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Scary, fun fast Halloween treats

Halloween creeps closer and closer with each passing day.

Are you throwing a themed party this year? Do you have children and/or grandchildren for whom you want to make special treats and eats?

Unfortunately for me, all of my better half Charles’s and my children are grown, and our grandchildren don’t live close to us. Therefore, I just really don’t participate in this holiday anymore.

I can hear an audible gasp from many of you reading this. No, I’m not one of those people who don’t turn on their porch lights to deter trick-or-treaters. Actually, we live in the country and don’t get any.

When my daughters, Ashley and Tracie, were young, I never hosted a Halloween party or made special foods for them. Two primary events persuaded my reasoning for this decision.

            CANTON HERALD-Oct. 26, 1961:  it was a sad occasion last Friday night when the Canton Eagles lost their first conference game of the season to the Van Vandals, 26 to 16.  The Vandals were not to be denied even though they trailed at the half by score of 8 to 6. The Eagles were first to get into the scoring during the early minutes of the 2nd quarter when fullback Randy Nix got loose and ran 50 ½ yards for a touchdown.  With 28 seconds left before the half, the Eagles tried a pass play from their own 21-yard line only to have it intercepted by the Vandals on the Eagles 28 yard line. It took only 4 plays for the Vandals to get on the board with a pass play from the arm of quarterback James Hill to halfback John Thorne good for the final 9 yards and a touchdown. The Vandals second touchdown came early in the third quarter and resulted from a Canton fumble on their own 25-yard line.

Craving hearty casseroles

I don’t know about you, but when the weather turns cooler in the fall, I crave hearty casseroles. You know the type that’s practically a meal in itself. Not only are these dishes easy to prepare, but also they eliminate a lot of meal planning, which can sometimes causes mental stress especially if there are picky eaters in your family.

With these casseroles, there’s no need to rack your brain about what sides to prepare that would complement your entrée. All you really need is a green salad or maybe a piece of cornbread or a roll, and you’re done.

Today I’m sharing my original recipe called sloppy joe casserole inspired by my love of hearty casseroles and the cooler weather of fall. While formulating this dish, I incorporated my substitute recipe for a popular corn-muffin mix, which I shared with you during the last few weeks.

CANTON HERALD-October 19, 1961: One of the two escapees from Van Zandt County jail on Oct. 2 was sentenced to two years in the penitentiary at Huntsville in acting Judge Gordon Wynne’s District Court room Monday morning. The other escapee who took part in the jailbreak was acquitted of charges of robbery in the same court last week, but is being held in the county jail pending trial for stealing an automobile and breaking jail. The two escapees were captured near Terrell on Oct. 3 after forcing their way out of the Canton jail the day before. As they pass through Myrtle Springs on their escape route they had allegedly stolen a pickup truck from Leon Bridwell, which they abandoned before their capture. The jailbreak initiated one of the largest man hunts ever staged by law officers from Van Zandt, Henderson, Kaufman and Smith counties as well as officers of the State Department of Public Safety. L. F.

Ideally, Sundays allow me to clear my mind, rest and prepare for the upcoming school week. However, on my most recent Sunday I sought prayer for what seems to be the social implosion of education overall.

While I enjoy my job as an educator, I am increasingly concerned about the rage, rebellion, opposition and apathy that is firmly rooted in the elementary education setting. As I query my K-5 educator peers in different districts, the reports are unfortunately the same and in some cases, worse.

Most elementary students respond positively to a variety of behavior interventions; however, there is an increasing number of students who don’t or won’t. The amount of time spent managing these young students’ volatile, violent behavior is excessive.

A blunder becomes a success

I admit that I am a recipe and cookbook collector—fanatic may be more accurate. My daughters Ashley and Tracie know that they can never go wrong by giving me a cookbook for any occasion whether it’s my birthday, Mother’s Day, or Christmas.

In fact, I’ve told them numerous times that the cost of the book is insignificant to me. I will love and appreciate a garage sale find just as much as a pricey bookstore purchase. To be quite honest, a church cookbook compiled by its members is my very favorite type.

For my birthday about 12 years ago, my older daughter Ashley gave me a cookbook titled Food Network Favorites: Recipes from Our All-Star Chefs. Many of the chefs featured happened to be the ones I watch most often on TV. At that time, Paula Deen’s show was my very favorite.

CANTON HERALD, October 12, 1961: Van Zandt County Home Demonstration Club women are planning “to get acquainted with our neighbors” as they meet for Achievement Day Oct. 27 in the Board-Elwood Community Center. Final plans were made for this event at the October Council meeting with Mrs. J. R. Cotton in charge.

Three ladies from the County have entered dresses in the State Fair and will participate in this Style Show in the Women’s Building on October 14 at 11 a.m. They are Mrs. J. The. Lewis and Mrs. B. A. Fenter of the Van Club and Mrs. Doris Burns of the extension staff in Canton.

There will always be students who don’t operate by the rules that govern everyone else. There are many reasons students misbehave. Family problems, poor parenting, illness, hunger, and learning or emotional disabilities are common triggers for students with persistent behavior problems. Regardless of the etiology, the outcomes of ill-managed student behavior are costly to the achievement of the student and his or her classmates.

Every year, my educator friends and I experience student behavior that alarms us more than behavior the year prior. We agree the intensity of aggressive behavior is increasing and the age of the aggressors is falling simultaneously.

I’ve witnessed violently assaultive five-year-olds. I cannot understand how students can get that far out of control in such a short period of time. I understand tantrums or stubbornness, but the outright defiance and rage-filled violence towards others is hard to understand.

Oh, no! It happened again!

For the umpteenth time, I found myself without a necessary ingredient for a recipe, an event I’m sure many of you also have faced. In my case, most of these elusive ingredients seem to fall into one particular category, which I like to refer to as products of convenience.

This time, my not having a box of corn-muffin mix created a great deal of inconvenience for me. This predicament inspired me to discover a way to prevent this from ever happening again.

So, I conducted a bit of online research for homemade copycat recipes. During my research, I located eight sites listing the same recipe. There could be more, but I stopped searching after that. With so many, who knows who actually created the original recipe?

Before formulating my own, I baked a box of the popular commercial brand from which to perform comparisons. Then, I prepared the most often-posted copycat version.

Canton Herald-Oct. 5, 1961: Mrs. Lesta Irene Craddock, 67 died at 4:10 a.m. Tuesday in a Tyler hospital after an illness of two weeks. Funeral services were held at 2 o’clock Wednesday afternoon at the First Baptist Church in Van with Rev. E. H. Dickerson of Kaufman officiating assisted by the pastor, Rev. Steve Ditsmore. Interment was in the Union Chapel Cemetery under direction of Hilliard Funeral Home of Van. Mrs. Craddock was born in Garden Valley. She moved to Van in 1913 and had lived there since. She was married in 1914 to J. C. Craddock, a clerk in the Van public schools.

Funeral services for Isaah Edward Haynes, 80, were held Tuesday, Oct. 3, at Eubank Funeral Chapel with Rev. Joe Fort officiating. Interment was in Hillcrest Cemetery under the direction of Eubank Funeral Home. Mr. Hayes was born Aug. 26, 1881 in Wills Point and passed away Monday, Oct. 2, in a Wills Point hospital.