groundspeed

Cat in the Hat Pumpkin

It worked out.

Kaden was pleased.

Blue said the cyclops was better. (I think he's into cyclops right now.)

Either way, our front porch had a happy glow for trick or treaters.  (Over 50!)

Acting the Part

Blue with blue hair. It was going to happen eventually, right?

Blue dressed up for school today and this morning before he set out I wanted a pic. I instructed him to act like Thing 1.  Not a difficult thing for Blue.

If he'd had a kite we'd have really been in trouble.

I wanted to have him (and Toby) wear long sleeve red shirts under the tee, but I think it will be too warm.  Also, still toying with the idea of painting his face white.  Main problem is, I know Toby won't tolerate that and I want them to match.  The fact that I knew Toby wouldn't keep on a wig was one reason we went the hair paint route. (That and it's cheaper!)

Can't wait till tomorrow when I can finally cut Blue's ridiculous hair.

In other news, when looking at Cat in the Hat stuff online I came across these cupcakes. Is it ridiculous that I'm now thinking of having a Suess themed party for Toby's 3rd bday just so I can have these cupcakes?

On Halloween Eve...

I made Rice Crispy Treat pumpkins for Blue's class party tomorrow.

This is the overflow plate. There's another dozen in a tupperware.

To make these just start making rice crispy treats as you usually would. Before mixing in the rice crispies, add orange (red and yellow in my case) food coloring to the melted marshmallows. Butter your hands and roll into balls. Add stems and vines with candy and icing. Easy and cute!

Meanwhile the boys did some coloring. Blue wanted to make a picture for Poppy and Toby didn't want to be left out.

The is a fall tree with a cyclops on the right, (as he was explaining it to me I thought he was saying eyedrops and I was very confused) two silly monsters on the left, and pumpkins down below.

I'm not really sure what Toby drew.

Then Kevin and the boys did some gutting and carving. Toby kept touching the pumpkin guts and saying Ewwww and hot. Ewwww I get, but hot?

Um, Toby. You can't stick your head in the pumpkin. Especially not when Daddy's got a knife in there.

And then the horror part of Halloween began. I mean, Blue with a knife? Yikes!

So here's the kid's pumpkin:

Now the kids are in bed and I'm starting to watch Once Upon a Time (giving it a shot) and I'm carving our big pumpkin. The plan is to carve Cat in the Hat. The goal is for it to look more like this:

And not like this:

Here I go...

Deep Not Wide

The boys had off school today and I took them to the beach. (So much for fall.)  

We did our usual burying except I dug a deeper-than-usual hole and had Kaden and Blue sit in it with their legs crossed.

Watching them get out was fun.

Eggplant Casserole

I've slacked with the main course recipe posts. So much for my attempt to have a month of food blogging! It's funny because I made the cookbook for my niece and her groom but now we're making all new things. Like eggplant casserole (last night). Or creamy asparagus soup with parmesan crisps (tonight). 

Eggplant Casserole

This is based on an Emeril recipe and the original calls for sausage. I have to tell you, sausage in pasta dishes is the meat I am missing the most these days, but the eggplant makes this a hearty vegetarian dish so (even though I still miss it) no sausage needed. 

What you'll need: 1 large eggplant cut in chunks (I actually used one large and one small because I needed to use up my eggplant!), 1/2 cup olive oil and then more as needed, salt, pepper, oregano, 1 chopped yellow onion (mine were so small I used two), one 28oz can crushed tomatoes (I had fire roasted on hand - tasted good!) red pepper, basil, butter, flour, 2 cups whole milk (I had heavy whipping cream on hand and 2% so I did 1/2 c of heavy whipping cream and 1 1/2 cups of the 2%), nutmeg, 8 oz cooked ziti, 1 cup grated mozzarella.

What you'll do: Preheat over to 375. Grease a casserole dish and set aside.

