Eyeball and Monster Foods - Focus on Halloween Party Menu

Details of our Halloween Party food -- I wanted to focus on a certain type of food. So, I started looking for eyeball and monster foods.  After some time, I went with what I had time to get done and was within my realm of abilities.

Here's our complete menu. I linked to the original recipe and if I made significant changes, I am going to post those below.  

Hopefully, you'll find something you'll want to use. 

Our Menu

Entrees

Tombstone Sandwiches, original recipe, see below for more info
Tortured Squash Soup, a remake of my butternut squash and apple soup
Ghost and Eyeball Pizzas, see below

Appetizers/Side Dishes

Witch Vomit, original Pinterest item
Punkin Chunk 
Hummus Veggie Tray

Desserts

Ogre Eye Cookies, original recipe
Witch's Hats, original recipe, see below for more info
Jello Worms, original recipe, see below for more info
Ghost S'Mores Brownies, original recipe, see below for more info
Monster Eye Cupcakes, original recipe, see below for more info
Monster Munch, see below

Drinks

Blood Punch

Tombstone Sandwiches

Ingredients

Hoagie Rolls (cut in half)
2 cans, Canned Chicken
2 tbsp, Miracle Whip
2 tsp Brown mustard
1 small Cucumber, peeled and well- chopped
3 tsp, Tarragon

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl.
2. Spoon into hoagie rolls.

Notes for Future: I just leaned them up against each other on a platter.  The effect would be stronger if they had been in a bed of shredded lettuce.

Ghost Pizza and Eyeball Pizza

(I only a picture of the post-cut ghost pizza -original crust recipe is from Cottage Living magazine, so old that my paper copy is wrinkled and dirty.)

Pizza Crust

Ingredients

2 cups bread flour
2 cups wheat flour
1 (1/4 ounce) envelope active dry yeast
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil

Directions

1. Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water (100 to 110 degree). Let stand 10 minutes (mixture should be creamy and bubbly.) Combine yeast mixture with 1 cup warm water and remaining ingredients in a large bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Mix at medium 5 minutes or until smooth and elastic. (Dough will be slightly wet.) Place in a large, lightly greased bowl. Cover with lightly greased plastic wrap, and let rise 2 to 3 hours in a draft-free environment. (Dough will double/triple in volume.)
2. Push dough down gently, turn into a floured surface, and divide into 3 portions (for three large pizza, can also do 6 small pizzas). Form into round balls, cover with lighly greased plastic wrap, and let stand 20 minutes.
3. Stretch dough gently into the Halloween shapes - make one look like a ghost and the other into an ellipse for the eye - directly on baking stones (I always use Pampered Chef) sprinkled with flour.  Top as desired to look like an eye or ghost.
4. Bake in preheated 450 degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes.

Toppings
Mozzarella, pre-shredded cheese
Pepperonis - for mouth
Black Olives - for black part of eyes

Witch's HatS

Ingredients

Fudge Stripe Cookies
Hershey Kisses
Chocolate for melting (I bought Wilton's melting chocolate) 

Directions

Fudge Stripe cookies flip over, melt chocolate (I picked up neon green), and make a circle around the middle hole. Then push a Hershey's Kiss into the center.

Easy peasy. 

Thinking of doing at Christmas and using white and red for Santa Hats 

Worms

So disgusting, but so worth it in terms of appearance.

Ingredients

100 flexible plastic straws (The straws with a bendable neck make the most realistic worms by adding ridges to the worm.)

Empty, clean 1-quart milk or orange juice carton to hold straws (The straws will fill up to the height of the container, the taller the better.)

