Witch's themed Dinner

I know this theme was all about witch's, but I had to throw in a mummy for the guys. This themed dinner included, name cards (these name cards are also fun favors to be taken home

and can be filled with your favorite candy or treat). Juice bottle labels with of course

witch's on them. We printed off small witch's and glued them to toothpicks for the fruit picks.

We served chilli, chicken spagetti, witch's wart breat (scones), a green salad and brownie witch's for dessert. You can download the free instructions and pattern for the witch and mummy party favor HERE.

This witch is certainly not going to win any rewards, but she still caused a scandle at the party and everyone was gossip mongering about her.

Chicken Spaghetti:

4 cups cooked chicken, cubed
4 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 cups milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
14 oz. pkg. spaghetti, broken and cooked

In a bowl, combine the chicken, 2 cups cheese, soup, milk, salt and pepper and mix well. Add the cooked spaghetti and toss to coat. Transer to a greased 13"x9" baking pan and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Bake, uncovered at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until heated through and cheese is bubbly. Makes 10 servings.

For the witch face and hat make your favorite pie crust and die the dough colors of your choice. Roll out a round shape for the face and mold a nose. Roll out a triangle and rectangle shape for the hat. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and place on top of your casserole. Add olives for the eyes and celery for the hair. Be creative.

Witch's Wart Bread:

You can use frozen roll dough and let it thaw at room temp until they raise or you can make home-made dough for the scones.

Home-made Dough:

In bread mixer put ½ cup warm water, add 3 tbsp. yeast and sprinkle 1 tbsp. sugar over the yeast. Add the following to the bowl:

1 cup instant potato flakes

1 cup instant milk

1 tbsp. salt

1/3 cup oil

1/3 cup honey

1 egg
3 3/4 cup water

Turn on bread mixer and and mix ingredients together. Slowly add flour (6-8 cups) until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Do not add too much flour or your dough will be too stiff. Put your dough in a greased bowl and cover with a towel and put in a warm place. Let rest for 20 minutes. This will make a lot of scones. You may want to make a loaf of bread with half of it. Take a small portion of the bread dough and roll it out in a rectangle. Cut into squares. I like to then take each square and roll it really thin. Heat 1 quart of oil to 400 degrees. I like to use an electric skillet, but you can also use a wok or other deep frying pan. Cook scones about 3 at a time. If the oil is hot enough the dough will pop up pretty quickly and start forming those witch’s warts. If not hot enough the dough will sit on the bottom of the pan for awhile. When brown on one side turn over and brown on the other side. Serve these hot with butter, honey, jam or sprinkle with powdered sugar. Your guests are going to love you.

Witch Brownies:

2 packages brownie mix or favorite brownie recipe
Chocolate sandwich cookies (Oreos)
Bugle Chips
Air Head candy
Round shape candy of your choice for the witch head
Fudge sauce (recipe below)

Combine both packages of brownies and make according to package directions. Bake the brownies in one 13"x9" pan. Let brownies cool and cut into nine squares.

To serve brownies: Place a brownie on a serving plate. Glaze the top of the brownie with the fudge sauce. Insert the oreo 1/3 of the way down from the top of the brownie. Dip the end of a bugle in the fudge sauce and attach it to the top of the oreo to make the witch's hat. Place the witch's head under the oreo. Dip the end of a toothpick into the fudge sauce and dot the witch eyes. (You can also use mini chocolate chips). Out of one air head cut six long strips. Roll one strip of candy into a curl shape. Make two for each witch and lay along each side of the witch head. (You can also cut a strip of air head and wrap it around the bottom of the bugle for the hat trim. Serve brownie with your favorite ice cream. These witch brownies are so alluring and will trap any little ghoul and goblin.

Fudge Sauce:

1 cup sugar
2 tbsp. light corn syrup
4 tbsp. cocoa
dash salt
4 tbsp. butter
1 cup powdered sugar
½ cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix sugar and cocoa in saucepan. Stir in butter, milk, corn syrup and salt, heat to boiling, stirring frequently. Boil vigorously for 3 minutes. Cool. Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla. The frosting should be slightly runny. You don't want it to be thick. It will thicken.

Halloween Themed Dinner "Spiders Everywhere"

I'm SCREAMING and it's not because of this spider themed dinner!!!  I have tried posting this blog three times now and have retyped it several times and it just won't post or save as a draft!  For some reason spiders are just not welcome.  Here goes my fourth time.  Let's hope it works!!! 

This theme has given many of my guests the creeps, but is still a favorite theme of the family's. 

We have done this theme for so many years that most everyone in my family 

will eat the spiders now, including the in-laws. 

The spiders on the jello were made with a licorce crow for the body and black string licorce for the legs.  The huge spider on the salad has cucumbers for the body,
carrots for the eyes and green peppers for legs. 
You can download the spider name card and juice bottle label at
Parties and Patterns.
 I like to put spider rings on the cups. Kids love it and it never seems to grow old.

Creepy Spiders (Chicken Croissants)

 4 cups boiled chopped chicken

16 refrigerated croissant rolls (3 tubes)

2 tubes pizza dough

Three 8 oz. packages cream cheese (softened)

¼ cup butter (softened)

Salt and pepper to taste

Cooked rice for 8

Roll out the pizza dough into a thin large rectangle shape.  Cut the dough in fourths and then in 1/2" strips for the spider legs.  Take a piece of tin foil fold it several times so it’s pretty stiff. The last fold should form a stiff V that is 2-3" on each side. Place tinfoil V on cookie sheet and drape the dough spider legs over the tin foil. This forms the shape of the legs. Cook the legs at 350 degrees for 8 -10 minutes or until browned.

Mix butter, cream cheese and chicken in a large bowl. You can use a large wooden spoon, but sometimes it is just easier to use your hands. Add salt and pepper to taste. Then take the croissant rolls and roll out each individual triangle till it’s pretty thin. Put 1/8th of the chicken mixture on each triangle and wrap dough around the ball of chicken so it is round or slightly oblong. Place spider bodies on greased cookie sheet and cook at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until browned.

Sauce

2 cans Cream of Chicken Soup

½ can milk

½ cup sour cream

Food coloring of your choice for color of spider (I used purple)

Small can of sliced black olives

Blend all ingredients together and heat through. When the croissant spider bodies come out of the oven place on a plate and add spider legs along each side. Spiders have 8 legs, but I only put 6.  Cover body with colored gravy and add olive slices for the eyes. Each guest gets their own spider. Be prepared for your guests to squirm in their seats.

Freaky Spider Dessert

1/2 gallon ice cream of your choice (peppermint ice cream is one of our favorites)

1/2 package oreo cookies, crushed

Chocolate Fudge Sauce

Red hots

Cookie dough recipe for spider legs

Take ice cream out of freezer and let slightly melt.  Put the oreos in a bowl.  With an ice cream scoop, scoop a ball of ice cream onto the oreos and cover the ice cream keeping it in a ball shape.  (This part can get messy, but licking your fingers is a just reward.)  Warning:  Do not lick fingers until all balls of ice cream are coated in the oreos.  Immediately put balls of ice cream in the freezer to harden.

To serve the spiders, place a spider on a plate.  With a skewer stick make three holes on each side of the spider body and insert legs.  Drizzle chocolate fudge sauce over the body and add the red hots for the eyes.

Sugar Cookie Recipe:

1 cup butter, softened
(3oz.) package cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. almond extract

2 ½ cups flour

½ tsp. salt

Black food coloring

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and cream cheese together. Add sugar and mix well until light and fluffy. Add egg, vanilla. Mix well. Gradually add flour and salt to cream mixture. Add in black food coloring and mix well. Take a teaspoonful of dough and shape it into snake shape pointing the ends.  Place dough on cookie sheet in a "V" to form legs.  Bake for 12-15 minutes. Do not over bake! Remove legs from cookie sheet and cool.

Everyone gets the creeps when they come to my house for dinner.

Printable Games "Halloween Bingo"

Oldest son, "Mom, why are we playing bingo?"

Me with a grin, "Because this is my house."

I may have had to pull rank to get everyone to sit down and play but all my kids got so into the game that we ended up playing several rounds of black out.  I won't say that my grown kids are competive, but let's just say this game got intensley exciting.   There are 20  different game boards so we were able to play with my kids and their kids.  It was great fun for all ages.

 

You can download this free printable "Halloween Bingo" game

HERE at Parties and Patterns.

Mummy's

This spine-chilling mummy themed dinner is a yearly encounter in our family.  

We won't tittle tattle but the kids loved gnawing on these creatures. 

