Maddie’s been obsessing over Halloween all year since we saw THE MONSTER last year! When we went trick or treating last year, some guy in an “Alien” costume. We should have noticed the front step was littered with abandoned candy. When we walked up & yelled “Trick or Treat” the door opened reaaaaaaalllllyyyyyyyyyyy slowly, smoke came out, an alien with a skull face slithered over to the door and held up a massive claw which we finally figured out, he expected us to “high five.” Most of the kids shrieked and some dropped their candy. Maddie & her friend Aston DID eventually high five him & get more candy to replace the candy they had spilled/dropped.

Here’s some of the poorly shot video. I was Foofah. If you know what that means, we are bonded for life. Or until our children move out.

Ever since, she’s been scared all year but dying to see more monsters.

Oh, here is a cute one of Maddie & Aston lest you think they were terrified the whole time.

Finally, the year passed & it was almost Halloween again! We headed over to the Grant School Halloween Festival a week prior.

First the girls got dressed.

A fairy princess.

And a Kentucky Wildcat cheerleader.

Maddie insisted on pulling Bea in the wagon. It seemed like a good idea at first.

But was slow-going. (30 minutes later we are now 2 houses from ours.)

Maddie went in the bouncy house.

Should I or shouldn’t I?

She went for it!

Her dismount.

Bea at the petting zoo.

This baby goat entertained everyone by jumping on his mama’s back.

Then he nursed from his mama as the outdoor part of the festival was shutting down.

After the sun went down we decided to venture into the “Haunted Hall.” The girl at the door asked us how scary we wanted it. How scary? That’s like asking how spicy you want your Thai food. “Medium scary,” I answered, playing it safe. We walked in and instantly 3 figures approached us, horrible, scabby, melty faced folks – Maddie shrieked in my ear – a never-ending shriek – which brought out the girl from the front who then ran through the hallway instructing the various demons, ogres, witches, corpses, monsters & what looked inexplicably like Batman’s “The Joker” to not be scary. The Joker thought it wouldn’t be scary if he sang “It’s a Small World.” The Joker was mistaken.

We went home & stewed on that for a week and finally the day had arrived, and it was Halloween. I tried to feed the girls this beautiful corn chowder I had made but no. They preferred not to fill up on vitamins & nutrients when they knew candy was coming.

I ended up doing what I end up doing every night, I ate the corn chowder myself. Maddie & G ate some later that night and everyone ate it the next day. What was I thinking?

Anyway, you will LOVE this corn chowder! If you have fresh corn, it’s better but you can definitely use frozen if that’s what’s available.

Here’s what you need:

NOTE: I either forgot to include before or changed some of the items in this picture after taking so enjoy the picture but read the directions!

INGREDIENTS:
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 bell peppers (red, yellow & orange), finely diced
4-5 ears of corn (I only had 4), kernels sliced off
1/4 c all-purpose flour
3 cups vegetable broth
2 cups milk or half & half
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese
1/3 c green onions
8-20 smallish potatoes (You can omit these if you don’t have them – just cut out 1 cup of veg broth and 1 cup of milk. If it’s too thick, add some back!)

OPTIONAL: bread bowls

1. Chop onion fine. I think I go overboard on this since people in my family are so sensitive about natural looking/shaped plant matter.

2. Saute chopped onion in oil/butter on medium high heat (you can do all 4 tbsp butter or all 4 tbsp olive oil or do what I did: 2 tbsp butter & 2 tbsp olive oil.) for about 4-5 minutes or until onions are translucent.

3. Add chopped peppers & saute (stirring occasionally) for another 2 minutes.

4. Add corn for another 2 minutes. (ALWAYS stir occasionally to be sure all the veggies are coated in the butter/oil.)

5. Add flour & stir, being sure all the veggies are coated with flour.

6. Add the broth & stir. Soup will start to thicken at this point.

7. Add milk.

8. Remember the bag of potatoes in the fridge and quick as lighting peel & dice them! I made the pieces pretty small since I didn’t think I had much time to make them tender. Oh wait, you diced them already being that you probably read the whole recipe BEFORE you start cooking! Well, truth be told, the recipe I was looking at didn’t have potatoes in it and it was at this point I realized I had a lot of broth in my soup and a lot of potatoes in my fridge so I went for it! But you were prepared ahead of time. Add those taters to the soup & turn it to boil hard for about 7 minutes. Test a potato or two & turn it down low when they’re tender enough.

9. Add green onions & cheese. I usually prefer to grate my own cheese – I read something about the pre-grated cheese having mold inhibitors on it and it also seems kind of dry. That being said, I still use grated sometimes! In short, add whatever cheese you have, like, was on sale, etc. to the soup & stir, stir, stir!!!! Now it’s looking reallllllllyy good! NOTE: I hardly had any green onions. It was one of those times you’re in the store thinking, “Oh yeah, I have a TON of those!” when you don’t.

Adapted from The Pioneer Woman’s Corn & Cheese Chowder.

Maddie ate some when she got home from trick-or-treating!

After taking inventory.