After unusual October monsoons, we have had glorious sunny, albeit cold days and we are promised a rain-free Halloween!! Things are hoppin' around The Slaughterhouse as we are getting ready for our donuts-on-the-driveway party (the plan is to fry 380 donuts...without having the fire department show up) and the boy is installing massive, horrifically skeeeeeery Halloween creatures outside on the lawn even though I forbid him. When did he go to the dark side exactly? I don't know but apparently he ain't never comin' back! In Home Depot yesterday the boy spotted the "headless horseman" - a huge creepy thing that takes hours to assemble and when the boy was looking at the giant box a salesman appeared...now when have you ever been in Home Depot and had someone magically show up to help?!?!? Usually we have to walk the entire store twice to find someone and then they are on their way to lunch or they work in lumber and know nothing about our electrical needs!!! Anyway, the guy told the boy the headless horseman was 75% off and never have I seen the boy move so fast - that thing was rung up and in the back of the truck within 3 minutes!
We have done so many fun things lately - I love this time of year and am especially happy I now get to share it with my grandkids! Carving pumpkins with the mister was never allowed...I couldn't trust myself to be around him while wielding a knife!!! And besides, he's not into Halloween...or fun. But the kids?? They're all over it! FYI: Those little plastic pumpkin carving knives that all the party stores sell, really work! The kids needed very little help from me and scooping pumpkin guts, which they used to hate, was their newest favorite thing!
No need to ask these kids to pose - just pick up a camera and they instantly Vogue. While they were cutting and scooping, I was prepping the pumpkin seeds for roasting...I look forward to roasted pumpkin seeds every October, don't you? Here's an easy way to make them: Start with seeds from one pumpkin, rinsed and drained, and don't worry about any pieces of pumpkin sticking to them. Pour seeds into a medium sized bowl and add 1/4 cup melted butter, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt. Mix well and pour out onto ungreased, rimmed baking sheet. Put in preheated 350 degree oven for 15 minutes, then stir, and then return to oven until golden and crisp, about another 8 to 10 more minutes. Remove from oven, taste, and if you're like me you'll add more salt, then enjoy!
Adding black food coloring to water will turn your spaghetti or whatever pasta you're cooking, a beautiful shade of black. I used about 10 drops of gel black food coloring. Cook pasta according to package directions. I sauteed chopped red bell pepper and onion in a bit of butter and olive oil and then mixed it with the cooked spaghetti for a nice Halloween effect...
Adding sundried tomatoes or cherry tomatoes and meatballs would make this even more F*U*N to eat, unless you're a picky eater like my Max and then you only eat naked pasta! Max was thrilled with the color though and thought it was super cool. My dear friend Bev in MinneSNOWta sent me the idea - she is always on the look-out for fun things for The Slaughterhouse on Halloween! Thank you Bev - it was a huge hit!
Not that appetizing in the above pic but that's what Max eats...plain pasta and meat...sometimes...mostly just pasta. This pasta also looks very Halloween-ish in a nice red sauce...you get the idea - boil some up for your little ghouls today!
