Snake Surprise

I know I’ve said it before, but Halloween without little kids is much mellower. I’m totally fine not attending the yearly Halloween costume parade at the elementary school, not fighting to get the kids to eat something healthy before the candy binge, and the trick or treating and subsequent sorting through all the candy to make sure my two youngest kids don’t die. And having Malia send me links to Amazon for all her costume pieces is so much faster than sewing all the Halloween costumes. (I always enjoyed creating those costumes though, so there’s a hint of bittersweet associated with purchasing costumes. But Malia and her friends had a whole Harry Potter thing going on, so she really needed some Gryffindor gear. And with how limited my sewing time is of late due to the headaches, purchasing was probably the smarter option anyway.) Honestly, I feel like I’ve paid my Halloween dues and deserve a calmer day! 

Having said that, there are some things that stay the same. Around here, that means the fun food continues even though we are past the years when the kids were so excited that I had to basically bribe them to eat healthy food by making it super fun. I still love hanging out in the kitchen all day playing with my food, so despite the lack of littlies, my frightening foods are still on the menu!

This year’s ode to Halloween was a reptilian double feature with a side of brains. I had to give my family a stromboli vs. calzone lesson when they were all confused by what the actual meal was, but everyone agreed that the stromboli was delicious. I modeled the filling after the garlic chicken bacon pizza that I love instead of the traditional pepperoni and Italian flavors because I’m the boss of the fun food at my house and can do whatever I want! And honestly, no one complains because one of my rules about edible art is that it still has to taste good.😉 

After the fun food was consumed, Malia spent the evening roaming the neighborhood. They called it trick or treating (yes, we broke our rule about not trick or treating once you hit middle school), but honestly, I think it was an excuse to hang out on Halloween. Malia came home with very little sugary fare but had a fun evening. Matthew drove down to Mapleton for a Halloween party that Aliese was throwing. I love that he enjoys spending time with his cousins! And with Kevin home to answer the door for the few trick or treaters we got (one of the side effects of an aging neighborhood is fewer little kids begging for candy), I was able to have a slow evening watching some favorite Halloween T.V. episodes. Yup, definitely calmer with teenagers!

Moving back to the subject of fun food, the next generation has inherited some of my love affair with whimsical foods. Nathan spent this evening making pumpkin cookies that actually look like pumpkins. I’m so proud! 😁

Now I move on to pies…and start planning next October’s fun food extravaganza! (Seriously, some of this year’s recipes have been on the menu since last October. I ran out of days before I ran out of ideas. 🤣)