Bloody Worms and Maggots

Tonight I really didn't feel like cooking. It was just the little man and I and he wanted hot dogs. Easy enough.  I offered him bloody worms... aka hot dogs and ketchup, and being that I'm half Asian, I have to have rice with my meal.  While I usually go for the basic white rice, I opted for some yellow rice tonight just to add some color to the meal and to double as the maggots - although I'm sure the white would suffice just fine.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

• Hot Dogs 
• Ketchup
• Rice 

DIRECTIONS:

Make your rice ahead of time as it'll take longer than the hot dogs.  You could also just use hot dog buns and skip the maggot factor.

Once the rice is near done, slice the hot dogs into four strips. You may be able to slice an additional strip or two if you're careful.

Boil some water in a frying pan and place the strips in.  They will start to curl up - its pretty cool to watch. Reminds me a little of shrinky dinks from back in the day. Do they even make those anymore??

Pour out the water and return the worm dogs back into the pan. Mix in some ketchup to coat.

Serve over a bed of rice.

Little Jason Past and Present

This kid is too much. 

Born on Friday the 13th, this is my son Khai.

I think he was around 3 years old here.

 I came home to find him standing at the front door waiting for me like this, with the chainsaw he had picked out at Target.

He just turned six years old the other day.

He's mad about something.

DIY Pumpkin Fruit Cups

Here's another cute and easy throw together for the kiddos.  Any orange fruit cup - mandarin oranges, jello, etc..  will do.  Draw your pumpkin face on it and thats it! Cool fruit cups. Happy Kids.

Worms and Witch Fingers

Spaghetti and breadsticks Halloween style, served up in a couple of bell pepper pumpkins.  I had fun making this dinner as much as everyone enjoyed eating it.  There's not much more to it, so lets get to the recipe (aka its late and I'm too tired to babble on about it).

WHAT YOU"LL NEED:

• Spaghetti noodles  (however much you want to make)
• Spaghetti sauce
• Ground beef (optional if you want a meat sauce)
• Bell Peppers (orange and yellow are best. Use however many you would like to serve up)
• Bread stick dough (I used Pillsbury)
• Almonds
• Red gel dye
• Italian seasoning and/or garlic salt
• Large black olives
• 1/4 cup melted butter

DIRECTIONS:

Pumpkin/Worms ~

Make your spaghetti as you normally would.
Hollow out the peppers and carve pumpkin faces in them.
While the spaghetti noodles are boiling, make your witch finger breadsticks - see directions below.
When noodles are done, add your sauce and loosely fill the peppers.  
Before its too full, slice the olives in half and place them inside the pepper behind the cuts for the eyes.

Witch Fingers ~
Shape the breadstick dough into knobby fingers.
You can use a knife to mark up the knuckles.
Dab some red gel dye on the tips of each finger and press an almond into it.
Brush the tops of the finger with the melted butter and sprinkle with the seasoning.
Bake per directions on the packaging.

Spooky Pizza

If your household is like mine, pizza is a quick and easy go to meal for those days you don't feel like doing much. In keeping up with the Halloween theme, I stumbled upon this great homemade pizza recipe thats loaded with spinach, cheese, ghosts and pumpkins.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

• 1 tube of pizza dough (I used Pillsbury or you can make your own from scratch)
• 1 cup pizza sauce (I just used some Prego spaghetti sauce)
• Spinach
• Shredded cheese
• Slices of pre-sliced mozzarella and cheddar cheese
• Pepperoni slices
• Cookie cutters - ghost, pumpkin (or whatever you want)

WHAT TO DO:

Roll out your pizza dough and add your toppings. 

Bake according to directions on the can of dough.

Using the cookie cutters on the pre-sliced cheese, cut your shapes out.

Once you pull the pizza out of the oven, place the shapes on it and add eyes - I used pepperoni but you can use anything, olives, etc.  

Place back into the oven for about 30 seconds.

Remove, let it sit on the counter for a few minutes before serving it up.

(Adapted from Within The Kitchen)

Choco Pretzel Pops

I don't have a recipe for this other than to say go to a craft store like Michaels, and buy Wiltons Candy Kit for Pretzels.  The instructions are fairly easy to follow, but the photo on the front of the box with the little girl and her mom is totally false advertising because this was definitely not a job for a little kid - at least not mine. 

While the instructions are easy to follow, painting in the different colors into the mold was a pain in the ass. The end results however are pretty cool, although my crappy photos don't show that.  And I can't say that I'd make dozens of them like I had hoped.  I stopped at a handful and at most I'll pull the molds out again when I'm very bored or next Halloween.

Sloppy Devils

Who doesn't love an all American classic on a Sunday - Sloppy Joes!  So in the spirit of Halloween, I've decided to make Sloppy Devils.

What You'll Need:

• 1lb Ground Beef
• 1 Can Sloppy Joe Mix (or you can make your own)
• 1/2 Red Bell Pepper
• 12 Slider Buns (I used the potato roll kind)
• Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Directions:

• Cook your ground beef and add the sloppy joe mix as instructed on the can.
• Make little horns with the bell pepper.
• Scoop the sloppy joe onto the buns and top with a pile of the cheese.
• Cut two small slits on the top of the bun and insert the horns.
• Devour the devils. Like a devil.