Tag: Martha Stewart

The Day Before Halloween

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Hi guys!  No Pumpkin Sunday today because Halloween is tomorrow and I need to report about my party last night.  Most of my Halloween activities are finished, I’ll be handing out candy tomorrow but I am done preparing and I hope you are as well!

Last night we had a small group come over and hang out for a bit–it was pretty low-key and laid back, but we had plenty of food and plenty of booze.  Martha’s squash pasta dish was incredible, like a healthy macaroni and cheese but with minimal cheese.  I’ll totally make it again, but with whole wheat pasta in the future to make it even healthier.  Thanks Martha!

The Hipster approves of my party. I guess that makes it awesome.
Delicious Martha Stewart Pasta

Annah brought a red velvet cake that was delicious.  I did get marshmallows to make the little ghosts but I didn’t end up making the ghosts, alas–I got a little too busy setting things up for the party.  These things do happen.

Everyone came in excellent costumes!  Audrey Hepburn, Sexy Bacon, Medusa, Hipster, Cyclops (X-Men, not Greek), cheesy Hallmark employees, it was pretty great.  Yay for having creative friends!

Hipster and Medusa

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Terribly Tasty Tuesdays: A Halloween Menu

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So I’m trying to figure out my Halloween menu for my party this weekend.  This is what I have in mind thus far:

For my main, I’m planning on making this baked pasta dish from Martha Stewart.  So fun and fall and festive!

Also from Martha (duh) are these great savory pumpkin puffs.  They look easy to customize, so I might make some sweet ones as well.

Jon’s planning on making little meatballs (recipe not yet determined) and if I don’t serve mini pigs in blankets my party guests will revolt.

We have black and orange tortilla chips (we found them at Target!) and will have salsa and guacamole of course.  Jon makes some killer deviled eggs, I’m going to see if he can customize them Martha style.

I’m still trying to figure out my dessert.  Maybe the bootiful cake?  Some cupcakes?  I made this graveyard pudding cake last Halloween, it is one of my mother’s standards:

So um, my mom’s version definitely looks better (I decorate cakes with all the talent of a blind five-year old), but mine tasted just fine.  If anyone has any dessert ideas please let me know!  We’re less than one week until the happy day!

Morbid Martha Stewart Mondays: Spooky Sweets!

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I know, I know, this blog has become such an alliterative horror show.  Mrs. Janoff would be disgusted, but it is Halloween and it is my blog and I can resort to alliterative cliches if I want to!

Also,  guys, guess what?  I’m starting a new job today!  Hopefully it goes well and hopefully as you are reading this I am enjoying a happy and fun first day.  Fingers crossed!

So I haven’t done a dessert-centric food post yet and I plan on laying out my Halloween party menu tomorrow.  Therefore, today’s post is going to be all about desserts from Martha!

This is the prettiest cake, it really is.  I think it’d be great as a red velvet (bloody insides!) with cream cheese icing.

This isn’t something I’d actually make–too complicated–but this Haunted House cake is also beautiful!

For something a little lighter but still just as festive, check out these little orange sorbets inside oranges carved to look like jack-o-lanterns.

If you are into candy making you should give these white chocolate ghosts a try.  Martha has a lot of different candy making options on her site.  I’m personally fine with my Reeses and Snickers, but if anyone tries any of Martha’s candymaking recipes you should totally let me know!

Also: Cupcakes cupcakes cupcakes.  Here are some of my favorites.

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Pumpkin Sundays: So You Want to Carve Your Pumpkin?

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Hi friends!  Boy I had a lot of stage blood on last night.  The Raleigh Zombie Walk was super fun and I took some pictures.  I’ll post them later this week once I get them sorted and edited.  I know, the anticipation is killing you!

I’ll be carving my pumpkins today, so I figured it would be appropriate to give y’all some resources on the best ways to carve your pumpkins.

Serious Eats once again comes through with their excellent guide, everything you need to know about carving a pumpkin. They’ve even broken things down to a beginner’s guide and a fancypants guide.  Any of the Serious Eats guides are super-useful in terms of how to pick a pumpkin, how to temporarily resurrect your pumpkin should it start to shrivel, and general technique.

Since Martha Stewart is awesome she has a guide to a whole party centered around pumpkin carving.   I am already having a regular ol’ Halloween party, so I decided not to have a pumpkin carving party, but I have been to some uber-fun pumpkin carving parties in the past.  Like this one:

Enthusiasm!

And here is Martha’s general guide to pumpkin carving.

This is what my pumpkins looks like last year.  Or, rather, mine was the creepy bat and Jon’s was the cute owl:

You can see my tin can jack-o-lanterns in the foreground.   I’m still trying to figure out what to carve for this year!  Any ideas?

Both Martha Stewart and Serious Eats have lots of pictures if you need some inspiration.

Of course one of the best parts about carving your own pumpkin is having the leftover seeds to roast!  Serious Eats has a guide to roasting pumpkin seeds as well.  Delicious!

Happy pumpkin carving y’all!

Terribly Tasty Tuesday: Menacing Mains

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I like to keep my party guests well fed; I have the Jewish mother gene, what can I say.  My Halloween party spread tends to be more casual and buffet-style than sit down, but I like to provide one hearty main course amid the finger foods to keep my guests satisfied.

Last year I made this fantastic turkey pumpkin chili from SeriousEats.  This is a meal I make regularly because it is so easy and so tasty.  The pumpkin in the recipe ties it nicely into the Halloween theme.  Also if you are looking for something a little healthier this is a great way to do it, comfort food without the guilt! I have some friends who are gluten and dairy free also, and this ensures that everyone can eat the main dish (sorry, vegetarians, there is only so much I can do!)

If you want to stick with the pumpkin theme for your main you cannot do much better than this gorgeous pumpkin soup, served inside a Cinderella pumpkin.  It is one of the featured recipes in Bon Appetit this month.  We’ve decided not to do soup for our main this year, but this would be a fantastic centerpiece to an autumnal dinner party.

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