A FRIDGE FULL OF FOOD...

Halloween 2020: The At Home Family Party that Rocked

      

These two amazing kiddoes are the reason for our at home Halloween party.   Myia, who is  8 and the  cutest Black Panther-ess out there (okay, I might be prejudiced but look, she's  adorable!) had been very concerned about how this whole Pandemic thing was going to affect her trick-or-treating.  But Aunt Gonnie and Uncle Gene (and Uncle Hal) always take care of the kiddoes at Halloween.  We don't have kids ourselves but we've long thought that having our nieces and nephews around gives them people their own age to play with--especially at Halloween.

In our family, there was also a long tradition started by  our Aunt Bessie who always always had Chili on the stove on Halloween, along with  popcorn balls and cookies for  all the neighborhood kids. I loved that tradition so years ago, after Aunt Bessie was no longer able to entertain, I took over making sure at our house there was, and always will be, Chili, popcorn balls, and treats for all the family and friends.

Because the pandemic has changed so much in our lives, we've had to rethink our Halloween get togethers too.  Instead of opening the house to all, we focused on my brothers and sister, and their children, and grand child.   The  youngest are Junior (above, who started out the evening as a Mutant Ninja Turtle, but as he got hot ended up as mostly a naked child running through the house) and Shamyia, whom we mostly call Myia. All together there were 9 of us able to spend the evening together 

Since this is a food blog, I'll go through the food first, but at the end  I'll also talk about keeping everyone entertained which is also part of the fun of Halloween. There are four recipes: Chicken and Homemade Noodle Soup, Spider Bread, Knorr Spinach Dip, and Jello Spider in the Brain.  And then descriptions of three great activities:  Over the Top Large Halloween Word Search, Solo Cup Bowling, and Mini Cornhole.

For 30 years we've always had Chili on Halloween but this year we voted and they chose the lovely, country Chicken and Noodles  for the big pot on the stove.  And I said "No problem!"--fun change for me too.

 One note as you click on my recipe links, for some reason the blog's photo takes about 20 seconds to load so please be patient with it. I apologize. I'm working to solve the technical problem and hope to have that corrected soon.

 Glenna's Chicken  and Homemade Noodle Soup

If you are in a   hurry, I will say that Rheames makes a great homestyle egg noodle in two different shapes so if you're not in the mood to roll out pasta dough...slip over to the freezer section in the grocery store. Other than perfect shapes, no one will know the difference. 

My favorite food part of the night was Knorr Spinach Dip in my own little creation: The Bread Spider. It was a last minute "Hmm...would it work if I..." thought that  turned out to be my favorite foodie thing we had.  This will definitely become a tradition. Who doesn't like a spider than you can pull off his legs to eat dip with?

The Walking Dead Parody: The Snacking Dead Cookbook by D.B. Walker

The Snacking Dead: A Parody in a Cookbook, by D. B. Walker.  "Walker"?  Really?  D.B. as in "don't be a"?  It's like an extra parody in the parody!

This cookbook was a gift from my cousin Jenn for my f-f-f-fiftieth (my second favorite "f" word) birthday. I've had tons of fun with it so far. My first foray into it was two weeks ago for the premiere of the new season.  I made three of the recipes:  "Dripping Ribs with Bourbon", "Squirrel Poppers", and "Li'l Ass Kicker Punch". I also looked at "Sweet-sh Fleshballs with Red Berries". That will be our next Walking Dead/Snacking Dead Sunday night while-we-watch dinner.  Our review?  We both LOVED the ribs. The citrus in the marinade/sauce is a great counterpoint to the sweet, sour, and heat.  Pre-baking and then grilling (or broiling for us that night) caramelized the meat for a sweet, savory, and fall apart deliciousness. We'll be using this recipe again and again.  Gene loved the "squirrel" (chicken) poppers; I was ambivalent. We both loved the chicken base (prior to shaping/breading/frying) so I'm going to use that recipe, with added vegetables, the next time I make chicken pot pie.  And the punch? Oh yeah! I did make one more southern (by my definition) ingredient substitution that I talk about later in this post. I made a smaller quantity punch than the recipe (party-sized) calls for but even so, the bottom of the pitcher was dry by the end of the night. 'Nuff said!

The book is available at all major bookstores. You can easily find your favorite in the drop down menu on The Snacking Dead's website by clicking on "Grab a Copy". 

 

Happy Thanksgiving 2012

I don't think we're safe anymore

Funny of the Day

Happy Halloween 2011

My favorite Halloween bit of all time:

  

Friday Food Fun

 

World's Largest Edible Scene: Halloween Haunted House

 This video is almost 10 minutes long, but for cake decorators it's absolutely amazing.  75 cake decorators, 48 hours, 1,000 lbs of cake, and 3,000 lbs of fondant to complete at the Oklahoma State Fair Grounds this past October 4-5, 2010.

 

 

There's a Reason it's a Cliche

 

Due in January, very pregnant Ashley's dinner the other night at work.  She said "It just all looked good to me!"  Uh huh.  There's a reason behind the cliche. No ice cream, but biscuits and sausage gravy, dill pickles, and a fried mozzarella stick with marinara sauce.  This baby is going to be soooooo confused but very adventurous with food!

Just For Fun