Halloween X-tras

Happy Halloween

I am a big fan of all things Halloween, and we do have many Halloween posts for you to look at, but sometimes I’ve got a small Halloween project, or idea, or photo of this and that, and I never have anywhere to put it. So, now they will all have a home here.

My most favorite holiday is Halloween because it is the only holiday we have that is just plain FUN!

Welcome, I do hope you won’t get SCARED off as I fill this post with all things Halloween Extra.

ENTER IF YOU DARE

I’ll be your host. My name is Ghoulie.

Right this way……

My Ghostly Purse

The Maddest of Hatters, and the Ghostly Bride

(Do you recognize the ghosts from Disney’s Magic Kingdom, The Haunted Mansion?)

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How about a Halloween Christmas Tree?

Or a Christmas Halloween Tree?

I like it!! 🙂

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The Witches

Sitting on some Cookbooks

My friend Trish who died a few years ago sent me these witches before she died. Whenever I see them I think of her. Of course, I think of her all the time anyway.

I think it funny that when I originally met her she didn’t care at all for Halloween. But my love of Halloween changed her mind and she started to get into the holiday. When she was last here she was buying up some Halloween decorations to take back to New Zealand. She knew how much I loved the holiday and last sent me these lovely witchy women. 🙂

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Good Mourning!

Bones Coffee Company

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Vivien, Lola and a Friend, Halloween in Ireland

Our nieces on Halloween. Just wanted to share. 🙂

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My Veronica (1989) and My Grand-daughter Isabelle (2023)

Veronica

AND,

Our Isabelle 🙂

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Veronica’s Wood Burning Ornaments

(Veronica is quite talented as an artist.)

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Ghostly Italian

(I suppose this could be just a regular meal had I not placed a ghost in the photo.) 🙂

One of my favorite ways to eat a nice tasty meal is to boil some pasta and open a few jars of goodies.

Oh, and don’t forget to add a good bread to it all. The bread is a Tutto Pimiento Pepper Jack. Delicious!

I do have some Halloween shaped pasta, in addition to regular Spaghetti Noodles.

I have some Red Sauce, Alfredo Sauce with Herbs, Grated Parmesan Cheese, Parmesan Crisp Crackers, and a marinated Olive Salad.

Not to mention the Jarred Foods:

Pesto Genovese

Roasted Red Peppers

Marinated Artichoke Hearts

And,

Sundried Tomatoes in Olive Oil

The Basil Plant is Also a Plus Here

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My Plate 🙂

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Halloween CLUE’S

AND,

The Walking Dead

Who doesn’t love scary CLUE’S?

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Making a Halloween Hair Clip

When I made reservations for Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights, I knew that I wanted to wear something a bit Halloweeny in my hair so I set about looking online trying to find the right hair accessory. I couldn’t find anything that I liked that was for sale. I saw examples of things I liked but they weren’t for sale.

Earlier in the month I had purchased these spider ornaments from Tuesday Morning and I kept looking at them wishing they were hair clips because it was exactly what I wanted. So, I looked through my bathroom drawers for old hair clips, found one! Then got out my hot glue gun and got to work creating my own. Viola!

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Friday The 13th.

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A Bit of a Disney/Star Wars Halloween

(Starting the day off with some Disney coffee.)

Halloween Goodies for the Kiddies

We LOVE Halloween!

Sparky, Gordon, Spooky, Julie, and Baby Yoda

Our Window Projector

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My Ghostly Chili

Although I have my Chili recipe featured on a few pages on this website, I just had to post this photo of my Chili Cheese Ghost. Chili, topped with Sharp Cheddar Cheese, and a Cornbread Ghost. 🙂

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Wooden Molds

Gordon brought home these beautiful molds from overseas. The patterns instantly make me think of Halloween although I’m sure they could be used any time of year. I am looking forward to working with them.

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Casserole To Go!

