Happy Halloween with Last-Minute Costume Ideas

The Lil' Diva inspecting pumpkins

I enjoy Halloween. I'm not much into zombies and goblins, but the cute aspects of it are fine. We choose more of a harvest theme for our decorations. It's become a tradition around here that two weeks before Halloween we visit our local farmers market and pick out pumpkins. We carve them the week leading up to Halloween so they last. On Halloween night, the girls get together with their friends and walk through our neighborhood with their dads, while the moms stay home and hand out candy to trick-or-treaters. Then the girls and their dad hop in the car and visit their grandparents. 

What are some of your Halloween or harvest time traditions?

The Lil' Princess humoring her camera-toting Dad

Here are links to some last minute Halloween costume ideas:

http://www.realsimple.com/holidays-entertaining/holidays/halloween/last-minute-halloween-costume-ideas-00100000066551/ 

http://spoonful.com/halloween/best-last-minute-kids-halloween-costumes-gallery

Some of the ideas on this site are more adult than others, but most of them are good:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/angelamv/31-insanely-clever-last-minute-halloween-costumes  

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Blogging from A to Z Challenge - P

One of the seeds I was sure to order this week was pumpkin. The kids love pumpkins because they enjoy decorating them for Halloween. The one year we planted them, things didn't turn out too well. The plants got powdery mildew infection and I ended up harvesting the few pumpkins early. We only used them as decorations that year.

According to Power Your Diet, rich in vital anti-oxidants and vitamins, pumpkin is also low in calories. They say the pumpkin is "rrecommended by dietitians in cholesterol controlling and weight reduction programs." I used to eat pumpkin seeds as a kid, dried and baked in the oven with a bit of salt. The seeds are a good source of dietary fiber.

The only way my girls enjoy eating pumpkin is in muffin form. This is a great recipe from my Betty Crocker's New Christmas Cookbook. I love this book and use it all year round.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup (1/2) stick margarine or butter, melted
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 egg

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease bottom only of 12 medium muffin cups, 2 1/2 x 1 1/14 inches. Mix all ingredients just until flour is moistened (batter will be lumpy). Divide batter evenly among cups (about two-thirds full). Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon sugar over batter in each cup if desired. Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately remove from pan. 1 dozen muffins.

This post is part of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.