1 package (6 ounces) raspberry or grape flavor gelatin
3 envelopes unflavored gelatin
3 cups boiling water
3/4 cup whipping cream
12 to 15 drops green food coloring
waxed paper

Directions

1. Combine both kinds of gelatins in a bowl and add boiling water. Stir until gelatins completely dissolve. Chill until lukewarm, about 20 min.
2. Meanwhile, gently pull straws to extend to full length; place in tall container with bendable necks at the bottom.
3. Blend cream and food coloring with the lukewarm gelatin mixture. Carefully pour into the straws. If the coloring is off, just get the red food coloring out and try to adjust the coloring.  I think mine had a bit too much green.
4. Chill until gelatin is firm, at least 8 hours, or cover and chill up to 2 days.
5. Pull straws from container or, if you’re using a carton, simply tear the carton away from the filled straws. Pull straws apart. Run hot tap water for about 2 seconds over 3 to 4 straws at a time. Starting at the empty ends, push worms from straws with your fingers.
6. Lay worms on waxed paper-lined baking sheets. Cover and chill until ready to use, at least 1 hour or up to 2 days. Worms will hold at room temperature for about 2 hours.  I filled a bowl up of the worms and placed that bowl in a bowl of ice - the worms lasted hours.

Ghost S'More Brownies

Graham Cracker Crust
1 stick of unsalted butter, melted 
1 1/2 cups crushed graham cracker crumbs 
2 tablespoons sugar 
Pinch of salt

Directions

1. Press the crumb mixture evenly over the bottom of a well-buttered 8 x 8 pan~ the scarily perfect size for 3 rows of 4 marshmallow ghosts.
2. Bake crust 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Top of S'more Ingredients

Brownie Mix, plus ingredients for brownies
Peeps - 12 Ghosts
Chocolate Chips
Mini Chocolate Chips (@12) 
 

Directions

1. Pour your brownie batter on top of the graham cracker crust and bake according to recipe/mix directions.
2. Added a layer of chocolate chips during the 5 minutes of baking time for more chocolatey-s’more-goodness and to help the marshmallow spooks stick to the brownies.
3. Place your PEEPS^® Ghosts on top your chocolate chip/brownie layer and broil very briefly!  If you do and burn them to death like I did, rescue them, scrape off the black part and put on new ghosts and make another attempt.

 

Monster Cupcakes

Ingredients

Devil's Food Cupcake Mix & Ingredients
Icing
Purple sprinkles
Marshmallows
Chocolate Chips

Directions

1.  Make the cupcakes according to the box directions.
2. Frost the cupcakes.
3. Sprinkle icing with purple sprinkles.
4. Place a large marshmallow on sideways.  Use a bit of icing to stick a chocolate chip in the center.

Notes for future:  Pre-pour all the sprinkles into a bowl. Dip the frosted cupcakes into the sprinkle - you would get fuller and better coverage.  Also, either make mini cupcakes so the large marshmallows look bigger or try two large marshmallows - would increase the "wow" factor.

Monster Munch

Basically a Halloween trail mix...

Ghost Poop - mini marshmallows
Witch's Nails - candy corn
Scarecrow Stuffing - rice chex
Worms - sour worms
Bat Poop -chocolate covered raisins
Kidney Stones - dried cranberries
Pumpkin Hearts - dried mango

Throw it in a bowl, make a cute sign and you are ready to roll!
 

Halloween Party - Monsters, Eyeballs, and Bats, oh my!

Here's an overview of our Halloween Party - Lots of monsters and eyeballs.

I am going to create a blog entry focusing on decorations and another on the food, but  I wanted to share the photos right away.   Thrilled overall with how it turned out.

The items that got the most attention - the bats on the wall and the worms treat.  

But, what we don't have pictures of it - I made the vomiting witch with fruit salad - came out great, so I am disappointed not to share it with you.  I'll add some details, but there is a video on the Liddy B. and Me blog.  

Also, no photos of our costumes -we went as "field chefs" - camflouge bottoms with chef jackets.  Actually the DH's island - he even made me a skirt from BDUs - came out pretty well.   

And no pictures of our guests - we had two astronauts, four of the characters from "Despicable Me," and a flapper girl.  Plus the non-dressers - the "preppy," the "ex-pat" (a friend moving to Baghdad in two weeks to work for our government office), and the mountain man (a friend's new guy, who was so tall and that's what he reminded me of).

The kids enjoyed the mask making area, so I'll be sure to do a small post on how we did that.

