Gnome on a Toadstool

This year for Halloween I wanted to crack the top 3 for the Office Halloween costume contest. Last year I dressed up as "Bacon" and nothing... so I knew I had to step up my game!

I was looking for costume ideas and I came across a Gnome on a Toadstool. I thought to myself "I can do this". I drew out a quick little plan of what I thought I would need (That's really all the planning I did for this) and then it was off to Lens' Mills to get some supplies.

At Len's Mills I ended up buying foam (62x62), red material to cover the foam (62x62), white material to use for the mushroom steam (62x70) and to cut out for the polka-dots on top of the mushroom. That was about 50 - $60....

Okay, so first things first, I need to make the foam into a cone type shape. I basically tried pulling it into a cone type shape and then cut off the corners. a little more pulling and cutting and I got it into the correct shape. I cut a hole in the top so I can fit my body through and we are good.

To made the shape of the hat I used some left over foam and taped it together with more duct tape.

To hold it together I used my hot glue gun to glue it together and then I duct taped the seam. I've got the shape down and now I need to put the fabric on.... Hmmmm.... if I use the glue gun it will leave streaks... so how to I do it? They have to have some type of fabric spray? Off to Walmart! Walmart has fabric spray that needs to be ironed on, that wont work. Off to Michael's! I ask the lady as I come in the door and she's not sure but we walk over anyway and she starts looking at all these cans. There are two options for spray glue that will stick to fabric and foam. One costs $9.99 and the other costs $34.99. I bought the one for $9.99.

Back at home I moved the foam cone and material into the garage. I ended up cutting the red material in half and kind of wrapping it around but it didn't work the greatest because my material is now rectangles and the foam is a cone. I sprayed the foam and material and pressed it on as I went. I got it to work and with only two seams! The left over material was use to cover the foam hat I made earlier. I just sprayed it on and attached all the little pieces. It would have been nice if it was one large piece of material but I didn't really want to spend anymore on this.

This is what it looked like with the red material on.

With the red material all on I could start on the mushroom steam. I took the white material, wrapped it around me, marked it and then cut it off. My first thought was to wear it but I didn't want to do that. Next I tried to attach it to the underside of the foam with safety pins but that didn't work either (they kept pulling out). I finally thought to pin it to the red material on top. I was worried that people might be able to see the white material cutting out the top but it ended up all being covered by the upper part of my costume so it was all good.

With the remaining white material I cut out circles to put on the mushroom.

Here's what it looks like all together. Pretty good eh? But look at the back.... it's falling a little bit. I needed some support underneath it. I took one of my daughter's hula hoops and duct taped it under. It kind of held by in hind site (Got this idea from Steve at work) I should have cut out slits in the foam, taped them for support, tie-wrapped the hula hoop to the foam and then put the material over top. Oh well, live and learn.

With the mushroom finished it was time to make the body. I used old track pants from my son and old boots from my daughter then stuff in a $4 Walmart Pillow and the legs were done!

Here is a picture of the legs, the completed hat, a $10 blue long sleeve turtle neck shirt from Walmart, a Santa beard (I had this already) and an old stretchy belt.

Because I wanted it to be a secret, I was dropping some hints online to what my costume would be.

Hint number 1 was "You can find it in your Garden".

Hint number 2 was this picture.

Early this morning I got to work and got my costume into my office so no one could see it. At 8:30 I put everything together and couldn't get out of my office. I had to move some stuff to make room and then I was down the hallway to the cafeteria for the photos. Here is what the final product looked like:

I had really positive reactions from it so I took it on tour, up the elevator to the main floor, I walked the outer edges of the halls (because I couldn't fit down the aisles!) and greeted everyone with a "Happy Halloween". Up the elevator again to the top floor and some more of the same. The most common question people asked me was "How do you sit down?" my answer? "I dont!" I had to take it off each time I wanted to get back to work. I ended up putting it back on three more times, twice to show people and the last time to go into the cafeteria at lunch. It was a little weird but funny at the same time. We were having a free Spaghetti lunch, which started at 11:30, so I strolled in at 11:45 and it was packed. Pretty much everyone stopped eating (and talking) and looked over at me. But I guess they all really liked my costume because in the end........

I WON FIRST PRIZE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Continuing on with the theme of using stuff from my Food Co-op package (see Leek and Potato Soup or Eggplant Rollatini), I'm going to use the Butternut Squash. Now, the only things that really come to mind when I think about Butternut Squash is roasted Butternut Squash with veggies or soup. I decided to combined both of those ideas to make a Roasted Butternut Squash Soup!

