Fabulous Fall!

Here are a couple of great ideas for adding that little autumn touch to your tablesetting. Use those faux leaves from the craft store to create a backdrop to your soup bowl. Or you can cut out a large circle from construction paper and glue the leaves on to create a charger plate. Just fan the leaves out and overlap them to completely cover the paper.

You could also add an organic element by tying an ear of indian corn with rafia and using as a place card holder. Think about adding one of these ideas to your Thanksgiving table!

Let's Have Some Spooky Sips!

How about a Dirty Martini served with Eyeballs?! These eyeballs are made by peeling radishes, leaving small stripes of red to represent the blood vessels. Then carefully scoop out a hole about the size of an olive. Stuff a green olive, pimiento side out, into the hole. Now pour that martini, extra dirty, please!

Or maybe your in the mood for a Cosmopolitan...but red is more holiday than Halloween. Have no fear, Blavod Vodka is hear! It is a black colored vodka that tastes like the clear one. So you can have your "Cosmopolitan From Hell" by pouring:

2 parts Blavod

1 part Triple Sec

1 part Rose's lime juice

1 part Cranberry Juice(or to taste)

ice

Shake, strain, and pour!

Fun Food For Halloween

Looking for some fun themed food for Halloween? Here are a few items to try. Just click on the link for the recipes.

You could eat these "bones" as part of an appetizer buffet or a side item with dinner. Just start with refrigerated bread stick dough.

The "pumpkin" cheese ball recipe is very good served with crackers. It uses the thick stem from a head of broccoli for the "pumpkin stem".

"Snake" Sandwich

Make this snake sandwich using refrigerated french bread dough. Put it on a baking sheet and roll it out just a little longer and shape it into an "S" to look like a snakes body. Bake as directed. After it cools cut it lengthwise and just add any sandwich fillings you like. Place 2 olives for eyes, using toothpicks to secure them. Use roasted red pepper for the tongue. Enjoy!

Chili Recipe...Yum!

This is how I served Fiesta Chili at my Halloween party 2 years ago. Of course I called it "Guts". Very fitting for the display. Here's the recipe:

1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can corn, drained

1 can Rotel Mexican Festival tomatoes

1 packet dry ranch dressing mix

1 packet dry taco seasoning mix

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef, cooked and drained

Mix first 6 ingredients in the crockpot. Add one can of water and meat. Cook on low for 5-7 hours.

Entertaining In The Graveyard

Create a spooky Graveyard dinner party with ripped 'spooky' muslin cloth, moss, and lots of creepy skeletons and other critters. Miniature tombstones, and a haunted house set the scene perfectly. Drape the chairs with more of the 'spooky' cloth, and print out place cards using "Creepy" font.

As if the dinner table weren't spooky enough, I had to set up the bar with a "mad scientist" feel. Maybe this is the cause for all those dead bodies in the graveyard! More creepy cloth, tombstones, test tubes, and jarred "specimen" make this lab perfect for creating a "spirited" concoction!

Single Serving Pudding Dessert

Anything displayed as a single-serving just seems more special. These little dessert cups would be equally appropriate for adults and kids alike. Pick your favorite pudding or mousse, top with chocolate cookie crumbs, decorate another cookie like a tombstone, and Whalah! A great presentation to a simple dessert!

Casual Halloween Dinner Party

Here's the Halloween dinner party I've been working on. It's perfect for a light pasta meal with friends. Maybe Rachael Ray's Penne-Wise Pumpkin Pasta? It starts with a whimsical color scheme of black, purple, orange, and green. The little witch hat toppers I made a couple of years ago and still get a kick out of them! I also put them on soda bottles and beer bottles, depending on the crowd. And, of course, colored candy completes the drinks & sweets table.

Other little details include bottle labels, spiders frozen inside of ice cubes, and bloody rimmed glasses with vampire's teeth. The "blood" was made with corn syrup and red food coloring. You could also use red icing gel.

Finally, I embellished my chandelier with feather boas. It ties into the feather wreath above the drinks and I love that it helps to bring the color upward in the room.

I had a great time putting this together, but next week I'll be working on a Graveyard Themed halloween setting. Stay Tuned!!

Halloween Themed Dessert Ideas

Over the past 2 years I've made each of the 4 desserts shown here. The graveyard cake is a simple pudding based dessert topped with crumbled oreos and milano cookies for tombstones. Use gel icing to write RIP or other witty remarks. Scatter candy pumpkings and gummy worms all around.

The finger cookies are truly the creepiest dessert here. One girl friend would not even eat one becouse it looked so real! They are made using a simple shortbread cookie recipe, and rolled into fingers. The sides are sort of sqeezed in so the bulges look like finger joints. Use a pairing knife to make line indentions at the joints. Top it with an almond for the nail, squeeze a little icing gel for blood, and then bake. You have to roll the fingers pretty thin becouse they spread slightly during baking.

The eyeballs are the classic peanut butter ball recipe dipped in white chocolate, topped with a mini chocolate chip for the iris. Squeeze red gel to make them blood-shot. It's best to freeze the peanut butter balls so they are firm before dipping them into the white chocolate.

Finally, the dracula coffin cake is all about the presentation. It's a frozen pound cake from the grocery store. Just cut a thin layer off the top for the coffin lid and start decorating with frosting that's been colored, and icing gel. Use a vanilla wafer for the face of dracula.

Green Goblin Punch

Try this Delicious "Green Goblin" punch for your Halloween Gathering.

1/2 cup Midori(melon liqeuer)

1 cup Coconut Rum

1 1/2 cup Pineapple Juice

1 litter bottle Club Soda

Chill all ingredients and then combine in punch bowl or drink dispenser.

EEK! There's A Dead Guy In My Dip!

Want a memorable dip presentation on your buffet table this Halloween? Here is an awesome "coffin" filled with dip and a little skeleton nestled inside. Using a firm loaf of bread and a skeleton found almost anywhere this time of year, you can make this yourself. Find out step-by-step at Woman's Day. Fill with Lipton's famous spinach dip and you have a snack to "die" for!

Spinach Dip

1 10-oz package frozen chopped spinach(thaw & sqeeze out liquid)

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 package Lipton Veggie Soup Mix

1 can water chestnuts-chopped

Combine all ingredients and chill for a couple of hours to let flavors blend. Serve with crackers and bread cubes.

Even At A Party, We Must Eat Our Veggies!

I LOVE party food. Seriously, I could LIVE on appetizers alone! Of course we do need our vegetables so what's more classic than veggies-n-dip? Here is the cutest presentation I've seen for them. The idea of individual servings is much more appetizing and I'm sure your guests will comment on how clever you are!

These would also be lovely in martini glasses and in paper or plastic cups for children's parties.