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat 1/4 cup of the oil. Add the eggplant in batches, seasoning on both sides with salt and pepper, and cook until golden, adding more oil as needed. (Eggplant really soaks up the oil, so keep pouring it in with every batch!) Transfer to a plate as they cook and set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the remaining olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When hot but not smoking, add the onion and cook, stirring, about 6 minutes.  Add the can of crushed tomatoes, oregano, 1 teaspoon of salt, and the crushed red pepper. Reduce the heat to medium-low and gently simmer, uncovered, until the flavors marry and the sauce slightly thickens, about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat. Add the basil and adjust seasoning, to taste.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 2 minutes. Whisk in the milk and, whisking frequently, cook until the sauce is thickened and smooth, about 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and season with the nutmeg and salt and pepper, to taste.

Arrange half of the eggplant slices on the bottom of the casserole, overlapping as necessary. Top with half of the cooked pasta, then half of the tomato sauce. Place another layer of eggplant slices on top of the sauce, then layers of pasta and tomato sauce. Pour on the white sauce then top with the grated mozzarella.

Bake for 1 hour, or until puffed and golden brown on top.

****

I didn't take pictures of the asparagus soup and I didn't modify that recipe, so just go to the link. And be sure to make the crisps - easy and yummy! Oh, but the crisp recipe says you need a silicone baking mat. I don't have one of those. Parchment paper on my cookie sheet worked just fine.

Community Supported Agriculture

We're now getting a 1/2 bushel of produce delievered every Wednesday as part of a CSA program run by D and D Farms. 

Tonight I'm finally getting around to cooking some eggplant. If we like it, I'll get back to posting recipes and tell ya what to do. If we don't... well, I'm pretty sure we're getting more eggplant this Wednesday so if you have a favorite eggplant recipe please let me know!

Donut on a String

Friday night Blue's school had a fall festival where each of the classes performed (see the Blue Rocks Out post below) and had some sort of booth.  Blue's class did a Donut on a String eating contest and it was quite a hit.

Kaden was very meticulous about eating his donut and when he got to the very last tiny bit that was up in the string and it fell to the ground, he was extremely dissapointed. Seriously. The boy let half a bite of donut go and he was ready to cry about it. 

Here he is smiling knowing he's about to get that last piece but when he bit it some fell to a ground. Yes, a piece smaller than what you see here is what he was so upset about. That boy.

And then there was Blue.

Chasing that thing all over the place.

Needing Daddy's help.

Using his eye. 

That boy. He sure makes us laugh. 

Autism Carnival

Today our church held its 2nd annual Carnival for Families Affected by Autism. 

I set up an information table about Fragile X and ran around taking pictures for the church. My mom came later with Blue and Toby. Kevin was on Kaden duty who had a baseball game (He got his first game ball!) and a birthday party.

It's been a long, long day. The pics can tell the story.

(Toby being led away by his buddy.)

(You'd have thought Blue would have been all about the bounce houses. Nope. He just rode the hay ride over and over and over... And if he got off, he was eating.)

Blue Rocks Out

If Blue ever ends up being a famous rock star Access Hollywood (or whatever the show will be) will have a heyday when they unearth this youtube video.

Yup, that would be in my son in the middle with all the moves.

Spray Painting Pumpkins

It's been such a rainy week.

But as promised the rain cleared yesterday pm and brought in a cold front.  A real cold front. Well, real for south Florida. It didn't get out of the 70's today!

I drank my first hot chocolate of the season this morning in celebration.

Welcome, Fall. So nice of you to arrive. Could you please stay through Halloween (or at least come back) because my boys' costumes have long sleeves?

When we bought our pumpkins I promised Kaden we could spraypaint them but then... all. that. rain.

But today I took advantage of the sunshine, mowing down the jungle that grew during all that rain, so we could enjoy our afternoon playing in the backyard painting some pumpkins. 

Yup, even Daddy got involved.

Between coats, the boys just played.

And then I pulled off the tape and they were excited about the finished product.

Well, not Toby. He'd had enough of oustide time and fall crafts. He had opened the pantry and was furiously signing and saying please.

As in please, ANYTHING, that can of tomato sauce looks good... So I hooked Toby up with snacks while Daddy made red pepper, hummus, and spinach pitas (oh yeah, we're rocking this mostly vegetarian thing).

And so passed a lovely evening. 

(Even with three boys, it can happen sometimes.)