October 2007 Monthly Dinner Menu Plus Some Spooky Recipes!
- Worms and Eyeballs (Spaghetti and Meatballs) with Salad and Vampire Proof Garlic Bread
- Left Over Worms (Spaghetti)
- Hot Dogs On Grill With Chips And Baked Beans
- Rotisserie Chicken with Butter Beans, Pasta and Rolls
- Steak, Lima Beans, Garlic and Herb Pasta and Croisants
- Blood (Tomato Soup) with Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
- Sushi (eat out)
- French Toast
- Chicken with Maggots (Rice) and Yeast Rolls
- Left Over Chicken And Maggots (Rice)
- Pork Chops with Sweet Peas, Mac & Cheese and Rolls
- Black Beetles (Beans) and Maggots (Rice)
- Brooke's Homemade Pizza! (made to look like a Jack -O-Lantern) :)
- Roast Beef with New Potatoes and Sauteed Fresh Green Beans as well as Biscuits
- Left Over Roast Beef
- Fried Eggs, Bacon, Grits and Toast
- Chunky Cat Barf (Smothered Chicken) Over Rice, Asparagus and Corn On The Cob (The Smothered Chicken is made with Cream of Mush. Soup)
- Left Over Chunky Cat Barf From Last Night Will Be Used To Make Easy Chunky Cat Barf Noodle Soup (Crock Pot Chicken Noodle Soup)
- Orange Beef Stir Fry with Rice
- We Will Be Attending A Night-Time Halloween/Birthday Party so we will be having sandwiches or eating at the party... Oh by the way, I will be taking Brains & Fingers to the party! yay! The kids will just love it! (recipe below)
- Chili Rubbed Flank Steak with Cabbage Salad and Sauteed Parsley and Vampire Proof Garlic Green Beans
- Roast Pork Tenderloin with Pan Roasted Rosemary Potatoes and ???
- Leftover Pork Roast
- Sloppy Gobblins (Sloppy Joes) With ???
- Manicotti with Tomato Sauce, Salad and Cheesy Witch Brooms (recipe below)
- Shish Ka Bobs
- Halloween Fish Stick Graveyard (recipe below)
- Mummy Dogs with Homemade Tater Tombstones (Hot Dogs wrapped in dough to look like mummy's with homemade potato french fries cut to look like tombstones) :)
- Corpesloaf (Meatloaf) With Green/Purple Colored Monster Mashed Potatoes, Gravy and Sauted Spinach ~The Meatloaf will be formed into coffins :)
- Leftover Meatloaf :)
- Barbecued Bat Wings :) (recipe below)
Here are some of the Halloween recipes from above:
Brains Panna Cotta with Pomegranite Sauce
1 cup milk
5 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
4 cups heavy cream
1 cup + 1 Tb sugar, divided
pinch salt
2 Tablespoons vanilla
8 oz. pomegranite juice
1/4 cup cornstarch
Place milk in a small bowl and sprinkle gelatin over the top. Stir and let sit for about five minutes so the gelatin can rehydrate a bit.
Combine cream and sugar in a pan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and salt. Add the gelatin mixture and stir again until combined. Pour into (brain) mold, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight or until mixture is completely set.
To unmold, gently tilt mold so sides of the panna cotta pull away a bit, then place on platter or plate. You can also dip the bottom of the mold into warm water to help in unmolding.
(For non-brain occasions, pour into small custard cups, ramekins, or a large bowl)
For the pomegranite sauce, I just got a small bottle of Pom Wonderful, added three heaping spoonfuls of sugar so it wasn't so tart, mixed in about 1/4 cup cornstarch, whisked like crazy, then brought it all to a boil in a small saucepan while stirring. The consistancy is rather disgusting, but that's the whole point!
This looks especially creepy set out on a really nice platter. Also quite effective on a carving board with a large chef's knife plunged into the center
P.S. If you don't have time for this recipe, jello works wonderfully!
