will put up one this week as well.

I am excited to share this recipe with you! It is tasty and perfect for chilly fall days.  As promised it is a Harry Potter recipe, as they will be all month for Harry Potter Month.  It is, of course, from my Harry Potter cookbook. I made Beef Stew with Herb Dumplings. This cookbook has a recipe for anytime food is mentioned at all in the books and this one happens to be from the 7th book. When Harry, Ron and Hermione were briefly staying at Grimmauld Place, and they were finally on good terms with Kreacher, Kreacher made them some very delicious meals. One of which, was a stew (chapter 12). So here is the recipe Dinah Bucholz (author of the cookbook) decided to put down for Kreacher's stew:

Beef Stew with Herb Dumplings

*note--This recipes takes a long time to make, but it is not difficult. Allow yourself about 3 hours from start to finish. Also, we gobbled up the stew before I remembered to take pictures. I only have some pictures of empty bowls and the empty soup pot.  See:

Lame. Sorry. 

(keep reading, there are pictures of Elanor...)

Harry Potter Month!!

I have decided to dedicate this entire month of October to Harry Potter. Why? Well, I LOVE the books! Harry Potter has become part of my life and I love these books so much. That is not to say I don't love many other books, but since they came out throughout my childhood and teenage years they are a part of my childhood and I am slightly obsessed with them...

October seems a good month to do this, not only because of Halloween (though they are not really those sort of witches and wizards) but also because British food is so good in the fall. I intend to make a different Harry Potter recipe each week for my "In the Kitchen" post. I am also planning on reading the entire Harry Potter series in October. At the end of the month, I will be hosting a Harry Potter party. This should all be good fun.

Anyone want to join me? Read all the books, make Harry Potter food, have a party? Please say yes!

Get out your Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and start reading today!