CHEEZY ZOMBIE

This Halloween party recipe is just too funny for words-- and with a minimal amount of work. You can put him together out of whatever ingredients you like. Soft goat cheese, plain cream cheese. With this silly Halloween recipe, it's all about presentation. Just place this poor cheese guy on a festive Halloween tray and watch your guests crack up, and feel guilty for digging in!

Ingredients:

~3 (8 oz.) packages soft goat cheese or cream cheese
~1/3 C. chopped parsley or chives
~1/3 C. finely chopped nuts
~2 tbsp. poppy seeds (optional) 2 small button mushrooms
~3-4 broccoli florets
~1 slice from a narrow red bell pepper

Instructions:
1. On your serving platter, form your cheese into a man shape, like that pictured. If the legs and arms are at odd angles, it's gives the impression that he's writhing in pain.
2. Gently press chopped parsley or chives into cheese from the "waist" down to make pants. Make poppy seed "shoes" if desired.
3. Press the finely chopped nuts from the waist to neckline, to make a nut shirt. Leave "hands" bare.
4. Chill until firm, 2-3 hours at least.
5. Decorate the head with button mushrooms for eyes, broccoli hair, and a screaming red pepper mouth.
6. Allow to soften slightly before serving. Surround with your preferred combination of cheese, meats, veggies, and crackers.

This is one of the most easily adjustable easy Halloween recipes you can make. Want to make a smaller Zombie for a small dinner party? Use less cheese. Want a larger one? Simply buy more cheese. Since the rest is just decorating, it's easy to adjust your ingredients. This recipe makes a medium-sized Zombie, enough to feed about 15 people.

Click here for more freaky recipe ideas!

MUMMY MEATLOAF & CHEESY SWAMP CREATURES

Here's a great dinner idea from the same people who brought you the original "Haunted Mansion".  Nobody does it better than Disney! So before heading out with your kids for a night of trick-or-treating, put a chilling spin on some classic comfort foods. Serve our Mummy Meatloaf and a side of cheesy Swamp Creatures, and your little tricksters won't be able to stop ogling their food! (Or will it be ogling them?)

MUMMY MEATLOAF

Ingredients:
~Meatloaf from your favorite recipe (ours used about 2 pounds of meat)
~American cheese
~Olive slices

Instructions:
Make your favorite meatloaf recipe and shape the loaf to resemble a mummy's body with crossed arms. Bake the loaf until it's cooked through.

Let it rest about 3 minutes, then lay 1-inch-wide strips of American cheese across the body as shown, leaving a narrow space on the head for the olive slice eyes. Trim any overhanging cheese with scissors and return the mummy to the still-warm oven to slightly melt the cheese, about 1 minute.

SWAMP CREATURES

Ingredients:
~Macaroni and cheese
~Sautéed spinach
~Olive slices

Instructions:
Mix up a batch of macaroni and cheese, then spoon it into greased muffin cups and bake until firm, about 25 minutes.

Let the creatures rest for about 10 minutes, then gently remove them from the tins. Place them upside down on a swamp of sautéed spinach and add olive slice eyes.

Check out more creeepy-yummy ideas from Disney Family Fun!

CHEESY SNAIL STEW

Well, almost....it's really Hot Dog Mac & Cheese Soup. You'll need a few ingredients, and it only takes about 20 minutes, start to finish! I promise the kids will love it!

Prep Time: 10 min. Cooking Time: 8 min.

Ingredients:
~4 - ounces ( 1-1/2 cups) uncooked dried small macaroni shells
~2 - Tablespoons butter
~2 - Tablespoons all-purpose flour
~1 - teaspoon Dijon-style mustard
~1 - can (14-ounces) chicken broth
~1-1/2 - cups Fat Free Half & Half or milk
~1/2 - pound slice (1 inch thick) Deli American Cheese, cubed 1-inch
~1 - cup chopped or sliced hot dogs
~Salt and pepper, if desired

Directions:
Cook pasta according to package directions. Set aside.

In a 3-quart saucepan, you want to melt butter until sizzling and stir in flour and mustard.

Add broth and half & half. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, for 4 to 5 minutes or until mixture comes to a boil.

Reduce heat to low and stir in cheese until melted.

Next, stir in macaroni and hot dogs.

