Dinner in a Pumpkin

Last min dinner ideas for Halloween!

Dinner in a pumpkin is what I grew up eating on Halloween Night.

Here's the recipe

INGREDIENTS

1 small-med pumpkin

1 can mushrooms, sliced and drained

1 onion chopped

1 can cream of chicken soup

2 Tbsp Veg. oil 1 1/2-2 cups cooked rice

1-2 lbs ground beef

8 oz. sliced water chestnuts

2 T. soy sauce

2 T brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Saute onions in oil until tender. Add meat and brown. Drain the meat. Add soy sauce, brown sugar, mushrooms, and soup. Simmer 10 min, stirring occasionally. Add cooked rice and water chestnuts. Spoon mixture into pumpkin on baking sheet. Bake 1 hour or until pumpkin meat is tender.

Serve, scooping out pumpkin with the meat mixture.

Serves 6.

* You can do this with a pumpkin that has been painted with acrylics or permanent marker.

I'll be serving this tonight with these yummy hotdog mummies!

Mad Scientist Book Case

This is what I imagine you'd find in a Mad Scientist's....lare? At least a Mad Scientist who had some sort of secret love a decorating. Like maybe Gay Mad Scientist.

Dr. Frankenstien, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and maybe even Evil Dr. PorkChop (toy story) are all pupils here.

My take on Bat Specimen. Loved making it and super easy!
Beaker bottles came from Target years ago, but I added the labels. Martha S. stickers I got at JoAnns.

Dollar Store Skull that needed a make over, and no Mad Scientist lab is complete without a lobotomy diagram either. So I went online and drew my own on the skull.
(and no Gay Mad Scientist lab is complete with out floral wall paper)
Eye Balls in a jar, more Dollar candy. They say "gourmet chocolate" on the package but who are we kidding? Last time I checked gourmet truffles don't have blood veins on the wrapper.
This adorable eye chart comes from Tatertots and Jello. It's a free printable! Check it out HERE
Mad Scientists! Classes start next fall!

Front Porch Pumpkins

The start of my front porch! I have always loved the "topiary pumpkins" I saw them in a magazine many many years ago! I was so excited to FINALLY be able to do them!
They are just so cute and festive!


(and they go with my Ombre Fall Wreath)
I added a little ric rac to the pumpkins for Halloween. Ric Rac is the black zig zag ribbon on the bottom pumpkin. I love ric rac...I have images chevron pattern dancing in my head.


I put a dab a glue at the top and a dab at the bottom so I can hopefully pull it off for next time.


The yellow pumpkin is sooo cool! I found it in the big gourd bin at Walmart.
I also added some small green ric rac to the small white pumpkins!


I did the same method with this lace that I put on these pumpkins that are on my Witchy Matle.

Use What You Have- Fall Decor

Fall decorating in the foyer using what you have around the house.

Plate from my dining room  (Marshalls)

White Pitcher- Ikea (borrowed from my guest room)

Orange Bow made from leftover fabric.

Glitter leaves from my Christmas tree topper.

Little witch sign I already had.

Berry wreath- Giant Eagle- only $15!

Black Spiders-made easily from black puffy balls, pipe cleaner legs and googly eyes.

Added some Halloween to my entryway topiary.

Outdoor front porch mums are blooming.

Looks like my other dollar store tombstone blew off... :-)

  These were $5 mums from Pettitis, I'll plant them in the yard later.

I tried to decorate more for fall, so that most of my vignettes will last until Thanksgiving.  Happy Fall!

My Witchy Fireplace

Need any spells brewed? My Halloween Mantle. I love how every year there's a new color that's introduced to the original Orange and Black. Years ago it was purple, then lime green, then last year, white and now Aqua. And can I say I'm LOVING the Aqua this year!
No Halloween house is complete unless it has a black tule tutu.

2 supplies: 2yards of Tule and a stitching hoop, Medium size was mine.

3 steps: cut tule into random 2"x6-2"x8" strips

tie to hoop

push close together

*hang by ribbon if desired!
Metal witch hat and my pumpkin on a candle stick. I glitzed up with some lace. I will show you more glitzed up pumpkins in a future post.
Yeah, my spells are cheap but you'll pay for it in the end!! hahahehahea (evil witch cackle)
Witching spell books.
I think I need to find a cauldron to make the transformation complete!

Spidery Gallery Wall

My little spooky welcome for my guests. I did this last year too, but of course it's a little different this year....
The pictures of chairs and the chairs I keep up all year but come Halloween I like to make them a little more creepy. I love Halloween!




again, this is drop clothe that I wrote this on...



The "EEK and the "BOO" I cut on my Silhoutte and framed.
Agh! Who is that sicko in the reflection...oh it's me. haha.

This cute cross stitch I bought last year but I bet you could easily DIY it.


You're welcome any time! Just beware of spiders and this time of year I'm being serious. I think I smash about one a day.

What did you do over the weekend? Besides waiting for my internet to be fixed, I spent a day making 25 freezer meals! Yes, it's that time again. Twice a year I take a day and make as many freezer meals as I possibly can! HERE is the last springs post, but I will give you some quick tips again . First and Formost, these are all made from scratch recipes and delicious! You can also make them low-cal and low-fat too, by substituting the low-fat equal , like for sour cream, cream cheese, soups, and turkey burger. Also, you can use whole grains pastas.

STEPS

Purchase Book Above! This book has all the recipes and ALL the how-tos!

But some general rules: Most everything will freeze except mashed potatoes AND when doing pasta, cook it 2 min less then it says on the box because it will continue to absorb moisture in the freeze and thaw process.

2- PICK RECIPES. The book is broken down into different cooking methods: Crock Pot, Oven, Stove Top and Assemble.

So pick 2-3 crock pot meals, 2-3 oven, 2-3 stove top and 7-10 Assemble ( assemble means any recipe that doesn't need cooking but just assembled in a pan and placed in the freezer, ie: manicotti)

Also, some of the recipes make double. So they count as 2 meals.

3- MAKE GROCERY LIST

4- PREPARATION IS THE KEY!

The more you can get done the day before the better. ie, Thaw meats, Chop Veggies, Make Labels, Sort canned goods according to recipe so if for some reason you forgot something you can make one last min. run to the store.

5- DAY OF- Have some one watch your kids! You must not be disturb (most of the time)

Your meals making goes as follows: Start with Crock pots, then oven, then stove top, then assembles.

6- I've said it before and I'll say it again, Diet Coke!

Here is my freezer after. Some meals can be stored in freezer bags and then placed in dishes or pots for warming. Most of the ones from the Assemble section you do in foil pans so you can just pop them from the freezer to the oven.

Here are a few of what I made

Crock Pot - Pulled Pork (sooo good!)

Beef Stroganoff (just the sauce, cook noodles later)

Cream Cheese Chicken

Stove top- Italian Chili

Chicken and Ham roll ups

Green Chili Chicken soup (a family favorite)

Oven- Cranberry Chicken (looked good, can't wait to eat it)

Teriyaki Chicken (sooo good too!)

Assemble- 5 Cheese Manacotti (a personal fav)

Bird Nest Pie (also one of my favs)

Taco Pie (my husbands fav)

Chicken Tortilla Casserole (the ultimate family fav!)

(pardon the spelling)

I love doing this. It's great for those days I don't have time to cook or don't want to make a big mess in my kitchen.