Abracadabra!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

It's that magical time of year where everything gets to turn into something it's not by donning a costume.

As you have already witnessed through my blog the garden was bountiful this year.  Plus I was provided with 2 boxes of tomatoes.....I now have just over 200 lbs of tomatoes in my possession.  Seriously.

I have spread all these out on newspaper under the spare bed in the basement to keep from ripening too quickly.  However, they are ripening just a wee bit quicker than I would like what with all the other things I have on my schedule to accomplish ☺

This evening after kiddo and I got home from selling Scouts Popcorn, I started in earnest on the tomatoes.

As of a few minutes ago I am the owner  of 7 1/2 pints of green tomato jam!  This is where the magic comes in; by putting green tomatoes through the food processor and adding a bit of sugar and some Strawberry Jello I have Strawberry Jam!  If only I could wave my wand and make it appear...

Tomorrow will be Salsa and Tomato Sauces!  I am hoping there is still room in the freezer so that I can just put the jars in there and not have to can them to save time......but there is already a lot of vegetables, a half a beef I got from a friend and a basket full of bison from home as well.  Guess I won't put the canner away this evening ☺

Now off to knit for a bit and see if I can actually sleep in tomorrow and get a full four hours of sleep.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Trick or Treat????

Good Late Evening Internet Friends!

Okay, here is my rant for the day/week/month... not sure how big this is going to get (plus I am a wee bit tired).

Tomorrow is my son's Halloween Party at school.  Firstly, this is the first time since he entered Junior Kindergarten at age three that the Halloween Party has been held during school hours (I am used to those hours being used for learning.......hmmmmm).

Secondly,  I get a memo from the teacher today letting me know that only one parent has been nice enough to offer to supply a "healthy" snack for the party.  

My son loves to bake and cook in the kitchen with mommy and as such we have supplied his classmates over the years with muffins, and bars, and cookies and all kinds of treats.  I did have to learn about the gelatin issue, but other than that his offerings were always appreciated by his classmates and teachers and gave him a sense of pride in his culinary skills.

Fast forward to this year where the teacher informed us that no food can be brought into the class that contains (are you ready for this????)

*nuts

*tree nuts

*wheat

*eggs

*gluten

*milk

*gelatin

*soy

Now, I am supposed to send a healthy snack with my child on the bus in the morning five hours before the party and what am I to send????  An apple and a celery stick for each child????

Seriously, Halloween, while not being a holiday but more of an occasion/event just got a whole lot harder to plan for.  

My intent was to supply nothing since I have no ideas what to send, but my son was quite upset that his classmates would not get something from his awesome kitchen.  So this is what I came up with:

It's popcorn, candy corn, Halloween sprinkles, and Bernard Callebaut chocolate (yes, it is milk chocolate).  The best  I can come up with for now.  Hopefully no one has to use their EpiPen cause of this ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Trick or Treat Bags!

Late last night (of course) I decided to pack my son's treat bags for his class today.  Originally I had planned on using a kit for the treats that I found in the craft room however, the bags were TOO small.

When we were in Kalispell,  I found Kathy Kaye Popcorn Balls!  After reading the ingredients I decided that these would be the perfect treat for my son's class as this popcorn ball does not have any gelatin by products in it as many in his class do not eat it.  A couple of other treats in the bag and a tag made using the Merry Everything stamp set and here they are:

Seems like they were a HIT!!!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Christmas Eve

I LOVE Christmas and Christmas Eve.  It really is the most wonderful time of the year!

This evening, before church, we went to the Parade of Lights and Fireworks at the Fairmont Ski Resort, here is one of the pictures I took during this event:

After church when we got home we found that the "elves" had already been through to deliver the special Christmas pajamas, and in addition my son's reindeer treat bowl!  I have to thank the Alyssa elf for this, because when my son painted the bowl for the reindeer a few weeks ago at Crock A Doodle I did not have time to go back and get it.  Thankfully, Alyssa elf saved the day and got it picked up and delivered to him in time for Christmas Eve.  Thank You Alyssa!

We filled the bowl with popcorn, because of course reindeer don't eat cookies!

Merry Christmas to All, and to all a Good Night!  I wish everyone a Very Merry and Creative Christmas!

Kathy

Halloween Treat

On Saturday evening we went as a family to see Hotel Transylvania.  We all enjoyed it, even though we had to wait 45 minutes in line after we got our tickets to get into the theater!  I think everyone wanted to see it...

When we got home, I decided to make this popcorn treat I had seen on Pinterest, but apparently did not save the link to it.  So, I made it from memory.....

2 batches of popcorn from the popcorn popper

1 block of Bernard Callebaut white chocolate - melted over double boiler

2 handfuls of candy corn (Bulk Barn)

1 handful of purple/green/black sprinkles (Bulk Barn)

- mix together and spread out over a large piece of parchment paper

Enjoy!  This stuff is really tasty...

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy