Am I alone in thinking that Halloween has gotten out of control?
Having grown up watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" on CBS prime time specials, instead of from a DVD, Halloween had a very special mystique.
It was about the smell of burning leaves, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows, that smoky aroma permeating our food and clothing...
I remember the excitement of "pumpkin night", when my dad would help us carve the pumpkins. Our job would be to scoop out the slimy, seedy mess onto newspapers spread out on the floor. He would masterfully create the scariest visages on those pumpkins.
No wonder we hardly ever had any trick or treaters to our house....or perhaps it was because we lived at a wooded dead end of the street and Mom would turn off the lights and blast scary Halloween sound effect records. More than a few kids cried.....
It was about the excited anticipation of Halloween, planning my costume and how Mom would craft it. One year I was a princess fairy (no surprise) and Mom made my wings out of bending hangers and stretching pantyhose over them. I loved it!
My brother and I would take off into the neighborhoods at dusk, plastic pumpkins in hand, returning a couple of times to dump them out and head back to the streets to fill them up again. One of our neighbors were dentists and they always gave out toothbrushes and those awful red tablets you chewed to find out where the cavities were fermenting in your teeth.
It's a wonder no one egged their house..
We would be out for hours, dashing from house to house. You could hear "Trick or Treat!" being chanted blocks away by dozens of kids.
Commercialization has taken over Halloween and it seems more for the adults now than kids. Halloween goods hit the shelves just after the 4th of July...you'd think it was Christmas, for crying out loud!
I get it...the grown up parties, the decorations, the booze brings in a whole lot more cash. Until our house became a truly scary dump with the construction accident, we had our own Halloween parties that bought into the whole adult extravaganza. Hopefully we will again...
But I miss the innocence of the "Great Pumpkin" age....
I took the kids to a pumpkin "farm" today.
It was more like a pumpkin amusement park....it certainly cost as much as an amusement park!
There were carnival rides,
pony rides,
pig races, hay tunnels,
corn mazes, tractor rides,
haunted barns and train rides. (BTW, do they sell these-here stocks at Walmart? Just kidding...)
The whole place was paved and the "farm" feel was lost on me.
Don't get me wrong...the kids had a lot of fun, but all I saw was what a huge moneymaking event it was.
It was over the top when we walked past the vomiting zombie fountain on the way to the Porta Johns.....
Satisfied with their pumpkin farm fix for the year, we drove the 90 minutes home.
I was yearning for a little fall comfort and nothing soothes my soul ( and love handles!) like a little cooking. So I made some chili, corn muffins and salad and this CRAZY GOOD dessert....S'mores Bars from the October issue of Family Circle. Halloween may have gone the way of the mighty dollar,
but it will always be more homespun in my heart....
Makes 24 bars
Crust
14 whole graham cracker boards, crushed
3 T sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 stick melted butter
Brownie
6 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
3 eggs
1 1/4 C sugar
1 C flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
Topping
1 jar (7.5oz) Marshmallow Creme
2 T milk
1 C choc chips
3 whole graham cracker boards, broken
Heat oven to 350. Crust: In a small bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, salt and melted butter until evenly moistened. Transfer the crumb mixture to a 13 x 9 baking pan; press crumb mixture evenly over the bottom and up sides of pan. Refrigerate until chilled and set. Brownie: combine the bittersweet chocolate and butter in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave chocolate mixture 1 minute. Stir the chocolate mixture until smooth. Nuke 15 seconds more if needed. In a large bowl beat together the eggs and sugar on med high speed until well blended. Reduce the speed to medium and gradually add the melted chocolate mixture. Beat until smooth. Stir the flour and salt into the egg mixture; stir in the vanilla until smooth. Scrape the brownie mixture into the crust lined baking pan; smooth the top level. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Topping: whisk together the marshmallow creme and the milk until well blended and smooth. Pour the marshmallow topping mixture over the brownie layer. Tilt the pan to level the topping , covering the brownie layer completely. Sprinkle the choc chips and broken graham crackers over the top. Bake at 350 for 3 minutes or until the chocolate chips are glossy. Cool completely and cut into 24 bars. ADDICTIVE!
