Fall/Halloween party ideas

[barolo]

Martha Stewart has lots of good ideas on her website.

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Anne... I can't open your link. When I searched Martha Stewart's homepage, all I came up with for Halloween was snacks and desserts.

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Oops, that was my mistake, I didn't read your request carefully enough. There are only desserts and snacks, I missed the point about a main dish.

[SuzySushi]

Since this may become more than main courses...here's my favorite. 

Eyeball soup

Take canned lychee fruit.  Shove a slightly mushed blueberry or blackberry into the hole.  Allow the blue color to seep into the veins of the lychee, set in the champagne jello...yummmm

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I'd seen that suggestion, with the lychees stuffed with maraschino cherries. I like your idea more, especially the blue veins!

[SuzySushi]

Taking a surrealist approach, with the inspiration of Rene Magritte, you can serve a "regular" sort of meal but with odd cut-outs of body parts stuck here and there.

Heh. I say "body parts" but of course he was famous for a singular eye, as in the painting displayed in this link: The Portrait.

...

Next time I do it I am going to find some noses somewhere and stick them on.

  Some strange noses, of all sorts. 

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Or you could mold them out of bread or cookie dough, for edible noses!

[Carrot Top]

Or you could mold them out of bread or cookie dough, for edible noses!

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Or marzipan, even. That would be quick and easy and would taste well enough with a main course that had meat or poultry accompanied by poached dried fruit as part of the overall plate.

Hmmm. Prunes.

[gfron1]

Or carve your favorite friend out of velveeta (sorry I couldn't resist posting this again):

[SuzySushi]

Or carve your favorite friend out of velveeta (sorry I couldn't resist posting this again):

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That's great!

[tejon]

There are a bunch of savory recipes in this month's First magazine. Most of them look horrible...and not in a good way. However, there were two that I'm going to tuck away for future use (at least the ideas). One was wontons shaped like bats - just fold two opposite corners up high for "ears", fill with anything, and add sliced olive and cream cheese eyes on each. Cute, a bit creepy, and simple. The other was a bit wormy, but I liked the idea. Tint cornbread black, then bake into a rectangle (coffin), slice off the top, scoop out the insides and fill with chili. Put the lid back on askew and garnish with sauteed bell pepper "worms" around the edge.

Oh, and the finger cookies really don't take long to do at all, especially if you have a second set of hands helping (your daughter?). They're pretty easy to form and very forgiving.

I appear to be all about Halloween food, don't I? I love this holliday

Edited October 25, 2006 by tejon (log)

[laurelm]

Personally, I like a soup baked in or presented in a pumpkin. My mom makes a fruity, sausage, pumpkin, sage stew baked in pumpkins, and La Martha has a white bean and sausage stew served in pumpkin bowls.

I also use pumpkins to hold dips, candy etc, layer the bottom with saran wrap or aluminum foil.

It makes for a nice presentation.

That soup sounds delicious!!

[Carrot Top]

Or carve your favorite friend out of velveeta (sorry I couldn't resist posting this again):

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That's great!

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Now *that* takes a brilliantly twisted mind, to develop Velveeta as a sculpture material. Kudos!

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Thinking of Velveeta-Cheese-Sculpted Heads, how about a Cornered Rat Meatloaf?

You could shape a big rat out of a good meatloaf mixture, bake it then glaze it with a shiny glaze. I guess if you wanted to make him look furry, a swiss meringue baked, broken up into small bits then dusted with cocoa might be stuck onto the glaze. . .His face would have to be mean looking, with big whiskers angling up sideways, his head low with horrid little raisin eyes. His whiskers would be made out of Pocky, perhaps. Ears swiss meringue or maybe even a Frito cornchip would do. A long tail extending in an angry curl could be made out of cooked perciatelli and he could be in repose on a grassy bed of julienned cooked zucchini/yellow squash.

If you wanted to have a Murdered Cornered Rat, a small sharp knife could be stuck protruding from his side with some chili sauce oozing down from it. More chili sauce to be served on the side for bloodthirsty types.

Ah well. It's quite made my morning, thinking of it all!

[Carrot Top]

If you could only get Chufi to say how to make these little things, that would be wonderful, too. I've never quite forgotten these little guys, the upside down happy frog guy with his murdered companion stuck in a bookbag:

(See Post #31).

Gallery of Regrettable Foods

Adorable yet so. . .well. . .*frightening* in a fairy tale sort of way.

They have made a home in my heart forever.

[SuzySushi]

... how about a Cornered Rat Meatloaf?

You could shape a big rat out of a good meatloaf mixture, bake it then glaze it with a shiny glaze. I guess if you wanted to make him look furry, a swiss meringue baked, broken up into small bits then dusted with cocoa might be stuck onto the glaze. . .His face would have to be mean looking, with big whiskers angling up sideways, his head low with horrid little raisin eyes. His whiskers would be made out of Pocky, perhaps.  Ears swiss meringue or  maybe even a Frito cornchip would do.  A long tail extending in an angry curl could be made out of cooked perciatelli  and he could be in repose on a grassy bed of julienned cooked zucchini/yellow squash.

If you wanted to have a Murdered Cornered Rat, a small sharp knife could be stuck protruding from his side with some chili sauce oozing down from it. More chili sauce to be served on the side for bloodthirsty types.