Everyone had their own mummy place setting, so there was no disturbance

in getting to their seats.  All mortals had an alluring personalized soda pop bottle

that got a lot of laughs. 

Tomorrows theme will be spiders so hang around. 

Till then, we are wishing you a Fright Mare!

Putting the Mummys Together:


Dough:

In bread mixer put ½ cup warm water, add 3 tbsp. yeast and sprinkle 1 tbsp. sugar over
the yeast. Add the following to the bowl:

1 cup instant potato flakes
1 cup instant milk
1 tbsp. salt
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup honey
1 egg

Turn on bread mixer and after ingredients are mixed add 2¾ cup water. Slowly add flour (6-8 cups) until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Do not add too much flour or your dough will be too stiff. Grease dough with butter. Put your dough in a greased bowl and cover with a towel and put in a warm place. Let raise until double in bulk.

Roll out a quarter of the dough in a rectangle the size of a cookie sheet and then transfer to the cookie sheet before putting the toppings on. Down the middle third of the dough layer 3 oz. cream cheese, 1/2 cup salsa (don't use too much or it will make the bottom soggy), 1 lb. ground turkey or beef (pre-cooked and seasoned with taco seasoning), 1/3 cup black beans and cheese to cover.

With a pizza cutter, cut strips about one and a half inches apart down each side and then wrap the sections over the top alternating sides. Let raise another 20 minutes.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Recipe makes four braids. You can freeze uncooked braids. Let them defrost and raise for four-five hours. Bake as above.

NOTE: These are yummy made with peanut butter and jelly. You can slice them up and put them in kids lunches. You can also layer pizza sauce, pepperoni and cheese. Be creative and come up with your own combinations.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies

Chocolate Chip  Pumpkin Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup canned pumpkin 
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups flour
1 cup oats
2 cups chocolate chips

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugars together.  Beat in the egg, vanilla and pumpkin.   Mix in the soda, cinnamon and flour.  Fold in the oats and chocolate chips.  Drop by tablespoons onto a greased baking sheets.  Bate at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until lightly brown.  Remove from baking sheet immediately.  Cool.  This is a soft cookie.

Little Minion Eclairs

Putting the little minions together:

2 cups water
1 cup butter
2 cups flour
8 eggs

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Heat water and butter to rolling boil in saucepan. Stir in flour. Stir vigorously over low heat until mixture forms a ball, about 1 minute. Remove from heat. Beat in eggs, one at a time, continue beating until smooth. Use a pastry tube or drop éclair batter by scant ¼ cups about 3 inches apart onto greased cookie sheet. Gently form each ball into a long rectangle shape.

 Bake until puffed and golden, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool away from draft. Cut off tops, pull out any filaments of soft dough. Fill puffs with cream filling and frost top with fudge frosting. Decorate with candy eyes and frosting.  Refrigerate until serving time. Make 24 minions.

 Cream Filling

1 large pkg white chocolate pudding
1 large pkg vanilla pudding
1 cup cool whip

Following package directions make the puddings. Blend the two pudding and cool whip together.  Fill the mummy bodies.

 Fudge Frosting

1 cup sugar 2 tbsp. light corn syrup
4 tbsp. cocoa dash salt
4 tbsp. butter 1 cup to 1½ cups powdered sugar
½ cup milk 1 tsp. vanilla

Mix sugar and cocoa in saucepan. Stir in butter, milk, corn syrup and salt, heat to boiling, stirring frequently. Boil vigorously for 3 minutes. Cool. Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla. The frosting should be slightly runny.  You don't want it to thick.

 Now that you are good and stuffed, just lie back and let them close the lid...

Pumpkin Patch Peanut Butter Cookies

The Cookie:

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup chunky peanut butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp. water
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and peanut butter together until smooth.  Beat in the brown sugar and sugar until mixture is light.  Beat in the eggs, water and vanilla.

In another bowl mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients.  Stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop the dough by rounded teaspoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet.  Dip a fork into sugar and flatten the cookies.  Bake the cookies in a 350 degree oven for 12-14 minutes or until the edges are slightly brown.  Cool on a wire rack.

