Eat, Drink, and Be Scary....

Happy Halloween 2008!!

Just a few glances around my yard and it is easy to see that Halloween is one holiday that we take seriously around here! There are ghouls and goblins galore, spread throughout a yard that, suiting us perfectly, seems to have been made for Halloween and all that is scary. Cactus flowers set off hideous hanging heads while spike Sago palms reveal their own treasures. One even has a giant spider crawling from it's depths!

These are a few of my favorite friends, which you can find in their resting places throughout our yard and on the front porch. On Halloween night, the dead come to life and our monsters are freed for an evening of havoc wreaking fun! It is a blast to watch peoples faces as the fog rolls around, hiding one monster only to reveal another even more horrifying than the first.

Seen in all it's glory with the lighting and the fog on the scariest night of the year, it is something to behold. Like my brother Rick once said to me, "It's all in the atmosphere!"
A couple of my favorite Halloween recipes:

Brains on Crackers
8 ounces regular cream cheese (not whipped or spread)
8 ounces braunschweiger
3/4 cup chopped green olives (with pimiento)
1/2 cup finely minced green onion
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Combine all ingredients until thoroughly mixed. For an extra special Halloween treat, scoop 1/2 of the pate into a ziploc or decorators bag and cut off the corner. Mound the remaining pate on a plate in an oblong dome shape, and then pipe the pate in the bag in squiggly lines to resemble a brain. Add 2 whole olives (with pimientos) for eyeballs near the base. Serve with a variety of crackers.

Don't It Make My Buckeyes Blue:
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
6 ounces white chocolate chips
2 tablespoons shortening
chocolate chips

Directions
Line baking sheet with wax paper. Set aside.
In a medium-sized bowl, mix peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and sugar with hands to
form a smooth stiff dough. Shape into balls using 2 teaspoons of dough for each ball.
Place on prepared pan and refrigerate.
Melt shortening and chocolate in the top pot of a double boiler over simmering (not
boiling) water. When chocolate mixture is smooth, pour into small bowl. Remove balls
from refrigerator. Insert wooden toothpick into each ball and dip into melted chocolate.
(not all the way) Return to wax paper, chocolate side down and remove toothpick, replacing
with a chocolate chip, pointy side down, for the pupil.

If you like, a toothpick dipped in red gel food coloring is great for adding veins!

Refrigerate for 30 minutes or more.