Pumpkin Sloppy Joes

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef (or turkey)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
8 ounces tomato sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons prepared mustard
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 hamburger buns, split
American cheese slices

Instructions:

Brown ground beef (or turkey) and drain off fat.  Add garlic and onion and cook until tender.  Stir in pumpkin, tomato sauce, brown sugar, mustard, chili powder and salt.  Bring up to boiling point.  Reduce heat simmer for 10 -15 minutes.  Spoon mixture onto buns and top with cheese, place under broiler for a few minutes to melt the cheese watching so it doesn't burn.  Optionally you can cut the cheese slices into jack-o-lantern face shapes before topping and melting then serve without a bun top.

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After Trick-or-Treating Pumpkin Bars

Ingredients:

4 eggs
1 2/3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 (15 ounce) can solid pack pumpkin
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

ICING:
1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk

Instructions:

Get out the big mixing bowl and beat together eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin.  Combine the dry ingredients, flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Gradually add this to the pumpkin mixture and beat together well.  Pour your mixture into an ungreased jellyroll pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 27 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool before frosting. 

Recommended Frosting:

Beat together cream cheese, sugar, butter and vanilla.  Add just enough milk to help get a nice spreading consistency.  You can add a few drops of orange or green food coloring to make them even more trick-or-treat like!

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Walking into Spider webs Brownies

Ingredients:

4 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate
3/4 cup butter or margarine
2 cups sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1 (7 ounce) jar marshmallow creme
1 (1 ounce) square semisweet chocolate

Instructions:

Stir unsweetened chocolate and butter over low heat until melted and smooth.  Remove from heat and beat in the sugar while still hot.  Let it cool off for about ten minutes then add eggs and vanilla, blending well.  Next you'll gradually stir in the flour and nuts.  Pour into a 13 x 9 inch baking pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes, or until toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean.  As soon as you take the brownies out of the oven drop spoonfuls of marshmallow creme on top!  Spread it out evenly like frosting a cake.  Time to make some webs.  You can grab a premade squeezable tube of decorator chocolate if you have a shop nearby that sells cake decorating supplies.  If not, you can make one up yourself. 
Melt semisweet chocolate and pour into a Ziploc bag.  Snip a tiny corner at an angle and use the bag like a decorating bag to drizzle web designs over the brownies. 

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Pumpkin & Goblins Punch

Ingredients:

1 (12-ounce) can frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
2 (1-liter) bottles of ginger ale
1 package orange sherbet

Directions:

In a punch bowl combine condensed milk and orange juice concentrate.  Add ginger ale and mix well.  Right before serving top with scoops of orange sherbet and serve.

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Any Time Party Mix

This is also really good for halloween and fall football parties.  The nice part about it is you can make this without getting the kitchen overheated or it leaves the oven free for making other things.

Ingredients:

4 cups Wheat Chex® cereal
4 cups Cheerios® cereal
3 cups pretzel sticks
1 (12 ounce) can salted peanuts
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon celery salt
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt

Instructions:

Get out the crock pot!  Mix up the cereals, pretzels and peanuts and put in the crock pot.  Combine butter, parmesan cheese and salts.  Drizzle over the dry mixture and toss for coating.  Put the lid on and cook on low for 3 - 4 hours.  Stir at least once each hour to avoid burning. 

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Mummy Dogs

Ingredients:

6 hot dogs
1 package ready to bake pastry
Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Wrap each hot dog in a pastry sheet and lightly brush with melted butter.  Sprinkle parmesan cheese over top.  Place "mummy dogs" on a lightly greased baking tray and bake at 350F for approximately 15 minutes or until golden and baked through.  Top with "blood" (ketchup) and serve. 

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Hot Witch's Cider

Ingredients:

1 gallon apple cider
1 (16 ounce) can frozen orange juice concentrate
2 cinnamon sticks
2 cloves 

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan.  Simmer over low heat for approximately 15 minutes.  Transfer to punch bowl and serve.

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Webtacular Cheesecake

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups chocolate wafer crumbs
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

Filling Ingredients:

3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1 (15 ounce) can solid pack pumpkin
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

Topping Ingredients:

2 cups sour cream
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Melted chocolate, piping icing in various colors, spider candies

Instructions:

Combine smashed up wafer crumbs and butter.  Press into bottom of and sides of your greased spring form pan to create your cheesecake crust.  In the big mixing bowl beat cream cheese and sugars until nice and smooth. Add in the eggs and beat on low speed.  Whisk in the pumpkin, cornstarch, vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice (aka your secret ingredient!)  Pour mixture into crust and bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour.  Cool for at least 10 minutes before doing anything else to the cheesecake, but don't turn off the oven just yet.  Mix up the topping ingredients’ and spread this over top of the filling.  Place back in the oven for 6 minutes to melt.  Run a butter knife around the edge of the pan first to loosen everything to make release easier later on.  Allow to cool to room temp and refrigerate over night.

