Trick-or-Treat Turnovers with Spooky Potatoes

My favorite part about making this recipe was making the purple swirled mashed potatoes. Fun! Fun! Fun! I know there are other recipes out there for trick-o-treat turnovers, but the meat filling didn't taste quite right to me. So my husband recommended filling the turnovers with a tried and true Shepherd's Pie mixture and adding the potatoes as a side. This Shepherd's Pie filling is fantastic and the potatoes add more Halloween fun to the dish. All-in-all, a filling dinner with good flavor.

Serves: 4
Start to Finish: 60 minutes
Recipe By: Turnover idea by Marge Free; Recipe by Allrecipe.com

Ingredients:

1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 TBSP vegetable oil
5 chopped carrots (approx. 1 1/4 cup)
3/4 cup canned corn Niblets
1 TBSP flour
3 TBSP Worcestershire Sauce
1 TBSP ketchup
1/2 pkt brown gravy mix
1/2 cup water
1 tubes (16.3-oz) large refrigerated flaky biscuits
1 egg, lightly beaten
Your favorite mashed potatoes

Directions:

1. Chop carrots and onion.
2. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. (It doesn't have to be a large pot.)
3. Add carrots to pot and cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes.
4. Drain and set aside.
5. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large frying pan.
6. Add onion to pan and cook until clear.
7. Mix ground beef with Worcestershire sauce.
8. Add ground beef to pan and cook until browned.
9. Pour off excess fat, then stir in flour and cook 1 minute.
10. Add ketchup, 1/2 packet brown gravy mix, and water.
11. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
12. Add carrots and corn; set aside.
13. Preheat oven to 350° F.
14. On a floured surface, roll out each biscuit into a 5-in. circle. (The thinner you roll them, the more meat filling you can add and the flakier they are after baking. Just don't make them so thin they can't hold together.)
15. Spoon meat mixture onto four of the biscuits.
16. Cover with remaining four biscuits to make a turnover
17. Place turnovers onto greased cookie sheet. (Give them some space; they rise while cooking.)
18. Using a sharp knife, cut out jack-o'-lantern faces (I tried both: cutting the face before making the turnover and after making the turnover. It was easier after the turnover was already made and on the cookie sheet.)
19. Brush with egg.
20. Bake at for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. (It took me the full 15 minutes to get them to brown nicely.)
21. Serve with mashed potatoes that have been colored with food coloring for that added Halloween spirit.

Candy Corn Pizza

Don't panic, there is no candy corn in this pizza. It just looks like a big piece of candy corn when it is cut into slices. This is such a simple recipe and the idea can be applied to many other kinds of pizza, depending on your family's preference. If you wanted a plain cheese pizza your stripes would be cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese covered with marinara sauce (so it looks red), and mozzarella cheese. If you wanted a pepperoni pizza your stripes would be cheddar cheese, pepperoni slices, mozzarella cheese. Well, you get the idea. You can't go wrong with pizza; just make sure the crust is a good one.

Serves: 4
Start to Finish: 30 minutes
Recipe By: Amber Brunson

Ingredients:

1 (6-oz) can pineapple tidbits
4 slices of ham, cut-up into 1-in squares
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 cup marinara sauce
1 pre-made Boboli pizza, or your favorite pizza crust (I tried a refrigerated crust for the recipe in the pictures, I like Boboli better)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to according to pizza crust package directions.
2. Slice ham into 1-inch squares.
3. Spoon marinara sauce evenly across your pizza crust.
4. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese in a circle in the center of the pizza crust. (Make this circle bigger than you would expect.)
5. Add ham squares in a ring on the outside of your mozzarella cheese circle. (You are going to want to layer the ham on pretty thick. It shrinks when cooked which allows the white mozzarella cheese to show through.)
6. Using cheddar cheese, sprinkle a border around the outside of the pizza crust; getting right up to the edge.
7. Add the pineapple tidbits to the top of the Cheddar cheese.
8. Bake 13 to 17 minutes or until edge is lightly browned and cheese is melted and bubbling.
9. Cut into slices and serve.

Halloween Flop

As part of my 13 Halloween dinners, I choose this adorable "Haunted Taco Tarts" recipe. I thought it was such a cute idea and I really wanted it to taste good, too. Unfortunately, after 2 hours of working on it, it still came out awful. I have decided not to post the recipe. Although, if anyone has tried this recipe and has made adjustments that resulted in a success, please let me know. I found the crust of the tarts too pasty. I will continue to make adjustments until I find a method that taste good (or I decide it can't be saved).

Worms for Brains

I was amazed at how much orange peppers looked like pumpkins when you cut a face in the side. Especially if you buy them with the stems still attached. The spaghetti mixture stuffed inside is made with chicken and fajita seasoning, giving it a distinctive Spanish flare that goes wonderfully with the bell pepper. However, if you have picky little eaters, just buy a jar of marinara sauce with meat and add it to the spaghetti noodles (same idea).


Serves: 6
Start to Finish: 45 minutes
Recipe By: Worms for brains idea by Julianna Tazzia; recipe from Taste of Home Magazine

Ingredients:

6 medium sweet orange peppers
8 oz uncooked spaghetti
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips or small chunks
1 TBSP canola oil
1 small onion, sliced
1 small sweet red pepper, julienned (Usually substitute sweet green peppers for the red pepper because they are less expensive and have comparable flavors, but the red make a much prettier presentation.)
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup red taco sauce
1 envelope fajita seasoning mix (buy a good brand of fajita season. It will be used to flavor the whole recipe and you will be able to taste the lower quality in generic brands)

Directions:

1. Cook the spaghetti according to package directions.
2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large skillet.
3. Add chicken to skillet and cook over medium heat for 4-5 minutes on each side or until juices run clear.
4. Remove chicken and keep warm.
5. In the same skillet, saute the onion and peppers until tender.
6. Add the chicken, water, red taco sauce, and fajita seasoning; heat through.
7. Drain spaghetti; toss with chicken mixture.
8. Cut tops off peppers and set tops aside
9. Remove seeds and membranes from inside the pepper.
10. Cut a jack-o'-lantern face on one side of each pepper.
11. Spoon spaghetti and chicken mixture into peppers; replace pepper tops.

I Love October

Check out my new Halloween socks; they're awesome! I am very excited October is finally here. I love everything about October: the air has a crisp, spicy smell, the leaves are changing colors, the nights are warm and clear. It is the perfect way to herald in the holiday season. Finally the weather is cool enough to snuggle under a blanket near a roaring fire with hot chocolate and a good book. And, of course, I love Halloween! Growing up, it was just another holiday. Like every kid, I enjoyed dressing up and getting candy but soon I was too old to trick-or-treat and the day lost much of its appeal. That was... until I met my husband. His excitement for the holiday is infectious. He immersed me in the other joys of Halloween: pumpkin patches, Halloween parties, hay rides with mulled cider, special Halloween dinners, corn mazes, goofy Halloween TV shows (I hate scary movies), and Halloween decorations. This month it is my goal to post 13 of the best Halloween dinners I can find out there. It is my hope that someone out there who may not love Halloween will be inspired and develop some traditions for their own family around this fun day.