Suburban Homestead

SuperNatural Halloween at the Academy

We did something new and different totally spectacular this past weekend when I took a friend's advice and bought tickets to The California Academy of Science's SuperNatural Halloween Party.

Imagine dressing up, being first in line, and getting to sit all alone on one side of the museum, eating ice cream...

...and getting to watch this:

It had been 33 days since we'd last visited the museum and met these baby ostriches, just over a month old. On Saturday, they were 66 days old!

The museum served up great food and activities. We took in the rainforest with just a handful of families, no lines, no fussing...just wide open spaces, eager docents, crafts, trick-or-treating for quasi-healthy treats, live music and choices, choices, choices. :)



























I wonder if SuperNatural is this good every year... or if we just got really lucky because the Giants were playing the third game of the World Series that night? We stayed until almost nine o'clock, and just as we walked out, a great cheer erupted throughout the building and we were told - "The Giants won!"

Happy Halloween!

What an exhausting day and it isn't even lunch time yet!  I just got back from the big kid's class party and costume parade.  My contribution -- skeleton gingerbread men, animals and dinosaurs!

I've been wanting to try these for years, ever since I first saw them over at ohdeedoh.com

Here are the kids on Saturday, before heading out to the mall.  I shared this photo of Mr. Noodles in his chicken costume with our sitter... who then showed it to her friend... who just happens to have the adult version of the EXACT SAME CHICKEN COSTUME!!!  She sent it over to our house in case I would want to wear it. Um -- let me think abo---  YETH PWEZZZ!!!  (more photos to come :)

Yugoslavian Finger Squash

I came across this goofy looking squash at the grocery story recently.  It was labeled *Finger Squash*, which seemed so perfectly appropriate for a pre-Halloween dinner!

So I brought one home and cooked it up for dinner alongside a butternut squash. I baked both with just a little olive oil, salt and pepper.  The Yugoslavian Finger Squash was pretty bland, especially next to the butternut.  But if nothing else, it's just a really fun looking vegetable.  I love the way each *finger* sticks out on each wedge.

Even though the flavor isn't one to rave about, I saved some seeds for next years garden.  This squash is too much of a conversation piece not to grow.

'Orangelo' Watermelon

I'm happy ecstatic to report that I spoke too soon when I complained about our heirloom watermelons being tasteless.  Please forgive - I'm such a novice when it comes to growing my own food...especially watermelon, which I'd never attempted before.

After our recent hot spell (aka: Indian Summer) all our giant melons seemed to get the required heat they needed, and they sweetened up perfectly.  Almost overnight, we had a huge crop of ready-to-eat Orangelo and White Wonder watermelon - albeit in the middle of OCTOBER!

So we got juicing!  Instead of completely de-seeding each fruit, and quickly juicing it in the electric juicer, I hand cranked it, seeds and all, through the Squeezo.  It worked pretty well, but because of the large size of the seeds, they did tend to get jammed under the screen, requiring an occasional clean out.

I was surprised though that the watermelon juice did not taste nearly as sweet as the whole fruit did.  But the kids didn't seem to notice.

(An Almost) Wordless Wednesday

 

2006  A Chicken!

2007  A Cowboy + An Octopus

Spiderweb Cookies!

I have been making Martha Stewart's Halloween Pumpkin Spice Cookies for years now. YEARS!  I'm not sure why she mentions pumpkin in the name, there isn't any in them. Possibly because she recommends you decorate them as such. I tried that once, and failed miserably. It appeared to be a near impossible task, one only achievable if you have no kids, no friends, no job and endless hours on your hands to fine-tune the consistency and colors of Royal Icing to *just right*.

Nuf said.

I usually just make the icing, divide it up and color it with various Fall colors.  Like this batch which I made last Thanksgiving.  But this morning, I decided to try my hands at spiderwebs.

How cute are these?!?

This recipe makes a ton of cookies.  So this time, after rolling the dough into four logs, I refrigerated two of them, and froze the other two for Thanksgiving time.  Then I made a half batch of Royal Icing.  We still have too many cookies, about 24.  But we are going to dinner at a friends house tonight and will bring some over to share.

