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.

DIY Ghost Milk

I can't remember where I originally saw this idea, but since then have seen it on several blogs. Its simple enough and makes one little boy very happy.  All you need is an empty and cleaned out bottle 

- a Starbucks Frappuccino works perfectly -

You can glue on some goggly eyes or just draw on the face with a black sharpie as I've done here.  

I had a bag of jumbo straws in the pantry which suited perfectly! Happy Drinking!

Baked Bloody Rats

Halloween is a big favorite in our house. I'm pretty sure its up there with Christmas, if not even more - from the decorations, to the dressing up, to the trick or treating and gobs of sugar consumed, to the pranks, and now the newest addition of Halloween cooking.  I hunted around for some good ideas this season and came up with a handful of things that were fun and easy to make and some even a little gross looking, like these baked bloody rats. Plain and simple, they are meatloaf balls stuffed with gooey melted cheese and covered in spaghetti sauce. Baked and served on a bed of mashed potatoes, they were absolutely delicious despite the ewwwww's I got when I set the plates down at the table. Success!

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

Rats ~

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1/2 c. dry bread crumbs
• 1/4 c. milk
• 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 tsp salt and pepper or preferred meatloaf spices.
• 1/4 c onion, minced
• 1 egg
• Cubed mozzarella cheese

Sauce~

• 1 Jar of Prego or whatever spaghetti sauce you like.

Decorations~

• Carrots
• Dry Spaghetti Noodles
• Raisins

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix ground beef, chopped onions, bread crumbs, egg, and seasonings.

Take out a palms worth of meat mixture (about 1/3 cup) and roll it into a ball.

Press it out somewhat flat and add about 3 blocks of the cheese in the center. 

Mold the meat around the cheese and shape it out to a point - like a rats body. 

Place your rats in a baking pan or sheet and  then add spaghetti sticks in the rear for the tail.  The noodle will cook just fine when you bake these suckers.

Pour the Prego sauce over the rats to completely cover them.  Its ok if you get sauce on the tail.

Cover the entire thing with aluminum foil and bake for about 45 minutes.

Now take the aluminum off and you will have what looks like a total mess. The cheese may have oozed out too.

Bake for another 20 minutes, uncovered. Scooping the sauce around the rats, spoon it over them from time to 

time so that it glazes a little.

                                                                                                         

To decorate your rat, simple circle cuts of carrots will serve as the ears. You don't have to cook them, although if you insist, you could steam them. I'm too lazy to bother. Make two slits in the rats head and press the carrots in there.

For the eyes, I just grabbed a couple raisins, and then for the whiskers I broke off six pieces of dry spaghetti noodles and stuck them in the face. 

Place your rats on a bed of mashed potatoes or spaghetti noodles and pour some of the sauce around it to give it a bloody trail. How cool are these?!!

Meat Demons

 

(adapted from Taste of Home)

Meat Demons are the greatest little evil meat pies ever!! These things started out as pumpkins but once carved and cooked they took on a totally different feel and thanks to a fellow meat demon lover (I don't even know if that sounded right), they have officially been dubbed: Meat Demon -  instead of Pumpkin Turnovers.. or something equally lame like that.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

• 1/2 pound ground beef
• 1tbs chopped onion
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup yellow mustard
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 2 tubes (16.3 ounces each) large refrigerated flaky biscuits (Pillsbury Grands is perfect).
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• Nonstick cooking spray

DIRECTIONS:

So ideally, you need a couple tubes of Pillsbury biscuit dough. I didn't have any and I wasn't about to run out to the store,  so I resorted to using Pillsbury Crescent dough because I had at least four tubes of that. The outcome is pretty much similar, its just much more of a pain to have to roll it into a ball and flatten it out. The major plus of using the biscuit dough is that its already round and you just have to cut it in half (two flat pieces).  The point here is that it can be substituted with what you have available. 

What a pain!! Make sure you buy the biscuit dough instead and save yourself the time! There are 8 perfect biscuits in each tube. Carefully slice each one in half so you have 2 disks (this will be the top and bottom of the turnover).  If you use other dough like I did, just roll it into a ball and flatten into 3-4 inch disks.

