Author: Pamela Layton McMurtry

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Welcome Family Focus Blog. A Recipe for Candied Spiced Pumpkin Seeds

Instead of scraping them out of your pumpkin and shelling them, you can buy shelled, roasted pumpkin seeds from health food or produce sellers. Add these delicious candied pumpkin seeds to salads or nibble them for a protein-rich snack.
Candied Pumpkin Seeds 
 
    In a medium saucepan stir together

1 1/2 C shelled, roasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
 3/4 C sugar
1/4 C water
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/16 tsp ground cloves
1/16 tsp ground nutmeg 
1/8 tsp salt
    Stir over medium high heat until water evaporates, about 15           minutes. Spread on lightly greased baking pan to cool. 

Million Dollar Salad

            Toss together 6 C. of your favorite salad greens. Add

1 C dried sweetened cranberries

1 C crumbled feta cheese

 1 C candied pumpkin seeds

          Dress with Girard’s Light Champagne dressing. 

Get more more delicious Halloween treats when you download yours today!

Sculpture by Robin Davis Studios

Don’t forget to tune in to BYU Sirius Radio 143 for an afternoon chat on the TalkWorthy Show. Halloween at 3 p.m. Eastern.

Welcome Family Focus Blog, thanks for sharing my pumpkin pie cake recipe with your readers and featuring my book; Happy Halloween! 

http://familyfocusblog.com/easy-pumpkin-pie-cake-recipe/ 

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Pumpkin Mania!

 Pumpkin Time
For the next few days I will be featuring all things pumpkin, Pumpkin.
Pumpkins are the #1 best selling Halloween icon. You can find all sorts of pumpkin-themed products, even pumpkin spice cocoa.

Deseret News is scheduled to run my Pumpkin Pie Cake recipe in their food section next Wednesday, October 16th…
(if you can’t wait, type pumpkin pie cake into this blog’s search window at the top left.)

You’ll want to download your copy of 
A Harvest and Halloween Handbook 
for the recipe for delicious Pumpkin Purses shown above.
Check back tomorrow for the  Kettley’s Million Dollar Salad recipe with a strategic change for Halloween, see you then.
A treat for you on October 31st:
Tune in to BYU Sirius Radio 143 at 3 p.m. Eastern 
for a special chat about Halloween
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Seize Her Salad and Fairy Tale Croutons

Bread chargers are a fun gourmet solution for creative presentation.
These fancy little bread plates are inexpensive, easy to make with your children and can hold your Seize Her Salad. 

  

 Topped with frog, fairy and wand fairy tale croutons made from sourdough bread cut out with cookie cutters from TJ Maxx or a gourmet kitchen store; it’s the beginning of a magical meal. 

Save your home tip: old quilts make improvised slipcovers to protect furniture when hosting a large group for dinner or a potentially sticky group for Halloween.
French Bread Charger (or Trencher) Recipe
            Preheat oven to 400°. Place in a mixing bowl, stir and let  
            react until foam covers the surface

2 C very warm water, almost hot

2 TBSP dry active yeast

2 TBSP sugar

            Add

1 TBSP salt

2 C all-purpose flour

            Beat until smooth, add and beat again;

2 C flour

            Add and beat until a smooth elastic dough is formed

1 1/2 – 2 C whole wheat flour

            Let the dough rest for a few minutes, then roll it out 1/2″ 
            thick and form it into flat pumpkin, sun or circle shapes (I   
            cut the edges with scissors to give it interest.) Preheat oven 
   to 400°. Bake at 400° until golden.Whisk together

2 egg whites

2 TBSP of water

            When bread is golden in color, use a pastry brush to glaze 
             the bread with the egg wash and return to oven until glaze
             is dried and shiny. Remove chargers from oven, place on 
             rack to cool. May be frozen for several weeks in airtight   
             containers.

Seize Her Salad  

We love this quick and easy version of the classic. Toss together

1 bag chopped romaine lettuce 

1 generous handful Caesar croutons

 bottled light Caesar dressing such as Ken’s Steak House Lite ®

grated Parmesan cheese

Diced cooked and cooled chicken breasts (optional)
 For more magical recipes, download your 
A Harvest and Halloween Handbook
from Barnes and Noble.com and Amazon.com 

  
For more Halloween treats, please join host Kim Power Stilson and me for a Halloween chat on BYU Sirius Radio 143
October 31st at 3 p.m. Eastern.