Cook for 4 to 5 minutes or until heated through. Salt and pepper to taste.

COOKIE PIZZA

Try this cookie pizza recipe made with refrigerated sugar cookies, it'll only take you about an hour and I think the kids will go bonkers over it!

INGREDIENTS:

~1 roll (16.5 oz) Pillsbury refrigerated sugar cookies

~1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

~1cup candy corn

~1/2 cup raisins

~1/4 cup vanilla ready-to-spread frosting (from 1-lb can)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Line 12-inch pizza pan with foil; grease foil with shortening. Cut cookie dough into 1/4-inch-thick slices; arrange in pan. With floured fingers, press slices to form crust.
 
2. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until deep golden brown. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
 
3. Use foil to lift crust from pan. Carefully remove foil from crust; place crust on serving platter or tray. Spread peanut butter over crust. Sprinkle candy corn and raisins evenly over top.
 
4. In small microwavable bowl, microwave frosting on High 10 to 15 seconds or until thin and drizzling consistency. Drizzle frosting over cookie pizza. Cut into wedges or squares.
 
Check out the Pillsbury site for more recipes!

HERE'S LOOKIN' AT YA!

OGRE EYE COOKIES

Ingredients:

~1 stick (1/4 lb.) unsalted butter, at room temperature

~1/2 cup sugar

~1 egg yolk

~1 teaspoon vanilla extract

~1 1/4 cups flour

~1/2 teaspoon salt
~Green sugar
~5 long strands black licorice, cut into 1-inch lengths
~36 white-chocolate chips
~36 brown mini M&Ms

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F. Cream butter and sugar in a mixer. Mix in yolk and vanilla, then flour and salt, well. Roll into balls (size of a large marble). Coat in green sugar. Bake on 2 baking sheets for 12 minutes; rotate pans halfway through.

Remove from oven. Lightly indent centers. Push licorice "eyelashes" into cookies; bake for 2 minutes. Push tip of whitechocolate chips into centers. Bake for 3 minutes. Immediately press a mini M&M in center of each chip. Cool.

Makes 3 dozen cookies. Yummy! Click here for more recipes!

TRANSYLVANIAN "GOUL"ASH

With Halloween around the corner, why not set the theme with a big batch of Transylvanian Goulash?

INGREDIENTS:
~1 lb. ground beef
~1 med. onion

~1/2 c. chopped green pepper

~2 (8 oz.) cans tomato sauce or 1 (1 lb. 13 oz.) can undrained tomatoes and 1 can tomato sauce and omit juice
~2 c. water
~2 c. macaroni noodles (6-8 oz.)
~2 tbsp. sugar
~2 tsp. salt

INSTRUCTIONS:
In Dutch oven, brown ground beef. Drain excess fat. Add onion and green pepper. Continue frying until tender. Add rest of ingredients. Cover; reduce to simmer 20 minutes or so until macaroni is tender. This Transylvanian Goulash recipe serves 4-6.

FACE IT

This recipe was e mailed to me from one of our faithful followers...she said she found it on the world wide web a long time ago, and she's loved it ever since. I wish we knew who to give credit to for this fabulous idea...it's awesome! This lovely grotesque "cheese head" appetizer has been a hit at Halloween parties for several years now. It's tasty, and disgusting all at the same time! It's also quite easy to make, and will make a great impression on your Halloween guests... if you can just get them to take that first bite!

Tools:
~Face Mold (You can find the ones used to make masks at an art supply store)*
~Wide straw (McDonald's ones work well)

Ingredients:
~Cheese ball mixture - may need a double recipe, depending on the size of your mold. **
~Thin Sliced (Italian ham) Prosciutto (3 oz should be plenty)
~Several Olives (At least 2 colors. Get a variety big ones with pits, black & green, and already pitted if you want to play around with what works best. See Step 3 for details)
~Crackers for serving
~2, 8 oz pkgs cream cheese, softened
~2-3 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
~3 Tbl. mayonnaise
~1 Tbl. horseradish (or cajun seasoning to taste)

*If you can't find a mold, you could try this with a hard plastic halloween mask--just line with plastic wrap to cover the eyeholes. But a mold will work better.

