Still Not Too Late For New Halloween Treat Ideas

Never too late for a few more Halloween treat ideas for the whole family.  That is if you have a fun type family.  Check out some of these treats.

These almost look like dog bones but they are really human bones.  Well, they are suppose to look like it.  These are large pretzels with marshmallows shoved on the ends.  Then dipped in white  almond bark or dipping chocolate. Easy and cute.

Again with the pretzels - again with the dipping, but first you can mold soft caramel on the pretzel to form the knuckles and then dip in dark chocolate.  Before it cools, add a little slice of almond on the end for the nail.  Voile' - you have fingers. 

Here we have Yummy Mummies.  And simple and quick.  Unroll canned croissants rolls or pie crust, slice into thin strips and wrap your favorite wieners.  Bake til brown and you are ready to serve with your favorite condiment.

Silly witch cupcakes.  Best if you use standard size cupcakes and not minis for this one.  Frosted wafer cookies and a waffle cone makes the hat.  If you slightly heat the cone, it will stick to the cookie.  If that doesn't work, use chocolate frosting to glue it on.  Use thickened frosting that is squished thru a garlic press to make the hair.  Red hots are great for the eyes and pieces of candy corn for the teeth.  These are pretty ugly but sort of perfect for this holiday.

 

Just one more witch treat.  This one is stacked with goodies.  Large marshmallows (those jumbo ones would be great if you can find them) are the face, colored coconut for the hair, chocolate wafer cookies for the base of the hat.  On top of the base, add a mini peanut butter cup and top with a candy kiss.  All these pieces can be adhered with frosting.  Kinda cute.

I've seen this more and more this year.  Cupcakes in the shape of a princess girl's dress, a Christmas tree, and many more.  Here it is for Halloween.  A great spider web.

 

And of course - if the weather is worthy, you can always sell you treats on the corner to all the other ghost and ghouls.

That's the end of the treats for now.  There's still a few more days til the witching hour so I may just come up with a few more.  Check back and see  -  soon.

Easy Halloween Treats for the Last Minute Entertainer

Yep - I can resist this one last post about Halloween treats.  Gotta get it in before the Thanksgiving dish ideas come along.  She check this out.  There are a lot of simple treats to have out for the last minute 'drop by' neighbors, friends and families.

Are you tired of buying the pretzels at the mall and never knowing if you will get a fresh or stale one?  Well check out this easy and quick recipe for yeast free pretzels.  Also check out the shape that is perfect for this day.

and for the recipe

2 cups (500ml) All purpose Flour
3 tbsp Unsalted Butter
2 tbsp White Sugar
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/3 (75ml) cup Full Cream Milk
pinch of salt
Coarse Salt or Salt Flakes
1 Egg - beaten

Rub the Unsalted Butter into the Flour until it looks like crumbs. Add Sugar, Baking Powder and Salt and mix together. Add Milk slowly till all the ingredients are wet. Do not add all the milk at once. You have to make sure that the dough is not too sticky, but also not too dry. If you need more milk, you can add another drop. Once the dough is formed you do not have to let it rest, you can work with it straight away.

Divide the dough into smaller balls. Roll out each ball into a long snake. Twist them into shape and put onto prepared baking sheet. Once you have made all your pretzels, brush them with the egg (egg wash) and sprinkle with coarse salt or salt flakes.

Bake in preheated oven  250 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius) for 10 minutes (depending on size of your pretzels) - they should be nice and golden on the top.

Now, make some goolish dipping sauce and serve warm or room temp.

 

What else might you add to the table?  

Fingers are really in.  Try them made of cheese sticks with notches cut in them for the knuckles.  Or even carrots, topped with almond for the nail, with a little creamy dip.  And just one more thought.  Take those carrot fingers and wrap a bit of thin sliced ham round it for a more fleshy look.    Yummmm !

An easy way to get a little something in those little goblins before they go out haunting and hunting for treats - a simple ghost sandwich cut  from your favorite bread and filled with absolutely anything.  

Can you do some grillin' in your front yard?  The adults could do a fun little dinner while keeping an eye on the trick or treaters, hand out treats and tell stories to the older kids gross stories about where the meat on the grill came from.  While you are at it, be a little creative with cheese slice designs.

