Pumpkin Flavored Everything - Delicious Fall Recipes

Yesterday at our house we celebrated one of my favorite days of the year...Pumpkin Day! "What is Pumpkin Day," you ask. Well it is a time honored (4 years and counting) tradition at our house that takes place the Saturday (or in this case, Sunday was more convenient) before Halloween. We visit the pumpkin patch, pick out the perfect pumpkin(s), and then we come home and carve, paint, and bake those pumpkins to our hearts' content. My husband and son are usually in charge of the carving and I spend the day in the kitchen making all kinds of goodies...the only catch being that they ALL must be made with pumpkin. My daughter (who is only a year and a half old) gets the best job of all...taste-tester.

For this year's Pumpkin Day, the boys decided to carve an Oogie Boogie jack-o-lantern (Inspired by my awesome Oogie Boogie meringues, I'm sure) and I tackled pumpkin whoopie pies and pumpkin beignets (both Mickey-shaped, ofcourse), my own version of Pumpkin Juice (inspired by HP), a sweet pumpkin dip, and of course, roasted pumpkin seeds. I hope you enjoy them as much as my family did! For these recipes and more, check out my other blog: http://disneyirl.com

Disney Halloween Caramel Apples

Impress your Halloween guests with these awesome Halloween Caramel Apples. Get the recipe here!

Monsters Inc (and Monsters University) Cupcakes and Ice-Cream

Mike and Sulley Cupcakes and Ice-Cream.  

The Little Mermaid (Ariel) Cupcakes and Personal Three-Tier Cake

Click here for easy to follow instructions: http://disneyirl.com/2013/little-mermaid-birthday-cake-cupcakes/

Hello???...Is anyone there???

Hi again! I apologize for my absence, I had no idea that anyone was still reading this blog, but then I logged in to find that it actually has over 1000 views! So someone actually cares what I have to say and I really appreciate that! :)

I wanted to let you all know that I have moved to a new blog Disney IRL (IRL=in real life) that has the same type of crafts and recipes as this one but it is Disney themed! And now that I know you (my readers) are out there, I will continue to use this blog as well--mostly linking to the new one--but from time to time when I have a non-Disney stroke of genius, it will be shared here.

The new blog can be found at http://disneyirl.com I hope you all come check it out and again, thank you so much for your views and interest. It's incredibly motivating!!!

Love,
Erika

 

Heart and "Sole"

I mentioned in my last post that I made footprint crafts with the kids to give to my mom as a gift for her 60th birthday. Here are the step by step instructions for each one. Sorry there are not more pictures, but I was not planning on blogging about them while we were making them. It wasn't until I saw my mom's reaction that I realized what a great any-occasion gift these make for a kid to give to their grandparents...or anyone.


The first one was from DS (who's 6) to his Nana:

What you'll need:

• Colored Card Stock Paper ( I didn't have any, so I actually cut an old folder in half!)
• White Printer Paper 
• Photo Frame (this one is from the 99 cent store)
• Finger Paint (Again, I had none so I made my own with flour, water, and food coloring...my son got a kick out of making his own paint)
• Scissors
• Glue
• Black marker

What to do:

1. The first thing you want to do is the footprints as it may take a couple of tries to get them just how you want them. Make sure your little one's feet are clean and free of any lint or dirt. Next have them sit down on the floor with both legs bent and feet on the floor. Take one leg, and dip it in the finger paint and then place the foot on the paper at a slight angle (I found that it is easier to angle the paper than the foot). Wipe that foot off with a wet paper towel and return it to the starting position (knee bent, foot on floor). Then, do the same thing with the other foot, this time placing the heel on top of the heel of the other foot, angling the paper the other direction to form a heart shape. Clean the foot, and set the paper aside to dry.
2. Once the paint is completely dry, use the marker to draw a heart around the feet. The heart can be as thick or thin as you like, I made mine thick because I think it created a nice contrast as well as allowing more room for error when you cut.
3. Use the scissors to cut out the heart you drew and glue heart to center of colored card stock.
4. Here is where you can be creative. Come up with a caption to write around your heart. On ours I wrote: "I love my Nana, from the bottom of my heart to the tips of my toes." And then have your little one sign their name at the bottom. Frame it, wrap it, and you have the perfect gift!

This is the one that DD (7 months at the time) gave to her Nana:

What You'll Need:

• Plaster
• Clay
• Disposable Plastic Tray (about 3 inches deep)

What To Do:

1. Take the clay and press it into the plastic tray until about 1 1/2inches thick. Take baby's foot and make a clean, deep imprint right in the center of the clay. This will be your mold.
2.  Follow the instructions on the package for mixing your plaster. Once plaster is mixed, pour it in to the mold, filling the plastic tray to just below the rim and let dry completely (over night is usually best, just to be sure).
3.  Once dry, carefully remove the plaster from the plastic tray.You may need to cut the plastic a little (this is why you want the tray to be disposable). Decorate the footprint however you like. I went with just a simple border around the edge because I really wanted to highlight the footprint itself. Be sure to write baby's age somewhere on there too! That way when the recipient looks back at it, they can remember how old their little one was when they had those tiny toes.

Annnnd....I'm back...for good this time

Well my life has been crazy lately. As you can probably imagine...DD is just a few weeks shy of 9mos and DS has just begun playing for a new baseball team. But summer is over,  and with DS back in school I've got a little more me-time (aka blog time) on my hands.

So here is my summer recap:

DD learned to crawl, stand (assisted), simultaneously learned to wave and said her first word, "bye-bye," went to the beach for the first time (accompanied by her first mouthful of sand), and has just begun finger foods.

Mom turned the big 6-0 and DH and I treated her to a Disneyland vacation to make her feel young again. But the cherry on that cake was the surprise dinner we had planned for her at Catal in downtown Disney. She was so floored when she walked in and saw her close friends and family (the ones that live in Los Angeles, ofcourse) yelling out "SURPRISE". I wanted to make it her best birthday ever and I think it was a success. Here are a couple of pictures from our trip:

This is the amazing cake I ordered for my mom for the surprise dinner, and her reaction.

DH, Me, DD, and DS in the hotel room, just before heading in to the park...outfits inspired by Disneybound as Donald, Daisy, Minnie, and Mickey.

DS and I (with my baby sis in the background) on King Triton's Carousel

World of Color...SO INCREDIBLE. This makes the Bellagio look like a lawn sprinkler.

Enjoying some Mickey-shaped deliciousness...Pretzel on the left, Waffle on the right

PCH Grill Character Breakfast Photo

Me and DH relaxing at the pool

It was an incredible trip...especially for a Disney addict such as myself. But I think of the whole experience, my mom's favorite things were the gifts I made with the kids to give to her as a birthday.

 They were both really simple to make and practically free since I was able to use supplies I already had, but since they had such a huge impact I wanted to share what I did. With the holidays coming soon, these make great "from the kids" gifts for any mom, dad, or grandparent. So you can see the step by step instructions on how I made these here.