Fingers (cookies)
makes ~ 5 dozen
Yield: 5 dozen
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla
2 2/3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup whole blanched almonds
raspberry jelly
In bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg, almond extract and vanilla. Stir dry ingredients together, then add to wet and stir thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes.
Working with one quarter of the dough at a time and keeping remainder refrigerated, roll a scant tablespoon full (I used a 1 oz. cookie scoop) of dough into a thin log shape about 4" long for each cookie. Squeeze closest to center and close to one end to create knuckle shapes. Press almond firmly into the end of the cookie for nail. Using paring knife, make slashes in several places to form knuckle. You want them a bit thin and gangly looking, since they'll puff a little when you bake them.
Place on lightly greased baking sheets (or use silicone sheets or parchment); bake in 325F oven for 20-25 minutes or until pale golden. Let cool for a few minutes.
Meanwhile, melt jelly over low heat in a small saucepan.
Carefully lift almond off of each finger, spoon a tiny amount of jelly onto nail bed and press almond back in place so the jelly oozes out from underneath. You can also make slashes in the finger and fill them with "blood.
You can also form toes - just make the cookies shorter and a bit wider and only add one joint instead of two. No almonds for these, just indent where the nailbed should be and add a bit of melted jelly to highlight once they are baked.
Halloween Fish Stick Graveyard
Preparation time:
15 minutes
Total time:
30 minutes
Ingredients:
12 Gortons Fish Sticks
3 cups cooked Instant mash potatoes
Milk (for instant potatoes)
Water (for instant potatoes)
Butter (for instant potatoes)
Salt (for instant potatoes)
½ cup pre-cooked bacon - crumbled
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
½ cup dark brown beef gravy
1 cup Shredded Lettuce
Bacon bits
Plastic gallon freezer bag
Bake fish sticks according to the packaging. Make mash potatoes with
the milk, water and butter according to the packaging. Reserve ¼ cup of
the mash potatoes and combine the rest with the brown gravy and
Worcestershire sauce. Evenly spread the gravy mash potato mixture in an
8x11 glass baking dish. Cut the fish sticks in half width wise, so to
have 2 tombstones. Insert the tombstone fish sticks about ¼ into
the gravy mash potato mixture so they are standing upward. Sprinkle the
shredded lettuce and crumbled bacon around the tombstones. Place the
reserved mashed potatoes in the freezer bag and cut one corner of the
bag and pipe two dollops (one on top of the other) randomly over the
graveyard to resemble ghosts. Use bacon bits for the ghosts eyes and
mouth.
Cheesy Witches Brooms
2 (11 oz.) packages cornbread twists or breadsticks
1/2 C. shredded Parmesan cheese
Separate cornbread twists, and place on a baking sheet. Flatten 1 end of dough,
and cut dough into small strips to resemble a broom. Sprinkle cut end with
cheese.
Bake brooms at 375° F. for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned.
Barbecued Bat Wings
4 pounds chicken wings
2 cups ketchup
1 1/2 cups molasses
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
Hot sauce to taste
Salt
Black pepper
Black paste food coloring
Blue paste food coloring
Green paste food coloring
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Boil the chicken wings for twenty
minutes in a large pot. While the wings are cooking, prepare the
sauce. Whisk together the ketchup, molasses, vinegar, Worcestershire
sauce, sugar, hot sauce, salt, and pepper until smooth in a large
roasting pan. Add enough black, blue, and green food colorings to
the sauce to make a dark black sauce. Place the pan in the oven and
bake for 10 minutes, stirring once.
Drain the wings well and add them to the sauce and toss to coat evenly, poking the wings liberally with a fork.
Bake for 20 minutes, then increase the temperature to 450 degrees.
Toss the wings in the sauce again to coat evenly. Bake until the
sauce is thickened and slightly blackened, flipping the wings over
occasionally, about another 15 minutes. Serve hot or at room
temperature.
Makes 8 Servings.