In which the gentle reader may share in our Halloween Supper

Tonight's Halloween Supper

A casserole in disguise as a pumpkin
Deviled ham bat wings
Bubble and squeak
Worms au gratin
Broomstick breadsticks
Roasted apples
Great Pumpkin cookies
Eyeballs
Mice
Ghosts
Pumpkin custard

Wine - Conde de Valdemar Rioja, 2000 (I love it!)
Blood

For those readers who might be a bit disturbed by the contents in our menu, I can assure you that the ingredients were more mundane than they might first appear. For your amusement, (and your own Halloween Supper, if you like) the recipes are as follows:

A casserole in disguise as a pumpkin

2 lbs ground beef
2 lbs sausage
2 medium onions, chopped
2 green peppers, chopped
Butter
2 cans sliced water chestnuts, drained
1 box Uncle Ben's Long grain and Wild Rice
2 cans cream of mushroom soup (we used the soup with garlic)
1 medium pumpkin, lid cut off and interior thouroughly cleaned and scraped

Brown the ground beef and sausage. Drain off fat. Saute the onions and peppers in the butter. Stir together the meat mixture, the vegetable mixture and the water chestnuts. Add the rice and the spice packet that comes in the box, and the soup. Mix thouroughly. Fill the pumpkin with the casserole, and replace the lid. Place the filled pumpkin in a roasting pan large enough to accomodate the pumpkin without touching the sides. Half-fill the pan with water. Bake at 350 degrees for two to three hours, until the pumpkin is soft and the internal temperature of the casserole is at 160 degrees.
Serve in the pumpkin.
We found this casserole to be good, but not great; I'll be experimenting with seasonings on the leftovers.

Deviled ham bat wings
Ham
Miracle Whip
Sweet pickle relish
Dark bread (we used pumpernicle)

I can't give quantites on this, since I sorta threw this together. I purchased a Hormel Cure 81 ham, which is in my opinion the best ham out there. I cubed about 2/3 of the ham, and "ground" it in the food processor. This is a lot of ground ham. I added enough Miracle Whip to get a good paste, just over half a 1 quart jar. Since I used two partial jars of pickle relish, I don't know how much I actually used, but the relish should provide a sweet and sour note to the deviled ham.
Using a bat-shaped cookie cutter, cut out bat-wings from the center of the bread. (Some of the crusts will be used elsewhere in the Supper.) Spread the deviled ham between two bat wing slices to make little finger sandwiches.
By the way, Chris would prefer shredded cheese mixed into the deviled ham.

Bubble and squeak

About 5 Yukon Gold potatoes, boiled and peeled
1/2 head of cabbage, cut into a large chop, and boiled in salted water until tender
1/2 large onion, chopped
Salt and Pepper
Bacon fat
Butter

Melt about 3 tablespoons butter and an equal amount of bacon fat in a 10" non-stick skillet. Saute the onions in the fat. Keep the heat at medium temperature. Add the potatoes, and using a nylon potato masher, mash the potatoes into small lumps. Add the cooked cabbage, season with salt and pepper and mix. Add more bacon fat/butter in equal quantites as needed to prevent sticking. Allow the "bubble" to cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture starts to brown.

Worms au gratin

1/4 c bread crumbs
1 1/2 Tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 package frozen home-made style egg noodles (or make your own)
3 Tablespoons butter
2 cups mild shredded cheddar cheese

Using the some of the crusts from making the deviled ham bat wings, make bread crumbs. Place the crusts in a 300 degree oven for 5 or 10 minuted, until completely dried out. Crush the crusts with the back of a measuring cup until the crumbs are a uniform size. I sift the crumbs through a colander to assist with the process. Stir the melted butter and the salt into the bread crumbs. This is your "dirt".
Prepare the egg noodles according to the package directions. Place the noodles into a 9" x 11" roasting pan with the remaining butter, and stir together until the butter has melted. Stir in the cheese, and sprinkle the "dirt" evenly over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the worms are evenly hot.
Everyone really liked this simple supper dish.

Broomstick breadsticks

2 loaves frozen bread dough
1 Tablespoon kosher salt
1 Tablespoon black sesame seeds OR poppy seeds
Milk

Thaw the bread dough. Roll each loaf out on a floured surface to about 5" x 10". Using a sharp knife, cut each loaf into five or six breadsticks, along the long dimension of the dough.
Cut the end of each breadstick into bristles for the broom, about 5 or 6 narrow parallel cuts. Place each breadstick on a cookie sheet covered with parchment or release foil. Spread the "bristles" of the broom, and twist the "handle". Moisten the top of the handle with a little cold water to get it to stick to the pan, to keep the handle from untwisting.
Mix together the salt and seeds in a small bowl. Brush each breadstick with milk and sprinkle with the salt and seeds. Bake at 400 degrees for about 12 minutes, or until done.

Roasted apples

5 Jonathon apples, cored and peeled
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 teaspoons apple pie spice

Place the apples in a baking pan, and add about 1/2 inch of water to the bottom of the pan. Blend together the sugar and apple pie spice. Stuff the cores with the mixture, and sprinkle the remainder over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or longer, until the apples are soft.

Great Pumpkin cookies

1 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg (or equivalent Egg Beaters)
2 teaspoons almond extract
2 1/2 cups unbleached high-altitude flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
Frosting
1 brick cream cheese, room temperature
1 bag confectioner's sugar
food color

Cream butter and sugar in mixer. Add egg, and beat on medium speed until incorporated. (We used Egg Beaters so Evan could eat the raw dough.) Add almond extract. Whisk together the salt and flour, and add by spoonfuls to the the wet ingredients. Chill the dough before rolling.
Roll out to 1/4" thickness, and cut out the cookies using a large pumpkin cutter. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the bottom edge of the cookies just begin to brown. Cool and decorate.
To make frosting, beat cream cheese in mixer until fluffy. Add sugar a little at a time, mixing thouroughly between additions. Continue adding sugar until thick and "frosting" consistancy; the exact amount will vary with local humidity. Divide into portions according to amount of colors needed - a couple of tablespoons for green stems, a half cup for piping faces, etc. Color each division as needed and decorate the cookies. The orange frosting should be stroked on to simulate the veins of the pumpkin. Pipe on faces.

Eyeballs
Mice

6 cups Rice Krispies (plain for the eyeballs, chocolate for the mice)
3 Tablespoons butter
1 bag marshmallows
M&Ms
Twizzler whips

Melt the butter in a non-stick saucepan. Add the marshmallows. Using a heat-resistant rubber spatula, stir constantly until the marshmallows are melted. Remove from heat. Fold in cereal.
Let the mass cool a little; it will be easier to handle. With buttered hands form into shapes - small balls of the plain, and mouse shapes of the chocolate Rice Krispies. Press M&Ms into the balls for irises, and Twizzler whips into the mice for tails.

Ghosts

Duncan Hines white cake mix
Fluffy White frosting mix
Semi-sweet chocolate morsels

Make cupcakes using the Wilton ghosts pan, 2105-9471. Frost with fluffy white frosting, and apply chocolate morsels for eyes.

Pumpkin custard

This is simply a pumpkin pie sans crust. Prepare as directed on the Libby's pumpkin can, except add 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg. Bake as directed.

Blood

Ocean Spray 100% juice, Cranberry and Concord Grape - Great color

I neglected the Witch's Brew - hot spiced apple cider. Oh well.