I have made THE big decision....what to be for Halloween.! I'm going for an Alice in Wonderland theme this year! I will be a brunette Alice (I know...not quite authentic, but I hate itchy wigs). Miss Penny Su has the most adorable little bunny costume so she can be the White Rabbit. She even has a clock to wear on her collar to make it official! Now if we could only get Mr. Kat to be the Mad Hatter... don't hold your breath!
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| Here we are last year as a caterpillar and butterfly!! |
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| I'm pretty proud of those wings... check 'em out!! I made them myself!! |
I love passing out candy on Halloween night! My parents live in one of the IT trick-or-treating locations in our town and a lot of my kids, both past and present, come see me at their doorstep. I love seeing all their smiling faces and their costumes! We go through between four and five hundred pieces of candy in a two hour time frame depending on the weather. That is quite a lot considering our town is pretty small. A lot of our family and friends gather at my parent's home to watch all the festivities through the big picture window. I sit outside on the front porch step with Penny Su, Mr. Kat, and whoever else wants to tough out the cold with me. We try to pass out more candy than we eat! This is my favorite part about Halloween! Everyone gathers together and we share A LOT of good food, yummy treats/snacks, and Halloween cocktails!
My Papa always used to make chili for Halloween night. And let me tell you what... this chili is probably a big part of why everyone started gathering at my parent's house on Halloween! But when Papa started traveling for work, unfortunately he had to miss a lot of Halloweens....and Halloween was never the same with out him :(. We had to keep the tradition alive, but chili is Papa's thing, and my chili didn't stand a chance of living up to his. So I had a plan...Soup... now that is my thing. So for the past few years I have made soup for everyone on Halloween night, it has sort of became our new tradition. Last year it was Taco Soup, and it was a really big hit. So this year I wanted to do something a little bit different, but also kind of similar.
I decided on Stuffed Pepper Soup. It is one of Mr. Kat's favorites! It is fairly easy and perfect for a cool fall Illinois Halloween night; very hearty, just a hint of spicy, and fairly healthy to help make up for all the other junk we are eating! And most importantly...of course it is gluten free!
Stuffed Pepper Soup
Prep time: 20 mins Cook time: 4 hrs
Serves: 8 (I will double this for Halloween night)
Ingredients:
4 Cups Vegetable Broth*
4 Cups Beef Broth*
2 lbs Ground Beef/Turkey/Pork Sausage- (I usually use a lb each of beef and turkey, but I like to mix it up sometimes)
1 28oz can Crushed Tomatoes
2 (8oz) cans Tomato Sauce
1 10oz can Rotel
1 Cup uncooked Brown Rice
2 Green Peppers- diced
2 Red Peppers- diced
1 Yellow Pepper- diced
1 Orange Pepper- diced
1 Large Red Onion- diced
4 Garlic Cloves- diced
1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Sea Salt
1 tsp Ground Pepper
1 tsp Onion Powder
1 tsp Garlic Powder
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Instructions:
- In a large skillet brown ground beef- when done, drain.
- In a crock pot add all ingredients – rice will cook in soup.
- Set on high for 4 hours
*Please be very careful when buying the broths... they are hard to find gluten free. Mine always come from Aldi (Chef's Cupboard or Fit & Active... always double check!) and they have a label that I love right on them...Naturally A Gluten Free Food! Makes my life so much easier! The same goes for all of the other canned ingredients (Happy Harvest brand) I put in this soup as well as the meat. So a big thanks to Aldi for being so Celiac friendly!
And just for fun I always write the soup recipes that I make for Halloween on fancy Halloween recipe cards (and I always bring extra to share!). This way I can look back years from now and remember which recipes I have used each year for Halloween. These are some of my favorites from http://cheekypaperie.com/. If you sign up for their newsletter you can print these for free, plus get a bunch of other fun freebies!
What are some of your favorite Halloween traditions? What are you all going to dress up as for Halloween?
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