October Recipe Challenge - Pumpkin

Do you have a favorite recipe using pumpkin? Share it with us for a chance to win! Email your recipes to me by October 14th. On October 15th all recipes will be posted and readers can vote for their faves. Winners will be announced November 1st.

Pumpkin!!!

Theres something magical about fall. It brings with it a sense of excitement and adventure, along with the changing leaves and dropping temperature. One of my favorite things about this time of year is the food. Lighter summer fare is replaced by rich and yummy dishes, like soups and stews. This is time for comfort food, and who can resist?
Fall brings with it a surplus of great fresh ingredients to play with. One of the best is pumpkin, the rich earthy flavor is great in everything from soup and bread to the classic pie. Why not give one of these great recipes a try tonight?

Curry pumpkin and walnut soup

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients

• 1tsp (5mL) canola oil
• 1 cup (250 mL) chopped onion
• ½ tsp (2 mL) pepper
• 1 tbsp (15 mL) curry paste
• 2 cups (1 L) reduced sodium chicken stock
• 4 cups (1 L) cubed pumpkin (or use 28 oz (796 mL) can pure pumpkin, not pie filling)
• ½ cup (125 mL) walnuts, chopped, toasted
• 2 cups (500 mL) skim milk
• 1 tsp (5 mL) cornstarch
• 4 tsp (20mL) plain 2% yogurt
• 4 sprigs coriander

Directions

1. In large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and pepper and cook, without browning, until tender and translucent, about 10 minutes. Stir in curry paste and cook one minute more.
2. Stir in broth and bring to boil over medium high heat.
3. Add pumpkin and simmer, over medium heat until pumpkin is very tender, about 20 minutes.
4. Transfer pumpkin with liquid to blender, add walnuts and process in batches until smooth. The mixture will remain quite thick.
5. Combine milk and cornstarch.
6. Return pumpkin walnut purée to pot and slowly whisk in milk mixture. Heat soup over low heat just until heated through. Do not bring back to boil or soup will separate.
7. Serve in warmed bowls, garnished with a teaspoon of plain yogurt, a sprig of coriander.

Pumpkin banana spiced custard

Makes 6 servings

This is a great alternative to pumpkin pie and very quick and easy to make. It is best served warm.

Ingredients

• 1 egg
• 2 egg whites
• 1 cup (250 ml) canned pure pumpkin
• 1/3 cup (75 mL) mashed banana, about 1 medium banana
• 1 cup (250 mL) evaporated skim milk
• ¼ cup (50 mL) packed brown sugar
• ½ tsp (2 ml) ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp (1 mL) ground ginger
• 1/8 tsp (0.5 mL) allspice
• 6 walnut halves

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325º F (160º C).
2. Place 6 1 cup (250 mL) ramekins in a glass 13 x 9inch (3.5 L) baking dish.
3. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients except the walnut halves. Pour custard into ramekins. Pour boiling water around the ramekins in the baking dish to a depth of 1 inch. Place 1 walnut half in the centre of each custard.
4. Bake for 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve warm.

Pumpkin seed and walnut porridge (Ghana)

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

• 3 cups (750 mL) water
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 4 seeds of all spice (pimento)
• ¼ tsp (1 mL) nutmeg
• 1 tbsp (15 mL) pumpkin seed
• 1 tbsp (15 mL) chopped walnuts
• 1 1/3 cup (325 mL) old fashioned rolled oats
• 1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla
• ½ cup (125 mL) unsweetened almond milk
• Brown sugar to taste (optional)

Directions

1. Place water, cinnamon stick, all spice and nutmeg in a pot and bring to a boil. Remove and discard cinnamon sticks and all spice.
2. Place pumpkin seed, walnuts and oats in a food processor and grind until smooth.
3. Add the mixture to the boiling water and stir frequently until smooth.
4. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat.
5. Add the almond milk and vanilla. Serve with brown sugar (optional).

Do you have a favorite recipe? Why not share it with us for a chance to win in this months recipe challenge?

Trick Or Treating Safety Tips

With Halloween right around the corner, our days will soon be filled with party invitations, candy, and of course costumes. Its important though, to take time to prepare yourself and your family to be as safe and comfy as can be this Halloween.

