Red Garage Door

Make a fire-breathing dragon mask
Games, poems, paper lanterns and more
Lots of crafts & activities for learning about China & Chinese New Year
Wreath
Crayola has lots of projects
Chinese Zodiac game
See and read explanations of Chinese New Year with video clip of the New Year parade and celebration, a Fortune Cookie Factory and more
China, Chinese New Year’s, and The Giant Panda Bear Themes
Lots more info on 2008 – The Year of the Rat

Misc links for a vegetarian Thanksgiving.
Vegan Holiday Dinner Recipes
Bryanna’s Vegan Holiday Menu
Gentle Thanksgiving
Vegetarian Thanksgiving (Vegan Friendly!)
Vegetarian Thanksgiving Menu
Vegetarian Entrees for the Holidays
191 Vegan & Thanksgiving recipes
A Vegetarian Thanksgiving with Tofu and Seitan

Tasty Tofu Roast
Ingredients:

6 lbs. firm tofu

Stuffing:
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced celery
1 Tbs. sesame oil
1/2 tsp. sage
1/2 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. parsley
Salt and pepper, to taste
3 cups cubed whole wheat bread
2 cups cubed corn bread
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1/2 cup walnuts or pecans (optional)

Basting Liquid:
1/2 cup sesame oil
1/4 cup soy sauce

Directions:

One hour before cooking, mash the tofu and drain it well.
To make the stuffing, sauté the onion and celery in the sesame oil; mix the seasonings into the cubed bread; combine everything, adding enough vegetable broth to moisten; add nuts if desired.
Preheat the oven to 400 F.
Press the tofu with your hands to form a hollow center, fill with the stuffing mixture, and press down; flip the tofu onto an oiled baking sheet.
Baste the tofu with 3/4 of the sesame oil and soy sauce mixture, cover with foil, and bake for 1 hour; remove foil, baste again with the remaining basting mixture, return to the hot oven, and bake uncovered for 20 minutes or until golden.
Transfer to a serving platter and serve with gravy.
For this and other Thanksgiving recipes, visit www.GentleThanksgiving.org

Pumpkin-Ginger Soup

Ingredients (use vegan versions):
1 small cooking pumpkin
1/2 cup raw cashew pieces
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger (or to taste)
salt to taste

Directions:
Soak cashews in water to cover for several hours. This step is optional, but helps them blend better. Cut pumpkin in half, remove seeds, and bake cut side down at 350 degrees F until very tender (45 minutes to one hour). Scrape pumpkin from the peel and puree in a blender, with any juices, in batches. Put pureed pumpkin into your soup pot. Blend cashews in blender until smooth and add to the pumpkin puree. Rinse the blender with a little water and add to the pot. Add a little more water if its too thick. Add ginger and salt to taste and heat gently for a few minutes to blend the flavors. For an even easier variation, use frozen, cooked squash.
recipe credit http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=10540.0;wap2

This recipe looks simple, inexpensive and tasty to try this weekend. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Download a Detroit Tigers Pumpkin Stencil.
Type in your zip code to find some Halloween events near you.
Staff of the White House share some of their stories of weird noises at the White House. Also has word search, quiz, coloring page, and more.
Halloween Origami.
This looks like a fun activity! Using Excel, students answer questions to create a silly, spooky, fill-in-the-blanks story. It says you can Microsoft Excel or another spreadsheet program, but I haven’t tried it yet. I use Quattro Pro.
Newsword has Halloween worksheets you can download in pdf. The worksheet sets have about 15 pages each! Look under the headings Fall Themes and October.
Halloween on a Shoestring has some ideas we’ve used to make the festivities more enjoyable.

The Detroit Zoo’s Zoo Boo, a “merry-not-scary” family event, returns for 2006 with an exciting treat trail full of treats and a Haunted Reptile House to explore! Zoo Boo will held October 19-22 and October 26-31.

Step back in time to a turn-of-the-century Hallowe’en. Meet colorful characters on eerily lit paths. Feel the whoosh as the headless horseman rides by and collect a delicious trove of treats and treasures along the way. Hallowe’en at Greenfield Village will be held October 13-15, 20-22 & 27-29, 2006.

A co-worker let me use her recipe on my website, Homeschooling on a Shoestring. I’ve reprinted it here for the holiday season. I like it, however it is quick thick tasting, you definitely need a glass of milk and I’m sure it’s not health-friendly at all. If you know a good Vegan version, let me know.

Pumpkin Roll

Cake:
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup solid pack pumpkin
Mix and set aside.

3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Blend in with top mixture.

Filling:
8 ounces cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon clear vanilla
4 Tablespoons butter
1 cup powdered sugar
Mix until creamy.

Spread on cookie sheet, sprinkle with nuts. Bake at 325ºF for about 15 minutes or until done. Dust towel with powdered sugar. Turn cake over on towel and roll up. Allow to cool completely. Mix filling. Unroll towel and spread filling over cake. Roll up, wrap and freeze.