Ingredients

• 1 shot Gin
• 1 shot Creme de Menthe
• Splash Pineapple Juice
• Splash Ginger Ale

Preparation

Ingredients

• 1 can/jar Marinated Artichoke Hearts
• 4 small tomatoes (yellow, red, or both)
• 2 oz Prosciutto
• 1 large handful of basil leaves
• 1-2 cups Mixed greens
• Dressing
• 3 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 garlic clove crushed
• 1/2 tsp mild mustard
• 1 tsp honey
• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

The month of October was a busy one for me!  While doing research for my upcoming book, I decided to try-out some fun Halloween recipes I found on Pinterest, magazines, books, and various other sources.  The goal was for me to see if some of the most popular recipes were as good as their inventors claimed they were.  So, over the past four weeks, I’ve had four taste test kitchens and invited children who’s ages range from 8 to 13.

The main goal was to have these kids try some fun recipes and tell me what they REALLY thought.  And that is exactly what I got!

I had various kinds of feedback… too sweet, too salty, not enough sugar, too dry… but predominantly they were all thumbs up.  The sugared cookies, pictured above were by far, the most popular items.  Super easy and a few ingredients, who could ask for anything more?

INGREDIENTS

1 package of Pillsbury Sugar Cookie Dough
1/4 cup of flour
1 Package Betty Crocker Cookie Icing – Black
Candied Googly Eyes available at most craft stores in the baking section

PREPARATION

Remove the Pillsbury dough from package and put in a large bowl. Add 1/4 cup of flour and knead with your hands until the dough forms. Flour your cutting board and place the dough on top. Flour your rolling pin and roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch. Remember to keep flouring your rolling pin a little bit with every roll. This dough tends to be sticky.

Get your bat cookie cutters and cut out your cookies. Repeat the step to roll out the dough with any leftovers.

Place the bat cookies in the oven and cook according to dough package direction.  Keep an eye on them, the thinner the dough, the faster they tend to burn.

Once cookies are done, let them cool and harden.

Once the cookies are cooled, begin decorating them. Just snip off the tip above the second ring, massage the bag a little bit and make your outline. Then, flood the bat and add the googly eyes. Let dry 5-10 minutes and enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1 medium smoked chicken (available at any grocery store)
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 2 ripe avocados
• 1 lemon
• 1 head lettuce
• 1 bag arugula
• To Make Dressing
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp walnut oil
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp fresh mixed herbs (a mixture of fresh herbs such as parsley, lemon thyme, mint, etc.)
• Salt and Pepper

Preparation

Seriously, how can you not fall in love with this great idea for an appetizer? It’s easy to put together and fun for guests to nibble on. All you need are carrots, parsley, green onion, toothpicks, and hummus.

A few years ago I posted this recipe (on the bottom left) but then realized that you can use pre-cut and bagged carrots (main image) instead of cutting them yourself.  Best part? The pre-cut and bagged carrots have ridges and are different shapes, a lot like pumpkins. Still yummy but now you can save a step and not have cut the carrots!!!!

Ingredients

• 1 pkg Hummus
• 2 carrots
• 1 green onion
• 1 bunch fresh parsley
• toothpicks

Preparation

Here’s a fun Halloween recipe which will take you five to ten minutes to prepare!  This was fun to make and fun to eat!  My kids loved it and the kids at my Halloween Taste Test Kitchen gobbled these little cuties up within minutes.  What do I like most about it.  Portion size!  Since you are working with snack-sized chocolates, you immediately have your portion sizes figured out for you!  Trust me, you’ll love that!!

INGREDIENTS

1 bag of Snack sized Three Musketeers chocolates
1 bag of marshmallows
1 package of candy googly eyes
1 bottle or bag of ready-made red icing

PREPARATION

Arrange the Three Musketeers chocolates on a plate or platter.  Take a marshmallow and start slicing it to create the large portion of the eye.  Take the slices of marshmallows and adhere them to the candy.  Adhere the googly eye to the marshmallow.  Finally, pipe the red icing on to the marshmallow to make it look like a bloodshot eye. The first and the lasts slices of the Marshmallow will not be sticky on one side. If you will be using these pieces, adhere them with the red icing.

Who says you can’t eat healthy during Halloween?  This super easy veggie platter was a hit at my taste test kitchen.  Kids loved the selection of veggies and you can even customize the platter to incorporate the vegetables your kids prefer… sugar snap peas instead of broccoli, white asparagus instead of cauliflower, I can go on and on!

These “snake nest” cupcakes were a hit at my recent Halloween taste test kitchen.  Moms loved the recipe because you can prepare the cupcakes  in a matter of minutes!

All you need are ready-made iced cupcakes, yogurt covered raisins, and gummy worms.  Place two or three yogurt covered raisins (“eggs”) on top of each iced cupcake and place a gummy worm (“snake”) around the eggs.  Place a small printed sign saying “BEWARE: Snake Nest Cupcakes” and watch them disappear!

Ingredients

• 5-6 oz Orange Juice
• 1 shot Black Vodka
• Black Olives
• Cream Cheese

Preparation