1. Dress for the weather
Choose costumes that have room for layers underneath, that way they can be warm AND recognizable as a princess(or batman, witch , kitty, etc)

2.Plan Your Route
Use Google maps or Mapquest to plan the routes you will travel. Have older children who will be out with friends do the same.

3. Visibility
Avoid masks that can slip and obstruct your childs view. Opt instead for face paint to complete their costumes. Here are some great inspiration ideas to get you started.
Attach reflective stickers and tape to childrens costumes to make them more visible to motorists.

4. Candy Care
Remind children that all candy should be inspected by an adult at home before its eaten, make a favorite dinner before trick or treating to lessen the temptation to "cheat".

Spooky Books- Just in Time For Halloween!

For The Grownups

Bitten
by Kelly Armstrong

Young, beautiful, and successful, Elena Michaels seems to have it all. Her happy, organized life follows a predictable pattern: filing stories for her job as a journalist, working out at the gym, living with her architect boyfriend, and lunching with her girlfriends from the office. And once a week, in the dead of night, she streaks through a downtown ravine, naked and furred, tearing at the throats of her animal prey.

Elena Michaels is a werewolf.

The man who made her one has been left behind, but his dark legacy has not. And though Elena struggles to maintain the normal life she's worked so hard to create, she cannot resist the call of the elite pack of werewolves from her past. Her feral instincts will lead her back to them and into a desperate war for survival that will test her own understanding of who, and what, she is.

Just After Sunset
by Stephen King

In his first collection in six years, Stephen King delivers his strongest, most broadly appealing stories ever. “Gingerbread Girl,” published in Esquire in July 2007 (unprecedented in number of magazine pages devoted to it), is set, like Duma Key, in Florida. It is a riveting, fabulously dramatic stalker tale featuring a young woman as vulnerable—and resourceful—as Audrey Hepburn’s character in “Wait Until Dark.” “Willa” published in Playboy, blurs the lines between living and the dead. “Ayana,” one of the most beautifully written and haunting stories, was published in The Paris Review. From the subtle and disturbing to the outright terrifying, these tales will thrill every known King fan and win new ones.

A Hunger like No Other (Immortals after Dark Series #1)
by Kresey Cole

A mythic warrior who'll stop at nothing to possess her...
After enduring years of torture from the vampire Horde, Lachlain MacRieve, leader of the Lykae Clan, is enraged to find the predestined mate he's waited millennia for is a vampire. Or partly one. This Emmaline is a small, ethereal half Valkyrie/half vampire, who somehow begins to soothe the fury burning within him.
A vampire captured by her wildest fantasy...
Sheltered Emmaline Troy finally sets out to uncover the truth about her deceased parents--until a powerful Lykae claims her as his mate and forces her back to his ancestral Scottish castle. There, her fear of the Lykae--and their notorious dark desire--ebb as he begins a slow, wicked seduction to sate her own dark cravings.
An all consuming desire...
Yet when an ancient evil from her past resurfaces, will their desire deepen into a love that can bring a proud warrior to his knees and turn a gentle beauty into the fighter she was born to be...?

Odd Thomas (Odd Thomas Series #1)

by Dean Koontz

“The dead don't talk. I don't know why.” But they do try to communicate, with a sho rt-order cook in a small desert town serving as their reluctant confidant. Odd Thomas thinks of himself as an ordinary guy, if possessed of a certain measure of talent at the Pico Mundo Grill and rapturously in love with the most beautiful girl in the world, Stormy Llewellyn. Maybe he has a gift, maybe it’s a curse, Odd has never been sure, but he tries to do his best by the silent souls who seek him out. Sometimes they want justice, and Odd’s otherworldly tips to Pico Mundo's sympathetic police chief, Wyatt Porter, can solve a crime. Occasionally they can prevent one. But this time it's different.
A mysterious man comes to town with a voracious appetite, a filing cabinet stuffed with information on the world's worst killers, and a pack of hyena-like shades following him wherever he goes. Who the man is and what he wants, not even Odd’s deceased informants can tell him. His most ominous clue is a page ripped from a day-by-day calendar for August 15.
Today is August 14.
In less than twenty-four hours, Pico Mundo will awaken to a day of catastrophe. As evil coils under the searing desert sun, Odd travels through the shifting prisms of his world, struggling to avert a looming cataclysm with the aid of his soul mate and an unlikely community of allies that includes the King of Rock 'n' Roll. His account of two shattering days when past and present, fate and destiny converge is the stuff of our worst nightmares—and a testament by which to live: sanely if not safely, with courage, humor, and a full heart that even in the darkness must persevere.