Ingredients:

1 - Large Butternut Squash (about 2 lbs.) but in half

1 - Medium to Large Onion

3 - Cloves Garlic

1 - Tsp Cliantro

1/2 - Tsp Salt

3 - Cups Chicken or Vegetable broth

Preparation:

Cut the Butternut Squash in half and scoop out the seeds

Put halved and seeded squash cut-side-down in a large pan.

Put 1 clove of garlic under each squash half and cover with chopped onion (you only need to rough chop it as it will all be blended up later)

Pour in 1 cup broth and roast in a 375°F oven until very tender, about 45 minutes.

Let cool slightly

Scoop out the squash flesh from the peel and pour in the rest of the broth

Sprinkle salt and cilantro over top

 Pour into a blender (two batches for me) and blend

Put it into a bowl and you are ready to serve!

In the picture below you will see that I garnished it with chopped walnuts. My thought behind this was the Butternut squash is a little nutty and walnuts are nutty. I tired some walnuts and then some soup and I thought they tasted pretty good so I put the walnuts in and took this picture. But then I had the soup and walnuts together.... unfortunately the bitterness of the walnuts came out and it wreaked it. I ended up taking out the walnut and eating it with some fresh bread and butter which was much more enjoyable! I didn't get a picture of that because I'm still an amateur at this whole food picture taking thing :p

I would suggest topping it with a old cheddar cheese or sour cream (neither of which I had at the time of making)

(And yes, I know the bowl's suck... I'll get new ones soon...)

Grilled Chicken Sandwich with Creamy Coleslaw

I love making this dish because it’s so quick and easy to do. It’s also a nice change from the plain old (but amazingly tasting) BBQ chicken breasts that I seem to default to.

Ingredients:

1 – Cup (250 ml) coarsely grated carrot

¾ - Cup (175 ml) thinly sliced Savoy Cabbage

¼ - Cup (60 ml) thinly sliced red onion

3 - Tbsp (45 ml) Three Cheese Ranch Dressing

3 – Tbsp (45 ml) final chopped flat-leaf parsley (I used the dry stuff this time)

½ - Lemon, juiced or 1 ½ Tbsp Lemon juice

¼ - Salt and Pepper

4 – Thin Buns

4 – Boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced in half length wise

¾ - Cup (60 ml) Diana’s smoky BBQ Sauce (Blue Label)

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix the carrot, cabbage, onion, ranch dressing, parsley, lemon juice and salt/pepper

Place Chicken on the BBQ and brush on Diana’s Sauce, Flip over after a couple minutes and brush sauce on the other side. Grill chicken until cooked through

Separate bun halves, put on Chicken breast, then top with coleslaw and Serve with a Pickle :)

  

Eggplant Rollatini

Continuing on with using items from my Food Co-op package (see "Leek and Potato Soup" post), I decided to use the Eggplants today. This is a recipe for Eggplant Rollatini and it's originally from the kraftcanada site.

Just to recap, here is a photo of the Food Co-op package:

Okay, now we are going to make the Eggplant Rollatini!

Ingredients:
2 - Large Eggplants
1/2 - Container (250 ml) of 1% Cottage Cheese
2 - Cups Mozzarella Cheese, Shredded
1/2 - Cup Parmesan Grated Cheese
1/3 - Cup Bread Crumbs
2 - Tbsp Basil
1 3/4 - Cup Pasta Sauce

Directions:

Cut both ends off the Eggplants and cut them into thin slices

Microwave the slices on High for 5 or 6 minutes until they are soft

Place on a clean towel and top with a second towel

Press gently to remove excess moisture from the Eggplant slices

Mix together Cottage Cheese, Mozzarella (1.5 Cups), Parmesan (1/4 Cup) and Bread Crumbs

Spoon mixture onto each Eggplant slice

Roll it up

Place Rolled up pieces into a 13 x 9 greased pan

Cover with Pasta Sauce, the remaining Mozzarella, Parmesan and Basil

Bake for 30 minutes at 350F and then let stand for 5 minutes before serving

Plate and Serve!

I've never really had Eggplant before, at least not that I can remember, but I was pleasantly surprised with this dish. It tasted just like a Lasagna and the combination of cheeses was really good. The kids even ate some!

