Simple Halloween Appetizers

If you're looking for some spooky Halloween appetizers, here's full spread that's tasty and easy to make!

Eyeballs
(Olives and Mini-Mozzarella Balls)

Worm Infested Apple Crossantini

(Sliced bread with white cheddar, green apple, and caramelized onion, baked)

Open Wound Toasts

(Toast crackers with brie cheese and raspberry jam, baked)

Vulture Brains
(Mushrooms stuffed with blue cheese and bacon, baked)

Fall Sangria

This Fall take on Sangria is perfect for any Fall activity, from sipping on a chilly deck to serving at Thanksgiving.  Since it's Maroon and Gold it's even great for Gopher tailgating! 

Fall Sangria

 To a pitcher or craft add:

 1-2 cinnamon sticks

1-2 apples, cubed

2 orange slices

Fill with half apple cider, half white wine (I use Sauvignon Blanc, but any white will do).

The rations are just a suggestion and can be altered to taste. Make a day ahead for the flavors to incorporate.  Serve with some of the fruit in each glass.  I'll add more wine and cider to the same pitcher as I drink it so I can make it once and enjoy all weekend!

Red and Green Christmas Appetizers

I don't think you can ever go too over the top, so if you're going to set out a spread of Christmas appetizers why not make the spread red and green themed?
Here are a few that look easy and delicious:
1. Sparkling Cranberry Brie Bites
2.Spinach Roulade With Smoked Salmon
3. Marinated Cheese
4. Christmas Roll-ups

Fall Snack Mix



This peanut/candy corn snack mix is perfect to set out for company during the Fall, and it's so simple to make!  Just mix a bag of candy corn with peanuts (I use honey roasted).  It's festive and is great to munch on while watching football games.

Happy Fall!

BLT Salad

In the early summer we get a lot of lettuce in our CSA boxes, so I'm always trying new salad recipes to mix things up.  This BLT salad is by far our favorite--even better than BLT sandwiches!

For the Salad:
Lettuce
Cherry Tomatoes, halved
Chopped Bacon
Home-made croutons
Cheese Optional (I use shredded or blue cheese)


Dressing:
1/3 c. Mayo
1 Tbs. Sugar
2 tsp. Cider vinegar

Mix together in a food processor or by hand until sugar is dissolved.

Homemade Croutons:

Bread

Herbs de Province

Olive Oil

Using whatever bread you have on hand, cut into cubes.  Place on cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil and herbs de province.  Bake @ 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown and crunchy.

My Favorite Spinach Artichoke Dip

We hardly ever order spinach artichoke dip in restaurants, because it's never as good as I make at home!  I love this recipe because it's creamy and cheesy instead of greasy. Its also a nice mix between creamiess and spinach/artichokes.

Spinach and Artichoke Dip

2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese, plus more to sprinkle on top

1/2 c. sour cream

1/4c. grated parmesan cheese

1/4 tsp. black pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced

1-14oz. can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

1-8oz. block cream cheese, set out to soften

1/2 bag fresh spinach, chopped

Preheat over to 350 degrees.  Mix all ingredients together, either by hand or as I prefer, in the Kitchenaid Mixer. Spoon into a ceramic pie pan, or two ramekins.  Top with mozzarella cheese and bake for 30 min. or until brown and bubbly.  We serve with naan bread, but it's also great with pita or tortilla strips or veggies.

Mix.......

Bake....

Enjoy!

If you shop at Costco, the ingredients purchased will allow you to make the recipe times six. Six! Hello freezer!

I make all six at once, since although it's an easy recipe it can be messy to chop the spinach and artichokes. i freeze some in large tinfoil pans for company, and some I split and freeze in smaller pans for just the two of us.

 Here's the outcome of our last batch--now we are set for summer!

'Merry Christmas' Breakfast Pastry

This pastry came about when I sent my husband to get groceries to make a Christmas Breakfast Pastry Ring to bring to our friends' annual Christmas brunch.  The pastry ring uses crescent roll dough that comes in triangles which are put together to form a circle for the ring.  He came back with Crescent Seamless Dough Sheets, which is actually really great for most crescent recipes I make but not when the triangles are actually helpful.  

Rather than trying to mess with cutting triangles or a large circle, I decided to change it up to make things easier, got out my cookie cutter set, and the 'Merry Christmas' breakfast pastry was born.

