Dept 56 Halloween

Here is a great video that highlights the Dept 56 lines for Halloween...love the Boo Tique collection.  Enjoy and Happy Halloween!!



All the best,

Halloween Tortilla Chips

I'm joining Gollum's Foodie Friday today on this Halloween Eve.  You can join Gollum and join in the fun or check out the great recipes and ideas shared by clicking here.

 
I'm sharing this recipe for which I promise you will receive rave reviews.  These chips are so good and can be eaten alone or with your choice of dips.  They are also quick and easy.

Cut your tortillas in desired shape...I use Halloween cookie cutters.  Drop into peanut oil and fry for about 2 minutes, until light brown.

Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with seasoning.

Store in a sealed container until ready to use. 

Tip: If you store these for a couple of days, they can stale.  To bring them back to life, spread on a baking sheet and place in a 350 preheated oven for a couple minutes.  This will warm and crisp them back up, just like new. 

Halloween Tortilla Chips

Package corn tortillas

Peanut Oil

Paprika

Garlic

Salt

Cayenne Pepper

Cut tortillas into wedges or various shapes using cookie cutters.  A cookie cutter will easily cut through 3-4 tortillas at a time.  Fry tortillas in small batches in peanut oil heated to about 350 degrees in large container.  Remove from oil and drain on paper towels.  Season to taste with mix of salt, cayenne pepper, paprika and garlic powder. Can be made a day ahead of time and stored in air tight container. 

Enjoy and Happy Halloween!!
All the best,

Halloween Decorating - Halloween Blog Party

I'm joining Fiberdoodle's Halloween Blog Party and you can join in all the fun as well, by clicking here or the button on my sidebar. 

I'm posting some of my Halloween decorating, some of which I have displayed on older posts...some of which are new.  Appreciation to Fiberdoodle for hosting this fun event.

Witches weekender - What happens in Salem, stays in Salem.

Painted pumpkins from a recent trip to Smoky Mountains. 

You can never go wrong with your Mummy close by.

Signs of Fall

Boo to you

Entry table vignette

Potions table

Witches laundry

Happy Halloween!!

All the best,

Hayride with Us - Outdoor Wednesday

Sunday was a beautiful day here in Tennessee and we decided to take a relaxing hayride around the neighborhood to enjoy the scenery.  Here we are getting started with my man Mike taking us on down the road.  There is plenty of room, would you like to join us?  See our dog Bearzie, leading the way?  Note the beautiful gold of the elm tree to the right. 

We made a stop along the way to let the kids play on the church playground.  I know it looks like the bigger kids were the ones playing, but the three small ones are hidden in there as well.

That's a backdoor look at our home across the fields and taken from the church parking lot. 

My SIL Aaron and my youngest GB Connor - He's upset because he wanted to ride up front on the tractor with Gramps.

Mom and my 2nd youngest GB Lexi - Lexi is very particular about having her picture taken, so although she looks very serious here, she returned to smiles once the camera was not focused on her.

Some of the color we are seeing on the Mountain...can you tell we live in a valley?  We live close to the east side of the valley and are nestled right up against Suck Creek and Signal Mountains.

Farms dot the countryside, here in our valley.

Almost everyone has moved to the round hay bales and they lay haphazardly in almost every field along the way.  I've taken up hay many times with the square bales...driving the tractor and wagon across the field and hefting the square bales, weighing about 50 pounds each, up on the wagon.  That will wear you out real fast.  With the round bales, there is a long narrow attachment that hooks on the tractor and it gets speared right into the center of the bale and raised up on the wagon. 

The animals are very used to vehicles passing close by.  Other than the cow, who thinks the sound of the tractor means time to eat, we were completely ignored. 

Back home, this is what is left of the hay maze and play area from our Halloween party. 

I hope you enjoyed our Hayride through the country.  Thanks to Susan at Southern Daydreamer for hosting this fun weekly event. Please visit her here, to see other Outdoor posts for this week.

