HALLOWEEN PARTY 2014 MENU

We hadn't had a Halloween Party in several years and so this years party was great.  We had a good crowd, everyone dressed up and on the menu included some old favorites, some new winners and a couple that need a bit of work.

• Veggie Tray (tie some big carrot and zucchini bundles with trine and stand up): celery, radish, cucumber, bell pepper, grape tomatoes, grapes, jicama 
• Spicy Pretzels
• Jalapeno dip with tortilla chips 
• Enchilada dip, tortilla chips (HOT) 
• Cheeseburger dip, tortilla chips or sourdough (HOT) 
• Sweet Bat Wings 
• Chicken Meatballs stuffed with blue cheese (Buffalo Eyeballs)
• Winnies and apples 
• Sweets:  Boo Balls:  Maple cake
• Drinks:  Jimmy Juice Punch (REDRUM) , Beer / Wine  and Red Hot Whiskey (Homemade Fireball)

The new hits were the Chicken Meatballs.  I liked them because I can make ahead, freeze and then cook from frozen like I do the Sausage balls.  This allows me to have them in the freezer and bring out just a few at a time.  I haven't yet done a meatball that I love and I'm not totally sure what my problems have been.  This one had a soft texture which at first I wasn't sure about, it reminded me of my sister inlaws meatballs, she boils them, which may be why since they did sit in the sauce, but one thing I believe I don't like about my past meatballs was that they were hard.  The feedback from others was they wanted the recipe so here it is.  Unfortunately I didn't take a picture but when I make them again, which will be soon, I'll add one, but you can see them on the Cookie  Rookie site.  The original recipe came from Cookie Rookie.  The only changes I made were to use panko vs Italian bread crumbs and add in the Italian spices because it was what I had and I used dressing mix vs. dip mix.

BUFFALO BALLS (aka BUFFALO EYEBALLS)
1 lb. ground chicken
2 cloves garlic, grated
1 egg
½ C. panko bread crumbs
⅛ t. parsley
⅛ t. oregano
⅛ t. basil
1 T. powdered ranch dressing mix
4 oz. blue cheese
Dressing:
2 T. unsalted butter
1 C. Franks red hot sauce

To a large bowl all ingredients except blue cheese and dressing. Mix with a fork. Roll into balls with a 1 oz. scoop or a tablespoon. With your thumb put an indent in center of ball and put ½ t. blue cheese crumbles/chunks in center. Fold meat over cheese and roll back into a ball. Place on cookie sheet or freeze on a foil lined paper plate till frozen then transfer to zip top bag. When ready to cook, preheat oven to 400°F and bake 16-18 minutes. Put dressing ingredients in a crock pot or deep saute pan to melt butter and heat sauce, mix. Add meatballs, toss in sauce. Makes about 16 meatballs.

The Enchilada dip was tasty but way too runny.  Once I make changes to this I'll post the recipe.  The Jalapeno dip was good, I think, so again once I try it, I'll let you know.  The Bacon Cheeseburger dip however was perfect and I can't wait to make it again.  It made two small, maybe 5" cassarole dishes so I baked the second one and we ate it on Monday night with the chips and some bread slices but the tortilla chips were best.  It was a tad sweet from the browned onions and ketchup but it was a total cheeseburger taste, not the best pix but taste wise it is excellent.

BACON CHEESEBURGER DIP
½ lb. lean ground beef
6 strips bacon, torn into pieces
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
½ C. sour cream
¼ C. mayonnaise
½ C. mozzarella, shredded
½ C. cheddar, shredded
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
2 T. ketchup

Cook beef over medium heat, break up while cooking. Drain grease, set aside. In same pan, cook bacon until crispy about 6-10 minutes, remove, drain all but 1 T. bacon fat. Add onion and saute till tender and browned, 5-7 minutes. Add garlic saute another minute. To a large bowl add beef, torn bacon, onion garlic mixture, softened cream cheese, sour cream, mayonnaise, mozzarella, cheddar, Worcestershire sauce and ketchup. Mix. Pour into a pie plate or two small baking dishes. Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 20-30 minutes.

I took my teriyaki chicken thighs and modified it to use wings and I can now say I make a great wing. After I baked them I added them to my electric roaster which has three buffet servers over water to keep them warm but they are just as good at room temperature however.

SWEET TERIYAKI WINGS (aka BAT WINGS)

40 chicken wings, 20 per bag

¼ C. Braggs Liquid amino acid or soy sauce

1 C. light brown sugar

¼ t. ground ginger

¼ t. red pepper flakes

1 T. dry sherry

1 T. garlic, minced

The day before, place 20 frozen wings and 1/2 T. of garlic in each zip top bag.  In a 2 cup measure add brown sugar and amino acid or soy sauce.  Add more aminio acid or soy to equal one cup.  Stir in spices.  Pour half of the mixture in each bag.  Marinate in the refrigerator overnight, turning every so often to distribute the marinade.  

To cook:  Cover a cookie sheet in heavy duty foil, top that with a piece of parchment paper.  Remove wings from marinade and place on cookie sheet.  Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 1.5 hours.  Flip wings half way through.  

Note:  It won’t seem like enough marinade but it is so don’t worry.  When you flip the wings if the top cookie sheet is browning more than the bottom one, switch them for even browning.  Check after an hour and see how they are doing.  Two hours is too long because the sugar will burn.  The wings will still be good but some get too dark.

The dessert, BOO BALLS looked so cute and it is proven that any cake and cream cheese frosting works for this recipe.  These were a maple cake with maple cream cheese frosting.  Since they were for Halloween, after I dipped them in the melted white candy coating, I drizzled more on with a fork so they wouldn't be smooth.  Then I quartered a dried cranberry and stuck those pieces on with more melted chocolate to use for eyes.  You can also use chocolate chips for eyes.

I just realized I've never posted my Mini Winnies recipes which is a favorite of mine and others so I will do that in a separate post.  You can find my Spicy Ranch Pretzels here.  The Jimmy Juice was a drink we use to have in NH so I made it into a punch.  It is Spiced rum, white rum, OJ, cranberry juice and 7up.  The Red Hot Shots was made with 3 C. of Segrems 7 and a box of Red Hots.  Those who drink Fireball thought mine was better.

These were made but they didn't make it out that night.  But the sandwiches and the sausage balls did make an appearance for breakfast the next morning for four of us.

• Baked Ham and Cheese sandwiches on Kings Hawaiian Sweet Rolls

• Sausage Balls
• Potato Skins