Morning remove the spring form sides and pipe on spider web decorations and place a candy spider in each little web (try to space them so that each slice has a spider.)  You can even slice before decorating if you want to make them all even.

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Vampires Be Gone Spaghetti

Ingredients:

10 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
Several pinches of hot red pepper flakes
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, or as desired
1 pound spaghetti
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 head of broccoli, broken into bite-size florets
Freshly grated Parmesan, or other grating cheese

Instructions:

Boil water and add noodles to cook as usual, except about half way through cooking add the broccoli and let the noodles and broccoli finish cooking at the same time.  Drain, but reserve about half the cooking water for later.  Warm approximately half of the garlic with the pepper flakes in the olive oil over medium heat (turn on the vent and open the kitchen window or you'll be crying in your spaghetti!)  Toss the pasta and broccoli with the garlic/chile oil and add the remaining garlic to the mix and continue to toss to coat. Add a few spoonfuls of that reserved water and keep tossing, add more water as needed.  Kind of have to eyeball it until it's well coated and tossed to your liking.  Serve up and sprinkle with grated cheese.  There will be no fear of vampires bothering you after this dinner!

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Giant Warts

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter, cubed
8 oz. Semi-sweet chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 bags fun size candy bars, chopped into small pieces

Instructions:

Melt butter.  Remove from heat and add semisweet chocolate.  Cover and let sit until chocolate is meted (3 to 5 minutes approximately) then stir to smooth.  Gradually and carefully add in the heavy cream while stirring, keep stirring while you pour, chocolate will lose it's shine.  Refrigerate about 25 minutes to gain firmness. Roll globs of the chocolate into round balls in the palm of your hand, then roll them in the chopped up candy bars pressing so that it sticks to the edges. 

A great way to get creative with the Halloween candy haul after trick or treating or for a great handout at your party.  Remember not to give trick or treaters homemade candies, most parents will throw it away.

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Halloween Party Punch

What's a Halloween party with a big bowl of punch with floating eyeballs in it?

Ingredients:

1 (32 fluid ounce) bottle apple juice, chilled
1 (12 fluid ounce) can frozen cranberry juice concentrate
1 cup orange juice
1 1/2 liters ginger ale
1 apple (optional)
Eyeball candies (optional)

Instructions:

Get a large punch bowl or other container to serve your punch from. 
Combine the apple juice, cranberry concentrate, and orange juice.  Stir until any frozen parts are dissolved.  Slowly mix in the ginger ale.  Slice the apple in whole slices to float on top as brain slices among the floating eyeballs.

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Graveyard Cupcakes

Ingredients:

Prepared Cupcakes
Frosting of choice
1 package gummy worms
1 package chocolate cookies or graham crackers

Directions:

Place a few cookies in a plastic bag and using the back of your hand or a rolling pin press down until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.  Using a teaspoon make a small well in the center of each cupcake.  Frost cupcakes around well and sprinkle with cookie crumb mixture.  Stick a gummy worm into the center of each cupcake.

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Fruity Ghosts on a Stick

It just turns out that pears are just the right shape for making spooky ghost treats!  These are an interesting alternative to the traditional candy apples. 

Ingredients:

Wooden craft sticks, like for a popsicle
6 medium sized pears
10 - 12 squares of almond bark (2 ounce squares)
Handful of mini chocolate chips for ghostly eyes
Halloween cupcake papers

Instructions:

Line a cookie sheet or other flat serving tray with waxed paper, we aren't actually putting in the oven so any moveable flat surface is good for this treat.  Line up the cupcake papers across the sheet.  Melt almond bark following the package directions.  Poke craft sticks firmly into the pears. Dip each pear into the melted bark, you can use a spoon to help evenly coat the entire pear.  Place each one in a cupcake paper, standing up as much as you can get it to.  Place mini chocolate candies for face decoration.  You can use any leftover almond bark to spoon ghost tails into the paper cups.  Refrigerate until ready to eat.

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Ghostly Eyeballs

Ingredients:

2 packages red gelatine
Vanilla ice cream
Raisins
Red decorating jell

Directions:

Prepare jello according to package instructions.  Fill individual glass serving bowls with jello and place in refrigerator to set. 
Once jello has set, using a spoon scoop out a circle of jello in center of bowl.  Fill circle with one scoop of vanilla ice cream. 
Place one raisin in center of ice cream and using red decorating jell paint lines going down the side.  This will create a "bloodshot eye" swimming in "blood".

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It's the Great Pumpkin.... Pull Apart Cake!

Are you ready for your Charlie Brown Halloween special!?!