This day last year: "The Accidental Genius"

Wordless Wednesday

Adventures on Apple Hill

Our family's cabin is in the Foothill Sierras. It's amazing in the summer heat, with the river out back, but my absolute favorite time of year to visit is in the fall. And that's mostly because of Apple Hill.

Apple Hill is a cluster of small farms near Placerville. Most are apple orchards, but there are also peaches, pumpkin patches and Christmas tree farms.  They all open up to visitors on Labor Day weekend, and some stay open as late as Christmas.

Every farm offers something a little different - *U-pick* opportunities, hay rides, Halloween festivities, homemade baked goods, arts and craps crafts, train rides, picnicking, etc., etc. Total Americana - which is why I can't get enough of it.

Our favorite farm is High Hill Ranch, #1 on the farm tours map.  This weekend you could find us there making candles, taking ponies for rides in circles, eating bbq chicken with apple (and marshmallow!) salad, and fishing for dinner.

I mean, come on...how cute is all that?!?

Above, some of the High Hill gals prep containers of their infamous marshmallow and caramel treats, to-go.

After an afternoon at the ranch, we drove the loop that takes you past most of the farms on Apple Hill. Bavarian Hills was already celebrating October-fest with traditional German tunes making their way out to the road. Larsen Apples, shown below, is closed on Saturdays, but I've always loved the look of the barn with gold and red apples painted on the side.

Denver Dan's has U-pick, which we did several years back. This year, we just stopped by for a quick look at their Alpacas.

Is it just me, or does my daughter's hair look like that of a blonde alpaca? ;)

Happy Halloween from The Tree Huggers!

If we were friends on Facebook this time last year you might remember me swearing up and down the internet that I would never make another costume again.  Ever!  Gone would be the days of encouraging creativity in my kids at Halloween time.  Gone would be the hours spent up late sewing. 'Super Gumball Man 2009, and his Super Gumball Princess, had simply pushed me over the edge.  I would rather beg, borrow or steal a costume before ever setting my hands on another glue gun in October.

Then we went camping in Yosemite this summer and damn it if that wonderful getaway didn't leave some sort of special impact on my kids.  The animal lover declared he would be a park ranger for Halloween and little Miss suddenly wanted to be a tree.  Now, we have always encouraged our kids to hug trees so I was happy to oblige. But unless I was willing to send her out in a ready-made Christmas tree costume, I was signing myself up to make another costume.

A park ranger, a brown bear and a tree.

A rare shot of just "Momma" and daughter.

The Happy Campers!

Fabulous Friday (a cheaters account)

At least I'm here.  I mean, at the very least, I remembered to pull a Fabulous Friday together during the countdown-to-Halloween, even if it may not have included a single homemade morsel.  Sometimes Momma just needs some take-out.

I don't know exactly when Halloween turned into the new Christmas.  Somewhere along the road heading out of the city and into suburbia, things seemed to get unreasonably complicated with small kids and the endless festivities that come along with them and this time of year.  I'm sure it doesn't help that I've recently developed a passion of food preservation.

So, no, I did not make this caramel apple.  And even worse then that, I ordered it (and three more just like it) online and had it shipped to the homestead.  Not cool by some standards but there you have it.  Mrs. Prindable's chocolate covered caramel apples are my sweet Fall indulgence. They also make a great gift for just the right person.

A Waste-free Lunch

I've been working really, really hard lately to save the world.

My latest efforts have been directed towards packing the little guy a waste-free lunch.

After researching all the options, I chose the Goodbyn.  All the waste-free lunch box options looked great but the final decision came down to design - it always does with me.

I'm posting a picture of his lunch today because I thought it was kinda fun with all the Halloween themed food.  Only now am I realizing that I forgot to pack him any fruit. Harumph.

Ham + cheese sando, homemade pumpkin seeds, *Boo* chips, water, and a (store bought) cookie (because I just can't do it all).

**Note: Frankenstein napkin = not so waste-free, but you gotta have SOME fun.

Simple Pleasures

We love pumkin seeds.  We cleaned out just enough from tonights four sugar pumpkins to fill a baking sheet. Toss with a little olive oil, salt and pepper, bake at 375 F for about 25 minutes. Ready when toasted golden brown.

