Halloween Happy Hour

We had a great time on Friday and the food was a blast to make.

These were the cheese platters. Each tray had about 5 different cheeses on them as well as grapes, pistachio's, and Roaches. The roaches were made from dates stuffed with goat cheese and chives for antenna's.

Life is too short not to try some Dragon Penis. I had these last year and they were such a big hit I brought them around for a second showing. Once again they were gone by the end of the night. They are blanched Asparagus wrapped in very thinly sliced black forest ham.

What would Halloween be without a visit from Puk'n Pete. Humus provided the perfect vomit hue with Pita chips to dip.

I loved the look of Dirty Worms. This recipe is a bean dip made from Black and pinto beans, cilantro, lime, cumin, garlic, green Tabasco and salt. Hot dogs were striped and boiled to curl up then placed in around the bean dip. You only need one to two hot dogs. It was totally yummy

This was pretty more than scary. It was supposed to fit on the cheese platter but ended up on a platter of it's own. Its a cheddar and cream cheese ball with Pumpkin dip spices mixed in and then rolled on the outside. I wish I had the mix ingredients but it was a packet I picked up at a home exhibit. I cut the top off a real pumpkin and placed it in the middle to give a real pumpkin look to it.

Devil eggs with Caviar. The easiest way to explain this is to make the filling however you like it and then dye it grey. Caviar is not expensive and we used black Lump fish eggs. They looked great and tasted even better.

This was my favorite. We created a wicked garden by roasting a whole bunch of different veggies. We had baby carrots with the tops still on, baby green beans, peppers, beets, baby potatoes, zucchini, and butternut squash. The veggies on top make the whole platter come alive and make you rethink reaching to take more. To create the little monster (Martha Stewart 2011) get a pair of plastic vampire teeth and cut a whole in the veggie or gourd of choice. Continue to trim until you can fit the teeth in properly.

For dessert we had Pretzel rods dipped in White and Dark Chocolate, Carmel Corn I purchased from World Market, and Worms in dirt cake. This is the easiest cake I ever made. Bake a chocolate cake according to the directions. Once it's cooled break it into pieces and make a layer on your platter. Put a tub of Whipped chocolate frosting in the microwave for 40 sec. drizzle a 1/3 over the cake and place gummy worms (these are realistic worms I bought from Oriental trading taste like rootbeer) all over. Keep repeating until you fill your platter or you run out of cake. Once you have drizzled the last of the frosting tuck in worms so they hang over the side. Dust the top of the cake with Chocolate Graham crackers that have been crushed to look like loose dirt. Looks gross but is super yummy. Makes a huge mess also, another plus.

My camera ran out of Batteries so I don't have actual photos of my food but here are a few other things we were serving

Cauldron Curry. This was amazing and you can find the recipe on Martha Stewart's Halloween page.

Vicki made these and brought them to the party. They are a little time consuming but totally worth it. Google Monster eye balls for the complete recipe. A small plate is sufficient. Every year I make way to many. They will keep but usually you don't end up eating them all.

The bat wings were great. You can find the recipe on Martha Stewart's Halloween page. The black dye makes the meat look truly grotesque.

Hope you have a great Halloween and this inspires you to cook up so crazy good food.