Cooking Show: Recipes for Halloween!

Our recent episode of the cooking show featured kid-friendly recipes for Halloween.

Thanks to the assistance of my nine-year-old sous chef, Lily, my counters were covered with spooktacular treats!

We mixed up a cauldron of Eyeball Punch.

Can you spot the eyeball ice cubes?

We then moved onto appetizers, beginning with Pretzel Broomsticks.  This turned out to be Lily's favorite recipe of the night!

Here's the printable recipe.

Next, we made Skeleton Veggies & Dip.  

Lily and I decided which veggies would best represent the bones from shoulders to toes!

Lily diligently went to work shredding string cheese for our Mummy Pizzas!

 Finally, for a sweet treat, we made Frozen Banana Ghost Pops.

Happy Halloween!!

Pretzel Broomsticks

Boo!

Are you planning a Halloween party?  Or just looking for a fun Halloween-themed snack recipe? A quick to assemble, no cooking required, three-ingredient recipe?

Here you go:

Pretzel Broomsticks!  Made with pretzel sticks, sliced cheese and chives.   

I think they'd make a nice substitution for cheese & crackers at your next Halloween soiree!

Today's Playlist:

• "Dead"...My Chemical Romance
• "Perfect Situation"...Weezer
• "Brown-Eyed Girl"...Lagwagon

Pretzel Broomsticks

Printable Recipe

• pretzel sticks
• sliced cheese (see note)
• chives

NOTE:  Use a soft deli cheese that doesn't crumble when it's rolled, such as mozzarella or swiss.

                                                         

Gather your ingredients.  I intentionally did not list any amounts in the ingredient list--it depends upon how many people you're serving. Each broomstick requires 1/2 slice of cheese, one pretzel and one chive.

Slice the cheese in half, and cut notches on one side (spaced approximately 1/4-inch apart, about halfway up the width of the slice).

Roll the half-slice of cheese around a pretzel stick, with the notches at the end.

Tie a chive around the top, securing the cheese to the pretzel.  

A single knot should suffice, it's not as if you will be using these snacks to play a tabletop game of broom hockey.  If you are going to use them to play broom hockey, however, I would suggest a double knot.  And perhaps you could use tiny olives as hockey pucks.

Snip off the long ends of the chives with scissors.

Serve immediately.

If you're preparing these in advance, refrigerate (covered with plastic wrap) until serving time.

Enjoy.

Puppy-Sitting, and Pumpkin Dip

A lot has happened since my last blogpost.

The Red Sox won the world series!!!

 Here's a picture I took of Clyde and Gus, during the final inning.  They knew I was getting excited.

Clyde was getting excited, too.  He's such a party animal.  Gus was just very concerned.

Here's a picture I took after the final out was made.

Mr. Terrific raised his arm in triumph, quite a display of emotion for him.  Clyde is off partying somewhere.

Gus is still very, very concerned.  It was way past his bedtime and he just wanted to call it a night.

Meet Georgia.  She's an 11-week-old Silky Terrier.  

She belongs to my friend, Maureen.  Maureen needed a puppy-sitter for a short period of time last week, and I volunteered.

Clyde volunteered, too.  Gus happened to be at the groomers that day, so it was up to me and Clyde to entertain Georgia.

I wasn't sure how to go about letting Clyde and Georgia play, so I decided to separate them at first.  I leaned a gate against a doorway, with an opening at one end that was only big enough for Georgia to fit through.  I figured it would be her call whether she wanted to play with the big old behemoth staring at her from the other side of the gate.

Ladies and Gentleman!  On the far side of the gate, at a robust weight of 68 pounds--CLYYYYDE!!!

 And on this side, tipping the scales at THREE WHOLE POUNDS, Georgia!!

And that is how they stayed for a few minutes, Clyde on his side of the gate, watching Georgia as she ran back and forth on her side of the gate, barking up a storm.

Due to laziness, or perhaps because of a desire to make himself smaller and thus less of an imposing figure, Clyde decided to drop his bones to the floor.

I vote that he was just being lazy.

At that point, Georgia quite boldly walked through the gate.

And proceeded to explore the fluffy giant, Clyde.

This is my favorite picture.  Not long after I took this picture, Georgia got a little too friendly and Clyde got spooked and ran away.  I was laughing so hard at my 'fraidy-dog I forgot to take pictures.

But he quickly came back and settled himself down so that their game could continue, with Georgia pouncing and exploring and Clyde barely moving a muscle.  Except for his furiously wagging tail, that is.

Georgia finished off the play date by attacking her squeaky hedgehog toy.

Enough, already!  Here she is, begging me to stop taking pictures.

Chocolate Bark for Halloween

Brrrrrr.  I'm sitting here with a blanket wrapped around me.  My heat is on.  I'm wearing a sweater.  *sigh.*  I can't deny it any longer, summer is over.

Today I am going to give you what is possibly the quickest, easiest recipe ever. 

 I've said it before, but is there anything better than a snack that is sweet and salty?  And it's so easy.......gather your ingredients, line a pan with parchment, and five minutes later the bark will be in your freezer to harden.

You can switch up the ingredients to suit your own preferences......use dark or milk chocolate instead of white, raisins instead of cranberries, add nuts.  Make it your own!