Last but not least - finish it all off with a little something on the healthy side.  Apricot spiders and apple lips sound perfect to me.  

Hope your Halloween is a super safe one.

Enjoy !

Last One - Halloween Super Snacks

We are closing in on the great costume day and the excuse to make fun snacks.  As if you ever need an excuse.  I know I don't.  But here are a few super snack ideas to add to the healthy ones from the past and the sweet ones too.  

 

This is super cute and has year 'round possibilities by changing up the cut outs. You can picture cut outs of Christmas trees, bunny faces, happy faces, abstract designs - the sky's the limit.  You could possibly allow the kids to draw designs that you could cut for them.   Any citrus would work and you could fill with fruit or maybe even other goodies.  I am wondering about scrambled eggs, maybe with ham.  Think about this one.

Does your child have a microwave or toaster oven in their class room?  This would be a perfect snack for home or class.  Kids can make their own mummy pizzas with muffins or mini crust, olives, pizza sauce, green onion and a bit of white cheese.  Fun to look at and great to eat.  Want to add a little meat, just replace the olives with tiny pepperoni cut outs. 

Who doesn't like a nice spider stuffed egg?  Simple and great for kid, teen and adult gatherings.  Fix your boiled eggs as always (have you tried the baked replacement?), cut black olives for the spider parts, and add on top of the stuffing.  Want to try a little bit of a change?  Add a bit of guacamole to the stuffing.  Maybe spice it up with chili powder and garlic.  There is a world of possibilities. 

 Love these little bite size treats.  Snap peas or green beans, fresh from the market, with just a couple extras. And you have total control of what you want to use.  The tongue could be cuts of pepperoni, slices of cherry tomatoes or even watermelon if you want to add a bit of sweet.   Shredded white cheese is the finishing touch of the rotten teeth.  Again an item that the kids can make too. Yummy.

Again with the bite size snack.  This one is self explanatory.  A slice of carrot, a dab of cream cheese and an olive topper, and you have a nice edible eyeball.  I think that a few green eyes would be pretty good too.  Prefer cooked carrots?  That works too.  Just let them cool before adding the toppers.

Last but not least - mummy babies.  Your choice.  Make it super simple by using pre-made pie crust or croissant rolls, cut into tiny strips.  Wrap around your choice of hot dogs or make them minis by using Smokies sausages.  Just bake until brown.  For the eyes?  I am not totally sure what I would use.  If you just poke a couple of holes in the meat, I think the inside color would be plenty.  But you could add cloves to a full size hotdog.  Other than that, I really don't know.  Please let me know what you think.  

That's it for now.  More snack for this holiday and many for any time

of the year. 

Halloween Snacks - Sweet Treats

Want to get this one in before time runs out for school treat day.  Take a looks at these sweet treats.

These little spiders are a great alternative to the spider cupcakes.  You can control the size and content; and the are not as messy as a cupcake, unless you are me.  I can make a mess of anything. All you need here is chocolate rice crispy treats, black Twizzler sticks (separated and cut to size), and mini M & Ms.  Just add your accessories before the rice crispy treats are totally cooled. 

Store bought chocolate drop candies with a little bit of add-ons to make a cute little spider.  Again, using the Twizzlers legs, maybe coconut for the fangs, candy raspberries and sprinkles for the eyes.  Warm the chocolate slightly to get your goodies to adhere.  Yummy bites.

 This pumpkin cupcake is great for the older kids and adults who are not so into the scary and fun stuff.  Crazy to think that anybody does not but I think there are a few people like that out there.  Wouldn't this make a great table decoration all fall?  I would use a pumpkin recipe, colored cream cheese frosting and pretzel pieces for the stem.

This great looking bundt cake can be make with an orange and chocolate recipe or a pumpkin and chocolate recipe.  Or you can go out with the the Halloween Rainbow recipe.  I bet it taste as good as it looks.

 

Decorating cupcakes is always fun for adult and kids. This is just a fun selection that I found on line.  I really like the variety of candies used.  Do you see the rabbit?  I think that is the Easter Bunny making an early appearance.  

Again with the cupcakes.  This can be absolutely any flavor you desire with chocolate sprinkles as a topper.  If you are ambitious you could crush chocolate cookies for a topper.  They both will look great as 'dirt'.  Any oval cookie will make the tombstone and a little frosting marker will make the 'RIP' and easy add on.  Making these for an adult gathering or office party?  You may want to add a few names to the tombstones.  

