Halloween Flashback!

This will be our forth Halloween "together", but only our third actually dressing up and celebrating it.

In 2008, we were invited at the last minute to a Housewarming/Halloween party. We went out that same weekend and got costumes half-price from Wamart. I don't have a picture of Paul (he was Freddy Krueger), but I have a few pictures of me, and Ruby.






I was a Pirate, and Ruby was a Skeleton.

Last year, 2009, we hosted our friends' Stag and Doe, on the Saturday before Halloween. It was Halloween themed, of course, and everyone dressed up and looked awesome. Paul and I were Zombie Doctor and Zombie Nurse.



Ruby was a normal doctor... Dr. Ruby VonRubenstein, actually.


Olivia was a cute little bumblebee.


This year, the dogs didn't get new costumes. They aren't going to the party we are going to on Saturday night, but I'll dress them in last year's costume for Sunday, when the kids come to the door. We'll see how long that lasts.

Our costumes this year are actually a surprise, but there will be many pictures of the awesomeness. I'll give you a hint, though. We are superhero partners. You have to check back on Monday for pictures!

The wind went and pulled me into the hurricane...

Seriously, how is it already almost the end of October? I feel like the days and weeks and months are just speeding by me, barely letting me grasp at them - nevermind enjoy them. I feel like I'm missing out, though I don't know what I feel like I'm missing.

Halloween is next weekend, and we haven't gotten anything to decorate the house, we haven't gotten costumes... nothing. It's our first Halloween in a house together, and we're basically missing it. When I was a kid, my dad put up the Halloween lights and we filled up the Jack o'lantern garbage bags full of leaves and put them out on the deck - as soon as October arrived. We started thinkng about what we wanted to dress up as (though we didn't go out and buy costumes, my mom made them). My dad hated Halloween, as it was his birthday, and he got teased when he was younger about it. But he always put on a good face for us. I miss my dad, alot. He would have been 54 years old next weekend.

I know that it's Friday today; I know this because everyone says it is. But to me, it feels like Wednesday. I only worked three days this week, and I work tomorrow. So, I guess tomorrow is my Friday. I hate when my work schedule gets messed up - I get messed up right along with it.

I drank a cup of coffee when I got home from work, at five p.m. I was tired, and I had alot of stuff I wanted to do this evening. Instead of waking me up and doing as I planned, now I have a headache. Potato Broccoli soup is cooling on the stove and as soon as I'm done here, I'm going to make myself dinner - grilled asparagus on toast, with a creamy cheese sauce. Paul will get home around 9:30 p.m., then we'll head over to our friends' place to watch a movie. I hope this headache is gone by then.

I turned the heat on the first time when I got home today, too. It was cold in the house. Olivia was shivering, so I knew it was time. The house heated up quickly, which was a nice surprise. I might turn it on again before bed tonight, as our bedroom stays pretty cold. Although last night we just added a second comforter and we were fine (actually, I woke up sweating).

Okay, now all I can think about is asparagus, so I'm off to make dinner and eat alone... wait, do Ruby and Olivia count as dinner guests?

Another recipe post!

Every Saturday, Paul and I go out to the Farmer's Market. Sometimes we just go to walk around, have lunch and check stuff out. Usually, I end up bringing home a couple bags of vegetables. This past weekend I got alot, including butternut squash, onions, red peppers, tomatoes and zucchini.

My plan was to make muffins and dog treats with the zucchini, and soup with the rest. So far, I made a cheesy potato and onion soup, yesterday. Today, I plan on making another batch of my favourite butternut squash soup. I found the recipe online and modified it a bit to suit my needs and to use up some stuff I had here already.

Here's my new recipe, that I made up:

Butternut Squash Soup, with Potato

Ingredients:
2 TBSP unsalted butter
1 onion, chopped fine
3 lbs butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced
3 med potatos, peeled and diced
3 cups veggie chicken stock broth
1 TSP thyme
1 TSP nutmeg
2 TSP minced ginger
1/2 cup heavy cream
Pinch of salt and pepper

Preparation:
1. Melt the butter in a large dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until softened, about five minutes. Stir in the squash and potato, broth, and seasonings. Bring to a simmer and cook until squash is tender, about twenty minutes.

2. Puree the soup in batches in a blender or food processor until smooth.

3. Return the pureed soup to the pot. Stir in the cream. Bring to a brief simmer, then remove from heat. Season with salt and pepper to taste before serving.


Mmm, I know what I'm having for lunch again today. I love fall, and soup!

Doggie treats!

I know, I haven't posted in a long time. And today isn't really a real post, but... I have been busy. We had a really busy weekend, including the farmer's market, Thanksgiving dinner, going out to the bar (and getting far too drunk) and a wedding. And we had to fit our usual weekend errands and groceries in there, too.

Today I worked all day, and then decided I had to be productive. I made Cream of Potato and green onion soup, some dog treats, and a strawberry oreo cheesecake, plus vacuumed and cleaned up a bit. Whew, now I'm wiped out.

My friend Dani asked me to post a few recipes out of my organic dog treat recipe book, so that's what I'm doing here.





Hopefully, you'll be able to just click the pictures above to get the bigger image and then save them. All I did was scan the image from my book and save the image.

I'm off now to start on dinner - Veggie ground round taco salad!