Happy Halloween!

I know I'm a day late here, but we had, and are having, quite the celebration. Like last time, I wish I had some pictures, but I was just so busy I didn't have time. However, I want to share the experience and some of what I made.

When we woke up, I made a simple breakfast of green eggs and ham. My husband and I weren't hungry, so we made something funny for the little one. Once we'd gotten picked up and set up decorations, I got the appetizers going:

Rotten Eggs - deviled eggs with dye
Place a dozen eggs in a pot with cool water, enough to cover the tops.
Boil the eggs until the bottom end floats to the top, and then a couple minutes longer.
Remove the pan from heat, and after a minute or two, begin cooling the eggs. Drain the water and fill the pot with cool water. Repeat, again and again, until they're cool. You can speed this up by rolling the eggs in the water every time you drain them and replace with new cool water.
Drain most of the water, leaving just a small coating on the bottom of the pan.
Crack the eggs, not entirely like you're scrambling them, but enough to put cracks in the shell. "Crunch" them up in your hand a bit, so that there are cracks all around the egg.
Add 4-5 drops of blue/green dye to the water. Let the eggs sit for 10-15 minutes, rolling them around occasionally.
The eggs will dye along the cracks, making them look gruesome!

Peel the eggs. By the way, this is easier if you use eggs that aren't brand new.
Slice the eggs in half longways and pop the yolks into a dish.
Mash the yolks with a fork.
Add 3 tbsp mayonnaise, 1 tbsp mustard, 2-3 tbsp relish (to taste), and about a teaspoon of sugar, plus 2-3 drops of green and 1 drop of red dye, and mix. You can add more of anything if you don't like the taste of it.
Scoop the mixture into the eggs and serve, topped with a little paprika, or a spider...

Puking Pumpkin - Carved pumpkin with avocado salsa
Carve a pumpkin, but put the mouth low and large. Name him or her affectionately and set your new poor friend on one end of a platter.
Chop up an avocado, a yellow onion, 2-3 green onions, a Roma tomato, 2-4 jalapenos (depending on size), and mince a clove of garlic. Squeeze in some citrus fruit if you have any. Mix it all together, and pour the salsa into the pumpkin, letting the salsa come out of the pumpkin's mouth.


Once the appetizers were out, all I had to do once people arrived was set out sandwiches and 2 liter bottles of soda. I got a pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter and cut the bread, meat, and cheese slices into pumpkin shapes and set on a plate.

Then, it was time to make dinner and the desserts. You see, I didn't want to miss the whole party for slaving in the kitchen. So, here's the basics, and I'll tell you how I did it.

Monster Heads - Stuffed bell peppers
Boil rice, fry sausage, mix together with chopped tomato, oregano, and basil. Cut the tops off of bell peppers and remove the seeds. Put the mixture in, top with cheese for "hair", and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Witch's Brew
Scoop lime sherbet into a bowl in small scoops. Pour in 7 Up slowly. It froths up cool-lookin'. Just be careful, you will get a brain freeze!

Chocolate Graves 
Chocolate pudding in little cups, topped with Oreo "grave dirt" and cookie "tombstones"


In order to get all of this done as efficiently as possible and put it all on the table at once, I'll share the order I did it in. This is something I really care about, having nothing cold while the rest of dinner is still cooking, and having dessert chilling while dinner is being eaten.

Cut Milano cookies in half so you have little "gravestones" and write on them with decorator's icing, "RIP" or initials. Set in the fridge so they'll keep. Start the water boiling for rice. 2-3 cups of rice works for about 6 large bell peppers. Cut the tops off of the bell peppers, remove the seeds, and set in a baking dish. If your dish is too large for the peppers, instead of trying to squeeze them in, use the large pan. Just make an artificial "pan" of tin foil that's the size of your peppers. It'll hold them up. Once you're done removing the seeds, your water should be boiling. Add your rice and turn the heat down to medium and cover.

Get chocolate pudding mix, mix with milk, and beat for about 2 minutes. Set in the fridge to cool for a minute. Remove filling from cookies and crumble them into a dish. Fry up 1 lb of sausage and chop a tomato while it's frying, and preheat the oven to 350. The rice should be done about now. Add rice, sausage, and tomato together and fill the bell peppers. Top with shredded cheese "hair" and put them in the oven.

Get out little cups and scoop the pudding into them, put cookie crumbles on top and any cute candies you have (I had little fall leaf sprinkles), and stick a Milano cookie grave in each. Put them in the fridge. Scoop your sherbet into the bowl you're going to serve Witch's Brew in and pour the soda on top. Take the Monster Heads out of the oven, and carve little eyes and mouths. You can just push them into the peppers to not waste food. Put them on a serving platter, and move the Monster Heads and Witch's Brew to the table. When everyone's done eating, the pudding graves will be chilled and ready for dessert.

Today, since our celebration's still going, I "fried" apples in butter, cinnamon, a pinch of nutmeg, and when they were soft melted caramel on top. I'm also on my way to make a cottage pie. Tomorrow I'm going to roast some red potatoes and onions in balsamic and olive oil with some rosemary, and I'm baking a pumpkin pie.

I hope you all had a fantastic Halloween.