Although I am not going to give out a recipe here. (Although it is on one of my Mexican food blog posts.) I just wanted to showcase that I love bringing food over to my family and friends when I go for a visit especially this time of year. And of course, I always leave the leftovers to them to enjoy the following day. 🙂

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Pumpkin for Breakfast, Lunch, Snack, and Dinner

I decided that I was going to have a “Pumpkin” kind of a day. I wanted to start out with a great cup of Pumpkin Latte and some Pumpkin Egg Nog with a few mini-Naan breads with a nice amount of Pumpkin Spice Hummus.

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LUNCH

Tandoori Bread with Pumpkin Hummus, Mozzarella Cheese, Butternut Squash Spirals sauteed in Olive Oil, Zucchini Squash Spirals sauteed in Olive Oil, Colorful Bell Peppers, Green Olives and a drizzling of a Basil Pesto Sauce.

Keep reading for the recipe……

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SNACK

Pumpkin Salsa with Blue Corn Chips

(I simply bought a jar of Pumpkin Salsa, and opened a bag of chips. Easy!)

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Ingredients for creating your own Pumpkin Spice lunch:

Tandoori Flatbreads

Pumpkin Spiced Hummus

Mozzarella Cheese

Butternut Squash Spirals

Zucchini Squash Spirals

Colorful Bell Peppers

Green Olives

Basil Pesto Sauce

(This is just a guide. You can do whatever you like with yours.)

I made this as easy on myself as possible by buying already prepared foods.

I just added a bit of olive oil to a pan and sauteed the Butternut Squash for about 8 minutes until tender.

I just followed the package instructions.

I then sauteed the Zucchini Squash for about the same amount of time.

Cooking until tender.

In the meantime…..

Turn your oven on 350F. Then place your flatbread onto the oven rack and bake topside first for about 5 minutes. Then, flip them over and bake the bottom for about 3 minutes.

When ready you can spread whatever hummus you want on the flatbread.

Colorful Bell Peppers

Here I’m using some of my leftover bell peppers along with a bag of ready chopped. I figured that I would be carving a few eyes, noses, mouths, ears, etc. But when I dumped the bag out there so many shapes that I could use as facial features that I didn’t need to carve any myself.

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Once I made my face I sprinkled some Mozzarella Cheese on top and then put it in the oven for a few minutes.

Just to melt the cheese.

Add the warmed Butternut Squash and Zucchini Spirals, and your delicious lunch is done!

You don’t have to make a face if you don’t want to. This one was delicious. I just drizzled a bit of Basil Pesto sauce and it is ready. What a beautiful, tasty, festive, fun, colorful LUNCH. 🙂

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DINNER

Tuscany Pumpkin Sauce over Autumn Colored Pasta

Sprinkled with some Parmesan Cheese and add a Mozzarella topped bread with a dollop of the last of your Pumpkin Hummus.

Delicious!

Now, how hard was that?

Happy Halloween!

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Taking it back to the Groovy 70’s when Hot Dogs were the dinner of most families and there seemed to be this rage to find different ways to make them. This is a dinner that we would have occasionally that my mother would make.

Cheese and Bacon Wrapped Halloweenie’s

I’m using Turkey Franks here.

Preheat Your Oven to 350F

Sharp Cheddar Cheese cut into Slices

I have a step missing here. I placed the hot dogs in a small baking dish with a little bit of olive oil and baked them for about 5 minutes. Then I removed them from the oven, placed them on a foil lined baking sheet, using a knife I placed a slit lengthwise without cutting through the hot dog, inserted some cheese, wrapped them in bacon and secured them with toothpicks.

Now bake in the oven for about 20 minutes.

You just want the bacon to crisp up.

Remove the toothpicks and eat however you like. With or without any buns.

Happy Halloweenie!

p.s. Don’t forget the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. This is the 70’s after all. 🙂

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Plastic Pumpkins that Fell Apart

We’ve had these plastic pumpkins for many years now but it wasn’t until recently that one day they just split apart. Apparently at the seam. I suppose we could have glued them back together but I immediately saw potential when they split apart. They can hold a large amount of Halloween candy to be placed at the door to pass out to little trick-or-treater’s. I can even place the “lid” back on and the candy is concealed from view. I also used one side as a bread basket for one of our Halloween meals. I actually like that they did split apart and now I can use them in other ways.

