Archive for October, 2011
creepy food week day 6
Oct
31
Happy Halloween! Did you enjoy trick or treating this evening? We had a houseful of witches and devils and princesses all hopped up on sugar and adrenaline. A quick meal and the bunch of us were out the door creeping through the neighbourhood, scaring the neighbours, and enjoying the scents, sights and sounds of Hallow’s Eve. And now that the witches, devils and princesses are enjoying their final snack of the evening, I thought I would give you our last creepy food of 2011.
Tonight’s dinner: Batwing Quesadilla’s
My daughter has been asking for these all week and I needed something quick and easy to feed the kidlets before trick or treating. My eldest was delighted! I’m just grateful the bat house was full of bats!
My daughter’s favorite, which I was told last night, I am to make EVERY Creepy Food Week. Simple black bean quesadilla’s, black olive body with a dot of sour cream for eyes. Quick and easy and not to creepy. We had some young guests for dinner last night and this was their first creepy food at Aunt Tracey’s. I want them to come back.
I hope you enjoyed our 4th Annual Creepy Food Week. I’d love to hear your thoughts about Creepy Food Week! Did you make creepy food this year?
And of course, I hope you have a super-fangtastic and creepy Halloween!
creepy food week day 5
Oct
28
Happy Halloweekend! Doesn’t it feel like a long weekend? A weekend of Halloween parties and spooky delights ending with the creepiest of all holidays, Halloween! How very exciting! I don’t want to keep you ghouls very long, as I’m sure you all have a party or zombie dance to attend. So let’s start this weekend off right with an ode to graveyards and zombie’s.
Tonight’s dinner: Graveyard Casserole
We just happen to have a graveyard down the road with a full supply of grave dirt. Lucky me, there just happened to be a fresh grave crawling with maggot and worms. I figured hey, extra protein. But I was super delighted when I unearthed this hand during my dig. Dry, brittle, flesh falling off the bone. I severed one of the fingertips right off! And all the while I was wondering why I couldn’t get the phrase ”don’t bite the hand that feeds you” out of my head.
I think this graveyard casserole creeped my daughter’s out the most! They just couldn’t believe I went to the cemetary with my shovel and casserole dish. They were speechless, much like a zombie. Lots of low moaning and blank stares.
They eventually started to eat all the worms out of the dish. Well, once they realized that I just creepifyied my grandmother’s cabbage roll casserole with fried bologna strip worms and a pastry hand (thank you hand mold from the dollar store!). It took a while to convince them that those little white things weren’t maggots, just rice. I would never feed my family REAL maggots, geez. Just pretend maggots.
Enjoy your Halloweekend! There will be no creepy food over the weekend 
My girls are off for a sleepover and I am going to enjoy the ease of dining out. See you here on Monday!
creepy food week day 4
Oct
28
Yesterday my daughter asked me for batwing quesadilla’s. How much do I love that? TONNES! I love that she has favorite Creepy Food Week dishes and that she looks forward to Creepy Food Week every year. I adore my family and I adore that they just go with and embrace their mama’s crazy ideas. So in honor of my daughter’s love for tex-mex and my yearning to do something new, last night (yes this post is up a little late) I crispy fried some bat wings and forced a pumpkin to puke. Yes, yes I did.
Last night’s dinner: Crispy Fried Batwing Nacho’s with a side of Pumpkin Puke.
Yes, you heard me right, pumpkin puke. It took a lot to get that pumpkin to puke. You don’t want to know what I HAD to do. Pumpkins. Strong constitution. Who knew?
Can you see the bat? I added some bat eyes to the mix, you know, for a little texture. Can you see them?
And since my husband and I like our bat wings spicy, I added some green dragon livers to our plates for a little heat.
Truthfully, these are straight up taco seasoned burger and black bean nachos with blue corn nacho chips. And the pumpkin puke? My homemade guacamole with fresh cilantro.
