Boo!

Happy Monday, all! I hope you are enjoying your dose of Autumn in your corner of the world. Fall here in the Seattle area has been spectacular. I have commented so many times to my husband that I have never realized that Washington had such a beautiful fall season. The fluorescent reds, oranges, and yellows of the changing trees mixed with the trademark evergreen of the state is truly picturesque. 

This weekend we made the Winn Family recipe of Pumpkin Casserole! Matt and I made this last year as well and it is turning into one of my favorite fall traditions! 

You bake all of the yummy ingredients in a small-medium pumpkin for a few hours and you get a fun, festive and filling dish! My (picky) little sisters absolutely loved this too. Give it a try this week!

Winn Family Pumpkin Casserole

4 cups cooked rice

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1/2 cup sour cream

3 tbsp soy sauce

1 lb ground beef/turkey browned

1 tbsp worcestershire sauce

1 med/small pumpkin cleaned out

-Prepare rice, brown meat and mix all ingredients together. Stuff casserole in pumpkin and bake @ 350 degrees on a cookie sheet 2 hours, or until the pumpkin is soft.

It only took our pumpkin about 1-1/2 hours to cook. Make sure you scoop all the pumpkin out with the rice and enjoy! We sprinkled some shredded cheese on top of the casserole before we ate it. Cheese always makes everything better, right?!

We also carved pumpkins with the family this weekend. Here are some pictures from the fun:

Note: It is actually pretty difficult to carve and EKG pattern into a pumpkin! But worth it :)

Carving pumpkins is one of my favorite things to do with my family around Halloween. Another is dressing up for parties! Matt and I dressed as firemen for our church party last weekend:

                             

It was really fun!! Hope you all are enjoying the Halloween holiday - have a safe and fun one this year!!

Recipe review: salted caramel popcorn

Yesterday I decided to try out a salted caramel popcorn recipe (from this blog) and it turned out SO. GOOD. Like addicting-ly good. Bonus - it is actually really easy to make! 

(and if you pretend like you don't know how much butter and sugar goes into the caramel, it makes it that much better)

It took me about 45 minutes total to make it all (including the 30 min baking part). Plus the caramel is super easy... just mix and let it boil for 4 minutes! No candy thermometer needed. It is such a delish fall snack and would be really great for Christmas goodies too! 

Here's my "you've gotta make this" pic:

Salted Caramel Popcorn Recipe 

(Makes about 16 cups of popcorn)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unpopped popcorn kernels (about 16 cups popped corn)
• 1 cup salted butter
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup light corn syrup
• 1 1/2 - 2 tsp kosher or sea salt, divided

How to Make

1. Preheat oven to 300°
2. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Set aside.
3. Pop popcorn kernels using air popper into a large bowl.
4. In a small saucepan melt butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and 1 tsp salt together over medium heat. Bring to boil. Boil for 4 minutes without stirring.
5. Pour caramel mixture over popcorn and stir to coat evenly.
6. Pour popcorn into lined pan, sprinkle remaining salt on top (1/2 tsp - 1 tsp depending on your personal taste preference) and place in oven. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.
7. Allow popcorn to cool on a parchment lined counter.

Enjoy!! Let me know how it goes :)