I baked this at a friends' house so I don't have a photo of it baked with the glaze, but it looked even better after baking!

'Merry Christmas' Breakfast Pastry

Pastry:

2 packages refrigerated Crescent Seamless Dough Sheets

1 8oz.  package cream cheese softened

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract

1  can  pie filling ( Blueberry used here,  Strawberry is also great)

Glaze:

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 to 3 teaspoons milk

Heat oven to 350 degrees F

For filling, combine cream cheese, icing sugar, egg and vanilla extract.  Unroll one crescent dough onto baking sheet. Spread cream cheese mixture over dough to within 1/2 inch of the edge; top with pie filling. Use cookie cutters to cut 'MERRY CHRISTMAS' letters out of second crescent sheet.  Arrange letters on top of pie filling layer.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.

When cool, mix powdered sugar and milk until smooth to create the glaze: drizzle over pastry.  Cut into slices and serve.

Healthy Red and Green Christmas Soup

This soup is great to make at Christmas time not only because it's red and green, but because it's a nice light and healthy meal that's refreshing after so many heavy dishes!  The combination of white beans, kale, tomatoes, and sausage not only looks great but provides a great combo of flavors worthy of serving to any house guests. It's quick and easy to make too!

 Mmmm!

White Bean Soup with Sausage and Kale-a.k.a. 'Christmas Soup'

Makes: 5 servings

Start to Finish: 30 mins

Ingredients:

12 ounces fresh mild Italian sausage links, sliced 1/2 inch thick

1/4 cup water

1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)

1 teaspoon bottled minced garlic

1 tablespoon olive oil

2   15 ounce can white kidney (cannellini) beans, rinsed and drained

2   14 ounce can reduced-sodium chicken broth

1   14 1/2 ounce can diced tomatoes with basil, oregano and garlic, undrained

4    cups coarsely chopped kale or spinach

Ground pepper

Directions:

Combine sliced sausage and water in a large skillet. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, about 10 minutes or until sausage is no longer pink. Uncover and cook about 5 minutes more or until sausage is browned, stirring frequently. Remove sausage with a slotted spoon; set aside.

Meanwhile, cook onion and garlic in hot oil in a large saucepan about 5 minutes or until onion is tender. Stir in beans, broth, and undrained tomatoes. Cover and bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 5 minutes.

Stir in cooked sausage and kale or spinach. Simmer, uncovered, about 3 minutes more or until kale or spinach is

tender. Season to taste with pepper. Makes 5 servings.

Graveyard Dirt Halloween Dessert

These 'Graveyard Dirt Cups' were the perfect finish to last year's Spooky Dinner!

Ingredients:

1 pkg. Oreos

8oz. cream cheese

1/2 c. butter

1 c. powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

3 c. milk

2-3.4oz. pkg. chocolate instand pudding mix

1 carton whipped cream, thawed

Gummi worms for garnish

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. In another bowl, whisk milk and pudding mix for 2 minutes (mixture will be thick). Fold in whipped topping. Gently fold into cream cheese mixture until blended. Scoop into individual cups.

Using a food processor, crush the bag of Oreos until they resemble dirt.  Place 2-3 gummi worms in each cup and top with crushed Oreos.

'Head of Zombie' Halloween Meatloaves

These 'Baby Zombie Head' meat loafs were the entree at our Spooky Dinner last year.  It's my basic meatloaf recipe, so they're tasty!

Meatloaf:

1lb. ground beef

1 egg, beaten

1/2c. oatmeal

1/4c. chopped onion

1/4c. ketchup

1 T steak sauce

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp basil

1/4 tsp garlic powder

Sauce:

1/2 c. ketchup

3 Tbs. brown sugar

1 tsp mustard

Mix the meatloaf ingredients and pack into the pan. If you don't have a pan, try shaping into a head-shape and place on a cookie sheet to bake.

This cake pan was perfect for shaping the heads:

Bake for 30 min @ 350 degrees.  Flip onto a cookie sheet.

Cover each meatloaf with sauce. Use olives, onions, red peppers, banana peppers, or what ever you have to decorate the faces.

Return to oven and continue baking for 20-30 min. until sauce has caramelized.

