Harvest Day - Barnyard Bash

Centerpiece: Flickering Luminaries

Invitations: Cut out animal shapes on construction paper and write the party information on these. Hand deliver to your guests.

Decorations: bales of hay, bunches of dried cornstalks, autumn leaves, pumpkins, gourds, and dried corncobs. Serve food in western bandanas attached to sticks. Be sure to make a scarecrow. Carved out pumpkins make great serving dishes or chip bowls.

Scarecrow

4 small spools
1 large spool
Jute cording
Wooden ball for head
Craft glue
Acrylic paint
Raffia
Marking pen (optional)

1. Paint the large spool and two of the small spools brown. Paint the other small spools blue. Allow to dry.

2. String the body together using the jute cording. The large spool is the body of the scarecrow. The small brown spools are his arms and the blue ones are his legs.

3. Put a little bit of glue on the raffia and stuff into the holes so it looks like the scarecrow has straw coming out his arms and legs.

4. Paint or draw a face on the wooden ball. Glue the ball to the body.

5. Glue some raffia to the top of the scarecrow's head.

Party Pumpkin Patch Place Cards

In addition to guiding your guests where to sit, these cute place cards make yummy take-home treats.

8 fudge-coated graham crackers
green decorating icing
8 chocolate sandwich cookies
½ c chocolate fudge frosting
½ c shredded coconut, tinted green
8 pumpkin candies

Place the sandwich cookie on the bottom. Attach the graham cracker cookie onto the back, lengthwise. Your name would be written lengthwise on that cracker. On the right corner of the sandwich cookie you would place a candy pumpkin. Then you would place some tinted coconut around it and extended toward the left side of the sandwich cookie.

DRYER VENT PUMPKINS

Pumpkin orange paint (acrylic or spray paint)
19" Dryer Vent
Raffia
Sponge Brush
Silk Fall Leaves
Hot Glue Gun
Brown Paper Twist

Cut Dryer vent tubing into 19" pieces. Take the tubing and tuck one end into the opposite end forming a circle (you want the circle to be as tight as possible). Staple to hold in place. This forms your pumpkin.

Paint the "pumpkin" with paint. The acrylic paint will have a dull finish and takes about 1/2 hour to dry. The spray paint has a shiny finish and takes about 10 minutes to dry.

After the pumpkin has dried take about 5 strands of raffia and scrunch it up and glue on top of the pumpkin. It does not have to be neat because the fall leaves will cover it.

Place fall leaves on top of the raffia and glue into place.

Take 6 inches of paper twist and open it up. Fold into thirds long ways, then fold in half. Tuck in bottom edges of raw edge and glue in center of leaves on top of pumpkin. Bend paper twist to form stem.

Take 3 strands of raffia and make a bow (like tying your shoe). Glue at base of stem.

Harvest Beauty

Do not throw away the seeds and pumpkin flesh from your pumpkin. Make a wonderful body/facial mask out of the seeds and pumpkin flesh. Place 2-3 cups of the flesh into a food processor and blend for a couple of minutes. The mash should be lumpy but some of the seeds should have broken down to release their oils. Place this mixture all over your body and face. Let sit for 15 minutes. Wash the mixture off with a warm shower. Be sure to cover the drain to catch the mask, otherwise you may plug the drain. This will leave your skin smooth and silky. If you have any seeds or flesh leftover that has not been used place them in a freezer bag and freeze to use another day.

Dinner

Dinner in a Pumpkin
Serves 6
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1 small to medium pumpkin
1 4-oz can sliced mushrooms, drained
1 onion, chopped
1 10-oz can cream of chicken soup
2 T vegetable oil
1 8-oz can sliced water chestnuts, drained
1 1/2 to 2 lbs. ground beef
1 1/2 c cooked rice
2 T soy sauce
2 T brown sugar

Cut off top of pumpkin; clean out seeds and pulp. In a large skillet, sauté onion in oil until tender; add meat and brown. Drain drippings from skillet. Add soy sauce, brown sugar, mushrooms and soup; simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add cooked rice and water chestnuts. Spoon mixture into pumpkin shell. Replace pumpkin top and place entire pumpkin, with filling, on a baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour in 350-degree oven or until inside meat of pumpkin is tender. Put pumpkin on a plate; remove top and serve. For your vegetable, scoop out cooked pumpkin and serve.

ABCs OF CARVING A PUMPKIN

1. Take a firm, big pumpkin that's free from bruises. Cut a star-shaped lid from the top, tapering the lid so that it is wider on the rind edge than on the inside (this helps to keep
the lid from falling in if it shrinks).

2. Scoop out the seeds and fibers from the pumpkin's inside and lid. Save the seeds to
toast later for snacks.

ROASTED PUMPKIN SEEDS

3 tablespoons of vegetable oil

Scoop out the insides of the pumpkin and rinse the seeds. Dry them and then fry them in a frying pan for 15 minutes. Make sure you stir them a little. Dry the oil with a towel. You can add salt if you wish.