Fancy Mac & Cheese with Shrimp

We started with this pin from Pinterest.  The recipe comes from Annie Eats blog.  And below is my interpretation of this recipe.

Fancy Mac and Cheese with Shrimp

Ingredients

1 lb. whole wheat pasta shapes
1 lb. raw shrimp (31-40 ct.), peeled and deveined, cut in half (if desired)
10 oz. low fat feta cheese, crumbled and divided
Zest of 1 lemon, divided*
½ cup Panko breadcrumbs
2 tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped, divided
5 tbsp. butter, divided
4 tbsp. all-purpose flour
3 cups milk
2 tbsp. fresh dill, chopped
8 oz. Gruyere cheese, shredded (about 2 cups)
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. ground black pepper

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Cook the pasta until al dente according to the package directions. If you have frozen shrimp like I did (and didn't defrost in the fridge), no problem. Just put the shrimp in a colander and run cold water over it for three minutes or so, until it's mostly defrosted.  Then, drain the warm pasta right over top. If you have fresh or completely defrosted shrimp, drain the pasta well; set aside.  Add the raw shrimp to the warm pasta and toss together.  Either way, the heat from the pasta will partially cook the shrimp.
2. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400˚ F. In a small bowl, combine a handful of the feta, a pinch of the lemon zest*, the panko, 2 teaspoons of the parsley and 1 tablespoon of the butter, melted. Toss with a fork to combine; set aside.
3. In a medium saucepan, melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter over medium-high heat.  Once the butter is melted, whisk in the flour to form a paste. Cook 1-2 minutes, whisking constantly, until light golden brown. Whisk in the milk. Continue to heat the mixture, stirring frequently, until it bubbles and thickens, about 5 minutes.  As soon as the sauce has thickened, remove from the heat and stir in the remaining feta, Gruyere, remaining parsley, remaining lemon zest, dill, salt and pepper.  Pour the mixture over the pasta and shrimp; toss well to coat.
4. Transfer the mixture to a lightly greased 2½ or 3-quart baking dish.  Sprinkle the breadcrumb-feta mixture evenly over the top.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, until lightly browned and bubbling.  Remove from the oven and let cool 5-10 minutes before serving.

And we loved it!! And it's a five out of five on our scale.  So, it's going in the standby pile.

Next time: Pre-shred the Gruyere cheese, so it moves a bit faster.  And lessen the herbs a bit, as DH thought they were pretty strong. 

* If you don't have an actual lemon zester (mine's from Pampered Chef and it rocks), you can take a fork and basically scrape the lemon, trying to get only the yellow part and none of the white.

Another Halloween Paper Craft Banner

I made another Halloween banner.  I think this is number 4.  I may be going a bit crazy.  They are just so fun!

This time, I decided to just try to use the paper I had and play with the idea of a banner/garland.

So, I have a pack of small Halloween scrap paper.  I pulled out all the purple and green pages and cut triangles off the bottom.  I think went into other Halloween scrap paper and cut out little symbols and signs - "Creatures of Night", etc...  I thought I would do something with the triangle leftovers, but decided they just looked bizarre.

So, I played with all the cut out pieces laid out on a table.   Eventually after rearranging and rearranging, I found a combination I liked.  Each banner piece got a small black strip with an identical triangle cut out of the bottom and I put a black strip across the top of each piece - this gave the banner some continuity.  Then I took the scrap triangles from the bigger pieces and cut out a square which I glued behind the black piece. I mixed it up so the bottom piece was different from the big one.

I took the individual signs/symbols and cut them out closely.  Then, I used a foam square to mount them.  I added a few paper spiders to some of the web banner pieces.

I have to say I actually love the banner!  I used an exacto knife to make the slits for the ribbon to slide through.  The fabric ribbon makes it much nicer than the curling ribbon I used before.

Enjoy!

Chicken Cordon Bleu in a Pot

And it's time for another Chicken in the Pot recipe...what can I say I am a sucker for easy cooking.

Today, it's Chicken Cordon Bleu from Chef-In-Training.  Of course, I did a little tweaking.  I had to find a way to get some vegetables in there.

