Halloween and a cassarole

Sounds like a familiar combination from a Disney classic?

I'll let you decide which is which after reading the rest of the post:)
Let's start off with the weekend shall we. Yes, I know it's almost hump day but that's how I roll!

Friday night was good fun where we celebrated a very close friend of ours 60th birthday. They rented a hall and had a southern-style BBQ dinner and they even hired a square dancing caller! Now I've never square danced in my life but it was great fun learning how to "spin your partner" and "circle to the left."

Then on Saturday my SIL's had a Halloween party which was a total blast. I brought the Nikon along and caught some pretty hilarious moments! My drink(s) for the night were a combo of OJ, kombucha, and rum. It was pretty delish! Okay so who attended this Halloween bash?....There were...

  plumbers, princesses, and male nuns! Oh my!

There were creepy men from the boonies!

This is my SIL's boyfriend and he absolutely played the part! I laughed so hard throughout the night!

 Pirates galore!!

Witches and zombies!!!

That's my SIL in the green!! She got that paint sprayed on my a make-up artist! It looked awesome!

and doctors and nurses!!!

It was so much fun!! Everyone dressed up and we all had some good laughs! We had some great party tunes going and so I did a lot of dancing to this song. LOVE it!

I haven't drank at a party in a long time (BC has very strict driving policies when any amount of liquor is involved) so I knew I had to pace myself . Thankfully I did that and I felt a lot better than some people the next day lol! One reason I don't like to drink a lot is because the next day I feel lazy and want to eat bad things and it feels like a whole day is wasted. So I pick and choose wisely..hopefully!

After a big breakfast with the family, we headed home and began carving our pumpkins!

Yes, the first house guest was on the chopping block!!

Look at all those guts I need to scrape out!! But that means lots of seeds so it's worth it!

Here's one of mine! Stellar work, hey? HAHA!!

Then the hubby got involved and look at how he scared this poor guy!

 Mine are the first two, the hubby's devil pumpkin is on the end.

So, who has more skill? Wait!!!...don't answer that. This is my blog, remember? Te he

After googling and playing around with the buttons and functions on the Nikon, we were able to take a picture of the pumpkin in the dark..yay! Although it's not exactly the glowing pumpkin we were hoping to capture. But hey, read and learn, right?

Thinking we were on a pretty popular road for kidlets, I bought the big box of candy. Bad idea. We had about 8 ghosts and goblins come to the door. 8!!!  So, guess who got to eat the rest of the chocolate and did I tell you I have a sweet tooth. Not good!! Now that I'm chocolated (it's not a word but just roll with me here )out for about a week (maybe) I thought I would share a yummy casserole I made the other night when we had a friend over for a spontaneous dinner.

I was in the mood for a casserole. Since pasta is a pretty good dish to serve meat-less, I did a google search and decided to base my dinner on the Italian Veggie Casserole on Vegweb.

Spontaneous Veggie Casserole

1 onion, chopped

1/2 large zucchini, cut the way you like

1 head of broccoli, cut into small florets

1 package mini cremini mushrooms

1/2 bunch of kale

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon basil, dried (can use fresh too, use 1 tablespoon)

1 teaspoon parsley, dried (can use fresh too, use 1 tablespoon)

1 package of swirly, macaroni, or any small shaped pasta

1 28oz can of tomatoes or use approximately 3 1/2 cups fresh

2-3 cups bread crumbs - I took a loaf of french bread, chopped a couple slices into cubes and baked it on 250 degrees until crispy

Vegan/non-vegan cheese or your choice.

1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce

salt and pepper

Heat up some oil in a pan (coconut is my fave!) and add the onions. Cook until they become soft. Add the minced garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Add in your veggies and herbs. Cook until soft.

In the meantime, cook your pasta

Once everything is cooked the way you like it, start layering!

Put a layer of veggies on the bottom of your pan. Then add some veggies. I only made one layer of each but you could do multiple layers if you wished! I found that it needed some additional sauce and so I added some pasta sauce over the veggies. Top the sauce with bread crumbs and then grate your cheese on top.

Stick the dish in the oven on broil for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and you are ready to chow down.

I used goat cheese in this dish and there were not complaints from the guys!!

 I tried a bit of the cheese and it had a pretty good flavor to it!

PS aren't I good blogger taking photos over my stove element..geesh!

Have a great rest of your week!! I'll be back soon as I need to get my Vegan Mofo on!! I totally missed the sign up date but I'm going to contribute on my little blog none-the-less!

XOXO

Happy Halloween eve!!

Happy Saturday,

      Just a quick post before I jet!! Here are our costumes!!!

Enjoy!!! HAHA!! It was great fun getting dressed up!!! I'll share more pictures tomorrow!

Lots of Love
XOXO

Ghoulish quinoa pumpkin maple breakie!!

Happy Friday!!

              Halloween weekend is upon us!! Do you have lots planned or are you just chilling out this weekend? I have two parties to attend, one tonight and the official Halloween party on Saturday at my sis-in-laws. The party tonight is for Ryan's best friend's mom. She's a riot so it's going to be a grand time! There is even square dancing...yee haa!!! In between my social events, lots of pumpkin carving, seed toasting, and organic chemistry are on the agenda. I can't wait to share with you our costumes so stay tuned!!


Since pumpkin is a hot topic right now, I thought I would share a little recipe I put together for a breakfast quinoa!!

