From: arielle@NeoSoft.com (Stephanie da Silva)
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking
Subject: Halloween ideas
Date: 9 Oct 92 15:58:58 GMT
Article-I.D.: NeoSoft.1992Oct09.155858.11134
Reply-To: arielle@taronga.com
Organization: NeoSoft Communications Services -- (713) 684-5900

Other suggestions for Halloween party foods:  spare ribs with
lots of barbeque sauce (obvious).

Baked potatoes with either chili or barbeque beef in sauce poured
over (invent your own correlation).


Here are some exerpts from my gross foods file (which I'm still
taking recipes for <hint hint>).  

Gooey Chicken

This one sounds a bit strange, but I've made it many times for guests
and have have very good results with it.

3 lbs chicken, cut into serving pieces  
1 1-lb smooth cranberry sauce
1 8-oz bottle of french dressing
1  package dried french onion soup mix

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Put the chicken into a shallow backing
dish.  Combine remaining ingredients into a sauce pan,  heat over slow heat
until bubbling, then pour over chicken.  Bake uncovered for 1 hour or until
done, spooning sauce over chicken as it cooks.  
Good with rice, with sauce spooned over it.

I make a similar recipe, but using sauerkraut instead of cranberry sauce and 
thousand islands dressing instead of french - surprisingly good!

--

Litterbox Cookies

There are two flavors-chocolate, and gingerbread.
The cookies are dense and not very sweet, this is necesssary
so that they will keep their shape during baking.  If you use white flour
or sugar they may be tastier but they won't look like shit.

Chocolate ingredients:

1/2 cup honey
2/3 cup (1 and 1/3 stick) butter or margarine
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla or peppermint extract
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
grape-nuts(tm) cereal

Gingerbread ingredients:

1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses
2/3 cup(1 and 1/3 stick) butter or margerine
1 egg
2 and 1/3 cups whole wheat flour
spices-ginger, cinnamon, cloves to taste(maybe 1/2 tsp each)
grape-nuts(tm) cereal

Mix-ins:

coconut
chocolate chips
butterscotch chips
peanut butter chips

To make:
Microwave the honey till it bubbles(about 1 minute). add the butter, and
the molasses, if any.  Add the egg, mix well, then mix in all the other 
stuff. A dd mix-ins of your choice to some or all of the batter.

Chill 1 hour in the freezer or several hours in the fridge.  Roll dough 
logs of random length and the diameter of cat poops.  Roll logs in grape-
nuts and bake at 350 degrees till done (10 to 15 minutes).

Serve in a disposable cat litter box on a bed of grapenuts, with a cat
litter scoop.  I hear you get lovely effects by decorating the box and 
scoop with melted chocolate or pudding.  

this recipe worked especially well at the halloween party where the table 
was already decorated with plastic flies.

--

Dirt Cake

1 medium-size flower pot (about 8 inches in diameter works well, or
  use two small pots about 6 inches in diameter).
1 garden trowel.
3 large gummy or plastic worms (optional [optional?  no way!]).
  Plastic flowers.
1 16-ounce bag Oreo cookies.
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened.
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened.
1 cup confectioners' sugar.
1 teaspoon vanilla.
2 4-serving-size boxes instant chocolate-fudge flavor pudding [a
  penciled-in note on the recipe claims vanilla is better]
3 cups milk.
1 12-ounce tub whipped topping, thawed.

Crush cookies until they resemble potting soil, set aside.
Cream butter, cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth and
fluffy.  Set aside. Combine pudding mix and milk until well
blended, then fold in the whipped topping.  Gently fold cream cheese
and pudding mixtures together.

To put the cake together, layer 1/3 of the cookie crumbs followed
by 1/2 the pudding mixture, 1/3/ of the crumbs, the rest of the
pudding mixture and topping with the remaining cookie crumbs.
Refrigerate 10 to 12 hours.  About 1/2 hour before serving, remove
from refrigerator and decorate with flowers.  Serve by digging out
portions with the trowel.  Serves 10 to 12. 

--

Spider Cake (once made as a tease for a woman who HATED spiders)

Take your average cake mix.  Bake it up in 2 metal bowls--1 bigger than
the other.  One unmolded, cut the bigger one (the "body") in half,
horizontally.  CAREFULLY scoop out an adequate cavity in each half.
FILL with well-whipped set green Jello, and reattach the halves.
Frost black, arrange on serving platter. Use licorice stix as legs.
Use 2 BIG green gumdrops and 6 little ones as eyes.  When the cake is
cut into, it spurts green goop, just like a real spider when stepped on.

