Thanksgiving Cookies

As Halloween dawns on us, I am already looking towards Thanksgiving. Over the past few years, my family has started to make our own traditions. In 2003, I let everyone know, gently, that my little family was going to stay home on Thanksgiving, instead of traveling the 70 minutes to my Grandparent's home. My Grandma was very supportive of us starting our own traditions.

In 2004, we went back to doing Thanksgiving with family, and in retrospect, I am glad we did. My Grandma passed away on October 27th, 2005, so 2004 was our last Thanksgiving together. This time of year is hard for me, as her passing was unexpected, and close to Halloween. We said our final good bye's on November 1st, 2005.

From 2005 on, we have had our own, quiet Thanksgiving at home. We go all out, and make a huge meal, and eat off left overs for days. It's far more relaxing than when we were running around, driving all over the place. It's good for us, because we have our own traditions now.

Meanwhile, here are more fun kids recipes for Thanksgiving.

Pilgrim Hat Cookies

What You'll Need:
Fudge Strip Cookies
Melting Chocolate
Large Marshmallows
Yellow Decorating Icing with a Piping Tip
Toothpicks

Optional:
Individual cellophane bags
Twist Ties or Ribbon
Cardstock Tag

1. Melt the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl, or on the stove top- adult supervision required!
2. Lay out several cookies ahead of time, with the fudge side up, and the striped side down.
   
3. Insert a toothpick into the flat side of a marshmallow, and dip them in chocolate, coating all sides.
4. Moving quickly, press the coated marshmallow onto the middle of the cookie, and let it cool there.
5. Once all of these are done, and the chocolate has hardened, use the yellow icing to pipe a square 'buckle' onto the front, like on a pilgrims hat.
6. If you want, you can wrap these individually in a cello bag, and tie with a twist tie, or pretty ribbon. Attach a cardstock tag with a name on it, and these can be used as place setting tags! The Thumbprint Turkey Placecard design would look nice on these.

Pilgrim Hat Cookies 2

What You'll Need:
Fudge Strip Cookies
Miniature Peanut Butter Cups
Yellow Icing
Mini Orange Chiclet Gum, or Orange Icing

Optional:
Cellophane Bags
Twist Ties or Ribbon
Cardstock Tags

1. Using a rubber spatula, spread icing on the top of the peanut butter cup, and set the cup upside down onto the fudge side of the cookie.
2. Using a piping tip, line the outside of the peanut butter cup with yellow icing.
3. Place a chiclet in the yellow icing to make a 'buckle', or pipe orange icing in a square over the yellow icing to form a buckle.
4. If you want, you can wrap these individually in a cello bag, and tie with a twist tie, or pretty ribbon. Attach a cardstock tag with a name on it, and these can be used as place setting tags! The Thumbprint Turkey Placecard design would look nice on these.
   

Pilgrim Hat Cookies 3

What You'll Need:
Chocolate Wafer Cookies, such as Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers
Miniature Peanut Butter Cups
Yellow Icing
Orange Icing

Optional:
Cellophane Bags
Twist Ties or Ribbon
Cardstock Tags

1. Using a rubber spatula, spread icing on the top of the peanut butter cup, and set the cup upside down onto the cookie.
2. Using a piping tip, line the outside of the peanut butter cup with yellow icing.
3. Pipe orange icing in a square over the yellow icing to form a buckle.
4. If you want, you can wrap these individually in a cello bag, and tie with a twist tie, or pretty ribbon. Attach a cardstock tag with a name on it, and these can be used as place setting tags! The Thumbprint Turkey Placecard design would look nice on these.

With all these fun, east to make cookies, your treat will be the most talked about at the table!

A Nice Halloween Night In

Today, we were able to finally sell our old mini-van. It was a nice boost to our bank account, so it was welcome. After doing my own running around, I came home to rowdy kids.

One of our favorite activities in the fall, is having a movie night, all snuggled in our warm PJ's, with warm blankets around us. In the summer, we just don't do it as often. We're busy, it gets dark so much later, so when fall comes back around, we really enjoy it.

While I was in town today, I splurged on a few treats for the kids- Candy Corn flavored Jones Soda ($1.99 for a 4 pack of cans- pricey, but they talk about it all year!), and 3 different flavors of candy corn- Chocolate Caramel, Caramel, & Caramel Apple. I saw them at Walgreens, and just knew the kids would love them.

They are settled in, blankets all over the living room, with some Candy Corn Soda, and a bowl with some air popped popcorn, and candy corn in it. We rented "Halloweentown" from Netflix, which comes with "Halloweentown 2" on it as well. We love Halloween, and the assorted kid friendly Halloween movies that come out.

I hope you enjoy your weekend!

Hot, Mulled Cider

Tomorrow, my crock pot will be working to make another new treat we've never tried before- mulled cider. I just found out tonight that it can be made in the crock, so I let my fingers do the searching, and found out how to make it.

It's easy, and aside from the cider and an orange, we have all the ingredients to make it. All the recipes vary a bit on spices, but the general theme is allspice, cloves, cinnamon sticks, brown sugar, and orange slices. Some call for lemon slices as well.

Nick is loving cider this year. I've gotten some good deals, but that aside, we've gone through more than a couple of gallons. This will be a great treat for him tomorrow evening when it's done. The added bonus is how great my house will smell as I make it!