Welcome Kerri Zane and 
 “Helping the Whole Single Mom, Inside and Out” 
See a 10 trick-or-treat alternatives article I helped with:  http://kerrizane.com/fun-alternatives-for-trick-or-treating/

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Spinning a Yarn with Mother Goose

 
It used to be thought that the original Mother Goose was Bertha, the mother of King Charlemagne. She would tell stories while spinning, hence the term “spinning a yarn.” A natural for entertaining children, you might consider inviting Mother Goose to your harvest and Halloween parties for young children. Teamed up with literary legends, she can share nursery rhymes such as 



Eensy Weensy Spider (this one doesn’t look too eensy or weensy)



               
    Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater

and other childhood favorites:

            Boys and Girls Come Out To Play    
              
 Pussy Cat and the Queen
            ABC Tumbledown D         
                              
Hey Diddle Diddle
            Old Woman, Old Woman   
                             
Smiling Girls, Rosy Boys

            Little Miss Muffet    
                                  
 Jack Be Nimble

    


  
 You could even include the five little pumpkins sitting on a gate…


And go on a treasure hunt to find treats the fairies have

 hidden.




For a complete Mother Goose party plan, please see





It’s almost time for a Halloween chat on 
BYU Sirius Radio 143
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Penny-pinching Halloween Tricks and Treats

Getting ready for Halloween doesn’t have to be tricky. Bits and scraps combined creatively can yield fun little treats, like this serving bowl.  I picked it up for a dollar and decorated it with rick rack and black cats cut out of felt.

These craft store cat wood cut-outs were painted with black chalkboard paint and colorful acrylics. The guests names are printed with colored chalk.

 These silly old cats were made of a recycled pair of my husband’s old black pants, some stuffing, a few buttons and scraps of fabric. 
They serve double duty as decorations and as targets for the black cat knock-off game.


You’ll find complete instruction for these and other 
money-saving projects like the rag garland (below) in 
A Harvest and Halloween Handbook
eBook available from Barnes and Noble.com and Amazon.com
 

For more Halloween treats, 
please join Kim Power Stilson and me on the 
TalkWorthy show on BYU Sirius Radio 143
October 31st at 3 p.m. Eastern.

Thank you to the UK publication, The Guardian, for including my comment about about replacing witches with Mother Goose for young children at Halloween! 

http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2013/oct/07/can-books-make-witches-seem-less-scary

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Hide and Seek with the Fairies

Tales of fairies and witches dot the English countryside at Halloween. My friends know I’m an avowed Anglophile, so it’s no surprise I would invite fairies to my Halloween event. 
This $3 thrift store find was transformed into a magical Halloween dollhouse that is hidden in my yard so the fairies can leave treats  for little people. (I’ve featured this cute cottage before, and like the idea so well that I’m bringing it back for an encore.)
There are flower beds for the little guests and recycled furnishings throughout.
 
Here’s a little kitchen.

 And a living room all decked out for a Halloween party. Fairies do like to recycle, now I know where that zinc canning jar lid went…

For more fairy and child-friendly Halloween ideas, please order 


 You’re invited to sprinkle on your pixie dust and fly over to BYU Sirius Radio 143 for a Halloween chat with Kim Power Stilson and me on October 31st at 3 p.m. Eastern.

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Cool, not Creepy; Save Your Sanity and Pennies


 Halloween decor that is cool, not creepy, can be created by the discerning connoisseur for few $$$. Take the decorations in the photos; most of these objects were purchased for under $30 at thrift stores. With a few orange lights added for warmth, look at the effect that can be created. A festive and artistic display for a favorite holiday that doesn’t cause nightmares to children or the budget..



For more budget-stretching Halloween ideas, download your
own A Harvest and Halloween Handbook eBook


http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-harvest-and-halloween-handbook-pam-mcmurtry/1116031757?ean=2940148379744



Save the date
Join Kim Power Stilson 
and me for a chat about 
child-friendly Halloween
activities on October 31 
at 3 p.m. Eastern on 
BYU Sirius Radio 143.
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Halloween Lunchbox Jokes

How did October arrive so quickly?  The serious business of school is well under way; with 26 days to until Halloween you can start the fun early by popping a Halloween riddle or joke in your kids’  lunch every day. Here’s a page to download and print.

There’s a whole month-full of bad Halloween jokes in


For a bit of fun, join host Kim Power Stilson and me as we talk about Halloween on BYU SIRIUS Radio 143
October 31st at 3 p.m. Eastern. I promise no tricks, only treats!
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Take a (Treat) Walk! More Halloween Fun and Games

This used to be called a carnival Cake Walk, but on Halloween what child needs an entire cake? I modified a sweet concept with one-serving-size treats like cupcakes, popcorn balls, caramel apples, tarts, crispy rice treats, trick-or-treat candy, cookies and wrapped fudge. This was  my all-time favorite game at the Buena Vista School Halloween carnival and I hope the child in each of you has a chance to walk the Treat Walk. 

Set up the game as shown in the illustration with pictures taped to  the floor. Play music for a few seconds; when it stops roll a die or pick a card with an icon on it, whoever is standing on that picture wins and gets to pick a treat! This is a great game for kids of all ages.


For complete instructions for creating a Treat Walk, please see:
A Harvest and Halloween Handbook
For a really special treat, join me for the BYU Sirius Radio 143 TalkWorthy program on Halloween with host Kim Power Stilson 
at 3 p.m. Eastern.