Unfortunately there is a lot going on the weekend before Halloween & our get-together ended up being a little small. The people that could come had something scheduled before or after, and so did we! (Fall Festival beforehand & Justin had to chaperone Homecoming that night) Thankfully we were able to get the food & kid's costumes ready in time without too much stress & skipped dressing up ourselves this year.
On to the eye candy! Or "Bloody Eyeballs" in this case. It's always hard to come up with a themed meat dish without resorting back to the classic mummy dogs, so I was thrilled to come across these eyeball meatballs.
I altered the recipe a little & doubled it, using 2 lbs. ground turkey, 1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, 2 Tbsp. minced garlic, 2 eggs, 1/2 tsp. salt, & 1/2 tsp. pepper. I lined the bottoms of two casserole dishes with (store bought) spaghetti sauce, about 3-4 cups, and placed the meatballs on top. (The picture shows the smaller batch, uncooked. We made way too much!) Ground chicken or turkey will give you nice, whitish eyeballs.
Now, I didn't want to use slices of olive & have white centers. I bought whole black olives, cut them in half, & cut a slice from each half. Then I cut down the leftover ends until I had a black piece small enough to fit inside the hole. It was a little extra work, but worth it! I think a large milkshake straw might be the perfect size to quickly punch these out, but I didn't have one on hand. Slap the iris on your meatballs and bake for 20 minutes at 350 F.
Next we have the Brain Dip, which I will post a step-by-step for tomorrow! (Tutorial added here)
The same goes for these cute little Witch Brooms (Tutorial added here) ~
Justin made some homemade salsa, so I grabbed a pack of tortillas and cut out a tree and some gravestones to make a little cemetery scene. First I brushed the tree with some ground cinnamon mixed with water then I baked these at 350 F, just checking on them every few minutes (and flipping them over once) until they were firm & a little browned. I also used the cinnamon paste to paint the tombstones with the last names of our guests, but Justin thought that might cross the line so I wiped it off. Of course of guests liked the idea!
I carefully put the pieces back in the tortilla bag, thinking there was enough wiggle room in there to keep them safe, but I came back to broken tombstones and tree. The moisture from the other tortillas probably didn't help, and someone could have easily moved the bag, not realizing there were fragile pieces inside! I glued the tree back together long enough to get a picture, snapped off another branch just setting it in the salsa, and then it went into the trash.
And I couldn't resist making these cute & easy vampire donuts, which I'm dubbing "Krispy Skreams". One of the girls from my favorite food blog, Our Best Bites, said she tried to make these and the fangs opened back up & ripped her donuts apart! Our fangs did not seem very strong, so it might vary by brand, but I pinched the creases closed with my fingers a bit just in case and we had no problems. Add some chocolate kisses for the eyes and you are set!
Are you doing any spooky cooking this year? Whenever I mention making a silly food now my 3 year-old says "maybe for Halloween", so I may have to make some more on Halloween day. I might not get another chance anytime soon!
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