Monster Claws & Cheesy Ghosts

This is another meal my kids beg for during Halloween.

MONSTER CLAWS 

& CHEESY GHOSTS

I like to make my own chicken nuggets.  I'm completely obsessed with chick-fil-a's nuggets.  I don't get them often, but they are a splurge of mine occasionally.  My dear friend got up the guts to ask them for their breading recipe & miraculously enough they gave it to her & I've been making these nuggets myself ever since.  We love these things.  Just be sure to make them long & fingerlike for this meal.

And the ghosts are simple.  Just get a sharpie & draw a ghost face on your plastic wrapper of string cheese.

Here's my recipe for the nuggets in case you want to try it on your own.  I double this recipe for my family of 8, but it should feed 4-6 people as is.  

(and for the record, I never said these were healthy, they're just yummy!)

1 1/2 pounds chicken breast or tenderloins, cut into long fingerlike slices

1 egg

1 cup milk

1 cup flour

2 1/2 Tablespoons of powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 Tablespoon salt

Frying Oil

Mix egg & milk.  Put chicken slices into milk mixture & let sit for at least 5 minutes.  Mix flour, sugar, salt, & pepper in another bowl.  Heat oil.  Dip the wet chicken slices into the dry ingredients & coat.  Dip BACK in to the milk/egg mixture & then AGAIN into the flour mixture.  Fry in hot oil until browned & cooked through.

Enjoy.

Skeleton Brains & Banana Ghosts

Tonight we had breakfast for dinner in a fun Halloweeny way:

SKELETON BRAINS

& BANANA GHOSTS

This one is super easy after a busy day of running around kids.  Simply make some toast & cut with with a skeleton head cookie cutter.  Add chocolate chips for eyes & a mouth.  Then scramble up some eggs with whatever you like inside scrambled eggs (cheese, bacon, spinach, etc.) & place it on top of the skeleton heads so it looks like brains.  You can add red food coloring to make it a pinkish color, but I did that last year & it kind of freaked my kids out so I kept the eggs "normal" this time around.

For the ghosts. . . just cut bananas in half & add chocolate chips as eyes.  These were AWESOMELY DELICIOUS.

Enjoy!

Spooky Stew & Bread Bones

Tonight for dinner we had:

SPOOKY STEW

& BREAD BONES

We're in the middle of a crazy tropical storm here on the East Coast right now so it's been a downpour all week.  The wind shakes the house & it's chilly all around.  So, what a perfect day for stew right?  For this dinner, just make your favorite stew recipe.  Tonight mine consisted of stew meat, celery, carrots, red potatoes, & onions in a crock pot with a stew seasoning packet on low for 10 hours.

When it's getting close to dinner time, boil some potatoes & mash them until they are nice & creamy (add lots of milk & butter).  I used a pastry bag to pipe out little ghosts with my mashed potatoes & added olive bits as eyes.

For the bones, I just got some refrigerated bread dough, rolled it out flat & sliced it into long rectangular pieces.  I tied knots in each end & then baked them for 15 minutes in the oven at 375.  They looked like little bones.  My kids LOVED them.

Another fun, but easy dinner at the Potter house.  Enjoy.

Zombie Taco Salad

For tonight's dinner I made a Potter family favorite - even when it's NOT Halloween.

ZOMBIE TACO SALAD

& FRESH SALSA

Here's another yummy, easy dinner that you can make really fun for your kids.  You can make yours any way you like it.  Here's how I do mine:

First I crunch up a handful of tortilla chips at the bottom.  My family especially loves the Tostitos Multi-Grain chips.  They are YUMMY.  Next top with meat & beans.  I make my ground beef with taco seasoning & then add a jumbo can of pork and beans to it.  I know that sounds disgusting, but for some reason that's how I've always made taco salad & we love it.  I don't know where I learned that, but my kids won't eat it any other way.  Spoon that mixture onto the chips.  Next, top that with fresh salsa.  Add lettuce for your zombie hair/brains, cheese for the falling off skin, a tomato for the hungry mouth, 2 spoonfuls of sour cream for eyes, & olives for the center of the eyes.

Easy & it will make the kids smile.

Here's my favorite salsa recipe in case you want to try something new.  I got this recipe from my friend Christina in California & we make it CONSTANTLY.  We love it.

Mix together in a medium sized bowl . . .

1 can petite diced tomatoes, drained

1 can black beans, rinsed

1 can whole kernel corn, drained

1 fresh tomato diced

1/2 large purple onion, diced

1 packed of dry ranch dressing mix

2 Tablespoons lime juice

2 avocados, diced

2 Tablespoons cilantro

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Hot Pockets & Vampire Teeth

So I totally forgot to post my dinner from last night.  What a slacker!

Last night I made:

PUMPKIN HOT POCKETS

& VAMPIRE TEETH

(which looked more like hillbilly teeth, but whatever works right?)