Chicken Cordon Bleu in a Pot 

 Ingredients

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (frozen)
1 (10.5 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 cup 1 percent milk
4 slices of ham
4 ounces sliced Swiss cheese
1 (8 ounce) package herbed dry bread stuffing mix (Used Arnold brand)
1/4 cup butter, melted
8 oz. frozen peas and carrots
 

Directions

1. Whisk together the cream of chicken soup and milk in a small bowl. Pour enough of the soup into a slow cooker to cover the bottom.
2. Add some of the peas and carrots into the sauce.
3. Layer chicken breasts over the sauce.
4. Cover with slices of ham and then Swiss cheese.
5. Pour the remaining soup over the layers, stirring a little to distribute between layers. Add peas and carrots as possible, trying to keep them in the liquid.
6. Sprinkle the stuffing on top, and drizzle butter over stuffing.
7. Cover, and cook on Low for 4 to 6 hours, or 2 to 3 hours on High.  My crockpot runs really warm so I set it on low for 4 hours and let it warm for another 3.  I thought it was too soupy looking so I left the lid off and let it evaporate for about 1 hour.

Enjoy!

We liked it.  DH gave it a 5 out of 5.  I gave it a 4 out of 5.  So that's a 4.5 for us - we'll be serving this again!

Next time - add double the peas and carrots to the bottom.  They were awesome and cooked up no problem.

Menu Board for the Kitchen

A newer craft project...I ordered some dry erase contact paper from Amazon. I thought it would be a great item to use for a menu board on the side of one of my kitchen cabinet.   But, I had issues.

FYI - If you leave the writing on the board too long, it really doesn't come off.

I looked into ways to first clean the paper I already hung. I tried several of the remedies from Wikihow.  I tried the Magic Eraser - that took care of some of it.  I also tried hand sanitizer.  And I tried toothpaste and vinegar.  Honestly, the best idea was going over the old marks with a dry erase marker and then wiping it off.  I got it mostly clean.  And I tried to cover what I could with the letters I made. 

Once that was ready, I started making my menu board pieces.  First I printed out on regular paper the letters - M E N U M T W T F S S.

Then, I cut out red circles and placed the letters on top.

But they looked a little sad.

So I thought glittery foam is never wrong.  I cut two circles slightly smaller than the red circles out.

And I used two sided tape to attach MENU to the top of the contact paper.

And then I placed the days of the week down the side -- no glittery foam board for them. But, I did used foam squares to attach them to the contact paper so they added a little extra dimension.

And overall, it works.  I probably should have actually measured out the days of the week and evenly spaced them.  But I like it.

Maybe when I get a Cricut or Silhouette Cameo, the letters will be a little easier to make items with.  I strongly hinted at my husband how much I really want the Cameo.  We'll see.

Goat Cheese with Herbs - Two Amazing Recipes with Bacon

Pass the Sushi's Original Recipe Photo looked like...

Another Pinterest recipe success....  plus a bonus dish below that a friend made for me last year.  The chicken dish comes from Pass the Sushi.  Here's my take on it.  Below you'll find a recipe for Stuffed Bacon Wrapped Dates. 

Because once you've opened a pound of bacon, you might was well consume it.

Stuffed Chicken with Goat Cheese

Ingredients

3 chicken breasts
1/4 cup goat cheese
1/2 teas basil
1/2 teas thyme
1/4 black pepper
3 slices bacon
toothpick
Olive Oil

Directions

1. Slice goat cheese into thin strips.
2. On a flat surface pound out your chicken to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Sprinkle goat cheese in the center of each piece of chicken and sprinkle basil, thyme and black pepper evenly over each. Using toothpicks to secure, fold the chicken up and wrap in bacon.
3. Preheat oven to 375 F.
4. Heat oil in a skillet. Place chicken in skillet and cover for 5 minutes. Rotate and brown on all sides.
5. Place a new baking dish and bake along with the other dish below for 15 minutes.

