A dessert that is delicious and funny, with nothing to mix or bake? Gotta love these Strawberry Ghosts! Perfect for Halloween!!
Ingredients
1 pkg Regular or organic strawberries
1/2 pkg White Candy Melts (available at Michael’s)
1/4 cup Semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preparation
Wash and pat dry strawberries. Prepare a large piece of wax paper. Melt the Candy Melts in a double boiler or follow package instructions. Dip the strawberries into the melted candy and place on wax paper. Within a few seconds place the chocolate chips into the dipped strawberries before the candy “sets”. Melt the remaining chocolate chips in double boiler or follow package instructions. Once the chocolate chips are fully melted, you can either place it in a pastry bag or dip toothpicks into the chocolate and carefully draw the mouths on the strawberries with the chocolate on the end of the toothpick.
Presentation
You can refrigerate for a few hours up to a day, If you keep refrigerated for too long, the juice from the strawberries will start to seep from the candy.
With a vegetable / potato peeler, slice zucchini into thin strips to create the first layer of salad on the salad plate. Blanche asparagus and cool. Cut asparagus into bite sized pieces and place on top of the zucchini. Place the cooked salmon on top of the zucchini and asparagus. You can have it as one whole piece or cut it into smaller pieces. Slice each grape tomato in half and top off salad with the tomato pieces.
To make dressing, mix the balsamic vinegar, garlic, and olive oil together until combined.
Get ready for one of the cutest ideas for your Halloween party! These Green Monsters were a huge hit at my party. Even with a buffet full of cupcakes and cakes, my guests seemed to gravitate to the plates that showcased these little guys. They are also very simple, which is right up my alley!
Monster Rice Krispie Treats
4 tbsp butter
1 bag of mini marshmallows
6 cups rice cereal
5-10 drops green food coloring (depending on how green you would like your monsters to be)
“eyeball” candy (available at Micheal’s or Jo-Ann’s in the baking section)
1. Microwave butter in a large bowl for 30 seconds.
2. Add Marshmallows to bowl and stir
3. Microwave mixture for 45 seconds. Stir and add food coloring. Microwave an additional 45 seconds.
4. Stir marshmallow mixture well and add rice cereal.
5. Use two spoons to create “lumps” of cereal on wax paper. Add monster eyes.
“Witches’ Claws” are without a doubt the hottest dessert this Halloween. You can find the recipes in almost any book or magazine. The drawback is that they all require quite a few ingredients, not to mention kneading and mixing. Not ours! We found a fun and simple way to create a similar dessert, but with a twist! And since the cookies flatten after you take them out of the oven, it was very fitting to call them Monster Road Kill, since they look like someone ran over them! Either way, they are delicious and spooky!!
Ingredients
1 pkg Peanut butter refrigerated cookie dough (nothing with chips or chunks in it)
1/4 cup Peanuts
Chocolate syrup or chocolate icing
Preparation
Cut the cookie dough just as you would to make round cookies, then cut the cookie circle in half. Form a long cylinder with your fingers or roll the dough between the palm of your hands to form something that looks like a fat snake or worm (great task for kids!). Arrange the cookies on a cookie sheet and if you wish, create indentations where the knuckles are. Bake according to package directions. The cookies will flatten as they bake, turning out looking as if something ran over them on the road. Once the cookies are ready and have cooled, make the gnarly fingernail by taking half a peanut and adhering it to the tip of the cookie with chocolate syrup or chocolate icing. That’s it, you’re done!
This is one of the most unique salads I’ve ever made. The potatoes bring an interesting texture to the salad, while the dressing brings a tangy zing. This salad is a meal in itself. Enjoy!
Ingredients
1 lb potatoes (any potato will work)
1 large red, green, organge, or yellow bell pepper.
2 small zucchini, sliced
1 small onion, thinly sliced
2 large tomatoes, sliced
12 oz smoked chicken (we used prepared chicken meat from the store)
1 avocado
DRESSING
2/3 cups plain yogurt
1 tbsp chopped chives
3 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tsp dijon mustard
Preparation
Cut the potatoes in half and boil until tender in the center. You can keep the skins on (scrub well) or peel them. In the mean time, blanche zucchini for 2 – 3 minutes, depending on how you like it. We prefer our zucchini firm, so we do not blanche over 2 minutes.Start slicing all vegetables (bell pepper, onion, avocado and tomatoes), prepare on a plate so everything is easily available when it’s time to assemble. Slice the chicken meat and set aside.
Mix the dressing ingredients together and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
When the potatoes are ready, drain, cool, and slice them. Distribute the potatoes evenly on to four dinner plates (your first layer). Salt and pepper them, then with a large spoon, pour some dressing on top. Then start stacking the other layers. Add the zucchini, onion, and tomatoes. Spoon some dressing over that layer. On top, add avocado and smoked chicken. Salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle with chopped chives.
