Three Hits This Week!

Weekend Halloween parties and trick or treating on Monday threw my meal planning slightly out the window, but I made it up by being efficient mid-week.

A tradition in the Duffy household: Halloween's the only night the children can have candy for dinner. Maybe it's not a good idea, but I've never been able to figure out how to feed them something decent on that night. As a kid, I remember going trick or treating and then having to come home and eat chili (which, at the time, I hated) before having any candy. So, maybe that's the reason we don't even try. In any case, we call the day after Halloween--also All Saint's Day--the Halloween Hangover. Daughter #1 and #2 don't want to get up because they've been jazzed all day by school activities and the excitement about dressing up and trick or treating, then eating too much junk and staying up too late. And hubby-bubs lies in wait until they go to bed so he can raid their stash! I wake up the next morning and find candy wrappers everywhere. Each year I implore him: if you're going to hit their stash late at night...HIDE THE EVIDENCE!

Anyhoo, we're back on track. My first big hit was the vanilla scones I made from scratch on Tuesday night--in honor of a friend's birthday. Best scone I ever made, I gotta say.

Second hit--spag and meatballs on Tuesday night. I have a personal quest to make the best meatballs. I've done enough research to think that the perfect meatball requires a delicate combination of meats and herbs. I admit I typically use ground beef or chuck, so that's probably a strike against me. But, for some reason, this time around, they were delicious!

The coup de gras is the fact that I planned ahead and, while cooking the spag and meatballs and baking the scones on Tuesday, I coupled the ingredients to make spaghetti tacos for tonight! If you're not a regular iCarly watcher, you may not know about spaghetti tacos. The first time I made them, I did it for the daughters, but they are actually pretty good and fun--check out recipes for my personal touch on this iCarly fave.

I was inspired by our food service folks this week--they made chicken enchiladas. I've rocked the house with my own, so--now that the weather is again turning to the cold side--I will make this over the weekend.

Look for my story about etouffee and planning for the holidays coming up.