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Jiffy Pop Popcorn and SCREAM

The last meal of babysitter’s on Halloween night. 🙂

This was such nostalgia for me. My old VHS T.V. sitting on the kitchen counter just like in the 90’s.

Making Jiffy Pop on the stove top just like we did back in the 70’s.

Brought back such good memories. I put in the VHS tape of SCREAM and it was perfect!

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The first time I saw SCREAM was when I was visiting my family back in Rome, Georgia in the late 90’s and my brother Ben insisted that I watch it. I was TERRIFIED!!! I couldn’t sleep that night because of that movie! But now it seems so tame compared to what’s out there now. But I do love this movie!

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Halloween Colors

I bought these beautiful pears that had this lovely “gold leaf” look to them. I knew that they needed a lovely bowl to place them in so I pulled out this one. My New Zealand, Kiwi friend Trish sent me this bowl years ago. It was hand-painted by a New Zealand artist. Perfect for my pears. Sometimes “Halloween” isn’t about a theme, Some time’s it’s about a color.”

Julie

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Raw Meat and Maggots

I saw something like this on Etsy in 2022 and knew how unique and fun it would be for Halloween. I have to admit that I did order some from the seller at the time. She must have been overwhelmed with orders because she ended up refunding all of my money. I then knew that I can very easily make these myself for the next Halloween, and have it be much cheaper than she was charging me. And I did!

All you want to do is to follow the Rice Krispy Treats recipe to make your own.

Simple to find it online.

I however, wanted to use Puffed Rice in the place of Rice Krispy’s cereal.

I will say this, Puffed Rice may look more like Raw Meat (with food coloring) than Rice Krispy’s, but Puffed Rice has a more “stale” flavor to it. It isn’t “crispy.”

When I was a young girl growing up in the 60’s my mother would make Rice Krispy Treats with Puffed Rice. So, this was a travel back in time for me.

The Styrofoam Containers, left.

Marshmallows, right.

I just wanted to state that the only Styrofoam Containers that I used originally housed either fresh herbs or mushrooms from the Asian Supermarket.

I didn’t want to use anything that originally contained any meat. I was worried about the salmonella perhaps lingering. The containers are healthy. I did wash them to make sure they were safe to place food into.

Red Food Coloring

Puffed Rice Cereal

What I love about Puffed Rice Cereal is that is it healthy, and the little cereals do look like Maggots, especially when you make them with the marshmallow recipe. Also, they look great with red food coloring as Raw Meat!

So, making the treats according to the recipe….

Butter and Marshmallows Melting….

Melting Marshmallows and Adding them to the Puffed Rice Cereal.

Here, I turned them into Ghosts and Maggots for sale!

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Butter, Marshmallows, and Red Food Coloring….

More Styrofoam Containers

“Raw Meat” Coming Together

Coming Together Nicely!

Just place a piece of Wax Paper or Parchment Paper down on the Styrofoam first, spray with a little Cooking Spray, and then place the “meat” on top of that.

Looking like Raw Meat and Maggots

Cover with Saran Wrap and Slap a Price Sticker On

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Halloween/Autumn Gifts For Veronica and Brian

Just a Few Gifts and Homemade Goodies I Gave to my Daughter and her Husband

I LOVE Giving Gifts! 🙂 Especially, this time of Year!

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The Gift of Chili, Etc…

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Fritos, Ghostly Cornbread, Oyster Crackers

Gifts Ready for Brodie and Mackenzie

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Julie’s New Recipe Ghostly Chili

(I realize that when Beans are added it is no longer considered “Chili” but, I don’t care.

We call it Chili!) 🙂

In the past I used to buy this ready made bag of dried beans and spices, it was called Darn Good Chili, and it WAS!

I loved that I could use that as a base and build on it, adding whatever I wanted, gearing it toward our personal tastes.

