Halloween 2015

It was really fun to have a new member of the family for Halloween, as it has been the three of us for the last four years. Elanor wanted to dress as a squirrel in her costume from the Willy Wonka play, so we themed our costumes around that. I made Alice a little acorn costume and Tyler and I were trees.

My face paint looked pretty good in person. I tried to make my skin look like bark.

Alice was such an adorable acorn and I love that Tyler humors me and dresses up. Though I suspect he likes it/does not mind and loves how excited Elanor gets when we are all in costume.

 Another one at Mema's (Tyler's mom) house! 

I did not get any good pictures unfortunately! It was too rainy outside and too dark inside to get any decent pictures.

It was raining so much (it had not rained for awhile and then this week, and especially on Halloween, it was torrential!). We had an umbrella, but Elanor was too excited and running from house to house to stay under an umbrella. Plus, her head was covered and she was warm.

A wet, but very successful squirrel with a full bucket of candy.

There is this house in Troutdale (little old people), who go all out and decorate for every holiday. Elanor loved trick-or-treating here!

 Look at that happy baby!

Here is Elanor's pumpkin. She just wanted everything to be very themed this year!

 We were able to see family, visit with friends, trick-or-treat in the rain, eat pizza and eclairs--so it was a good night! 

In the Kitchen: Pumpkin Pancakes with Buttermilk Syrup

So, this is not my recipe and my pictures are not even nearly as good as the blog this is from, but hey, my camera is old and not suited to indoor pictures. Whatever the case, you should make these pancakes tomorrow or if it is easier you can wait until Saturday, but oh my goodness, they are delicious!

Oh, and did I say something about Buttermilk Syrup? This stuff is delicious. I had never had it until we had a Primary breakfast before the Primary Program a few weeks ago. Is it a Utah/ mid-west thing? It is easy to make, delicious and tastes like Butterbeer. Seriously, it tastes like how I imagine Butterbeer to taste, it just needs to be diluted with some club soda. I now need to try that.

These pancakes are perfect. Elanor ate 2 1/2 pancakes--which is a lot for someone of her small size. We all loved them!

Get the recipe for the pancakes here. I recommend making your own pumpkin puree, instead of buying the canned stuff. It is a heck of a lot cheaper and it tastes better. All you need to do is buy yourself a pie pumpkin from the grocery store, roast it like you would a squash and then blend it with a little water in a blender. Done and done, plus is makes quite a lot of puree to use anytime!

As for the syrup, well I will provide the recipe, but it is not mine. I got the recipe here.

Buttermilk Syrup

This recipe makes a lot of syrup (we had an extra 3 medium size mason jars of syrup left over), especially if you are a small family like we are. You can bottle up the syrup and keep it in the fridge and it will last for quite a while (several weeks) or you can half the recipe (you will still have extras). Also, cook this in a pretty large pot since the syrup bubbles up a lot when you add the baking soda.

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

3 cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla

3 tsp baking soda

Bring the butter, buttermilk and sugar to a boil, stirring pretty much the whole time. Once boiling, remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla and baking soda. Serve hot!

*Since this syrup already has a ton of butter, you don't need any butter for your pancakes.

Enjoy, this syrup really is quite tasty.

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!