October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween from BigSis, LilSis and our Firkids!

(Not just Cats in Hats anymore since The Donald joined our family.)

New kid on the block, “The Donald” diggin' Tom's witch hat!

No one can rock Tom's favorite witch hat like he does!

Sweet Ashy Poo Poo looking handsome in his Cowboy gear.

Gaby makes a perfect pirate in this ensemble.

Have a safe and Happy Halloween!

~LilSis

October 31, 2011

Like sweet drinks?

If you do, then I think you'll really enjoy this drink, but, if you also love candy corn like I do, then you're going to love this drink! But, beware! It's super sweet!  🙂

We're celebrating Halloween here at Lil Sis' house with a festive Candy Corn Martini. There are several different recipes floating around for this martini, but I started with Food Network's Candy Corn Cordial Recipe and adapted it a little. Almost all of the recipes for this drink call for an egg white to create some froth on top, but I chose to leave that out.

I decided that the martini would look even more festive with some orange sugar around the rim, so I just made my own by mixing a few drops of red and yellow food color with several tablespoons of sugar.

Let me start by saying that I don't have a sweet tooth and normally don't eat candy or drink sweet drinks, but due to my obsession with candy corn, I had to try this one. I started out this Halloween season only buying one bag of candy corn to make these martinis, but on my last couple of trips to the store, I couldn't resist when I saw the Indian Corn and the Autumn Mix.

I'm going to have to take all of this to work just to get it out of my pantry or I'll be eating candy corn for months.

Now, let's get to the Candy Corn Martini. This is a very simple cocktail to make; you just have to allow a few hours to infuse the vodka with the candy corn. Here's all you need:

Candy Corn Martini
(adapted from Food Network)

1/2 c. candy corn
1 c. vodka
2 oz. orange liqueur (I used Triple Sec)
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Candy corn for garnish
Sugar
Red and yellow food coloring

Infuse the vodka: Combine the candy corn and vodka in an airtight container; set aside for at least 3 hours, then strain.

Make the martinis: Rub some lemon juice on the rim of the glass and turn the glass upside down into a plate of the orange colored sugar. Add 4 ounces of the candy corn vodka, the orange liqueur, and the lemon juice to a shaker filled with ice. Shake vigorously for at least 30 seconds. Strain into 2 chilled martini glasses and garnish with candy corn.

Enjoy!

HAPPY, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

~LilSis

October 26, 2011

Pumpkin Tower (from Country Living Pumpkin Decorating Ideas)

Even if you don't have the time to carve a pumpkin this year or just want to try something different, there are lots of different ways you can decorate your pumpkins without carving them. I found these unique ideas in Country Living's Pumpkin Decorating Ideas.

Graphic Black and White Painted Pumpkins (photo credit: Country Living)

Gold and Silver Gilded Pumpkins (photo credit: Country Living)

Last year, I talked about how I ran out of time to plan our pumpkin carving night at our house and now that our youngest is 18, he's not as interested in carving pumpkins as he was when he was younger. When we had all the kids at home, years ago, we always had a blast on pumpkin carving nights and at the end of the night we ended up with seven uniquely carved “Jack-o'-Lanterns” lined down the front walk.

Even though things aren't the same these days, I do still love to decorate the front porch with different sizes and shapes of pumpkins and hopefully this year, I'll have some time to decorate a couple of them.

Last year, I posted some Quick and Easy Pumpkin Decorating Ideas for those of you who still want to decorate pumpkins but don't have the time to carve them.

A couple of my favorite ideas from that post are these miniature pumpkin winged bats

and these adorable, painted kitten pumpkins.

Here are a few more fun ideas from Martha Stewart's Halloween Pumpkin Carving and Decorating Ideas.

Zombie Pumpkins (photo credit: Martha Stewart)

Fanged Pumpkins (photo credit: Martha Stewart)

Glittered Pumpkins (photo credit: Martha Stewart)

And, no, we aren't getting paid by Martha Stewart, but if you do have the time to carve pumpkins this year, you've got to check out her Halloween Pumpkin Carving Ideas! She has some of the cutest carved pumpkins! Here are a few that I love.

Pumpkin Raccoon (photo credit: Martha Stewart)

Cat Pumpkins (photo credit: Martha Stewart)

Black Magic Carved Pumpkins (photo credit: Martha Stewart)

And, I love this Pumpkin Party Cooler so much that I think I'm going to have to make one of these!

Pumpkin Party Cooler (photo credit: Martha Stewart)

Isn't that cute and festive? And, since I love making festive cocktails, I decided to experiment with a new one for Halloween this year! Be sure to come back in a few days to see whether or not my Candy Corn Martini was a success. 🙂

~LilSis

October 31, 2010

Instead of talking about ghosts and goblins or trick-or-treating today, we decided to do something a little more fun!

Let's be honest, doesn't it make you smile when you see a cute little doggie or kitty cat dressed in a costume? 🙂

Without any further delay, let's get this parade started!

Nicki's Katie looking precious in her Princess outfit!

Lisa's Roxy is adorable all dressed up as a Banana Split!

Kristen's Brady is a beautiful little devil! Where's Jerry, Tom??

Bru also calls Kristen Meowmy, and is another little devil!

Lauren's Beau is adorable in his Texas Rangers cap!

Beau again...now he's working the Tony the Tiger look!

BigSis' Ashy as a scary one-eyed pirate! Argghh!

Ashy in his Cowboy ensemble! Git along lil' doggie!

LilSis' lil devil, TomTom

He is a pretty lil Devil, isn't he?