Pre-heat the oven to 350.

Cook your ground beef in a skillet with the chopped onions. You can add salt, pepper, or whatever hamburger seasoning you'd like.  Once cooked, add the shredded cheese and mix it in, followed by the ketchup and mustard.  Blend completely.

Spray a baking sheet with the nonstick spray. 

Place one disk down and scoop about a tablespoon worth of the meat mixture into it. More if there is room.

Carve out your pumpkin, ghost, demon face in the 2nd (top) disk, and place it on top of the meat mixture.  

Pinch all around the sides to seal the pocket.

Lightly brush the surface with the egg and bake for 10-15 minutes or according to the dough package.  You basically want the outside to be a nice golden brown. 

 

                   

DINNER IS SERVED!

Jap Chae

 (Adapted from Steamy Kitchen)

Jap Chae is a Korean dish, made using glass noodles. These vermicelli type noodles are made from sweet potato starch.  When I think vermicelli, my mind goes directly to the rice kind, often used in Vietnamese dishes, so I was excited to try this sweet potato version.  Pretty easy to make, Jap Chae was an instant hit in this house hold.

Here's a little history. History is always pretty interesting....
Japchae was first made in the early 17th century, when the Joseon Dynasty was reigning in the Korean peninsula. When King Gwanghaegun hosted a big party at his palace, one of his lieges, Yi Chung, created this dish to please the king’s palate. The king liked this dish so much that he rewarded his liege by promoting him to the position of hojo panseo (hangul: 호조판서, hanja: 戶曹判書, equivalent to the Secretary of the Treasury).^[1] At the time, japchae was made with vegetables and mushrooms, such as sliced cucumber, shredded mu, and pyogo (shiitake) mushroom. Since the early 20th century, dangmyeon (cellophane noodles made from sweet potato starch) has become an integral and primary ingredient of this variety of japchae.
(Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japchae)


INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 pound dried Korean sweet potato noodles - found at any Asian market.
• 2 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3/4 cup thinly sliced onions
• 2 carrots, cut into matchsticks
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 stalks scallions, cut into 1″ lengths
• 1/2 cup mushrooms, thinly sliced - I used Wood Ear.
• 1/2 lb spinach - I used pre-bagged to be simple.
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds

DIRECTIONS:

 Boil the noodles for approx. 5 minutes.  Drain, rinse with cold water, drain again and toss with 1 teaspoon of the sesame oil - this helps prevent sticking.

Chop all your vegetables.  I was able to find fresh wood ear mushrooms at the Asian market. If you can't, you can always grab some of the dried ones, or even some shitake.  For the dried ones, you'll have to soak them in water for about 15 minutes, drain them and then they'll be ready to cook.

Mix the soy sauce and sugar and set aside.

Fire up your wok.  Add the tablespoon of oil in and swirl it around to coat the wok.

Start with the carrots and onions. You'll want to stir fry them until they are soft.

Next, toss in the garlic, scallions, and mushrooms. Stir fry for half a minute.

Now add the spinach, noodles, soy sauce, and sugar.  Mix it all together and stir fry until the spinach has wilted, and the noodles are heated through. 

Turn off heat, toss with sesame seeds and remaining 1 1/2 tsp of sesame oil.

Eat like a king.

**  I added some tofu to the dish. **  

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 package of firm tofu
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons rice wine or sake
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 - 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1. Drain and cut tofu into bite sized cubes.
2. Combine the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and set aside - except the oil. Taste it.. add more sugar if you want it sweeter.
3. Heat the oil in a skillet until hot, but not smoking.  
4. Add the tofu, turning gently until its coated with the oil. Shake the pan from time to time so nothing sticks. Fry the tofu until it turns yellow, but not crispy and brown.
5. Add the sauce and stir gently to blend.
6. Cover the skillet and turn the heat down. Let it set for about 5 minutes or so.  You can add a spoon or two of water if the sauce dries up.
7. Add to your Jap Chae when ready to serve.