Special Holiday Meals: Columbus Day Menu

Columbus Day is celebrated on the 2nd Monday of October…

“In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue…

We tried to do a little research to find out what a ‘traditional’ meal would be, but the results were a little crazy!


This is what we came up with:

Columbus Day Menu

Grilled Pork Chops w/Greens or possibly a seafood dish

Eggplant Parmesan or Italian Shakshuka

Caprese Salad w/Bruschetta or Breadsticks

Cannoli or Indian Pudding w/vanilla ice cream


Celebrating these Holidays gives us a chance to make history a little more interesting!

What do you think you would add to this menu?

Homemade Pizzelle Cannoli

We wanted to make this in honor of Christopher Columbus Day, which we happened to celebrate a little early, as it fell during the Biblical Feast of Sukkot this year. I think they looked pretty good, and everyone agreed that this will need to go on REPEAT for the dessert schedule!

This is not the traditional way to make Cannoli, however, this is the easiest way for me to get them made during busy days here. We found that we can use our Pizzelle recipe to make the shells… gotta work quick to roll them up, but it isn’t too bad other than your fingertips get a little warm. Having a cannoli roller works well, but is not completely necessary… we use a turkey baster to roll some of them, and it worked just as good!

NOTE: You definitely do not want to fill them too early. I chose to fill them before we served dinner, and they were still crunchy after we ate, but some of them were a little soggy the next day. We did put some in the freezer, and the kids really liked them!

Don’t worry if you don’t have a Pizzelle Maker or forms… you can turn this filling into dip, and eat it with some graham crackers, or fresh fruit!

Continue reading “Homemade Pizzelle Cannoli”

Special Fall Meals and Recipe Links

I just realized that I never made a post for the special summer meals and recipe links but here is the one for Fall… I do believe that a lot of the recipes were on the blog but this just makes them easier to find.

If you haven’t checked out our Perpetual Meal Plan – Fall 2024 then you should do it NOW! It’s completely FREE and a lot of the recipes can be found right here on our blog. Plus we’ve got lots of ideas for those special meals that happen during September, October, and November. Hopefully, you will still have time to grab the items you need for the upcoming meals!

Special Holiday Meals: October Edition

** When we made these meal plans we didn’t know we’d also be hosting a baby shower and wedding but you can find those menus on other posts… so much excitement this year and having a menu plan in place has allowed us to make so many special memories!

Continue reading “Special Fall Meals and Recipe Links”

October Holidays

I will try to update this list with some fun activities as well. Feel free to click the links to find out more about the origins and meanings behind these special days. I plan to incorporate a few of these into our normal homeschool routine to add a little fun and excitement to our days. We’ll update this page with ideas as we go along. Have fun and maybe make up your own personal family holiday or tradition for the month!

Special Fall Meals and Recipe Links

This month is also known as:

  • Adopt a Shelter Dog Month
  • American Pharmacist Month
  • Apple Jack Month
  • Awareness Month
  • Breast Cancer Awareness Month
  • Clergy Appreciation Month
  • Computer Learning Month
  • Cookie Month
  • Domestic Violence Awareness Month
  • Eat Country Ham Month
  • International Drum Month
  • National Diabetes Month
  • National Pizza Month
  • National Vegetarian Month
  • National Popcorn Popping Month
  • Seafood Month

The weeks are also recognized as:

  • Week 1 Get Organized Week
  • Week 1 Customer Service Week
  • Week 2 Fire Prevention Week
  • Week 2 Pet Peeve Week
  • 14 – 20 Earth Sciences Week
  • Week 3 Pastoral Care Week

(These links will be updated as we get closer to the actual holidays.)

I found this list and more here:

National Homemade Cookies Day (1st)

National Kale Day – first Wednesday of October

Taco Day (4th)

Do Something Nice Day (5th)

World Smile Day first Friday of month

World Teacher’s Day (5th)

International Frugal Fun Day – first Saturday of the month

Mad Hatter Day (6th)

World Card Making Day – first Saturday of the month

American Touch Tag Day (8th)

Columbus Day – second Monday of October

Fire Prevention Day (9th)

Leif Erikson Day (9th)

National Angel Food Cake Day (10th)

World Egg Day  – second Friday of month

National Dessert Day  (14th)- take an extra helping, or two

White Cane Safety Day (15th)

National Pasta Day (17th)

National Pumpkin Cheesecake Day  (21st)

National Bologna Day (24th)

Navy Day (27th)

Frankenstein Friday – last Friday in October

Make a Difference Day–  fourth Saturday of the month, neighbors helping neighbors

National Chocolate Day (28th)

National Candy Corn Day (30th)

**Check out this recipe here for Candy Corn Finger Jello Recipe

Carve a Pumpkin Day – no surprise here (31st)

Halloween (31st)

**Check out these ideas for a No-Sugar Halloween party

Also, be sure to check out my October board on Pinterest for more ideas and activities!