Spooky Books- Just in Time For Halloween!

Teens

Vampire Nation
by Arlene Russo
Few phenomena have entranced and held such gruesome fascination as the vampire. Now at last the full length and breadth of the modern vampire's realm can be revealed. Hold onto your crucifix and sharpen your fangs, this is the ultimate trip into the undead...

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

By Mary Roach

For 2,000 years, cadavers---some willingly, some unwittingly---have been involved in science's boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. In this fascinating, ennobling account, Mary Roach visits the good deeds of cadavers over the centuries and, in so doing, tells the engrossing story of our bodies when we are no longer with them.

The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead
by Max Brooks
The Zombie Survival Guide is your key to survival against the hordes of undead who may be stalking you right now. Fully illustrated and exhaustively comprehensive, this book covers everything you need to know, including how to understand zombie physiology and behavior, the most effective defense tactics and weaponry, ways to outfit your home for a long siege, and how to survive and adapt in any territory or terrain.

Top 10 Lessons for Surviving a Zombie Attack

1. Organize before they rise!
2. They feel no fear,why should you?
3. Use your head: cut off theirs.
4. Blades don’t need reloading.
5. Ideal protection = tight clothes, short hair.
6. Get up the staircase, then destroy it.
7. Get out of the car, get onto the bike.
8. Keep moving, keep low, keep quiet, keep alert! 9. No place is safe, only safer.
10. The zombie may be gone, but the threat lives on.
Don’t be carefree and foolish with your most precious asset—life. This book

is your key to survival against the hordes of undead who may be stalking you right now without your even knowing it. The Zombie Survival Guide offers complete protection through t

rusted, proven tips for safeguarding yourself and your loved ones against the living dead. It is a book that can save your life.

Do Dead People Watch You Shower?: And Other Questions You've Been All but Dying to Ask a Medium
by Concetta Bertoldi

Medium Concetta Bertoldi answers all your questions about life after life
. . . from the irreverent:
(If the dead are always with us, do they have a XXX view of my bedroom?)
. . . to the poignant:
(Will my deceased father be with me when I walk down the aisle on my wedding day?)
. . . to the heartfelt:
(When loved ones leave this life too early or under tragic circumstances, are they eternally heartbroken or can they find peace in heaven?)

Concetta Bertoldi has been communicating with the "Other Side" since childhood. In Do Dead People Watch You Shower?, the first-ever book of its kind, she exposes the naked truth about the fate and happiness of our late loved ones with no-holds-barred honesty and delightfully wry humor, answering questions that range from the practical to the outrageous. In addition she shares with us her own intimate secrets, revealing with refreshing candor how her miraculous gift has affected her life, her marriage, her friendships, and her career, as well as the myriad ways she has used it to help others.

Sppooky Books - Just in Time For Halloween

For The Pre-Teens
Ages 8 - 12

Graveyard Book

By Neil Gaimen
Ages 9-12
Bod is an unusual boy who inhabits an unusual place-he's the only living resident of a graveyard. Raised from infancy by the ghosts, werewolves, and other cemetery denizens, Bod has learned the antiquated customs of his guardians' time as well as their timely ghostly teachings-like the ability to Fade.Can a boy raised by ghosts face the wonders and terrors of the worlds of both the living and the dead? And then there are things like ghouls that aren't really one thing or the other.This chilling tale is Neil Gaiman's first full-length novel for middle-grade readers since the internationally bestselling and universally acclaimed Coraline. Like Coraline, this book is sure to enchant and surprise young readers as well as Neil Gaiman's legion of adult fans.