The Fudge Frosting:

1 cup sugar
4 tbsp. cocoa
4 tbsp. butter
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp. corn syrup
Dash of salt
3/4 to 1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

In a saucepan mix the sugar and cocoa.  Stir in the butter, milk, corn syrup and salt.  Heat mixture to boiling, stirring frequently.  Boil for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Cool.  Beat in the powdered sugar and vanilla.  The frosting should not be thick.  With a spoon frost the cookies.  The frosting will set.

The Pumpkin:

12 oz. or one package white chips, candy melt, or almond bark
3 tbsp. shortening
Orange food coloring
Mini pretzels
Green dots or gum drops

In a double boiler melt the white chips and shortening. Add the orange food coloring and stir until smooth.  Dip the mini pretzels in the melted mixture and place on wax paper until the chocolate has set.  Cut the dots or gum drops in pieces for the pumpkin stems.  Place the pretzel pumpkins and pumpkin stems on the cookies.
Pumpkin Patch never tasted so good.

Homemade Party Favors "Zombie Fragments"

Homemade party favors "Zombie Fragments" is staggering in circles trying to find his candy. 

Download this dreadful homemade party favor "Zombie Fragments"

 here at Parties and Patterns and help this ghoul along his way. 

Happy Fright Mare!

Homemade Party Favors "Wolf Man Munchies"

Homemade party favors "Wolf Man Munchies" is snarling along the frightful town and can't wait to sink his teeth into his treats.  There is certain to be trouble if you don't

download this homemade party favor "Wolf Man Munchies"

 here at Parties and Patterns. 

Happy Bite Night!

Homemade Party Favors "Witch Snippets"

Homemade Party Favors "Witch Snippets" is scouring the sky looking for candy.  There is a scare in the air so donwload this alerting homemade party favor "Witch Snippets"

 here at Parties and Patterns. 

The packet comes with a candy bag label and a recipe.

Happy Flight Night!

Homemade Party Favors "Witch Nibbles"

Homemade Party Favors "Witch Nibbles" is stirring up a frightful night.  Beware of bats, toads and broomsticks.  Download this frightful homemade party favor "Witch Nibbles"  at your own risk

here at Parties and Patterns. 

The packet comes with a candy bag label and a recipe. 

Have a Bewitching Night!

Homemade Party Favors "Skeleton Skittles"

Homemade Party Favors "Skeleton Skittles"  will be shaking with terror until you give the little goblins this candy bag.  This packet comes with the candy bag label and a recipe. 

You can download this homemade party favor "Skeleton Skittles with alarming speed

here at Parties and Patterns.

A terrifying encounter.

Homemade Party Favors "Scare-d-Cat Snacks"

Homemade Party Favors "Scare-d-Cat Snacks"  is a hair raising happening.  Make your own alluring treats or get them at your local haunt.  Download this frightening homemade party favor

here at Parties and Patterns. 

Packet comes with candy bag label and a recipe. 

Don't be a Scare-d-Cat do it now!

Homemade Party Favors "Mummy Munchies"

Homemade Party Favors "Mummy Munchies" are all wound up and they want their candy bag straight away.  Don't lag behind, download this homemade party favor "Mummy Munchies"

here at Parties and Pattterns. 

 Packet comes with candy bag label and a recipe. 

You have be Warned!

Homemade Party Favors "Mummy Morsels"

Homemade Party favors "Mummy Morsels" are staggering to get their treats.  Download this jolting homemade party favor "Mummy Morsels" here at Parties and Patterns.

Packet comes with candy bag label and a recipe.

Spine-chilling greetings!

Homemade Party Favors " Igar Scraps"

Homemade Party favors "Igar Scraps" will have all freaky mortals will be limping along until they get this fearsome candy bag filled with a favorite treat. 

 Download this supernatural homemade trick or treat bag

 HERE at Parties and Patterns. 

Packet comes with candy bag label and a recipe. 

Monster Greetings!

Homemade Party Favors "Hauntingly Good Treats"

Homemade Party Favors "Hauntingly Good Treats" will have every living thing clambering for more candy.  Engaging in this prattle will make you the talk of the creepy streets. 

Download this shocking homemade party favor

here at Parties and Patterns. 

Hope your Halloween is disturbing!

Homemade Party Favors "Ghost Gobbets"

Homemade Party Favors "Ghost Gobbets" is the tittle tattle of all Spookville. You are sure to please this phantom with this candy bag.  You can download this bothersome

homemade party favor "Ghost Gobbets

here at Parties and Patterns.

Have a Spooktacular Evening!