Pumpkin Goulash

Around three o'clock this afternoon I started to feel a little feisty.  So I cranked up Journey's Greatest Hits, kicked off my new wedge rain boots and let my hair down from the perpetual ponytail.  I decided that for the first time in my life, I was going to blindly make dinner - without looking at someone else's recipe.

Inspired from a recipe my mom "used to have" but "can't find anymore", I decided to gather all the veggies that needed cooking, thaw some beef from the freezer and make use of four sugar pumpkins I've had on my counter. Here's what I did:

Pumpkin Goulash

4 small sugar pumpkins, cleaned of seeds and pulp

olive oil

1 lb. of grass-fed ground beef, seasoned with s+p

1 cup of tomato sauce

1 small yellow onion, chopped

3 small carrots, diced into 1/2" pieces

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 green bell pepper, diced

1 small yellow squash

1 teaspoon of allspice

1/8 teaspoons of cayenne pepper

2 teaspoons of ground cumin

Handful of chopped Italian parsley

4 cups of cooked brown rice.

Heat the oven to 375 F.  Cut the pumpkins carefully, ideally making a notch where the top can fit back on. Clean the pumpkins out. Discard pulp and set seeds aside for toasting.  Brush olive oil on the inside of the pumpkins and lightly season with salt.

Turn the pumpkins upside down on a lined baking sheet. Cover with foil and roast in oven for about 1-1/2 hours.  Pumpkins are ready when they are softened, but still holding their shape.

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan and saute the ground beef until just cooked through. Add the tomato sauce and mix.  Remove beef from pan and put on a dish.  Add another tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and saute the onion and carrots until onions are a golden brown. 

Add garlic, pepper and spices and cook for a couple minutes more.  Next add the squash and most of the parsley (save some for garnish) cook for about two minutes more.  Return beef to pan and mix together.  Remove from heat.

Fill warm pumpkins with a couple scoops of rice, top with beef and vegetables and sprinkle with parsley.

I have to say - I'm pretty proud of myself.  I only ever follow recipes.  But I'm thinking I need to start taking some chances and creating some of my own dishes.  Here is my first - and it was pretty darn good!  A great tradition to do once a year around Halloween.

Pumpkin Banana Mousse Tart

About a year ago, I decided I wanted to start a new weekly tradition at our house.  I decided to call it "Fabulous Friday".

 

The idea behind Fabulous Friday was this:  while all the kiddos were off to school, I would bake some *fabulous* dessert that everyone would look forward to coming home to.  Each week it would be something new (!) and different (!!) - a secret not to be revealed until they got home from school.  The suspense of what was coming would get them out the door and off to school with a smile and the memories of eating wonderful, homemade dessert all weekend would last a lifetime.  It was a dream of mine and I just couldn't help but force it onto everyone else.

Our first Fabulous Friday was rung in with a Banana Cake with Caramel Espresso Frosting.  Uh, huh.  That's right.  No one, I mean NO ONE around here has forgotten that cake. 

And I haven't done diddly on a Friday since.

So fast-forward a year and I'm kinda feeling like the dream might still be alive.  Things are winding down for me with work and I'm finally finding the time to do the things with the family that I really want to do.  I hope I can stick with this but until I know I can, I'm not calling it anything in front of the kids because at this point, I just know better.

Today I made an old favorite of ours that I've been making for some years now, Pumpkin Banana Mousse Tart by Ina Garten.  It is a showstopper.  Why someone didn't think to stick a banana in the pumpkin pie from the start, I don't know.  But the Thanksgiving dessert selection at our house has finally gotten interesting.

Starting the mousse with the graham cracker crust ready to go.

Folding in the whipped cream before filling the crust and refrigerating.

While I am conscious of how much sugar the kids take in, all concerns go out the window for me when a unique flavored and/or homemade dessert is available.  Getting them to try new flavors through desserts is just another way for them to explore and appreciate many types of food.  I actually have no idea what I'm talking about, but that's what I keep telling myself.

Pumpkin Pancakes

There are lots of reasons why Halloween is my favorite time of the year and one if them is Williams-Sonoma's Spice Pecan Pumpkin waffel and pancake mix. I've been buying this goodness in bulk for some years now and the kiddos love it!  Run - don't walk - to get your family some.