All the best,

Back In The Day - Grandpa and Granny Powell

I am thinking about my paternal Grandparents today - Grandpa and Granny Powell. It's funny that when I think of my Grandparents, I still feel like I did when I was young and growing up at home. I would give about anything to be able to talk to my Granny and let my daughters and Grandbabes get to know her like I did. Granny was the quintessential 'Granny' - she wore an apron everyday and all day, as part of her attire and she always had a scarf tied around her head - at night, she would let her hair down out of the two twisted buns she wore and comb it before going to bed...it reached to her waist. My Granny died before my Grandpa and I can still picture him sitting in his rocker, between the beds in the main room of their log cabin (in the overalls that he always wore and twiddling his thumbs. If you don't know what twiddling thumbs is - you clasp your hands in front of you in a relaxed position and you roll your thumbs around and around each other. Grandpa was always twiddling his thumbs.

My Grandparents lived on a 63 acre farm in a three room log cabin - a main room, a kitchen and an added on 'extra' bedroom that was always called the backroom and seperated from the mainroom by a door covered with a floral curtain. The mainroom held two iron beds, two comfortable rocker chairs (one for Granny and one for Grandpa and they never sat in each others chairs), a foot pedal Singer sewing machine, a black metal trunk, a potbelly stove and several ladder back chairs for guests. The kitchen held a Hoosier cabinet, a small white metal cabinet for the dishes, an electric range, a refrigerator, a table with 6 metal and vinyl chairs, a washstand with a metal basin to washup and a 2 gallon metal bucket that held water and a dipper. The backroom held another iron bed, a covered shelf that held extra quilts, a freezer, and a big trunk. There was no running water to the house and water for drinking and washing dishes was 'drawn' from a well out back and carried into the house in the 2 gallon bucket that was housed in the kitchen. The outhouse or toilet was in the horse lot close to the barn and crib and about 500 yards from the house...on cold days, Granny had a chamberpot that we could use on the backporch. Life was simple and they lived with none of the things that we feel are necessary today and spending the night with them was something that I miss and yearn to do again. Granny taught me how to sew and how to crochet and would sit and listen to me for hours...never offering an opinion or a critical word but always listening.

In the background of this picture, close to mid-frame, you can see the outhouse. 

All the best,

What happened to perfection - Halloween Party 09

In no way do I think that I am a perfectionist...this can be evidenced in the many 'short cuts' that I employ - with good results usually, but definetly not always perfect results. My disappointment stems from my Halloween party this year. I was running behind and was about an hour late getting all the food on the tables for serving, and then only because of the help of some key people. It was cold this year and a lot of folks left pretty early...I don't blame them, just wish I had an indoor place that would hold everyone...going to have to come up with a plan for next year. As a result of folks leaving early, no one watched the outdoor movie all the way through...another thing I am going to have to figure out for next year. Because I was running so far behind, I was not available to talk with everyone until much later in the party, so I missed a lot of the people who left early....I did not get the kids goody bags ready and am delivering them to the little ones, post party. The candy bar was a success, but it was something that I threw together, so I was not satisfied with the result.

I have come to the conclusion that not only have I slowed down over the years, I have also perhaps gotten a bit cocky and complacent with my party giving abilities....so a rethink and overhaul is in order.

I don't have a lot of pictures of the party, as I was busy with other things and this upsets me greatly. I do have a couple of quick snaps of the buffet tables (apologies for the quality) and will gather others from my daughters, who hopefully took a good variety.

All the best,

Halloween Witches Table - Tablescape Thursday

This week, in the spirit of the Halloween season, I have a bewitching tablescape.  Many thanks to our hostess, Susan at Between Naps On the Porch.  You can view many creative tablescapes from this week's participants by clicking here.

As the midnight hour approaches, the cauldron begins to boil and the spells are cast.

Black chargers are from Hobby Lobby, black dinner plate and salad plate is from Target.  Gold flatware was a gift from my Mom a few years ago.  Napkins are used to anchor the setting, rather than a placemat.  Napkins are from Home Goods and are used on the table in reverse patterns....black with orange polka dots and orange with black polka dots.

Centerpiece is a grouping of items that can be found in any self -respecting witches store room.

Amber glassware is Breeze by Noritake, purchased on a recent trip to the Smoky Mountains.  Cappuccino cups are Pietra from Circleware and purchased at Marshalls.

Candleholder is made from two bowls turned in opposite directions with one acting as a pedestal.

Overhead view of my Halloween styled table.

All the best,