Hip Hip Hooray for Halloween!

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Costumes, Halloween, Holiday

Happy Halloween!  This year we did not dress up because we actually had a wedding reception to go to (and no it was not a costume party, even Mike would have loved if it was!).  But to celebrate the day I figured I’ll share with you our previous years’ costumes:

In 2007 my friends and I had a mini Halloween party.  Mike and I were a boy scout and a girl scout.  We got most of our outfits from Salvation Army and I bought random fun patches to iron on in order to make my sash and his shirt.

Halloween 2007

In 2008 we did not dress up but bought treats to hand out to the little kiddos at home.  Ummm MAJOR disappointment!  We only had the next door neighbor kids stop by and that was it!  And we live in a populated area.  :(  I was sad.  I guess it’s because the street we live on is a side street and not a main thorough fare.  Oh well.

We learned our lesson and the next year (2009) went to a Halloween party with Mike’s mom and step dad (Christine and Tony).  The party was sponsored by our city’s art association.  Mike’s mom made our costumes that year.  We were all painters but special “art” painters:

Halloween 2009

On the back of our painter’s outfits:

Halloween 2009

If you don’t get it go here:  Jackson Pollock.

In 2010 we went to the art association’s party again with Christine and Tony.  Christine was Marylin Monroe and Tony was Andy Warhol.

Halloween 2010

Mike was a lion and I was a lion tamer/safari girl/zoo keeper (you get the point):

Halloween 2010

The best part of Mike’s costume was that his lion head/mane was actually a kid’s costume.  He just tucked the body part of the kid’s costume into his jacket (you can see a bit of the body around his neck).  And his jacket/pants are actually a Sean John outfit his mom found at the Salvation Army!  It amazes us that P Diddy actually designed/sold this outfit (is it supposed to be a track suit, a winter snow suit???).  It sure made a perfect lion’s costume  Thanks Puffy!

These parties are fun because they are also a fundraiser for the city’s art association.  There are always some really cool auction items:

A dress made from bubble wrap.

A dress made from melted computer keyboards and equipment.

The best costumes of the night:

Mad Hatter & Queen of Hearts: completely homemade!

Mike and I being creative:

Halloween 2010

Happy Halloween 2011!!!

Apricot Power Bars

Tags

Apricot, Baking, Gluten-free, Recipes

I’ve been jonesing for a treat lately so I decided to do some baking – yay!  I wanted something a little different than cake, cupcakes, or cookies and I remembered a recipe I tried back in July so I dug that one out from my recipe bin.

Apricot Power Bars to the rescue!  The recipe is from Elana’s Pantry which is a great source for gluten free recipes.  It’s really easy and fast to make and overall healthy for you.

• 1 cup dried apricots
• 2 cups pecans
• 2 eggs
• ¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup chocolate chips of your choice, or none whatsoever

1. Place apricots and pecans in a food processor and pulse until the texture of coarse gravel
2. Pulse in eggs, salt and vanilla, until mixture forms a ball
3. Remove mixture from food processor and work in chocolate chips
4. Place mixture in a greased 8×8 inch baking dish
5. Bake for 25 minutes at 350°
6. Cool and serve

All the ingredients:

I don’t use Pam or any other cooking spray so when I’m baking I use Coconut Oil to grease my pans.  The nice thing is it’s natural but you don’t get a coconut after taste at all (I know a lot of people are not fans of coconut at all).  So how I do it is take my pan, the coconut oil and a paper towel:

The goods

Then, just put a little bit of coconut oil (if it’s cold enough it will be a solid) on the paper towel and wipe the pan with it.  You’ll be able to see which areas of the pan have been greased and which ones haven’t.

I baked my apricot bars in a loaf pan (it worked – it wasn’t ideal but that’s all we had available since my smaller baking dish was already in use).  Bake for 25 minutes (I probably could have left mine in a little longer, but if you like things a little “dough-like” just bake for 25 minutes.

Cooling Down

Ease out of the pan and cut into small pieces:

The finished product:

Gooey chocolate chips?  Can’t get any better than that!  :)