Ignatious McFarland, Frequenaut!
By Paul Frieg
Ages 9-12

Twelve-year-old Iggy MacFarland (Piggy MacFartland to his nemesis Frank Gutenkunitz) wants nothing more than to be kidnapped by aliens and whisked away from his boring, bully-filled life. He's so anxious to get to outer space, he builds his own rocket. The explosion at lift-off blows him into another frequency/reality full of strange creatures. There he finds two other refugees from his frequency: Chester Arthur, former English teacher who has set himself up as "President" and the Anti-Arthur 16-year-old Goth-warrior Karen. The original inhabitants of this new frequency become caught up in the battle . . . and when a new danger rears its head, Iggy has to step up to help his new friends. In his debut novel, Feig, creator of the cult TV series Freaks and Geeks, gives readers both a delightfully sarcastic antihero and a bizarre reality for him to explore. This blend of fantasy and science fiction will please male fans of either genre (much gross humor), who will start asking for a sequel even as the cover closes.

Ghost in the Mirror:
Real Cases of Spirit Encounters
by Leslie Rule
Ages 9 -12

Whether they are bumping about our attics, hitchhiking on a moonlight road, or fraternizing with our reflections, ghosts tantalize us with their secrets." --Leslie Rule Meet Leslie Rule--America's real-life ghost hunter with a penchant for sharing authentic, spine-tingling stories of the paranormal.

The Gallup Organization reports that more than 32 percent of Americans have seen a ghost. More than half the population believes in the spiritual, cosmic, or supernatural. To Leslie Rule, such revelations come as no surprise. Rule has spent more than a decade researching specters and spirits and has chronicled her ghostly tales in three previous titles, Coast to Coast Ghosts, Ghosts Among Us, and When the Ghost Screams.

Inside Ghost in the Mirror, Rule documents more than dozens of stories of paranormal apparitions that reveal themselves on the other side of the looking glass. Rule's painstaking archival research presents factual clues to each haunting, along with her own dramatic black-and-white photographs that capture the eerie unrest of the scenes she explores.

Spooky Books- Just in Time For Halloween!

For the Wee'uns

8 and under

Wheres my Mummy
by Caroline Crimi
Ages 4-8

This gently spooky read-aloud treat is also a satisfying bedtime book — sure to delight the youngest reader on many a deep, dark night.

Little Baby Mummy wants just one more game of hide-and-shriek with Big Mama Mummy before bedtime. The night is deep and dark, full of friendly creatures that click their clacky teeth and whoosh past on flippy-floppy wings. But who will comfort Little Baby Mummy if a small, scritchy-scratchy someone gives him a scare? Big Mama Mummy, of course Fresh, comical illustrations complement this ever-so-slightly suspenseful story with a satisfying ending.

Don't Enter The House
by Veronika Martenova Charles
Ages 5-8

Three friends frighten each other with tales of haunted beach houses, sinister cats, and witches in this trio of cautionary stories from Japan and the United States. Beginning readers come away with a satisfying experience and the benefit of good advice!

All Hallow's Eve - The Story of the Halloween Fairy
by Lisa Sferlazza Johnson
Ages 3-8

Eve, a young fairy from the All Hallows pumpkin patch, loves candy. She can make toys with her magic, but not candy. She practices her magic, hoping to be able to make candy for her birthday on October 31st.

But as hard as she tries during her dress up birthday party, she is only able to create candy shaped toys. Seeing her frustration, her party guests round up candy from the pumpkin patch
to give to Eve. Eve is touched by their thoughtfulness and gives her friends the toys she makes in exchange. This is a great story of friendship, cooperation and self acceptance.

Five Little Pumpkins
by Iris Van Rynbach
Ages 3-8

The five little pumpkins nursery rhyme comes to life! This absolutely charming book uses the lyrics of that Halloween song and combines them with full double page illustrations in bright water-colors. The fun and excitement of trick or treat night is captured so well in this book. Join the neighborhood witches, devils, ghosts and a cute black cat on a visit to the skeleton's haunted house! The five little jack-o-lanterns roll along for some good high-spirited fun with nothing scary that might trouble little ones.

Haunted Castle on Hallows Eve
by Mary Pope Osborne
Ages 3 - 8

The intrepid Jack and Annie are summoned once again to the fantasy realm of Camelot. There, Merlin the Magician tells them that the Stone of Destiny has been stolen. The answer to its disappearance lies within a haunted castle. With a young magician named Teddy, Jack and Annie take on the challenge in an adventure that takes them to new heights and places they couldn’t even imagine!