Falling Leaves and Halloween Appetizers

In the Moon of Falling Leaves 

by Joseph Bruchac

Joesph Bruchac is of Abenaki Indian and Slovak descent. He is one of America's most respected and widely published Native American authors. To read his poem you need to know that the author's birth date is October 16 and today with snowflakes dancing in the air, a grim reminder winter is just around the corner. 

This autumn scene pictured above fits Bruchac's  poem.

I was born in the Moon of Falling Leaves,

that time when summer's harvest 

falls from every maple tree,

painting the forest trails

golden as sunlight

and crimson as Great Bear's blood.

Each October brings back the scent

of fires burning on the hills,

the first etchings of frost

on my bedroom windows, 

the departing wings

of a thousand geese

cutting the clear cold sky. 

There is no time closer to my heart,

than this season of changes

when the balance tips between 

darkness and light,

when the last flowers

nod in our garden,

when so many things

are about to end,

so many about to begin. 

Several weeks back Google Search was installed on Ever Ready for readers to better access different postings on my blog. For some inexplicable reason this search engine stopped working. Today a new and different search engine was installed. There are two options when trying to find a recipe: type in keyword such as blueberry, click go, and then click on either sort it by date or show all posts.  All recipes with blueberry in it pop up. You will find this search engine very user friendly. 

Halloween Food Ideas

Thai-spiced Deviled Eggs
Recipe serves 6

Ingredients:

• 6 Eggs
• 2 TB. thick coconut milk, cold(not low fat) or mayonnaise
• 2 tsp. Thai Curry paste (I used the Thai Kitchen brand)
• 1 tsp.ketchup
• ½ tsp.paprika plus more to sprinkle
• ½ tsp. spicy mustard
• ¼ tsp. Sriracha or other red chili sauce
• Salt to taste
• For the pumpkin look -need paprika and 1 spring/green onion 

Directions:

• Hard boil egg. Peel and slice. Gently remove yolks.
• Place the yolks and all the other ingredients in a small bowl and mash until very smooth. Mound the yolk mixture into the egg whites or transfer it to a ziploc bag, cut a corner off and pipe yolk mixture out. 
• Wet your finger and pat the surface of the filling smooth. Using a toothpick draw lines to make the ‘pumpkin’ indentations. 
• Sprinkle with paprika if desired. Cut up the green part of the onion to make tiny stems and add them to finish off the pumpkin look.

Chicken Satay

recipe from Betty Crocker- Add an Asian flair to your Halloween gathering

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 TB. lime juice
• 2 TB. honey 
• 1 TB. dark sesame oil
• 3/4 tsp. ginger
• 1/4 tsp. crushed red peppers
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 10 uncooked chicken breast tenders
• 10 green onions
• 1-1/4 cups Thai peanut sauce
• 20 bamboo skewers-6 inch length

 Directions:

• Soak skewers in water for one hour.
• Mix soy sauce, lime juice, honey ,sesame oil, ginger, red pepper flakes and minced garlic.  
• Cut each chicken tender in half lengthwise.
• In a glass dish pour marinade over chicken and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours.
• Thread each chicken strip on skewer, twist chicken to look like a snake.
• Grill 6-8 minutes or bake in an oven on a parchment lined cookie sheet @375 degrees for 20 minutes.
• Serve with peanut sauce.