Sloppy Joes
Serves 8
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1 lb lean ground beef
1 c chopped onion
1/4 c chopped dill pickle
½ c ketchup
1/4 c honey
1/4 c tomato paste
1/4 c prepared mustard
2 t cider vinegar
1 t Worcestershire sauce
8 hamburger buns

Cook beef and onion in a large skillet over med.-high heat 'til beef is brown and onion is tender. Drain. Stir in remaining ingredients except buns. Cook, covered, 5 min, or til heated through. Spoon meat mixture onto bottoms of buns. Cover with tops of buns.

DIRT PUDDING
Serves 10-12
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1-pkg. Oreo cookies
4 T. stick margarine
1 - 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
1 - 12-oz. Cool Whip
3-1/2 c. milk
2 small pkg. instant vanilla pudding

Melt margarine and mix with Oreo's. Save 1 cup for topping. Press remaining mixture into pan for crust. Cream cheese and gradually add milk. Add pudding & blend well. Blend in Cool Whip by hand. Pour into crust, sprinkle reserved Oreo's on top and refrigerate.

Line small flower pots with foil and putting enough for one serving in them and sticking a fall flower (after wrapping stems with foil) in the pot with a gummy worm.

Dirt Pie
Serves 8
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1 pkg. (4-oz size) Chocolate Instant Pudding
1 cup cold milk
1 container (1L) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed
1/2 cup crushed, chocolate graham wafers
1 1/2 cup Miniature marshmallow
1 9-inch prepared graham crumb crust
Gummy worms for garnish

Prepare pudding according to package direction, reducing milk to 1 cup. Fold in whipped topping. Stir in 1/4 cup of the cookie crumbs and all of the marshmallow. Spoon into crust. Sprinkle top with remaining cookie crumbs. Decorate with gummy worms. Freeze until firm, about 4 hours. Remove from freezer 10 min before serving for each slicing.

Crockpot Caramel Apples
Serves 8
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2 pkg caramels -- 14oz each
1/4 c water 8 med apples

In crockpot, combine caramels and water. Cover and cook on high for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, stirring frequently. Wash and dry apples. Insert stick into stem end of each apple. Turn control on low. Dip apple into hot caramel and turn to coat entire surface.

Holding apple above pot, scrape off excess accumulation of caramel from bot tom apple. Place on greased wax paper to cool.

Haystacks
Serves 8
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Melt 12 oz. butterscotch bits and add 1-cup peanuts to melted mixture. Stir in 1 can Chinese noodles. Mix and drop with spoon onto waxed paper to harden.

Bird Poop
Serves 8
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5 cups of peanut butter crunch cereal 3 cups of Rice Krispies
2 cups of skinny pretzels/broken in half 2 lbs. of white chocolate
2 1/2 cups mini marshmallows

Mix all dry ingredients in large bowl. Melt white chocolate in double boiler; pour over dry ingredients and spread out on wax paper to cool. Break into chunks.

Peanut Butter Pumpkins
Serves 8
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1/2 c peanut butter
1/2 c honey
1/2 to 1 c powdered milk
raisins
sesame seeds

Mix peanut butter and honey well in a mixing bowl. Add powdered milk and
keep mixing until everything is blended into a nice dough. Shape tablespoons
of dough into round balls or flatten them like a cookie. Decorate with raisins
and sesame seeds to make eyes, nose, mouth, and teeth, like a jack-o;-lantern.
Place finished pumpkins on waxed paper and chill n the refrigerator for an
hour. Makes 10 - 15 pumpkins.

Frosted Pumpkin Cookies
Serves 8
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3 doz. chocolate or vanilla wafers or sugar cookies
orange icing
candy corn; red hots

Icing - 1 c confectioner's sugar; 1 T soft butter; 2 T milk

Spread cookies with orange icing. Put candy corn eyes and nose and red hots for the mouth.

Spider Cookies
Serves 8
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2c Chocolate chips, semi-sweet divided
1/2c Crispy-rice cereal
1/4c Shredded coconut
1 1/2c Chow mein noodles
Cake decorator frosting in tube; if desired

Melt 1 cup of chocolate chips in a heavy saucepan over low heat. Mix in the cereal and the coconut. Drop teaspoonfuls of the mixture onto waxed paper for the spiders' bodies. Melt the second cup of chocolate chips. Gently stir in chow mein noodles. When chocolate is cooled, pick noodles out one by one and attach them to the spider bodies for legs (8 to a spider). Add dots of frosting for eyes, if desired. Leftover chocolate noodles can be made into more spider cookies.

Spice Bags for Warm Winter Drinks

8 sticks cinnamon, broken into small pieces
2 whole nutmegs, crushed
1/3 cup minced dried orange peel (or 1/4 cup ground)
1/3 c whole cloves
1/4 cup whole allspice berries
optional: garnish with cinnamon sticks, slice of orange, lemon peel, ...

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl, tie in sachets of 1 tablespoon each in a double thickness of cheesecloth; transfer to an airtight container. One sachet of the mixture will flavor 1 quart of cider, tea or wine.

To use, simmer 1 quart of the chosen beverage with 1 sachet for 20 minutes; ladle into mugs. If desired, add a garnish or a sprinkling of additional spirits.

A jar of these packets with instructions for use also make a nice gift.