MPM--Happy Halloween!

That title may be the scariest thing I type all week--Halloween? And my older guy is still changing his costume decision every ten minutes? I am not a handy-make-up-a-last-minute-costume kind of girl. He really wants to be Anyone Who Is Allowed to Carry a Light Saber. Or Any Superhero With A Weapon. Of course, I can rely on my school district to be the bad guy here and remind him that Weapons Of Any Kind, Even Light Sabers, Are Not Allowed. I wouldn't let him either, but he's so jazzed about the Halloween parade that I figure I might as well use it to back me up. Fortunately my younger son is easy: he decided weeks ago what he wanted to be: a ghost. Then we saw the adorable "ride the dinosaur" costume at T*arget and he changed his mind. Now he is going to be a ghost riding a dinosaur. O-kay then. One down...one to go.

I discovered a fun blog this week: The Bitten Word. I'm late to the party, it seems, but I admire them for doing what I should be doing--going through all their collected food magazines and actually making the things in them! I love that they are honest about how long things took, shortcuts they used, and how good it was (or wasn't). I'm using a couple of their recipes this week to see if we look at cooking the same way.

Finally, I really fell off the Raising Foodies wagon the last two weeks. I'm trying to climb back on this week. We had some great recipes last week but due to one thing and another (including the absolute final death of my car, which is making me so sad and so mad about needing to spend all that money again when the other one was paid off!) I fell back on our usual tacos instead of the stuffed eggplant. I did make the autumn crockpot casserole and it was pretty good. I tried using brown rice as the base (hey, now it's out of our freezer!) and went with maple-apple sausages, thinking about the apples in the recipe, and I think it was a little too sweet. And I don't know who I thought I was kidding with the brown rice--no one else in my family enjoys it, so how were they supposed to like it as the base of a meal?! So I'll give it another shake with white rice, and, at my husband's suggestion, something like kielbasa for the sausage. And--even though it was fully cooked, I would still pan-fry the sausage next time. Just warming it seemed skeevy, even though mentally I knew it would be ok to eat.

On the good side, we were blessed by a visit from The Best Babysitter Ever, who is so much more to us than that! We mostly hung out, and she helped with my two culinary successes of the week: applesauce in the crock pot, and the Smitten Kitchen napa cabbage salad. That was my best save of the week; in a week with failed apple cake and a batch of steel-cut oats that would have taken us a month to finish, I was deflated to discover that by the time I remembered to buy buttermilk, my cabbage was wilted. So I soaked it overnight in a bowl of cold water and--wow--it actually worked and the cabbage was revived.

Monday: JV football game if the weather holds out. Making braised short ribs with green beans and hazelnuts on the side.

Tuesday: I'm working, so easy dinner for boys: spaghetti and Trader Joe's turkey meatballs, salad

Wednesday: chicken nuggets for boys, cashew chicken for grownups; rice for both

Thursday: leftovers, or freezer meals if there aren't enough. (Unlikely, but possible.) Possible, but improbable: Paula Deen's chicken pot pie, care of Kelly's blog. I am working down a massive box of Bisqu*ick and besides waffles, which is what I purchased it for, this is something else I can do with it.

Friday: we are out at a wedding (yes, Mischief Night, and it should be something to behold--how many wedding registries do you know that included a skull shaped cookie jar?)...I'll leave money for the sitter to order pizza for the kids

Saturday: Happy Halloween--we are having the grandparents come distribute candy while we take the boys around, so I'm making my favorite crockpot pork roast, almond-turmeric potatoes from the Splendid Table's How to Cook Supper if I have time, mashed potatoes if I don't; roasted beets; creamed onions (from the freezer--they are my father in law's favorite).

And on to November! Have a good week, and for more inspired meal plans, go visit I'm An Organizing Junkie!