BigSis' Gaby tries the pirate hat on for size! Love the dreadlocks, Gaby!

Gaby also models a stylish pumpkin scrunchy collar/necklace!

Gaby makes a very handsome cowboy, don't you think?

Gaby was apparently WAY over the cowboy look!

(Happy Halloween photo credit: Julicath Flickr Photostream)

~LilSis

October 30, 2010

Did Halloween sneak up on you? It did for me. I actually managed to buy two pumpkins a few days ago but they've yet to be carved. Every year we usually do some pretty elaborate carvings and have three or four nice jack-o-lanterns lit up on the front porch but I don't think that's going to happen this year.

If you don't have the time to carve your pumpkin the old fashioned way or just don't feel like making a monstrous mess, it's not too late! Here are a few quick and easy decorating ideas that I've come across.

To get the kids to join in on the fun, just give them some paints or markers, glue and glitter and let them be creative in making their own punkin' faces!

These little painted kitten pumpkins are adorable!

Or find some cute funny face stickers that they can just stick right on. These are actually printable stickers from Family Fun.

And who says that you have the cut the top off of your pumpkin to create the traditional lid? I like this idea to just cut out the bottom and carve the top, allowing the stem to be the nose.

Why not turn miniature pumpkins into cute little winged bats? All you need is black paint and craft foam.

Here's an idea from Martha Stewart on how to decorate your pumpkin Halloween faces with a variety of candies.

And it doesn't get much easier than this! Just freehand your snaggletoothed pumpkin face on with a pencil, then finalize the sketch with a black marker in less than five minutes.

Whatever your plans are for this year, we wish you safe and Happy Halloween!

~LilSis

October 30, 2009

Just in case you didn't get enough chocolate overload from the Texas Sheet Cake, this recipe should definitely send you into fudgey orbit!

Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa Outrageous Brownies are my go-to brownies.  I love them with walnuts and chocolate chips (cause there isn't enough chocolate in them already!), but on holidays I love to make them with Oreos instead.  It's an idea that came from Joe at Culinary in the Country.  For the SPCA Bake Sale last December, I made them with Christmas Oreos and they looked adorably festive.

So here we are at Halloween.  I don't celebrate Halloween, other than taking photos of the furkids in hats; when they let me. This year, they didn't let me.  I found the cutest little pirate hat with black ringlets for them, but would they wear it?  Heck, no.

Oh, yeah, and I like to bake.  Just give me an excuse…holiday, Monday, rain, sun, whatever.  Any reason.

This recipe makes a huge amount of fun, crunchy, rich, and cutely Halloweenie brownies.  Go make some friends.

~BigSis

November 1, 2008

Does he look ticked off or what?

~LilSis

October 30, 2008

Okay, maybe I did get a little obsessed when I found out that it was National Candy Corn Day!

I was so happy when I got home from the store this evening.  I had just purchased my first bag of candy corn this Halloween season.

Then, HayHay walks in and proceeds to tell me that he doesn't know why, but he doesn't like candy corn. He goes on and on about how gross it is; this coming from a 15 year old that will eat almost anything. I just calmly looked at him and said “Don't hate on candy corn on National Candy Corn Day” .  He just looked at me and I could tell he was thinking “Are you kidding me?”

Pretty little morsel!

Oh well, I'm not going to let him rain on my parade. One final thought while it's still National Candy Corn Day…Can you eat just one?

~LilSis

October 30, 2008

I had no idea that there was a National Candy Corn Day until BigSis sent me a link about another candy corn inspired idea.  Who knew?

I never eat sweets and I really don't eat any sugar.  I don't crave anything sweet at all.  BUT, I LOVE CANDY CORN. Nothing but sugar, honey, and corn syrup!  It must be something from my childhood.

It's almost too cute to eat!

Tomorrow is Halloween and I haven't even bought my first bag of candy corn yet.  I resisted when at the store last week. I knew if I bought it too early, there wouldn't be any left for Halloween.  Today, I'm heading out to buy a few bags; one to eat and one to make this candle display I talked about earlier this week.

My very favorite type of candy corn is the Brachs Autumn Mix that has the regular candy corn, Indian corn (with the chocolate bottom), and the little pumpkins all mixed together in one bag.  I love the post on Candy Blog about this yummy candy! Apparently, this is hard to find this year. I'm on a mission to find me a bag!

I'm going to have to add this Candy Corn Bark from The Recipe Girl to my list of things to make for my “get together” tomorrow night.  It looks like something the kids would enjoy!

YUMMY!

Candy Corn and Oreos! I'll be binging off the walls if I eat it, but it just might be worth it! Thanks to Baking Bites for sharing the link to this recipe.

These cute little candy corn sugar cookies from Cookie Madness look really good, too!

Lovely Bite Size Little Cookies!

For more fun facts about candy corn, check out this Sweet Candy Corn blog. It may be the only known “all candy corn blog” out there.

~LilSis

October 30, 2008

Once you see everything there is to see on BigSisLilSIs today, you have to look at what CuteOverload.com posted on October 27th.  It's a pet costume extravaganza!  There are only 3 kitty-pie costumes and none of them are that full of cuteness, so come back on Friday for our Cats in Hats post.  To tide you over til then, check my favorites from CuteOverload:

Ewok Puppy

No explanation necessary!

We're not in Kansas any more, Toto!

The donut man kills me

There are lots more of these hilarious photos.  Let me just give you a little hint of what you'll find.  A boxer with completely inappropriate cleavage, perhaps?

~BigSis