More Treats, Less Tricks

I suppose this post comes a little late as Halloween is behind us this year. However, in my attempt to go against my nature and be optimistic, I prefer to think of this as my effort to help you get a head start on next year's frivolities.

Halloween was a bit frantic for us this year as it fell on a Saturday.  As such, our usual traditions had to be tweaked to accomodate our Saturday night church service.  Ministry life is never dull and always provides opportunity to learn flexibility. But, as we see Halloween as one of the biggest ministry nights of the year, we were happy to rearrange our schedule and do a bit of rushing to pull it off. After all, on what other night of the year do all of your neighbors willingly show up on your doorstep?

Normally, our Halloween meal happens right before we head out the door. However, as we would be at church from 3:30-6, we moved our festive meal to lunch. As it turns out, we all liked this better. We were less rushed, weren't worried about messing up costumes with ketchup and we actually sat, lingered and enjoyed our creepy, culinary creations.

Our Halloween meal is the same every year and has been since, well, I don't remember when this wasn't how we nourished our girls before sending them out to beg for and collect copious amounts of sugar. We begin with mummy dogs, comlplete with creepy clove eyes and Halloween pasta salad. These recipes could not be easier and make for a quick, fun meal before any of your Halloween shenanigans.

                         

These "recipes" are so simple it seems like an insult to your intelligence to include them. However, if you are anything like I was when my kiddos were still ankle biters, culinary creations, no matter how simple, may not be your gifting. For you sister, I include the step by step directions to putting a spooky, spectacular meal on your Halloween table.

Mummy Dogs

Pop open a can of  refrigerated crescent rolls.  These come eight to a can and you will want to unroll the dough and lay them all flat. Next, cut them into thin strips, about 1/4 inch each. I use a pizza cutter for this and it makes it a snap. Wrap your mummy: using one crecscent  (now cut into strips) per dog, wrap your hot dog, leaving space for the "eyes." (See picture) Place on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Once all your dogs are wrapped and ready, bake at 350 for about 12-15 minutes. Finish off with 2 whole cloves inserted for eyes.

Halloween Pasta Salad

Every year I get my Halloween pasta from World Market. The kids like it because it's fun shapes - bats, brooms & pumpkins. I like it because the fun orange and purple colors come from vegetables. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere this counts as a serving of veggies. Okay, maybe not. I digress. Boil the pasta according to package directions, rinse in cool water. Add a can of black olives, a bage of parmesean cheese and a bunch of creamy Casaer dressing (homemade is easy and delish, but as you're also serving hot dogs wrapped in refrigerated rolls and sending your kids out to collect a bucket-o-sugar, store bought works just fine.) Refrigerate for a couple hours. Boom. Done.

Of course, no Halloween is complete without carving pumpkins. Again, our ability to be flexible with our normal celebration proved beneficial this year. We had no time in our busy schedule to carve pumpkins before October 31 this year. Know what happens when you wait until the last minute to buy your pumpkins? You get them for a penny a piece. Not a penny per pound. One pumpkin, one penny. True story. Winco for the win!

While my girls opted for socially relevant pumpkins and went with rather cute emogy faces, I had the opportunity to finally try a carving method I pin to my Pinterest boards every year but somehow never get around to attempt. The hubs helped my use a drill to "carve" a modern, geometric pumpkin. Who knew simple circles could create such a stunning effect. It was so simple, and we loved the result. I'm hooked and think I may be using this method each year.

Finally, I had the privilege this year, once again, to make a costume for my littlest little. We've been making homemade costumes for the last few years once we discovered how fun, easy and crazy inexpensive they are to pull off. This year we made a red, white and blue tutu to complete her Captain America Costume.  It really was sew simple (see what I did there!): the white tulle is stitched to an elastic band and we looped red and blue tulle around the band and tied bows on the end. Easy, peasy, lemon squeazy.

