Halloween is near!

Happy Monday! I've really been slacking in the cooking department...in my defense I'm right in the middle of moving and takeout showing up at my parents right around dinner time is much more convenient.

 

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays..mostly for the candy but also because I love making creative costumes that aren't just every day costumes with 'sexy' added in front of them! So I thought I'd go through the past few years of costumes I've made :)




2011-Bumble Bee

 2011-'Thing 1 & 2'

 

Back in my good ol college days we would celebrate Halloween over a whole weekend and only the most intense people would have a different costume for each night. Its like wearing the same outfit two days in a row...can't do it. I made the tutu out of some elastic for the waist and a whoooole lotta tulle! The shirt was a cheap, clearance tank from Wal-mart that I had my mom sew some extra tulle onto and I made the antennas from pipe cleaners and pom-poms.

 

'Thing 1 & Thing 2' was made from a garbage bag 'dress' and we wrapped duct tape around it as tight as possible. Worst. Costume. Ever. Seriously, don't do this unless 1. you want to sweat all night (a plastic bag isn't the most breathable thing on the planet) 2. You don't want to be able to sit down 3. You want to have Thing 2 cut you out of your garbage bag dress at 3am

 

Dr. Seuss Group



 

Circa 2012

On the right is one of my proudest creations, Cindy Lou Who's hair! I did that with pure magic. Kidding, I used a water bottle, a TON of hairspray and some pipe cleaners to make the braids stay staying out in circles. Next up is my loofah costume, after I finished this I swore I would never touch tulle ever again..it's been a year and I'm still standing by that promise. For this I found a website that sold tulle in bulk so I bought like 40 yards for SUPER cheap. I recruited my cousin to help me cut it into smaller pieces, we safety pinned them into individual puff balls and then pinned those onto a strapless dress I had. Braid some rope to make the string and WALLA!

2012

2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Finally my most recent and favorite costume, Olive Oyl and Popeye! Making this was mostly frustrating and very last minute but once it was done I was very happy with it! My shirt was found at Goodwill and I used a Pringles can and an old white shirt to make the scallops. Kendal's shirt was an old work shirt from my grandpa that I added the ribbon, buttons and red felt 'cape' to. His muscles are a pair of tights that I stuffed with pillow batting. And I found some Popeye Spinach at Wal-Mart, cut off the label and taped them to coozies :)

 

Sorry for the book of a post! I hope you enjoyed my trip down memory lane of Halloween costumes! Any suggestions on what to be this year?? It's been a dream of mine to be Pebbles and Bam Bam or Fred and Wilma!

 

Pumpkin Spice Almonds

Good Morning Friends!

 

Last night on Facebook one of my good friends posted this recipe for roasted almonds. I love all things pumpkin and fall so I HAD to try them out!

 

Pumpkin Spice Almonds

3 Cups raw almonds

2 Tablespoons cinnamon

2 Tablespoons pumpkin pie spice

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

3 Tablespoons agave nectar

1 teaspoon vanilla

 

If you're clueless like me, you've never heard of agave nectar. I found it in the baking aisle right next to the corn syrup. I'd also never heard of Pumpkin Pie Spice, but that was with the rest of the spices (duh Jordan).

 

Preheat oven to 325*, combine all ingredients into a bowl and mix well

 

Spread onto a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Thats it! SO EASY, and SO good!

 

The one direction I didn't follow was lining the pan with parchment paper and if I could do it again, I'd spend the extra money and buy some. I've been soaking my cookie sheet since last night and I'm still dreading cleaning it. I also tasted one of these right out of the oven and I wasn't that impressed..but after they cooled I swear they tasted 100 times better!

 

AND even if you don't like almonds, I would make these just for the smell! Ya know that roasted almond stand in the mall that ALWAYS smells like heaven? Yeah, thats what these make your whole house/apartment smell like. My roommate couldn't believe how good our apartment smelled when she got home from work!

 

Kenal's sister has gotten me hooked on the Instagram trend where every day is a different theme. So, I'll leave you with a lovely Transformation Tuesday :)

 

 

 

Crockpot Chicken

Happy Monday!!

Yesterday I tackled a whole chicken in the crockpot. I had some leftover veggies from last week that I didn't want to go to waste so I figured this was the perfect solution! I'd never made a whole chicken so I used this recipe as a guide.

My dads girlfriend suggested I stick some butter under the skin in a few places, so I did that but I couldn't tell ya if it made a difference haha. Instead of adding all of the spices onto the chicken, I went pretty simple and just seasoned with salt and pepper. I also added celery and ended up cooking it for about 7 hours on low and turned it up to high for one more hour...I was really nervous about it being undercooked! It turned out super good, and after Kendal and I get our fill of leftover chicken I'll use the rest to make some chicken noodle soup this week.

I obviously was not thinking like a blogger because this is the only picture I took..Nala was begging to go on a walk so I rushed! Clearly that walk wore the little princess out and she spent the rest of Sunday snoozing on my lap:)

 

Have a great week, hopefully this Fall weather sticks around!! I pinky promise I'll get more pictures of my next masterpiece! 

 

I'm baaack

Woohoo I started a blog for about the billionth third time..unless we're talking Xanga days, but I'd like to forget those!

My plan for this space is to document new recipes I've tried and keep track of the ones Kendal and I loved and the other 'not so much' ones. Lately I've been a cooking machine so we'll see if I actually keep up with this :)