My eldest daughter took one look at the pumpkin puke and said “that looks really good mum, but seriously, it’s kinda gross.” All the while jumping into a picture to give the pumpkin bunny ears. But I’m not allowed to show you that picture, she said so.
My youngest daughter, a huge fan of guacamole, plopped herself on the chair and promptly yelled “I love that green stuff!” Not one to be turned off by fancy Creepy Food Week names, she’s no fool.
This was by far, the most enjoyed meal of the week. The girls spent meal time squishing their bat eyeballs and making eyeball and puke nacho sandwiches, laughing the entire time. When faced with something creepy you just gotta laugh.
Are you enjoying Creepy Food Week? Tell me, what is your favorite Creepy Food Week meal so far? I’d love to hear!
creepy food week day 3
Oct
26
This afternoon my daughter asked me what we were having for dinner tonight. She was hoping I was going to tell her it was bat wing quesadilla’s. One of her favorites from the past few years. When I told her no, it’s not bat wing quesadilla’s she let out a wail of “but mooooom, can’t you make bat wing quesadilla’s? I looooove bat wing quesadilla’s!”
No, tonight was not tex-mex night (but it’s coming, oh yes it’s coming), it was Egyptian-Italian night!
Tonight’s dinner: Cannelloni Mummies
I love how the bechamel sauce left an aged stain on the fresh linguini noodles. Creepy.
These mummies are cannelloni wrapped in fresh linguini. Although simple in nature, they do take some time to make, and I used store bought cannelloni! It’s all the wrapping that takes time. But it is well worth it.
My eldest daughter’s first words were “Mooom? Oh man, one look at those and I think I’m going to barf.” I’m not entirely sure if that’s a good or bad thing, but they definitely creeped her out. So really, my job is done.
What do you think of the cannelloni mummies? I’d love to hear what you think in the comments below!
If you’re looking for more creepy food inspiration, head on over to my Facebook page. There is a lot more creepy food going on over there!
zombie BRAINS! cake
Oct
26
I’ve been having mucho fun with Creepy Food Week this year. Lots of new ideas, lots of creepy food creeping out my family, and there is lots more to come! Are you enjoying Creepy Food Week so far? If you enjoyed yesterday’s zombie dinner, then you’ll enjoy this quick and easy tutorial for Zombie BRAINS! Cake.
Yesterday I was craving sweets. It happens about once a month and yesterday wa the day where I just wanted something sweet, but I wanted to tie it into zombie dinner night. Just last week my daughter was asking for jelly rolls. She loves them, much like I did as a child. I don’t buy these very often much to my daughter’s chagrin, but I was craving sweets, thinking about brains and it hit me, jelly roll brain cake! Sliced up they kind of look like what you would imagnie a slice of brain to look like, yes?
You don’t need very much to make a Zombie BRAINS! Cake. Just a package of jelly rolls, toothpicks, and a round base to stick on the jelly rolls. If I had thought of this idea earlier in the day, I would have baked a half circle cake using my round casserole dish. A round casserole dish makes the perfect half circle cake. But since I was a late starter, I opted for a round loaf of sour dough bread. Which made this a no-bake dessert! And I’m totally OK with that, I mean really, since when do zombie’s bake anyway?
So, it all starts with a package of jelly rolls. There are six to a package, but I only used five. That means there was one extra for the three of us (me and bot of my daughter’s) to share!
Using a serrated knife, cut your jelly rolls into 1/2 – 3/4″ slices.
Place your cake or loaf of bread onto a serving plate or cake stand. Starting at the top of the loaf, begin placing your jelly roll slices onto the loaf. Secure each slice with a toothpick by pressing it into the center of the jelly roll and into the loaf of bread. Press the toothpick into the jelly roll so it is recessed into the jelly roll. We don’t want to see the toothpicks.
Keep placing jelly roll slices around the loaf, working from the top to the bottom.
Keep your jelly roll slices as close together as possible. This gives the cake a really nice brainy texture.