Start out with some "jam" blood and a bed of quinoa

 Make a "pumpkin" with pumpkin puree and pumpkin seeds. I made my own puree. So simple, bake pumpkin at 350 for 30 minutes or so. Cool down, peel, and puree in food processor (adding a little bit of water if needed). Ta da and the best part is that you can freeze it and have pumpkin in the dead of winter. Score!! The eyes are grapes but feel free to get creative:)

 Make some banana "ghosts." Again, very simple. Cut one banana in quarters and dip in coconut and place cacao nibs for the eyes and mouth.

Take a gazillion photos!

Those are some sad looking ghosts haha!

Add some maple syrup and cinnamon ( or pumpkin spice or nutmeg.....) and enjoy!!

 

Hope you will try this out because it's delish!!! I'm off to get ready for the par-tay tonight and to figure out what to do with the new house guests.......

Any ideas? 

Have a great night!! Talk to you tomorrow!!!

XOXO

Maple Pumpkin spice and Indian Spice Love toasted pumpkin seeds

Happy Thursday everyone!

                     Hope you are having a great day!! To continue my little theme week here on contagious health let's talk pumpkins!! I know I'm a little behind on posting about this beloved gourd-like squash but I guess I'm not hard core then...or maybe I've just been holding out because I want you to pay attention to my pumpkin mania and nobody Else's, I'll never tell:) Anywho, I massacred my first pumpkins of the season yesterday and made some yummy stuff with it's insides...

 

 

Mine in the garden is still thinking if it wants to ripen or not..maybe by Christmas:)

                Oh Oddie, such a camera hog!!

No, the pumpkin didn't just age 80 years, this is a gourd I picked up on my last Covert Farms excursions! It's like a star fish!!

Scraping out the guts!!! Wish I had some kids around as I love how they squeal and squeeze and make a mess of it all!

I cut the gutted pumpkin and baked them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. More on this tomorrow!

Then I washed the seeds thoroughly as some of the guts really sticks to the seeds, or vice versa. Then it was creativity time!!! I really wanted something with maple syrup and because I knew the sweet stuff goes so well with pumpkin spice, I knew it would be a match made in pumpkin seed heaven!! Next I wanted to try an Indian spiced version. Check them out.....

The ones on the left aren't burnt its just the caramelization of the maple syrup!!

Oh baby are these good!!!

The indian spices were awesome but I should have added some salt to make the flavors pop

Make sure that you watch the seeds carefully as they burn SUPER fast...especially these brown sugar and cinnamon ones...boo!

Maple Pumpkin Spice pumpkin Seeds

1 cup rinsed pumpkin seeds

1 tbls Pure maple syrup

1 tbls Pumpkin Spice Blend

Indian Spice Love pumpkin Seeds

1 cup rinsed pumpkin seeds

1/8 teaspoon cumin

1/8 teaspoon coriander

1/8 teaspoon garam Masala

1/8 teaspoon curry powder

dash of turmeric

1/2 teaspoon salt

1-2 tbls olive oil

Mix all ingredients together so that the seeds are well coated. Place on a baking pan and toast in the oven at 350 degrees for approximately 10 minutes (or more depending on your oven). It's a good idea to give the seeds a good mixing half way through. Enjoy!!!

Halloween week kick-off! What is your costume?

Happy Wednesday!

            I know I should have kicked off theme week on Monday..but hey, life calls! So without further ado let's kick off.....

Ahh Halloween the time for ghosts and goblins and candy overdoses! I'm not one to go overboard with the decorating and dressing up but it is fun to carve pumpkins and dress in silly costumes that have you laughing all night long!

So, what are you being, or better yet, what are you dressing up your pets/children as?

Still stumped?

Well let me give you some ideas, from the easy to the elaborate and also share with you who Ryan and I are dressing up as!

Here are some quick ideas that you can put together for that last minute party or trick or treating adventure:

1. Wear all black and put a large picture of a stamp on your chest. You have become "black mail"
2. Attach sugar cubes or candy all over yourself. You have transformed into a "sugar daddy/momma"
3. Get a box, cut a hole for your head. Attach a book, box of tissue, and a small lamp.
You are a "one night stand."
4. Dress normally then pin some socks, dryer sheets, and hand towels to your clothes. You are "static cling"
5. Dress in a suit and attach fake legal documents all over you. You have become a "law suit"

These are great ideas, I really love the static cling LOL!

Now how about the kid-lets! They are super fun to dress up and they look so cute:)

Mad scientist!

How cute is she?

A water bottle..how creative!



How about your fur babies? Yes, they can become part of the spirit too, if only for a few minutes:)

 Top Dog...LOVE it!

 Neither look impressed!

This one just gets me laughing..look at those legs:)

As Ryan and I are doing a couple costume I thought I would share a few...

 Love it and super easy to do!



You inspired yet?  Don't worry I won't be disappointed if you just put a sheet over your head and cut holes for eyes..it's all in good fun!

So, who are Ryan and I going to be??

Mario and Princess Peach!!!

We are hoping Ry's friend is going to be Luigi because it would be over the top hilarious!

My costume is not nearly as elaborate as this one but I found a dress at a thrift store that ended up being too small. We improvised and made it a lace up back HA! I'll show you pictures soon. A friend is borrowing me the blond wig today so I'll show you a picture of the full dress-up soon.

Here is our get -up for 80's halloween LOL! Everything was from a second hand store. I wish I could find that t-shirt I'm wearing because it's pretty awesome!

Can't wait to see what you guys are dressing up as!!!

Stay tuned as I'll be sharing lots about goodies, ghosts, and so much more! And don't forget the pumpkins:)