more fun Halloween and Fall things

Just wanted to post a few more cute halloween decorations, treats, costumes and fall photos from the past few weeks.

Here is my Tulle-o-ween Wreath

A cute spider hot dog (just slice each end into 4 sections leaving the center uncut and microwave). I added candy eyes because i had them but you could use raisins for eyes...

 my kids at the pumpkin patch

 Halloween -I am Bride of Frankenstein and Greyson is the monster...

 Daddy is Igor and Jack is Dr. Frankenstein (al la Gene Wilder in Young Frankenstein...)

Finger food for the toddlers

So since the kids have started walking, they have transformed into little finger-food eating machines.  They are barely letting me feed them by spoon anymore and if I try to,  they each have to have their own spoon and I can only fill it with food and then THEY have to feed THEMSELVES.  This can be quite a mess so I default to finger foods for most of their meals.  I have been trying to get them to eat raw veggies like broccoli but most of the healthy stuff ends up on the floor (where even the dogs won't eat it..lol)

So I found these recipes for easy healthy finger-foods that I thought I would share with you.
The first is a Bisquick based mini-"quiche."  I think it's more of a fritatta but regardless this is SUPER easy and a nice recipe because you can easily customize it to your nutritional needs.  It is also nice because the cheese is just added on top and not in the batter so you can keep the fat down.  I got this recipe from Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom (hey that sounds like me!  lol)

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 1/2 cups bisquick
• 1/4 tsp salt
• dash of pepper
• 1/4 cup melted butter

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Generously grease mini muffin cups with shortening or cooking spray.
2. In small bowl, stir all ingredients except filling options until blended. Spoon dough/egg mixture into the muffin cups.
3. Sprinkle your filling options over the top of the muffins, finishing with cheese.
4. Bake about 20 minutes or until edges are golden brown and centers are set.  

I just made a batch and I use my mini pan and my regular muffin pan for more adult-sized portions (that I eat for lunch along-side the kids...).  Here, I added a head of broccoli finely chopped and just sprinkled the tops with shredded cheddar.  These also store nicely in the fridge and or freezer for a couple day's worth of meals.

fill almost the whole cup with egg mix

then add your fillings

ready to go in the oven

baked goodness

The second is a recipe for oatmeal breakfast bars.  I just bought a huge box of those single serving sized intand oatmeal packets and about a third of the box is the apple cinnamon flavor which I don't really care for. And since I'd like the kids to eat more grains in finger-food form, I thought I'd try out a breakfast bar recipe from Food.com.

2 cups rolled oats, uncooked
1 cup oat flour (can be made by pulverising rolled oats in a blender or food processor)
1 cup packed currants or 1 cup raisins or 1 cup chopped prunes or 1 cup other dried fruit
1 cup apple juice or 1 cup orange juice (you could also use 1/4 cup molasses and 3/4 cup water)
1/4 cup white sugar or 1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup sesame seeds or 1/4 cup nuts, pieces


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Grease a 9 inch by 13 inch pan, or two 8 inch by 8 inch pans.
3. Combine all ingredients in bowl and mix well.
4. It should be moist enough to form a ball, without extra liquid.
5. Put mixture in prepared pans and spread evenly.
6. Bake for 30 minutes.
7.Remove from oven and cut into squares while still hot.

So I substituted 6 packets (2 cups) of the apple cinnamon instant oatmeal,  1 cup raisins, 1/4cup brown rice syrup and 3/4 cup water and 1/4 cup sunflower seeds.  For some reason it didn't quite make enough to spread into a 9x13 pan so I just spread it out as far as it would go.  Next time i'll either double it or make it in a square pan.  The baked up nicely and they taste pretty good.  A tad bland for me but it will be good for the babies. I hope they like it!

So what do you think?  Do you have any one-bowl easy and healthy finger food go-to recipes?? 

Halloween Spider Lantern

Just getting going on some halloween decorations and I'm starting with this cute hanging spider lantern.  Basically this is a black lantern (found in three packs at Party City) with white and black felt eyes and giant chenille pipe cleaner legs.  Getting the legs to stay put with hot glue was a little bit of a challenge but I just gobbed it on and adjusted the legs after the glue was dry. I did poke the end of the legs through and into the lantern just to give them some added stability.  What do you think??

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