Tag Archives for Holiday/Event
Pumpkin Carving & Halloween Recipes
On Friday night my sister, her boyfriend, and my nephew came over to carve pumpkins and watch movies. I wanted to make a few Halloweeny recipes and I had quite a few bookmarked. I found a couple that I wanted to try so I made a shopping list and headed to the store. I knew for sure I wanted to make this Halloween candy corn cookie bark because it just looked so cute and festive.
I had a bit of a mishap as I didn’t buy enough white chocolate squares and tried to use carob chips which you can see in the bottom right of the first photo. I put the carob chips in the microwave to melt where they caught on fire and when I pulled them out the top was hard and burnt. I just removed the burnt part but then it wouldn’t spread and instead just turned into a hard lump that tasted charred. It’s best when I don’t improvise in the kitchen because stuff like that always happens. I ended up just throwing the burnt part away and the rest was really good.
After that exciting experience I needed a lil’ something so I made this Halloween sunset cocktail from my girl Martha. I couldn’t find tangerine juice anywhere so I just used orange juice and it turned out great.
Earlier in the day I had bought Pepper a little treat as well from Natural Pet Supply. If you live in Knoxville and are looking for neat items for your pup or cat you should definitely check them out—the people that work there are so sweet.
Another Martha recipe I made was this sinister black bean guacamole. It turned out fantastic and everyone loved it. It was so easy to make and tasted incredible so definitely make this one!
Once my family arrived I put on Ghostbusters II (it’s on Hulu if you wanna watch too) and we got to carving! I originally wanted to do another Hello Kitty pumpkin but I was having a hard time getting the entire thing to fit without being too small. I did a search for “cute Halloween stencil” and found this little spider that I loved and looked easy so I did it instead.
Greg ended up doing a classic looking pumpkin. It turned out great and our pumpkins look awesome together all lit up on the porch.
On Saturday morning we travelled to Nashville for the Zombie Buffet 5k where we were chased by zombies. I will make a separate post for it since I have so many photos, but let me tell ya.. I screamed quite a few times and and have never ran that fast in my life! haha.
This morning we woke up late and I slowly made my way into the kitchen (I was hurting a bit from the 5k haha), and made Halloween pancakes. I went with my usual pancake recipe, but this time I added a bit of green food coloring to the batter. I made black cinnamon syrup to go along with them. I didn’t have black food coloring on hand so I used purple and turned out fine.
I hope you had a great weekend full of Halloween fun!
Thanksgiving
We went to dinner at my Dad’s house & my stepmom always sets up the table so nice and cute! We had a lot of fun stuffing our faces and then relaxing with some wine.
The blueberry pie I bought was amazing. I’d never had it before and I loved it! I also had a tiny slice of pumpkin pie and vanilla ice cream :]
I tried to take a photo of my outfit and this is how it turned out. I thought it was pretty neat looking. I’m still loving these new boots and I want to wear them all the time!
Pepper was worn out from all the excitement and slept like this for forever. We were worried that all the blood was going to his head so we finally flipped him over and he was not happy. Haha, he’s too cute!
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Blueberries, Boots and Blue Hair
How good does this blueberry pie look?! I got off early form work today (woohoo!) and drove straight to Earth Fare to pick up a pie to take to Greg’s sister’s dinner tomorrow. I am so excited to eat all day long! My mom & I are doing a 5am body pump class tomorrow morning so that will prepare me to eat and eat and eat :]
Last night at the gym I did 45 minutes of intervals on the cross trainer. When the resistance went from 25 to 40, I would really push with all I had to keep my feet moving at the same pace. I was drenched in sweat and my heart rate was insane. I’m definitely feeling it in my legs today so I hope body pump doesn’t kill me tomorrow.
To match the pie, I now have blue hair! Haha, I look so annoyed in that photo, but I promise the sun was just in my eyes. It is super bright and so fun.. the only problem is I am staining everything blue. Oops!
I ordered a pair of boots from Zappos the other day and was so happy when I saw the huge box on my doorstep yesterday! This is my first pair of knee high boots and I think they are so perfect for fall/winter. It took me forever to decide since there aren’t too many non-leather choices out there. These are the Madden Girl Zoiiee’s and I love them! I took the advice of the reviews and ordered a half size down and I’m so glad I did. There’s still quite a bit of room but if I wear thick tights or socks it isn’t a problem. Now to just work on replacing my wardrobe since things are starting to be a bit too big.. yay!
I am now getting ready to head to my Mom’s to celebrate Thanksgiving tonight. She always has to work on holidays so we celebrate a day in advance usually. She’s making veggie chili and I can’t wait because it’s so good. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow!
Halloween Weekend!
Halloween weekend was so much fun! It all started after work on Friday when my sister and her boyfriend came over to carve pumpkins. I didn’t eat in that night and instead we ordered Chinese food. I got bean curd and vegetables and it was so good.. I wish I knew how to make it. If anyone has a good recipe please send it my way!
The gang in action. Greg brought out the Dremel to carve his pumpkin. Haha. All the shots of him using it were so blurry since he was carvin’ like crazy.
Here’s all our pumpkins lit up! It goes Greg’s, AJ’s (my sister’s bf), my sister’s & mine on the end.
I was so happy that mine turned out so well. While I was carving a couple of thin pieces broke off, but I managed to fix them.
We saved all the seeds and I roasted them on Saturday. I tossed them in olive oil, sea salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper and put them in the oven for about 20 minutes. I had a ton of seeds so that’s why it took so long and it was so worth it. They turned out great and I can’t quit snackin’ on them.
On Sunday we went and bought candy to replace the first bags we ended up eating. Oops! :] We bought five bags and ran out around 7:30! We weren’t sure how many trick-or-treaters we would get and there were tons. It was so much fun and I loved all the costumes. We had a Harry Potter, football player, Luigi, princesses, ghosts, vampires and even a pimp. Haha. I loved it and next year I will know to buy more candy.
Pepper didn’t really enjoy his costume and looked absolutely miserable the entire time he was in it. He seriously would not move when it was on and looked so sad. Haha. He eventually laid down and was acting so depressed that we took it off so he could enjoy Halloween too :] What a lil’ diva.
I made the vegan chocolate pumpkin cheesecake from Friday’s food finds. It turned out really well! Greg and I ended the night by enjoying a couple of slices while watching The Walking Dead which I loved! I love anything with a zombie in it, but this was really well done and so suspenseful. I can’t wait to catch the next episode!
I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!