**Use any cheese ball recipe that features cream cheese and will hold it's shape.

HALLOWEEN SPIDER BREAD

This recipe comes from a faithful follower, who swears by it! She found it on on of her favorite cooking sites, so I though we'd share it!

Spiders are scary. I guess that’s why spiders seem to be featured everywhere on Halloween. And if you're having a Halloween buffet or just making a special dinner for family, you can make a delicious edible one which will elicit oohs and aahs from everyone. Black sesame seeds are available in the Asian aisle of larger grocery stores.

This giant spider is great at a buffet; the legs serve as breadsticks and the head and body can be sliced. You can also hollow out the body and fill it with your favorite dip. I have also included instructions to make the dough into four individual spider bread bowls for your favorite soup, stew, or chili.

Dough:
~1 1/2 cups warm water
~1 tablespoon olive oil
~3 1/2 cups flour
~2 teaspoons salt
~1 tablespoon yeast

Topping:
~1 egg white beaten with 1 tablespoon water
~2-3 tablespoons black sesame seeds
~2 raisins

Place the dough ingredients in the order given into the pan of the bread machine. Set the cycle on dough. After the machine has mixed for a minute or two, check to make sure there is enough flour to make a soft dough; if it is too stiff, add a few tablespoons more water; if it is too soft, add a little more flour. When the cycle has finished, transfer the dough to a lightly floured pastry cloth.

Form the dough into a ball. Cut 1/3 of the dough from the ball. Pat that 1/3 into a rectangle; with a pizza cutter, cut the rectangle into four strips, then cut each strip in half (legs). Take the remaining dough and cut 1/4 off; form into a ball for the head. Make a ball from the remaining dough to form the body. Brush the pieces with the egg white mixture, place them to form a spider on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and sprinkle liberally with black sesame seeds. Press 2 raisins into the head for eyes.

Let the spider rise until doubled in bulk. Spray with water and place in a preheated 425° oven. Bake until browned, 25-30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool thoroughly.

MINI SPIDER BREAD BOWLS

Prepare the dough as above in Halloween Spider Bread. Divide the dough in four pieces and shape each into a miniature spider according to the directions for the large spider. Bake at 400° 20-25 minutes or until browned and crisp. Cool thoroughly.


When ready to serve, cut the top of the body off and hollow out each spider; fill with chili, soup, or stew!

FINGER FOOD

Halloween party finger food....literally. Form cookie dough into creepy witch fingers and use a blanched almond for the fingernail (recipe below). I've done this recipe sooooo many times, but everyone loves it! There are so many variations of this recipe, you just need to find one you really like. If you want to make "witch" fingers, just add a few drops of green food coloring when mixing the dough. This recipe makes about 48 cookies.

Ingredients:
•1 Cup butter, softened
•1 Cup(s) powdered sugar
•1 egg, lightly beaten
•2 Tsp lemon juice
•2 2/3 Cup(s) all-purpose flour
•1 Tsp baking soda
•1 Pinch of salt
•1 Cup whole, blanched almonds

Directions:
•Add butter and powdered sugar into a mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Beat in egg and lemon juice. Sift together flour, baking soda and salt and stir into mixture until combined. Cover and chill for 1 hour.

•Preheat oven to 325F. Spray baking sheets with light coat of nonstick cooking spray.

•Form fingers from 1 tablespoon of dough, by rolling dough with clean hands. Use a knife to score lines for the fingers knuckle. Press an almond firmly into the dough for a fingernail.

•Place cookies on prepared baking sheet and cook for 20 minutes until golden brown. Cool for five minutes and place cookies on a rack to cool completely. Arrange on a spooky platter and serve.
 

MORE FINGER FOOD
These ghastly little nibbles are rich with cheesy flavor, and a real snap to make. It'll take about 55 minutes, and you'll need to be sure to keep the dough cool as you work with it to prevent stickiness.
 
Ingredients:
5 tablespoons butter
1/4 pound (about 1 cup packed) shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornmeal
1 large egg
Kosher salt
30 sliced almonds

Preparation:
1. In a food processor or bowl, whirl or rub together butter, cheese, flour, and cornmeal until the mixture has the texture of wet sand. Add egg and whirl or stir with a fork until dough holds together.