Stuffed Bacon Wrapped Dates

Ingredients

Medjool Dates
Bacon
Goat Cheese

Directions

1. Pit the dates by slicing them open on one side and extracting the pit in the center. 
2. Fill the center with goat cheese.
3. Cut the bacon in half.
4. Wrap bacon around the dates and secure with a toothpick.

Both recipes get a 5 out of 5 stars from me.

I might use smaller chicken breasts next time, but otherwise, it rocks.  

Enjoy...

Healthier Taquitos

Fast, easy and healthy...my favorite way to make a meal.

Again, I pinned this and wanted to give this baked version of taquitos (or flautas, as she calls them) a shot.  My DH loves taquitos, but I have never made them.  Somehow, that deep-fried meat just never appealed to me.  But, baked I was willing to try.

Baked Chicken and Spinach Taquitos

Yields:10 taquitos
Prep Time: 15 minutes; Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 16 ounces Beer (or chicken broth)
• 2 cups Water
• 1 teaspoon Paprika
• 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
• 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
• 1 teaspoon ground Cumin
• 1 teaspoon Chili Powder
• 3 cups Baby Spinach, chopped
• 5 burrito-size Flour Tortillas (9 inches) (we used half Carb Friendly tortillas)
• 1 bag Mexican Cheese, 2%, shredded
• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil, or cooking spray

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 450 F.
2. Put the chicken in a deep sided saute pan and cover with the beer and water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the chicken from the liquid and shred it. Mix together the chicken and seasonings.
3. Pour out all but 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid. Add the spinach and cook over low heat until for 2-3 minutes, or until the spinach is wilted.
4. Cut the tortillas in half. Spoon 1/10th of the chicken (about 1 tablespoon) along the long edge of a tortilla. Repeat with the spinach and cheese. Roll the tortilla up, starting with the straight edge. Place seam-side down on an oiled baking sheet. Repeat with remaining tortillas.
5. Brush the taquitos with olive oil or spray with cooking spray. Bake for 10 minutes, then turn them over and bake for until 10 minutes, or until crispy.

Each taquito has approx. 180 calories, 9 grams fat, 6 grams carbs, 1 gram fiber, 18 grams protein

The recipe was pretty good...would have better if I hadn't burnt the ends of the taquitos.  I served it with black beans on the side.

Recipe gets a 3.5 out of 5.   I would have preferred more spinach (next time I may double it).

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup ...Absolutely Amazing!

The best soup recipe I have made in YEARS!!! Amazing.  Absolutely amazing.

My DH had to leave town for a few days this week.  Since I was home alone, I wanted to make a vegetarian meal for me.  So, I pulled this Butternut Squash and Apple Soup from Pinterest.  The original recipe came from NPR.

I tweaked it a bit, so here's my take.

Ab Fab Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

Makes 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

1 butternut squash, about 2 pounds, peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch chunks
3 firm, sweet apples, such as Braeburn, Pink Lady or Jazz, peeled, cored and quartered
1 large onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1 tablespoon Garlic Chili Sauce
2 cloves of garlic, unpeeled and crushed
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
3 1/4 cups vegetable broth
2/3 cup light cream

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Spread the squash, apples, onion, and garlic on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with the salt, pepper, coriander and rosemary. Roast for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until all the vegetables are cooked through and golden.
3. Remove the vegetables from the oven. When they are cool enough to handle, squeeze the garlic from the peel. (I forgot to do this, but it didn't make any difference.) 
4. If you have an immersion blender, scrape the vegetables into the crockpot with the vegetable broth. Deglaze the baking sheet with 1/4 cup boiling water, scraping at the burned-on bits to capture them. If you are using a countertop blender, deglaze the pan as above and pour roughly 1/3 of the vegetables from the baking sheet into the blender/food processor and puree. Transfer puree to the crockpot. Continue this process with the rest of the vegetables.
5. Once the vegetables are pureed, put the crockpot on warm and let it cook all day.  I left it on warm for 8 hours. Then, stir in the cream and let it warm up for about 30 minutes or until the soup is warmed through and reaches your preferred consistency.
6. To serve, divide into bowls. 