I learned something on Halloween this year that has turned out to be a recurring theme in my studies. If I didn't know better, I would say God was trying to get my attention. When I loosen my grip on my plans, when I surrender control and stop making idols of my schedules and my will, I get out of the way for God to do some pretty cool stuff. Admittedly, I was initially bummed that we wouldn't get to eat our usual Halloween dinner. I was disappointed that we didn't carve pumpkins earlier in the week so we could put them on display on the porch. But in the end, when I let go of all that stress and worry, I was able to grasp the blessings God was trying to provide in the form of time with family and friends, opportunities to be a good steward and maybe even the beginnings of new traditions that coud make next year's Halloween quite simply, so lovely. 

The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. Proverbs 16:9

xoxo

Why Not Wednesday

I adore breakfast. I love muffins, cinnamon rolls, pastries, pancakes, bread and jam. Okay, so maybe it's carbs I adore. But, I think it is safe to say that breakfast, in all its early morning splendor, provides some of the best carbohydrate offerings of the day. As a little girl, one of my favorite things was when my dad would make breakfast for dinner. Eating pancakes and bacon while the sun was setting rather than rising seemed such a lovely, luxorious treat.

I woud love to tell you that I share this sweet memory with my girls whenever I make them breakfast for dinner. I would love to say that, but I cannot as . . . oh the shame: I never make them breakfast for dinner.  Before you think of this as a mothering fail, let me say, in my defense, the hubs is solidly against and not a fan at all of breakfast for dinner. I know, right? And yet, nearly 20 years later, we remain happily married. Proof of the Holy Spirit, right there.

As fate would have it, this week the hubs was not home for dinner on Wednesday. Usually, when he is out, the girls and I eat salmon as, second only to breakfast, fish is his least favorite dinner. But this time, I had a rare moment of inspiration: waffles. 

My littlest little, Jilly, got me a waffle make for my birthday last month. We have not used it nearly as often as we should. Why should we use it more often? Because, well, waffles. Waffles are wonderful. Even the word: waffle. It just feels nice when you say it and immediately the smell and taste of maple syrup fills your senses and nothing will satisfy until, well, waffles.

So, waffles on Wednesday? Why not? Here is our preferred waffle recipe:

Whole Wheat Waffles
(makes 3 large Belgian waffles)

1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar*
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk
1/3 cup canola oil

Cook according to your waffle maker specifications. We like ours on the darkest setting for a crispy waffle. The girls got a little fancy and put some dark chocolate chunks in their waffles. I am a purist and ate mine straight up with butter and pure maple syrup. Yummmm. 

*You can also use a sugar substitute here if you prefer. We are fond of the Splenda baking blend. 1 tablespoon is plenty.

 

They were scrumptious. The time in the kitchen and sharing this sweet memory with my daughters was delicious. In fact, I think Wednesdays will become Why Not Wednesday. I wonder what we will think of for next week. 

Whatever it is, why not?  I'm sure it will be quite simply, so lovely.

xoxo

Quite Simply, So Lovely

My writing fingers itched and my creative juices began bubbling as I helped my girls create their own blogs this week. What a joy, as a mother, to watch my babies find their young woman voice and have the courage and boldness to share the same with the world. They, as they often do, inspired me. I was inspired to return to work, once again, on my own blog. 

For the past six years I have been blogging at abettercircus.blogspot.com. I wrote about a lot and a whole lot of nothing. It was an early attempt to challenge myself to share my ideas and writing and, in that sense, it was a success. What is wasn't was focused, intentional and often, sadly, authentic. As I read my early posts, they seem so guarded, the work of a nervous woman still scared what people would think of her genuine opinions, writing skills and perspective.

Six years later, my writing voice is still shaky, uncertain and yes, nervous. But, happily, and hopefully noticeably, less so.  There is a confidence that comes only with getting older. It is a lovely gift that seems to imeasurabely make-up for the gifts of wrinkles and gray hair that also come with getting older. As I age, I care less what others think and more about being the woman God created me to be. This, dear friends, is a rich blessing.

So, while I am not sure where this new blog will take me, or what its topics will encompass, my hope is that it will be real. It will be authentic. It will be quite simply, so lovely.