You may need smaller pieces as you work around the bottom edge. Simply un-roll your jelly roll slice until it is small enough to fit into the bottom edges. What to do with those extra pieces of un-rolled jelly roll? Eat them! Go ahead, treat yourself, you’re working hard.
Keep placing your tiny slices until the entire bottom edge is covered. Once your entire loaf is covered in brainy slices of jelly roll, serve with a blank stare while moaning “BRAAAAAINS!”
I hope you enjoyed this quick and easy Zombie BRAINS! Cake tutorial! Tell me, will you be making a Zombie BRAINS! Cake for Halloween?
Don’t forget to stop by my Facebook page for more creepy food inspiration, just for Facebook fans!
creepy food week day 2
Oct
25
Welcome back to the second installment of Creepy Food Week! Did you check out last night’s dinner? It was pretty creepy. But tonight’s dinner, oh tonight’s dinner was brought to you care of zombie Tracey. Yes, my house was invaded by zombie’s and dinner was all about BRAINS!
Tonight’s dinner: Brain loaf, with a side of sliced tongue and mashed eyeballs, and brain cake for dessert.
Which is zombie speak for meatloaf with my special secret sauce, sliced beets and mashed potatoes decorated with black beans.
Mmmm yum! Underneath all that blood, er special sauce, is my homemade meatloaf shaped like a brain. My meatloaf is my daughter’s absolute favorite meal though I cannot tell for the world why as I am not a meatloaf fan myself, but she requested a meatloaf meal. She just didn’t know it would come in the shape of a brain.
How did I shape this to look like a brain? In my Halloween stash was a brain-shaped Jello mold that I picked up last year after Halloween super cheap. I pressed the meatloaf mixture into the brain mold and let it sit in the fridge for 10 min before placing it in a baking dish for cooking. It turned out lovely, all veiny and bumpy under that…sauce.
Dessert was an extra special and sticky brain cake.
A perfect meal for zombie’s. Bellies were filled, plates were emptied, nothing left but a bit of brain gook in a puddle of blood and a lone fork.
I hope you enjoyed the second installment of creepy food week! Tomorrow I’ll post a quick tutorial on how to make the brain cake. Super easy and super fun! Can you tell what it is made from? Hint: it’s probably a childhood favorite of yours. Let me know what you think it is in the comments below!
creepy food week begins!
Oct
24
Here it is! Our 4th Annual Creepy Food Week! My family has been eagerly awaiting this week all month, nay all year! As soon as one ends they look forward to the next, and it started tonight!
If this is your first time visiting, or your first time hearing about Creepy Food Week, let me fill you in. Creepy Food Week is an annual Halloween celebration in our house. The week leading up to Halloween is Creepy Food Week where our dinners each night are delightfully creepy concoctions made by moi. Check our last year’s post about the history behind Creepy Food Week. For now, let’s get on with Creepy Food Week!
Tonight’s dinner: Bird Pie
I have always wanted to make Bird Pie. It’s been on my list of creepy food for the past two years and this year I had the perfect opportunity to make it when I found a turkey digging through my peony bushes.
That just won’t do I thought so I ran outside with my tube of Super Hug-Me-Tight glue, slathered it all over my hands and grabbed for that bird! Now let me tell you, that bird fought! In all the ruckus it whacked its’ head off the door jamb and promptly knocked itself out. Thank goodness I had already rolled out the dough for an apple pie because I had to work fast, you know, before it woke up.
So I threw that bird in the pie dish, luckily I only tore out a few feathers wrenching my hands off the bird. Let me tell you, that glue is hard to get off, it is Super Hug-Me-Tight glue after all and it hugged tight to my hands. I suppose that’s a good thing, no glue in the bird pie.