2. Scrape dough onto a sheet of cooking paper or parchment, 12 to 14 in. wide and about 14 in. long. Top with another equal-sized sheet of paper and pat dough into a 1/2-in.-thick circle. Wrap in plastic and freeze 15 minutes, or refrigerate up to 3 days.

3. Roll dough into a rectangle about 8 in. wide and 10 in. long, working carefully to avoid creases in paper. Return to freezer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350°.

4. Peel off top paper and use a sharp knife to cut the dough into 30 strips, each about 1/2 in. thick and 5 in. long. Place each strip on a large baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt to taste, then use your fingers to round the top of each strip into a fingertip shape. Use a sharp knife to score shallow "knuckle" lines in each finger, then press an almond "nail" into the tip. If you like, bend each finger in places to make it look knobby.

5. Bake the fingers until an even light brown, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool.

BOIL AND BUBBLE SOUP CAULDRON

Double, double toil and trouble, fire burn, and caldron bubble.
Fillet of a fenny snake, in the caldron boil and bake.
Eye of newt, and toe of frog.
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog..... sounds like some good ingredients... or you could just follow this recipe:

Ingredients
~1 tablespoon salad oil
~2 pounds raw turkey Italian sausages
~1 onion (8 oz.), chopped
~1 red bell pepper (8 oz.), stemmed, seeded, and chopped
~2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
~1 tablespoon chili powder
~2 teaspoons cumin seed
~1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
~2 quarts fat-skimmed chicken broth
~2 pounds banana or Hubbard squash
~3 cans (15 oz. each) hominy, drained
~1 box (10 oz.) frozen peas
~Salt and pepper

Preparation
1. Place oil in an 8- to 10-quart pan over medium-high heat. Squeeze sausages from casings into pan; discard casings. Break sausage into bite-size chunks. Stir occasionally until lightly browned, about 5 minutes.

2. Add onion, bell pepper, and garlic. Stir over high heat until onion is limp, about 5 minutes.

3. Stir in chili powder, cumin seed, and oregano. Add broth, cover, and bring to a boil over high heat.

4. Meanwhile, peel squash and cut into 1/2-inch cubes. Add to broth. Return to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until squash is tender when pierced, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

5. Add hominy. If peas are frozen in a block, whack container against counter to separate, then pour peas into soup. Turn heat to high and bring soup to a boil, about 3 minutes.

6. Pour soup into a tureen and ladle into mugs or bowls. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Suggestions: Be sure to have lots of bread on hand to go with the soup! This would also be a great idea for chili, if you're not a hominy fan.  Also, if you want to give this recipe a try, it looks really cool because the hominy can pass for teeth and the green peas as beady little eyes. If making soup ahead: don't add peas; cover soup when cool and chill, then add peas when reheating. For a tureen: use a rustic pan, such as a cast-iron Dutch oven. Or you can use a pumpkin shell. You'll need a pumpkin at least 12 to 16 inches tall and wide. Cut off top and scoop out seeds. About 10 minutes before serving, fill shell with boiling water to warm. Drain and fill with hot soup. Use top as lid for the pumpkin tureen. Yield: Makes about 5 quarts; 10 to 12 servings

Click here for more awesome Halloween recipes!

BARBECUE BAT WINGS

What party wouldn't be complete with some really good appetizers? And who isn't a fan of hot wings? You can do it really simple and buy them in bulk, and just throw 'em in the oven...or you can do it from scratch! They're so easy to make and the presentation really completes the special effects!

INGREDIENTS:
~24 chicken wings (3 to 4 pounds)
~1 cup low-sodium soy sauce
~3/4 cup unsulphured molasses
~1/2 cup beef broth
~1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
~1 cup ketchup
~2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
~2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
~1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
~1 tablespoon sesame oil
~1 teaspoon hot sauce


PREPARATION:
Preheat oven to 375°F.

Stretch out each chicken wing to resemble bat's wing. Arrange wings, skin side down in single layer in large roasting pan.

Combine soy sauce, molasses, broth and ginger in small saucepan; heat over low heat until mixture is smooth and well blended. Pour evenly over wings. Bake wings 30 minutes; turn and bake 30 minutes more or until sauce is thick and sticky.

Meanwhile, combine remaining ingredients in small saucepan. Heat over medium heat until bubbly, stirring occasionally. Let cool slightly before serving.

Makes 8 servings and 1-1/3 cups sauce