For the Pumpkin Hot Pockets I just bought the refrigerated pie dough (or you can make your own).  Use a pumpkin cookie cutter to cut several pumpkins.  Make sure you have 2 cut outs for each pocket.  You can fill your pockets with anything you family likes.  Last night I did honey mustard with garlic chicken & provolone cheese.  Every year it seems to be something different.  After you fill one side of your pumpkin, put the 2nd piece on top & seal around the edge with a fork.  Next I get 2 tiny bowls & crack an egg white into each. . . egg WHITE. . . no yolk.  Add food coloring to the egg whites to make one orange bowl & one green bowl.  Brush the colored egg wash over your pumpkins to give them color & to make them bake into a nice flaky crispy crust.  Bake at 375 for about 15 minutes.

The Vampire Teeth are just apple slices with peanut butter & marshmallows.  Easy!

Enjoy!

Pirate Flags & Bloody Eyeball Soup

Tonight was a simple but fun Halloween dinner.

PIRATE FLAGS

& BLOODY EYEBALL SOUP

(aka, grilled cheese & tomato soup)

Use a cookie cutter to cut any shape out of one bread slice (per sandwich).  We did skulls with crossbones tonight.  We used white (provolone) cheese since the skull & crossbones are usually white on a pirate flag.  If you're making pumpkins use cheddar cheese; for ghosts white cheese, etc.

Then make your favorite tomato soup & cut small pieces of string cheese to float on top of your soup.  Easy & fun.

Enjoy.

Snakes & Eyeballs

Tonight I made

Scary Snakes

& Slippery Eyeballs

for dinner for my family.

These are also an easy dinner that the whole family will love.  The eyeballs are just deviled eggs with olive slices in them (EASY).

For the snakes you can make your favorite burrito or taquito, add olive eyes, & a red pepper tongue.  In case you're looking for a new taquito recipe, here's mine:

6 oz. cream cheese

1 can of diced green chili

1 Tablespoon fresh lime juice

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 cup chopped onions

2 Tablespoons chopped red/green peppers

1/2 cup chopped spinach (I hide spinach in EVERYTHING.)

1 large can of canned chicken (I used Costco brand)

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

salt & pepper to taste

tortillas

Heat oven to 425 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with foil & lightly coat with cooking spray.  Mix the cream cheese, lime juice, & seasonings in a medium sized bowl.  Add all the other ingredients & mix well.  Place 2-3 Tablespoons of mixture on each tortilla & roll up as tight as you can & place the taquitos seam side down on the baking sheet.  Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray & sprinkle with salt.  Bake 15-18 minutes.

Enjoy.

Monster Sandwiches & Candy Corn Pudding

Tonight we had another Potter Halloween favorite:

MONSTER SANDWICHES

& CANDY CORN PUDDING

The sandwiches are up to you.  I made my little ones simple ham & cheese sandwiches on hoagie buns with tomato/olive eyes.  Simple enough.  For my oldest 2 girls & for my husband & myself I made some hot grilled sandwiches. . . 

#1. They taste awesome & 

#2. They make it look like your sandwich monster is throwing up all sorts of things all over your plate.  YUM.

I love making hot grilled sandwiches & have several combinations I love to make.  For this one we did chicken & ham deli meat.  Add some salt & pepper for flavor & grill it in a frying pan with onions, peppers, & mushrooms.  Add some provolone cheese on top until it melts & then pile it in your bun.  They are FABULOUS.

For the candy corn pudding I just made 3 different bowls of pudding: 

Butterscotch (I love the Pumpkin Spice pudding in this if you can find it)

Banana Cream (or Lemon)

White Chocolate

Once the pudding has been in the fridge & set up properly, spoon it into layers in a see through cup or bowl for the candy corn effect.  We love this.

Enjoy!

Mummy Dogs & Mini Pumpkins

Here's another Hallowen Favorite from the Potter house:

MUMMY DOGS

& MINI PUMPKINS

This one is easy easy easy to make.  Get your favorite hot dog or sausage & wrap it with breadstick dough or crescent dough.  I like the taste of the crescent dough more.  I also like to buy the giant hot dogs either from Costo or ordered from Zaycon Foods (which are my absolute favorite).  Tonight I used our Zaycon hot dogs & they tasted amazing!  Bake them at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or just until they are golden brown.  Add mustard dots for eyes & there you have it.

I always make a spiderweb ketchup/mustard dip for these guys as well.  Fill a bowl with ketchup, then swirl 3 circles of mustard on top.  Take a toothpick & pull outward from the center to get the spider web effect.

Then, serve it with some cute mini-pumpkins.  My kids LOVE cutie's (mini oranges).  Just peel them & add a green onion stem & you're set.

Happy Haunting!

Pumpkin Brains & Eyeball Potion

Happy October Everyone.

It's the most. . . wonderful time . . . of the year.

For our first dinner of the Halloween season, I made the family's favorite:

PUMPKIN BRAINS

& added some

EYEBALL POTION

this year.

My kids LOVE these & it's a good way to get your kids to eat some veggies.  Simply "carve" some colored bell peppers like Jack-o-Lanterns & then add your favorite spaghetti recipe inside the "head."  I especially love tipping them over so their brains spill out all over your plate.

My dear friend who also share a love of all things Halloween sent me 8 amazing skull goblets for Halloween this year so I got creative & put some eyeball gummies into an ice cube tray, added water, & froze them to make eyeball ice cubes.  I added them to green kool-aid into our scary goblets & voila

Eyeball Potion.

I love October.