Recently I was asked to “test” some recipes on my kids. Specifically, take new recipes and prepare the dishes, involve the kids and record their comments about the cooking process. The taste test came last. We focused on Halloween ideas … spooky specials like Leaky Cauldron Soup, It’s Alive! Bread, Mummy Dogs and Spooky Spiders. The names were enough to impress my little urchins from the get-go.
Our first attempt? Farm boy’s favorite: Mummy Dogs. No surprises here. He commandeered the dogs from start to finish. And he enjoyed the finish immensely.
Doodle-bug assisted with the oven. She’s smiling because she finally got control of those fabulous franks.
Mmm. Looks like their hard work paid off … or will, when their mother decides she’s taken enough photos.
Next we tried the Spooky Spiders. An economical and tasty recipe that uses leftover meatloaf, biscuits, a healthy squirt of ketchup, cheese and pretzel sticks. They loved creating the creepy crawlies. They also loved the taste … especially since all of those Mummy Dogs were not enough to fill their gluttonous little bellies.
First, press biscuit dough into a muffin pan. Add a few tablespoons of crumbled, leftover meatloaf.
Give it a healthy squirt of ketchup (catsup if you’re proper, which I am occasionally not). Then top with shredded cheese. We used mozzarella, but cheddar would be tasty too. I have such good helpers. I think they should make supper for the next six weeks.
Grab a jar of sliced olives (we had black on hand) and add a couple for spider eyes. Then bake ‘em until they’re done. Oh, and don’t be like a certain farm girl who decided to put them under the broiler for another minute to brown the cheese … she inevitably walked away for a minute and they came out slightly overdone. They were still tasty. My crowd is easy to please. Don’t forget to poke eight legs in and ta-dah … Spooky Spiders for all your little arachnids.
That was day one of cooking with the kids. Day two was a bit more solitary … meaning I did most of the cooking.
Snicker (Doodle’s older sister) did help me make the It’s Alive! Bread—for purely selfish reasons. The other inhabitants of our little zoo had to do chores … horrible, awful, detestable tasks like gathering eggs, feeding the goat and throwing some hay to the horses. Doodle finished her tasks … singlehandedly, with only a bit of doodling. She didn’t want to be late for supper, you see … and Snicker’s bread.
The menu included Leaky Cauldron Soup and bread that looked like a pile of bones, if you used your Halloween imagination. We had a houseful of taste testers for these recipes. Sunday supper with the family was superb. It began with these ingredients …
Step one looked like this …
The result? A healthy and delicious soup that pleased the palates of everyone around our table that evening.
And the It’s Alive! Bread was the perfect accompaniment. In fact … they ate it all up. Then asked for more.
I know it’s not fair to post these delectable photos without the actual recipes. I promise I’ll provide a link for you closer to October. Remember? This was work. Although, it truly was a pleasure.
They look like they had so much fun! I wish I could be there to enjoy Snicker, Doodle, and Farm Boy!