Happy Halloween!

BOO! From all us.

Where did Halloween come from?  Visit Wikipedia here

Sunshine Soup

For a rainy, cold harvest season!  I used several different types of squash and apples.  The vibrant color of this soup will brighten your day, despite the weather.

Here is what I used:

1/2 small baking pumpkin
1 small to medium butternut squash
6 medium apples
1 acorn squash
1-2 onions
optional: 5 carrots

Garnish:
cinnamon to taste
fresh thyme leaves
spoonful of sour cream, optional
and if you like your soup spicy like me, add a dash of cayenne

Peel and chop the squash and apples into small, approx 1x1 inch cubes.  Put all ingredients minus the cinnamon and cayenne into a soup pan.  Cover with about 1" water and bring to a boil.  Turn heat down so that the soup simmers gently for 30+ minutes, or until all ingredients are soft.  At this point I use a egg beater to puree the soup.  There are many other ways, both more and less technical than mine, so take your pick.  

Serve with garnish (see above) and a smile :-)

Fennel and Chopped Garlic Clay Pot Chicken

 My favorite way to cook chicken is in a clay pot.  The clay pot makes the chicken very tender and circulates the garlic and fennel flavors for hours making the chicken taste very flavorful.  I have included the recipe and this particular one happens to be my family's current favorite.

If you don't have a clay pot, check them out here. I got mine at our local thrift store at a small fraction of the price.

Soak your clay pot in water for 5-10 minutes before cooking in it.  Dry and oil the inside of the pot with canola oil or butter so that the chicken and vegetables will not stick to it.

 Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
handful fresh fennel, chopped
5-8 cloves of garlic
tsp salt
tsp pepper
optional TBS of each: fresh thyme and oregano
2 potatoes
2 beets, large

Preheat oven to 350F.

To prepare the herbs, dice a large handful of fennel and place in a bowl.  Peel 5-8 cloves of garlic.  Place the garlic, fennel, salt and pepper (and optional de-stemmed thyme and oregano) under the skin of the chicken.  I put the chicken breasts up in the pot and stuff the herbs and garlic under the skin on the breasts.  If it seems like a lot of fennel and garlic, that is good! 

place the two beets and potatoes on top of the chicken so that the lid still fits tighly over it all.  Cook for 2+ hours.  I recommend 2-3 hours, as the clay pot holds in the moisture and that extra time just makes the chicken more tender.

Serve with a green salad, rice, and good friends!

There are actually a few books you can buy about clay pot cooking, here is one.

The Garden in Autumn

 

Strangely, the raspberries are flowering again this year. I have never seen this before.  Also my rhodies are flowering to!!? Any explanation?

 

Our new blueberry patch has 12 new blueberry plants in it.  We grazed all summer on them.

 

bird bath

 

 

dahlias, fiery.  The only type I have.  

 

 

tomatoes have had a great year

 

  

 

dino kale + olive oil + pine nuts + sautee = one  of  my favorite spring and fall meals!

 

the artichokes are giving us a second harvest, gotta love the pacific northwest, wow!

 

sunflowers in October make great bird feeders

 

beets cuddling

 

yellow chard-- I'm a big fan of color!

 

wherever they go, the kids leave their mark!

 

parsley loves this cool weather and is thriving

 

above: ten tomato plants, on their last legs.  But lots of green toms!

Make Your Own Halloween Decorations

A craft for kids: Some Halloween Decorating Ideas

Marina with one of her pumpkins 

Photos and crafts courtesy Vicky Burt (grandma)

Magazines: Save those costume magazines you get in the mail and your kids can use then to make cut-outs.  With the cut-outs you can paste them on construction paper and make a hanging decoration or paste several pictures on a piece of paper. See pictures below.

Hanging Spooky: Use construction paper to make black cats, witches, bats, pumpkins, spiders...  anything spooky!  Attach string and hang in rooms or windows.  If you have young children and they cannot cutout their own shapes, cut them out for them and let them draw on them with pens. See pictures below.

Spiderweb: Make your own spiderweb with cotton stuffing from a craft shop.  And here's another idea---
This Vintage Chica: Make a real spiderweb

Thrift Store: Go to your local thrift store and look around, you'll likely find lots of interesting ideas!

Do you have any ideas?  Please comment and let me know what you and your family do!
Here are some links:
http://www.dltk-holidays.com/Halloween/index.html
http://familyfun.go.com/halloween/halloween-crafts/  
http://www.makingfriends.com/halloween.htm
http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/halloween/ 
http://www.craftjr.com/ 

Pictures from Marina and Stella's Art Day:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Photos courtesy Vicky Burt

People Emerging: Marina's Art

 Above: "Mommy this is for you, it's you and me holding hands.  You have the short dress, I have the long one.  And you are wearing a white shirt." ---Marina, 4 1/2 yo

It has been really exciting seeing people, animals, and plants emerging from Marina's (4 years old) artwork.  Some of my favorite of her pictures are little sketches she does with a pen on sticky notes.  I really love how personal her pictures are.  I hope she always keeps her unique perspective!  Below are some more pictures:

Above: Sunshine, butterflies, and ?

When I wouldn't buy her a new nutcracker, she decided to make her own, see above.

Cut-outs, a favorite.  She's great with scissors.  

The Three Girls at Rosario

One of my favorite parks to visit is Rosario, just past Deception Pass (off island).  It is incredibly beautiful in a 'other worldly' sense. It feels like there is a history there.  Like ancient people are still walking around gathering shellfish and burning fires. It is hard to explain without showing you, but I will try...

There  are incredible water views as you walk from the parking toward the beach.  On the left is a harbor with rolling treed hills in the background and an old wooden dock in the distance.   Little coves  are cut off from each other by jutting rocks that are bigger than a house, and make it look like there are several small beaches.  A trail winds past a giant carved wood statue of a half-girl, half-mermaid, and if you look a bit closer you will see that there are four placards that tell the story of how the girl turned into a mermaid, set on this very beach.  On the right is another beach with huge logs and small smooth flat stones.  A large rocky island fills up the view and several small rocks jut out off the beach making tide pools to explore. 

If you pass the beach and follow the trail up the hill through the madrona trees, you will come to a vast lookout toward Whidbey Island and another smaller island with a few trees on it.  The lookout drops off abruptly  toward the water and if you dare peer over the edge, you will see kelp beds that undulate with the waves.