Vampire Kiss Halloween Cocktail

I served this Vampire Kiss Halloween Cocktail from Sandra Lee at my Spooky Dinner last year which was delicious!

Ingredients:
1 part vodka, chilled
1 part Champagne
1 part Chambord
Garnish with wax teeth/candy corn/blood orange slice

Directions:
Pour vodka in a martini glass, top with Champagne and pour a little of the Chambord over the back of a spoon to make it float.

I poured some grenadine onto a plate to rim the glasses to look like blood.

 

I froze plastic spiders in ice cubes for a little extra something spooky since I couldn't find wax teeth.

Bloody Brains Halloween Jell-O

Last year we served 'Human brains' at our Spooky Dinner, which were actually pretty good!

Ingredients:

1 3.4oz. box Raspberry Jell-O

1 tub Cool Whip, thawed

Grenadine for Garnish

Make Jello as directed and let set-up in fridge for 1 hour. Fold in cool-whip, and transfer to brain mold (I found mine at a pop-up Halloween store).  Let set at least 8 hours or overnight.

To remove Jell-O from the mold, place the mold in a pan of hot tap water without submerging to loosen the edges. Place a plate upside down on the mold, then flip upright to remove Jell-O onto the plate.

Drizzle Grenadine over the top just before serving to look like blood.

Blue Cheese Squash Hash

This squash hash is my favorite fall dish.  The recipe can be found here and is from my favorite restaurant, 112 Eatery (if you haven't been, it's  'I eat there on my birthday every year' good). I think I make this dish even better by adding bacon, that usually makes anything better.  The blue cheese makes it great with a glass of red wine.  I made it once already this year with squash in my CSA, and will definitely be making it again!

Shark/Ocean Cupcakes

I made these circling shark cupcakes for our luau.  They turned out pretty cool and all it took was some blue food coloring!

Start by whipping a can of white frosting using my mixer.  Whipping the frosting makes it more fluffy so its easier to pipe.

Drop a few drops of blue food coloring on the frosting after its been whipped.

Gently fold in the blue coloring, being careful not to mix too much.

Cut the corner of ziploc bag and insert the piping tip.  Scoop the frosting into the bag, adding more drops of blue if you'd like.

As the frosting is piped onto the cupcake, the white and blue mix further creating the ocean colors.

Top with two gummy sharks, or any other sea creature candy!

Moose Mousse Valentine's Dessert

 Mousse was something I had never made but always wanted to try.  When I saw this mousse recipe made on Twin Cities Live, I knew I would be making it for Valentine's Day.  Since my nephew's nickname for my husband is 'Moose', I decided to make 'Moose Mousse' for our Valentine's dessert!

To make the chocolate antlers, find a drawing of moose antlers on google images.  Copy/paste it into powerpoint and adjust it to the size that will work with your serving dish.  Since I was making two moose, I copied 4 antlers and printed.


Cover the printed paper with wax paper to trace the antlers in melted chocolate.

I decided to go with pink antlers for contrast and for Valentine's Day, but any color will work.  To get the pink, melt a chunk of white almond bark with two red candy melt discs.


After melting the chocolate in a plastic bag, snip the corner of the bag with a scissors and it's ready to pipe onto the wax paper.  Outline the antler first, then go back and fill in with more chocolate.


Using a large muffin scoop, scoop mousse into a martini glass.  The humps created by the scoop give the head and nose their shape. The mousse didn't set-up like I wanted it to, so I had to whip mine in the mixer before scooping.


To create the moose face, add the hardened chocolate antlers, raspberries stuffed with white chocolate chips for eyes, a strawberry slice tongue, and the typical mint leaf garnish with the tongue so it looks like he's eating it!

Blender Chocolate Mousse 

Courtesy of The Cooking Mom

Ingredients:
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon coffee liqueur or vanilla extract
1 cup heavy cream
Fresh whipped cream (optional)
1/2 cup fresh berries (optional)

Directions:
Place chocolate chips, egg and coffee liqueur or vanilla in blender and chop. Heat cream until very hot and small bubbles appear at edge. Carefully pour hot cream into the blender. Blend until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Pour into dessert dishes or pretty wine or martini glasses. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until it firms up a bit. Serve with fresh berries and/or whipped cream on top. Makes enough for 2 to 3 servings depending on the size of the dish.