Presentation
This salad is best served individually on a plate. It is beautiful and requires layering. I would NOT recommend tossing this salad in a large bowl.
Ahhh… the power of suggestion!! That’s what I love most about Halloween. Merely suggesting that something may be something else can have a powerful impact on how your guests perceive the food that you are serving. Ketchup becomes blood, guacamole becomes puke, hotdogs wrapped in breadsticks become mummies. I can go on and on!
Well, these scorpion eggs are no exception. Simply taking a few powdered donut holes, arranging them on a plate and adding either gummy or plastic scorpions to them immediately transforms them from cute little powdered pastries to scary scorpion eggs! The irony is that I have no idea what a scorpion egg actually looks like, and I will assume that neither do many of my guests, especially if they are kids. But I guarantee, that no one will shy away from partaking in this unique delicacy! In fact, this was one of the most popular items at my recent Halloween taste test kitchen! Enjoy!
There is nothing like serving something really pretty at a dinner party, especially when it’s healthy and delicious! This salad is beautiful and easy… a great combination for any party or even a simple dinner for two!
Ingredients
Watermelon slices
Romaine lettuce
Feta cheese
Black olives
Sunflower seeds
Raspberry vinaigrette dressing (mix
Preparation
It doesn’t get any simpler than this. Arrange the Romaine lettuce on a large plate. Cut watermelon slices into triangle pieces and arrange in the center of the lettuce. Sprinkle feta cheese as desired. Add black olives and sunflower seeds last. Leave the salad undressed until you are just about to eat, then lightly cover the salad with the raspberry vinaigrette.
I found a great idea for “Monster Eyes” on the web. My favorite part about this appetizer plate? This recipe is pretty much “guilt-free”! The original recipe included a basil leaf, mozzarella cheese, a slice of a grape tomato, and a slice of olive. To add a little zing, you can drizzle a bit of balsamic vinegar on top.
Of course, I had to experiment a bit more and maybe shave off just a few extra calories. I added my own twist by using spinach leaves (I have both spinach and basil leaves in the below photo) and substituting mozzarella cheese with a flavored SKINNY COW cheese slice. You can eat this whole plate and not even think about the calorie content!! DONE!!
Looking for the perfect dessert for Halloween? This is it!! Out of all my taste test kitchens, these EYEBALL CUPCAKES were simple to make and disappeared within minutes. I purchased the gummy eyeballs from Michael’s but if you are looking to make a lot of cupcakes, your best bet is to order them online. Oriental Trading Company has a a good selection of gummy eyeballs at a fair price.
If you are feeling super crafty, you can create your own gummy eyeballs. I found a great video which goes through the process step by step. Visit Cooking With Karma, she makes it look so easy!
Last but not least, I tried to simplify this recipe as much as possible. If you follow my version, you should be done with this recipe in 5-10 minutes. The biggest time saver is that I purchased ready-made cupcakes from Sam’s. I purchased 30 cupcakes for $15 which comes to $.50 per cupcake. But if you LOVE to bake, making your own cupcakes and icing is just fine. I also tried this idea on cupcakes with yellow frosting, it looked even MORE creepy! No Halloween party is complete without these easy cupcakes, so go for it and make your own!
INGREDIENTS:
12-24 Ready-made Cupcakes
12-24 Gummy candy eyes
1 tube of ready-made icing (purchased at Micheal’s or Jo-Ann’s)
PREPARATION
Remove the gummy eyeballs from their packaging and place them on top of each iced cupcake. Take your tube of icing and create a bloodshot look. Get creative, it’s hard to mess up on this project. You are done!
This delicious Russian Salad is absolutely heavenly. If the sound of beets does not excite you, trust me when I say this, it WILL when you try this salad!
Ingredients
3 beets
4 carrots
3 medium potatoes
10 oz sauerkraut drained
6 small pickles or 3 medium ones
1 cup boiled beans of your choice (or you can substitute peas or omit completely)
3-4 tbsp sunflower oil or olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
salt to taste
Preparation
Boil carrots and potatoes until they are soft in the middle. Boil beets separately until soft in the middle. Let cool and come to room temperature and then peel the carrots, potatoes, and beets.
Dice beets in a separate bowl and drizzle with 1 tbsp of oil and mix well. Dice all other ingredients and put in a separate bowl. Add sauerkraut and beans. Combine the beets with all other ingredients and add the rest of the oil. Salt to taste.
This salad is great when it’s left overnight for all the ingredients to intermingle. Serve with fresh parsley or dill as garnish.