It was easy to do, and delicious to eat!

This particular year (2023), I wanted to make a big pot and give some to Brodie and Mackenzie because they have always loved my Chili, however, I couldn’t find any of those Beer Creek bags of Darn Good Chili, anywhere. I was so disappointed.

It was then that I saw these bags of ready made chili. I decided to take my chance with them, and build upon what was already made. Here is what I did to extend the life of the bags of chili that I purchased. I ended up surprising myself and I think it is just as good, or even better than the chili I used to make before.

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The Ingredients:

(Some ingredients you see pictures above I didn’t use those exact amounts.)

4, 10 oz. Bags of The Good Bean Low-Carb Classic Clili

4, 15.5 oz. Cans of Beans (I used 2 cans of Black, 1 can of Dark Kidney, and 1 can of Light Kidney Beans) Drained

2, 4.5 oz. Cans of Chopped Green Chilies

1, 12 oz. Jar of Chili Sauce

1, 6 oz. Can of Tomato Paste

Dashes of Tabasco Sauce, to Taste (Any Hot Sauce you prefer.)

Freshly Ground Black Pepper to Taste

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The first thing that I did was to drain the cans of beans and add them to a large pot on medium heat.

I then added the entire bottle of Chili Sauce and a few dashes of my Tabasco Sauce and a good amount of Freshly Ground Black Pepper.

I let the Beans simmer away on a low to medium heat. I stir the pot occasionally to make sure the beans aren’t sticking to the bottom. As it became thicker I did add a little bit of water to thin it out because it wasn’t ready yet. I added about a 3/4 Cup of Water.

Time to Add the Chopped Green Chili’s…

…and the Tomato Paste.

I like for my Chili to simmer on a low heat for quite a while. Anywhere from 1 – 1-1/2 hours.

Now It’s Time to Add the Chili Packets

You Can See What’s Inside, Not Bad

Add Those to the Pot, and Allow to Simmer Longer

Perhaps Another 15-20 Minutes

You Want Everything to Blend Well

I’ve Got The Pot Cooling On The Bamboo Dish Rack

(You must allow the Chili to cool a bit before placing the pot into the refrigerator, or into come glass or plastic container.)

What I love the most about Chili, other than the taste, is all that you can eat it with.

You Can Eat The Chili Every Night For A Week And Yet Have It Be Different Every Time

Chili Dogs, Rice, Potatoes, Spaghetti Noodles, Corn Chips, etc. and eaten with just plain Soda Crackers. Yum!

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Corn Bread Ghosts

I do this every year. I love making cornbread ghosts.

Sometimes I might make them a little different, but it wouldn’t be Halloween for me and my children without them.

You will need a ghost pan for this. Just make cornbread any way that you like. Whatever your favorite recipe is.

My Ghost Tin is so old it’s warped in many places. But, that’s o.k., I don’t mind one bit!

Spray each mold with a cooking oil spray of your choice, or use some sort of Crisco to grease them.

Bake according to the package instructions. I would check them as they bake to insure they are not burning.

It may just be plain cornbread, but it’s cornbread shaped like GHOSTS!

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The Gift of Buffy the Vampire Slayer

(and a Stake)

Maybe it’s time to introduce Buffy to a newer generation. It was an excellent show with a fantastic cast and great writing.

Excellent Gift!

Just make sure the recipient knows the stake is just a prop. 🙂

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Vampire Themed Movies

I love giving the gifts of themed movies for Halloween just as much as the recipients enjoyed receiving them.

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Metal Jack-o-Lantern

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Fun Skull Soap Dispenser

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Beautiful Decorated Skeletons

These beauties were in a jewelry shop at Universal Studios Island of Adventure.

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I thought they were lovely!

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JULIE

I purchased the black and green backpack purses from L.L. Bean many years ago and I would always take whichever one to the parks when we would do Disney. I started putting the pins that I would purchase on them because I love collecting pins. (I was putting pins on my tote bags and pocketbooks over 30 years ago. They weren’t Disney in nature, but they were pins.)