Ingredients:

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
3 eggs
1 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
3/4 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts

Instructions:

Get out that big ole' mixing bowl and combine pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar and spice.  Pour into your greased 9 x 13 inch baking pan.
Sprinkle the dry cake mix over top of the mixture.  Sprinkle, don't stir. Drizzle melted butter over it all and top it off with a handful or two of chopped walnuts.  Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees F or until toothpick comes out of center clean. Best served, during "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.” with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side. 

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Rocky Horror Picture Show Halloween Squares

Ingredients:

1 (12 oz.) pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
2 tbsp. butter
2 cups dry roasted peanuts
1 (10 1/2 oz.) pkg. white miniature marshmallows
Assorted soft Halloween candy

Instructions:

Line a 13x9 baking pan with waxed paper, trust me you'll be glad you used waxed paper at the end!  Melt chocolate in double boiler with milk and butter, remove from heat.  Combine nuts and marshmallows.  Fold those into the chocolate.  Press mixture into the lined baking pan, spreading it out evenly as possible.  Sprinkle the soft candy mixture evenly over the top of that.  Refrigerate until firm enough to cut into squares, then store at room temp.

This is a nice adaptive recipe, if someone has an allergy to peanut use another nut, or mix in some candy pieces or dry cereal.  You can even add other things in addition to what's listed here!  Make it colorful and fun. 

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Vampire Bat Stew

Ingredients:

1 1/4 pounds lean pork stew meat (buy whatever cut is on sale and cut into chunks to save some money!)
1 medium (1/2 cup) onion, sliced
2 cups baby-cut carrots
1 cup frozen whole kernel corn
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
2 (14 1/2-ounce) cans diced tomatoes with chile peppers, undrained

Pastry:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup butter or margarine
2 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
3 tablespoons cold water
Chili powder or seasoning to taste

Instructions:

Brown pork and onion in skillet over medium to high heat, stir occasionally to get an even brown (just browning, not cooking and if you want you can skip this step since we're headed to the crock pot anyway *wink*).  Put meat, carrots and corn in crock pot.  Sprinkle with chili powder, cumin, and garlic.  Stir in the diced tomatoes.  Cook on low for 7 to 9 hours (or high for 3 to 4 hours).

To make the pastry bats:

Combine flour and cheese in large mixing bowl.  Cut in butter until it looks like coarse floury butter crumbles.  Using a fork, fluff in the water to moisten the mixture.  Shape dough into ball and flatten, grab a rolling pin and roll it out (remember to flour your rolling area).  Cut out dough using bat shaped cookie cutters!  Sprinkle with chili powder for added color and flavor (optional step).  Bake at 450 degrees F for 6 to 8 minutes until lightly brown.  When serving, place a biscuit bat on top of each bowl of stew!

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Ginger Ghouls

Who said gingerbread cookies were only for Christmas?

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar    
1/2 cup shortening
1 egg
1 cup molasses
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons warm water
1/4 cup raisins for decorating
Different color gel icing

Instructions:

Cream together shortening, sugar, egg and warm molasses.  Dissolve baking soda in warm water, and then add to the egg mixture. Next, add flour, spices and salt,  mix it all up until well blended.  Cover and chill overnight.  Prepare a floured surface and get out the rolling pin and cookie cutters.  Cut out gingerbread men (or other Halloween like shapes!) and place an inch or two apart on a greased cookie sheet.  Use raisins and cinnamon candies for eyes, buttons, etc.  Then add gel icing to make bloody legs, arms, and dripping eyeballs! 

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Eewy Gooey Eyeballs

Ingredients:

3 oz lemon gelatin
1 cup hot water
1/2 cup miniature marshmallows
1 cup pineapple juice
1 8-0z. pkg cream cheese
1 cup heavy cream, whipped
1 cup mayonnaise

Instructions:

Dissolve lemon gelatin in 1 cup water in double boiler.  Add marshmallows and stir constantly to melt.  Remove from heat and add the pineapple juice and cream cheese, beat together until smooth.  Fold in whipped cream and mayonnaise.  Allow to cool until firm. Get out the melon baller and scoop full balls.  Decorate using food coloring and a clean small paintbrush (the kind that kids get with watercolors)  Now you have gross slimy eyeballs ready for the party goers!

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Halloween Burgers

Ingredients:

6 hamburgers or veggie burgers
6 slices cheese
Pitted olives
Red and green bell peppers
6 lettuce leaves
6 hamburger buns (split)

Directions:

Using a pumpkin shaped cookie cutter cut cheese into pumpkin shapes.  Cut olives into shapes for eyes and nose. 
Cut bell peppers into shapes for mouth and pumpkin top (green pepper). Cook burgers according to recipe and during the last few minutes of cooking top with cheese.  Carefully remove and place into lettuce-lined buns.  Garnish pumpkin face using olives and peppers.  Serve open top.

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