Anyway, I threw some carrots, potatoes, peas and cream into that pie dish, and quickly threw the pie crust on top. But wouldn’t you know it, as soon as I sealed the pie crust that bird woke up and thrust its feet through the top and started kicking its feet! All in all I didn’t mind as I didn’t get a chance to cut vents in the pie crust to release the steam during cooking. Lucky me, that smart bird took care of it.
Since it started flailing around, I popped that bird pie in the oven and an hour later, Bird Pie!
Ah well that’s the story I told my daughter as we sat down to eat, or something like it. Really, truly it is a simple turkey pot pie made from turkey soup leftovers and homemade pie crust, with some dough bird feet on top. Simple, home cooking with a creepy twist.
It’s pretty tame as far as creepy food goes, but it seriously creeped out my daughter. I think it was the simplicity of the bird feet sticking out the top. The look on her face was priceless. And I swear to you, the story I told my daughter was no where near as elaborate as the story I just told you. I really just think that bet things in life are simple and sweet, or simply creepy.
I hope you enjoyed our first night of creepy food. Are you going to make some creepy food this week?
stuffed bats
Oct
21
Staying in the Halloween crafting spirit, I have another bit of crafty goodness for your Halloween party. Stuffed bats!
Inspired by these Handmade Surprise Balls made by Chara of Love, Me Boutique (which I think are brilliant), needing something for my Fang-tastic printable, and I’m on a bit of a treat packages kick right now (you saw the Ghostly Goodies from yesterday, yes?), and I was looking around the studio and thinking “what can I do with all these black crepe paper streamers?” Yup, a variety of circumstances led to me to stuffed bats. It’s amazing how the world works.
Just like yesterday, these are super simple to make, and a lot of fun. All you need is black crepe paper streamers, the Fang-tastic DIY Printable Party collection OR a set of bat wings, white paper, glue, and a selection of Halloween treats!
Lay out a bit of streamer, place your first candy and start to roll into a ball.
Roll and wrap the streamer around the treat until it is completely covered.
Add your next treat or sweet and continue wrapping.
Keep adding sweets and treats until your bat is a good size, then secure the end with glue to keep all the treats inside the bat.
Cut out your bat wings and secure to the back of the bat with glue.
Cut out two triangles from the white paper, glue them on the front so the vampire bat has vampire teeth. And there you have a stuffed bat!
Fill up a table with these and your guests will go batty! Ha ha, ha. NO, seriously, I’d like to see an entire table filled with these stuffed packages. I think it would look awesomesauce, an army of vampire bats ready to take off. Awesome.
Will you be making some creepy treat packages for Halloween?
ghostly goodies
Oct
20
My head has been awash in inspiration these past few days, and very little of it has been Halloween inspired! But starting today, I am going back into Halloween mode, tis the season after all and a very short-lived season at that!
I thought I would start with a Halloween treat craft. I’ve had some emails about these sweet ghostly goodies I presented a couple weeks ago during the launch of my Happy Halloween DIY Printable Party. Remember this sweet girlie ghost that I am so in love with?
The Ghostly Goodies treat packages really are super easy and fast to make. You can easily whip up a dozen in an hour.
To make these ghosts, all you need is the Happy Halloween DIY Printable Party Collection, toilet paper rolls, crepe paper streamers, glue, and some treat bags filled with sweets! Then it really is just wrapping the toilet paper roll in crepe paper and securing with glue, adding the ghost onto the front and slipping the treat bag into the toilet roll on the back!
A cute treat package for your kidlets to carry around with them while they munch. And it’s all paper, so nothing breakable. Always a plus at parties don’t you think?
I put together a quick pictorial so you can see how I made these sweet girlie ghost treat packages.
Super simple right? The great thing about the treat packages is that they don’t have to be ghosts, they can be zombies, vampires, jack-o-lanterns, any of your favorite creepy Halloween characters. All you need is an image that is slightly taller than the toilet paper roll. The possibilities are endless!
Are you going to make some treat packages this Halloween? Leave me a message in the comments below, or better yet, if you make some treat packages, send me pics. I would love to see them!