Ah well. It's quite made my morning, thinking of it all!

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You have a sick mind, I tell ya'!

[fyfas]

Today's Sacramento Bee - Food Section has some ideas.

Note the site may require a registration to read.

Edited October 26, 2006 by fyfas (log)

[SuzySushi]

Today's Sacramento Bee - Food Section has some ideas.

Note the site may require a registration to read.

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Thanks, Bob! Your link didn't work because of too many "http"s in the code. The correct link is:

http://www.sacbee.com/161/index.html

[Carrot Top]

You have a sick mind, I tell ya'!  

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Thank you! It's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it.

Okay, so here's the next idea. Little scary guys all in a row on a plate, ready to be eaten.

Make enchiladas - bake them "blind" without sauce - here's a link to a site that has a rather nice photo: Enchiladas

Place them on a serving plate all in a neat row, then top them with scary heads made of the top part of some parsnips that have been peeled and cooked so as to be easily edible, but *do not* remove the dead sprouting greens - leave them as hair. Faces can be made either by cutting out eyes and such, or by using a tiny round pastry tip to draw on the elements with taco sauce. Or even with Velveeta.

Heat in oven, serve, and dine.

Ahhhh.

P.S. Even the parsnips alone might be scary enough.

Edited October 25, 2006 by Carrot Top (log)

[SuzySushi]

Okay, so here's the next idea. Little scary guys all in a row on a plate, ready to be eaten.

Make enchiladas - bake them "blind" without sauce - here's a link to a site that has a rather nice photo: Enchiladas

Place them on a serving plate all in a neat row, then top them with scary heads made of the top part of some parsnips that have been peeled and cooked so as to be easily edible, but *do not* remove the dead sprouting greens - leave them as hair. Faces can be made either by cutting out eyes and such, or by using a tiny round pastry tip to draw on the elements with taco sauce. Or even with Velveeta.   

Heat in oven, serve, and dine.

Ahhhh. 

P.S. Even the parsnips alone might be scary enough. 

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Oooh, oooh! That reminds me of another idea - Korean stuffed cabbage. I actually have a recipe in my computer files from an out-of-print Korean cookbook, for cabbage leaves cut into diamond shapes and stuffed with oval meat patties. I don't remember if it was in the original recipe or my description of the photo, but the words in my notes read: "Fold up point of leaf from the bottom to cover the meat halfway, then roll sides over. (The top should be open to show some of the meat filling, and the back of the leaf should come to a point—the package should look like a baby wrapped in a papoose.)" Maybe add black sesame seeds for the eyes, a little shredded nori for hair and....

Edited because the cabbage should be "stuffed," not "suffed."

Edited October 26, 2006 by SuzySushi (log)

[Carrot Top]

I LOVE your idea! Just too adorable and too delicious.

What will you call them - Cabbage Patch Dolls on a Scary Night?

[SuzySushi]

I LOVE your idea! Just too adorable and too delicious.

What will you call them - Cabbage Patch Dolls on a Scary Night? 

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I think we have a winner! (eGullet needs a "thumbs up" smilie.)

[tejon]

  I think we have a winner! (eGullet needs a "thumbs up" smilie.)

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Like this?

[SuzySushi]

  I think we have a winner! (eGullet needs a "thumbs up" smilie.)

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Like this?

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The green looks a little sickly, but yeah!

[petite tête de chou]

I saw this and thought my fellow eGulleteers would get a kick out of it. Is anyone cooking up something gruesome and delicious for Halloween?

[Kouign Aman]

Oh my! that's a grand sight!

Maybe a dish of planaria* and worms? (*fried sage leaves & pasta)

[llc45]

I already bought the brain mold several years ago, guess I have to go add to my collection...

[kiky]

maybe you shoul try baking some pumpkin cookies with halloween's shapes o making cupcakes and decor them with spiders.

Here is the recipe of the pumpkin cookies, I actually find this amazing recipe at a free desserts site

Ingredients

2 1/2 cup gluten-free flour blend*

1 tsp xanthan gum

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 egg

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup raisins or chocolate chips

Directions

Combine gluten-free flour mix, xanthan gum, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and

salt in a medium bowl.

In a mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, pumpkin, and

vanilla. Add in dry ingredients. Stir in raisins or chocolate chips.

Drop by tablespoons onto an oil sprayed baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 15 to 18 minutes.

Good luck!

[OliverB]

chocolate pudding, crumbled chocolate Graham crackers, gummy worms. All in one bowl, instant dirt with worms - my boy loves it

And don't forget food coloring, you can make mean looking pasta (blue, green, red, etc) and get creative with that. Or color just about anything else. Green milk anyone? You can also buy black pasta, it's usually colored with squid ink. Looks great too. Some white sauce, black olives stuffed with almonds or something else bright for rotten eyeballs.

If I get to it I might make a pumpkin pie and see if you can draw/paint on it with diluted food coloring.

You can also get edible sheet that you can run through your printer and then somehow apply to a pie or cake. I have not done that, but take that, a computer, the image search in google and the possibilities are endless

[rena]

Decided to make some treats for Halloween so made some marshmallow bars. Shapes are ghost, bat and a pumpkin. I also made cookie marshmallow to be dipped in chocolate...