--

Use the new Berry Blue jello, and pour it into individual cups or a fish 
bowl.  Before the jello is all the way set, add gummy fish, sharks, life 
savers, shells, etc., and make an Alcoholic Aquarium.

I did this over Memorial day weekend.  I was fortunate enough to find a 
candy shoppe that carried all kinds of gummy goodies: fish, sharks, shells, 
worms, and Coke bottles.  I used 9 oz. clear plastic glasses, and made each 
of them different.  One was even a 'toxic' aquarium with lots of coke bottles, 
gummy Life Savers posing as old tires, and all the fish floating on top!

Oh, and I added Knox gelatin, too, so that once they were set, they could 
be left at room temperature. The proportions I used were:

1 8-serving box of Berry Blue Jello
4 packets Knox unflavored gelatin
5 cups boiling water
2 cups alcohol (I used vodka, but I think rum would have tasted better.)

--

Take a bunch of cocktail weiners.  Cook them to the point of almost being 
done, and then simmer them in a mixture of:

	1 can Cocktail Sauce (Shrimp Cocktail dip type)
	1/2 jar of grape jelly
	1 squeezed lime

Comes out tasting REALLY good.

Another example is one jar (~6oz) of Red Currant Jelly and one jar (~ 6oz) of 
yellow mustard, heated together until smooth.  Add cocktail wieners and heat.

--

Watergate Salad

1 box pistachio pudding
1 tub cool whip
1 cup walnuts
2 cups green grapes
1 cup pineapple chunks

Make the pudding as directed, then fold in the cool whip.  Mix in everything
else and then chill.  
        
--

Here is a gross cocktail for your list:

NUCLEAR WASTE

1 measure blue curacao
1 measure Bailey's Irish Cream
top up with one pint cider (or lager if you prefer)

The end result is a sort of greenish-brown liquid with scummy bits floating
in it and a THICK layer of scum on top. Tastes wonderful, though,
especially if you dunk chocolate bars in. (These are referred to as Control
Rods, and the bar of preference is a Toffee Crisp, if only because the
crisped rice pieces start floating around in the drink and making it look
even nastier)

--

The nuclear wastes I've seen mix blue curacao and orange juice (and vodka).
Turns everything a very nice shade of fluorescent green.

--

The recipes for "nuclear waste" reminded me of the Glycol Punch I made
for a party.  My friends and I don't drink (alcohol :), so this is sick
for all ages!  

Glycol Punch has two primary ingredients:
Diet Mountain Dew, which has an decidedly evil odd yellow glow to it. Diet 
is necessary so that you don't over sugar people.  BTW, we also tried other 
sodas, including Squirt, 7-up and Sprite, but none had that evil yellowness.

[Try Mello Yello..]

 A flourescent blue liquid. I know for a fact that the raspberry
"little hugs" drinks for kids are the perfect color.  There is a recent 
Kool-Aid blue flavor that I'm sure would work well, too.

For the "little hugs" the ratio is about 4-5 barrels to 1 2-liter bottle
of soda.  Adjust as you think best.  I'd start by pouring out the soda
and adding the blue.  You know you've got it right when you get the
sickly yellow-green of many Glycol-based Antifreezes.  Plus, when you
drink, it fizzes!  

--

   Goop

   3 medium Potato(e)s
   1 small can tomato sauce
   1 16 oz jar of tomato salsa (the hotter the better)
   2 cloves garlic (chopped fine)
   2 tsp basil
   1 heaping tablespoon of Mayo (Best Foods or Hellmans)
   1/4 to 1/2 cup cubed sharp cheddar (Tillamook Extra Sharp)

   Cube and boil potatoes until _just_ underdone.  Add tomato sauce, salsa, 
   garlic and basil and over medium heat continue cooking til potatoes are 
   done. Mix in mayo, which should thicken the sauce and then add cheese.
   When cheese starts to melt and blend in, spoon into bowls, get a bag of
   soda crackers and a cold beer and enjoy.

I know it sounds weird, but it's really pretty good. If I can find some nice
ground lamb, I'll saute it with a little onion, garlic, dash of thyme and a
dash or two of Durkee's hot sauce. Drain out the excess grease and mix in. 
Now it's a two potter, but well worth it.

-- 
Stephanie da Silva                                    arielle@taronga.com