Leek and Potato Soup

For dinner tonight I had planned to make a regular ham, with roasted potatoes and veggies dinner but that all changed when a good find of mine, who I work with, was unable to pick up her Food Co-op package for the week and she told me that I could have it :)

This is a shot of all the items that were included in this weeks delivery

Items:
Yukon Gold Potatoes
Blue Passion Potatoes (never tried these before)
2 - Egg Plants
1 - Butternut Squash
1 - Buttercup Squash
1 - Sweet Potato Squash
6 - Beets
4 - Parsnip
4 - Cloves Garlic (I love Canadian Garlic)
2 - Yellow Cooking Onion
2 - Other Onion (no sure what these are yet)
2 - Leeks
1 - Green pepper
and a bunch of other little peppers that may or may not be spicy

With all this goodness I needed to decide on something for dinner and right away I thought of Leek and Potato Soup! Here is my Leek and Potato soup recipe; It's kind of simple but it tastes really good and if you aren't an onion fan don't worry, you taste way more potato than you do onion.

Ingredients:
2 - Leeks, Chopped
2 - Yellow Onions, Chopped
2 - tbs Butter
2 - tbs Flour
4 - Cups of Chicken Broth
3 - Medium Yukon Gold Potatoes, Peeled and Chopped
1 - Cup milk
4 - Oz Shredded Cheddar Cheese
(1/2 - Package Bacon)

Directions:

Rough chop the Leeks, Onion and then throw them into a large pot with the butter on medium heat and saute until soft

Stir in flour and cook for 2 minutes (I have no idea why it's 2 minutes and not 1 or 5... but 2 minutes seems to do the trick)

Pour in Chick Broth, add the Potatoes and bring to a boil

Once boiling turn the temperature down to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes to develop the flavors and soften the Potatoes

Puree the soup in a blender

Because of the amount of soup, I had to do it in two batches, using another larger container to hold the first blended batch

Once both batches were blended I poured them both back into the original (rinsed out) Pot

To make it Velvety smooth you can pour it all through a strainer you are pouring it into back into the Pot but I skipped that step this time

Top with Shredded Cheddar cheese and optionally BACON!!! This dish is amazing with some cooked and chopped Bacon on top but I totally forgot about it until I was taking this picture and then I didn't want to wait for the bacon to cook (Me = Impatient and Lazy)

As another option you can serve it with a fresh load of bread and butter

Feel free to add salt and pepper as needed

(Serves 6)

Doughnut Bats

It’s that time again, no not Halloween but the time for the IT Department Bake Sale! This year I decided to make something a little different. Now, the Bake Sale isn’t until Friday but I had test these out beforehand. The final bats I make for Friday will have chocolate Timbits for the body and that is what I wanted to get for my trial but the Tim Horton’s I went to didn’t have any left! (it was only 6pm at night, how could they be sold out of them already?)

Ingredients:

Chocolate Timbits

Oreo's

Mini Marshmallows (cut in half)

Almond Slivers

Black Decorating Gel

Directions:

Start off with the Oreo's, twist them in half and then cut them into half

Push the halves into each side of the Timbit

Put a dab of the decorating gel on the back of a mini marshmallow and then stick it on to the Timbit

Put another little dab decorating gel on the marshmallow to make an eye ball

Stick two almond slivers into the front of the Timbit to make the fangs and you are all done!

Update: I ended up picking up those Chocolate Timbits and here is what the final product looks like!

(My Army of Minions)

(Zombie Head and Doughnut Bat)

(Zombie Heads in a bowl)

Creamy Balsamic Penne

Tonight for dinner I made “Creamy Balsamic Penne”. I can’t remember where I picked up this recipe from but I really like it because it looks like a fancy restaurant pasta but it’s really easy to make.

Ingredients (for 2 + a lunch portion):

2.5 cups  - uncooked penne

3 tbsp - butter

1/4 - red onion, chopped

4 - mushrooms, sliced

1/2 - Orange pepper, sliced

1/2 - head of garlic, minced (yes, a half a head, 3 or 4 large cloves)

2 cups - baby spinach

1.5 cups - whipping cream (you can substitute with butter if needed)

1/2 tbsp - basil

2 tbsp - balsamic vinegar

1/4 tsp - chili pepper flakes

1/2 cup - crumbled feta

1/2 cup - pecans

Directions: 

In a large pot, boil water for the penne

In a large skillet melt butter over medium heat

Add the onion, mushroom and peppers and cook until soft

Add garlic and sauté for a minute more

Add spinach, whipping cream, basil, balsamic, and chili pepper flakes.  Cook until it bubbles and thickens slightly (I honestly found that it never really thickened until I turned the heat off and let it sit for 5 minutes or so). 

Add cooked pasta and mix well
Plate mixture and top with pecans and feta