I don't know if this is a healthy treat or not.  You start with chocolate pudding, top with crumbled wafer cookies to look like dirt, add a cracker or oval cookie with a bit of frosting writing, and if you are creative, add a bit of a flower with orange frosting or sugar trims.  Great way to give into the kids with a 'not totally' unhealthy treat.

And to close with -
I'll leave you with a couple of healthy treat ideas.  This is a brief preview of the next treat post and a reminder of a past post. 

 

Boiled egg eye balls with guacamole filling, olives and pimento trims.

You cold use cottage cheese or cream cheese with a touch of green food coloring for your filling if you prefer.   

Yummy and creepy too.  These apple pieces with teeth almost don't look edible but definitely will be a hit with the kids.  The love the creepy stuff and apples too.  You have a variety of items you could use for the teeth - almond slices (broken into rough pieces), tiny cuts of string cheese, and even tiny pieces of apple.  This is one of my favorites. 

That's it for now.  Another bunch of Halloween treats coming in just a couple of days. 

Halloween Healthy Treats

If I were to have told my kids or grand kids that we were going with a healthy treat for a Halloween party, they would have hissed and booed like crazy.  How boring! Right?  Well, maybe not so boring.  Take a look at some of these great and fun snack ideas.

 

This guy would be great for adult gatherings, office parties, as well as the kid classroom.  Or, just do it as a special treat for the kids.  Add a little yogurt dip and keep it healthy.  Dip suggestions below. 

Top your favorite casserole with veggies, pretzels, boiled eggs, crackers and a bit of imagination and you have a great family dinner surprise.

Office, school, home - anywhere!  This simple little plate of veggies, combined with a bit of cottage cheese dip, veggie dip and yogurt dip makes for a quick and entertaining center piece.  Dip suggestions below.

Again, how fun is this guy?   Kids will be willing to eat this up and never realize just how healthy they are being.  The variety is great.  I bet you could add a few more goodies if you put your mind to it.  Add veggie dip or black bean dip for a perfect finishing touch.  Dip suggestions below.



So there it is.  Tempting and healthy snacks for October.  Actually - these could be made to work any time of the year.

Oh yeah - a few dip suggestions -

VEGETABLE DIP

2 c. plain lowfat yogurt

1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed & drained

1/3 c. minced fresh onion

1 env. (0.9 oz.) vegetable recipe soup mix

In a medium bowl combine all ingredients (except raw vegetables for dipping). Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve as a dip for raw vegetables. Makes approximately 3 cups.

COTTAGE CHEESE VEGETABLE DIP           

1 carton low-fat cottage cheese

1 pkg.  onion soup mix

Blend cottage cheese and stir in the soup mix.  Let sit in refrigerator for at least one hour before serving.

COTTAGE CHEESE DIP

1 (24 ounce) container cottage cheese

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup monterey jack cheese, grated

2 green onions, sliced thinly

2 -3 cloves fresh garlic, minced

black pepper

Mix all above ingredients together in a medium sized bowl.

For best results, use regular cottage cheese and sour cream, rather than reduced fat.

This will help form a thicker dip.

AVOCADO  DIP

 2 avocados, halved with pits removed

 2 tomatoes, diced

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced

 1/2 cup diced sweet onion

 1 lemon, juiced

2 cups cottage cheese

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

Scoop flesh out of the avocado and place it in a medium size mixing bowl. Mash the avocado well. Add lemon juice to the avocado and mix well. Place tomatoes, jalapeno pepper, onion, cottage cheese, garlic powder, salt and pepper into the mixing bowl; stir until the ingredient are combined. Chill for at least one hour before serving.

BLACK BEAN VEGGIE DIP

2 cups black beans, cooked or canned

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. cumin, powdered

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

1/4 tsp. red pepper, powdered

Place all the ingredients in a blender

Make absolutely sure you add the beans first! If you put the spices in first, you will create a paste so thick that it will jam your blender!

Run at "high" until smooth.

It may be necessary to stop the blender from time to time, and mix the ingredients with a spoon or spatula to ensure that all the ingredients are thoroughly and uniformly mixed.