And it was amazing.  I give it a 5 out of 5 stars.   Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
 

Halloween Decorations...let the crafting begin

So I am really working on crafting for Halloween this year.

The pictures below are just the beginning.

Photo 1 and 7 - I have made two more banners so far. The first banner was an easy one. So, I stepped it up a notch with photo 1 and 7 below.  I picked up Halloween scrapbook paper from Michael's.  I created my first pinwheels using these directions.  Note to those who try pinwheels - if the paper flakes when folded, they don't look as good.  And really, you need to make the seam seamless. Something I have not accomplished yet.  I cut the paper letters out from paper and glued them in the center of each one. I glued a spider onto a few of the SPOOKY banner pieces just to make it more 3D. A hole punch in the top corners and I used black curling ribbons to string them up over two window in my house.

Photo 3 - I had a photo-fronted key holder behind my front door. It was pretty boring as you can see.  So, using some cool Halloween paper, I put a 5x7 piece in each window and then taped the BOO across the top.  Popped in back in place and now it's a great seasonal piece.  Thinking of doing the same for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines, etc....

Photos 2 & 4 - These were so easy.  Photo 2 is the back of my front door, so you can see parts of 3 & 7. I took magnet tape and cut it into tiny strips.  Removed the tape from the backs and attached tiny magnets on the back of each plastic spider. Voila - then placed them on the door.  Great effect with little fuss.

Photo 5 and 10 - The monsters are just fun to create.  Really making you think outside the box. I am going to give the monsters away at my Halloween party as prizes.

Photo 6 - Loved this ghosts and monster pieces from the Bowdabra blogger. Easy to make and fun. I have to admit I cheated and didn't really make bows. I just tied the tops. I mailed them in care packages to my cousins in college and my grandparents. I also dropped off a few at my hair stylists.  Everyone loved them.

Photo 8 - Simply combine a great sign with an all feather wreath.  Great combination that totally works.

Photo 9 - I wadded up newspaper and put it in the middle of an old sheet.  Attached the arms to the ends of my window valance with paperclips.

I still have more decorations to do, but I wanted to give you all a preview of just a few of the items.

Chili Maple Chicken in a Pot

We have an unusually amount of frozen chicken breasts right now, so I am working through my chicken recipes from Pinterest.  The blog connected to the pin has a ton of recipes for "dump" chicken - meaning you can dump the ingredients in a bag and even freeze them for later. 

The other night, we made Chili Maple Glazed "Dump" Chicken.  I changed up the recipe and am calling it "Chili Maple Chicken in a Pot."  Why? Because I threw it all in the crock-pot in the morning and just let it go.

Ingredients

2 Chicken Breasts
3 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon chili powder
 

Directions

Place all ingredients into our tiniest slow cooker. I let it sit in the fridge overnight, so it was ready to pop in the crock-pot with no additional ingredients.  In the morning, I stirred it, so the chicken was coated. Left the slow cooker on low for 7 hours and warm for another 3. 


And what did we think?  We actually loved it.  Great tasting, moist chicken.  I served it over rice with peas mixed it.  We give it a 4.5/5 stars.

Birthday Treat...& Halloween Gift

So, one of my BFFs has an early October birthday.  I thought I would give her something cool to decorate her house for Halloween.  I had some leftover snakes from two cowboy birthday parties I helped throw this past summer, including on for her son.  And what do you do with leftover snakes?

Duh, you make a wreath.

I bought a grapevine wreath at Michael's  and picked up a few more rubber snakes from several places. Weirdly they can be hard to find. I used a grey metal paint and spray painted each of them in the grass in my yard.  I left a few in their "natural" color - that's the light blue and the two green ones.  I also didn't spray paint their tongues - I thought the itty bit of red made them more interesting.

After letting them dry, I spent forever weaving them onto the wreath.  I didn't want to use clips or ties.  So, they are actually woven through the grapevine shape.

I gave it to her a few days early.  And her kids love it.  While she doesn't love the snakes, she does like having a cool decoration for Halloween.