ENLARGEFrom pre-packaged candies for trick-or-treaters to goodies that mimic the scarier things in life, food is the center of any fall gathering.
Add colorful decorations and invitations for a well-rounded Halloween gathering.
“When it comes to Halloween, decorations are key,” said Jennifer Olive, of It’s My Party in Florence. “Setting the tone for a great Halloween party starts with a cool invitation. This lets your guests know just what kind of party they will be attending.”
There are plenty of options available, from those that are commercially available, invitations hand-crafted from scrapbooking supplies or those designed with the help of computer programs and clip-art.
“An inexpensive way to decorate is to use solid-color party supplies, especially for a kids’ party,” Olive said. “Solid orange, black, white and even lime green are a great idea. For a kids’ party, a costume contest is always fun. ... For adult parties, people are spending more and really going all out for Halloween. This is a chance for adults to have a good time and kind of be someone else for the night.”
Food, too, can help set the theme. Try some Nuclear Punch with a glow, candy Witches’ Warts or a little Brain Delight for older children or teens who get a kick out of the scarier side of Halloween.
If you’d like something a little less scary, use pumpkins as containers for stews or punches and shape cakes in the form of pumpkins. With so many choices, the food fest goes on for
much longer than Halloween
weekend.
“When October gets here, the weather is cooling off, especially nights,” said Kara Sams of Muscle Shoals. “We are done grilling out by the pool and sitting on the patio to eat dinner. Family schedules are back into a routine after the summer craziness of vacations, baseball games and outdoor activities.”
These are the times leading to Thanksgiving and Christmas, with thoughts already turning toward food.
“We can’t forget Saturday nights watching football games,” said Sams, who often teaches cooking classes for friends from church. “Along with that comes favorite soup recipes and comfort foods. We just do tend to eat more when it’s not so hot outside.”
Beef Stew Served Pumpkin Style
2 pounds beef stew meat, browned (or leftover roast beef or steak can be used)
3 large potatoes — unpeeled, cut into cubes
4 medium carrots, sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon pepper (I prefer fresh ground)
2 beef bouillon cubes
Water
cornstarch
a 10- to 12-pound pumpkin
In Dutch oven or large pot, place meat, veggies, salt, pepper and bouillon cubes. Shake together in container with tight lid 1 cup cool water and 2 tablespoons cornstarch. Add to pot and stir. More water may need to be added as stew thickens. For thin broth, add more water. For thicker broth, mix more water and cornstarch.
Wash pumpkin. Cut a 6-8 in circle around top stem. Remove top and set aside. Discard seeds and loose fibers from inside. Place pumpkin in a shallow sturdy baking pan. Spoon stew into pumpkin and replace top. Brush outside of pumpkin with oil. Bake at 325 degrees for 1½-2 hours or just until pumpkin is tender (do not overbake). Serve stew from pumpkin, scooping out a little pumpkin with each serving. Can also be served into small individual pumpkins that have been cleaned out to be used as soup bowls.
Source: Kara Sams
Nuclear Waste Punch - Halloween Recipes for Kids
1 quart Mountain Dew soda
5 scoops of lemon or lime sherbet
Chill all ingredients. Gently stir together soda and pineapple juice. Add sherbet right before guests arrive.
Brain Cell Delight
1 6-ounce package blueberry gelatin mix
1 16-ounce carton small curd cottage cheese
1 16½-ounce can blueberries in syrup
Prepare jello according to package directions. Chill until firm. Scoop cottage cheese into a bowl. Drain and set aside the syrup from the blueberries. Add the berries to the cottage cheese and mix well. Add food coloring to turn the cottage cheese a nice grayish color when blended.
To serve, put a couple of spoonfuls of gelatin (congealed brain fluid) on a plate, some of the syrup on that, and a scoop of the cottage cheese & blueberry mix (brain matter) on top.
Serves six.
Source: About.com
Witches’ Warts
½ package of white melting chocolate
1 package of raisins
Green food coloring
Wax paper
Melt white chocolate in a double boiler. Add 5 drops of food coloring; mix well. Dip each raisin into the chocolate and place on wax paper to cool. (Hint: It works best if you put a few raisins in the chocolate and then take them out one at a time with a spoon.
Grandma Anderson’s Pumpkin Roll
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1¾ cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2/3 cup pumpkin
Beat eggs at high speed for 1-2 minutes. Slowly add sugar. Mix dry ingredients and add to egg mixture. Stir in pumpkin. Pour onto jelly roll pan (about 11x15) that has been lined with wax paper. Spread mixture evenly in pan. Bake 12 minutes at 350 degrees. Immediately turn onto thin towel that has been sprinkled with powdered sugar. Carefully peel off wax paper. Roll cake up with towel from short end. Cool. Unroll and spread with cream cheese filling (see below). Roll back up. Chill several hours before slicing. Will keep in refrigerator 2 weeks. Also freezes very well.
Makes 10-12 servings.
Cream Cheese Filling
4 tablespoons butter, slightly softened
8 ounces cream cheese, slightly softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Cream all ingredients together. Chill filling until pumpkin roll cools.
Source: Kara Sams
Pumpkin Cake
3-4 cups icing (can be canned or homemade)
1 regular ice cream cone
Orange food coloring
Green food coloring
Bake two bundt cakes. Turn one cake upside down on cake plate. Trim so that bottom side (facing up) is level. Tint 3½ cups of the icing orange. Tint ½ cup icing green. Spread thin layer of orange icing on cake. Place other cake right side up on top of icing. Use remainder of orange icing to completely cover cake. Frost ice cream cone with green icing and place open, large end partly down into hole of cake so that the bottom part of the cone sticks up. This creates the stem.
Source: Kara Sams
