Meaty Mummy

I found this recipe in a special Pillsbury booklet for Halloween a few years ago and it has been a hit at every party and we have even made it at other times, and left off the "face". Make sure you remember to use paper or grease the cookie sheet really well, because it will stick!

Ingredients:

• 1 can refrigerated pizza crust
• turkey lunch meat
• ham lunch meat
• sliced provolone cheese
• rondele or similar cheese spread
• egg
• parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or grease. Roll out pizza dough and create a trapezoid so that one end, the head, is wider than the bottom.

2. Spread rondele down the middle of the crust, leaving about 2 inches on either side. Layer meat and top with provolone cheese.

3. Starting from the top, leave a 3 inch wide space for the face to be looking thru, and begin making diagonal cuts from the edge of the meat, to the edge of the pizza crust. Continue until you reach the bottom.

4. Carefully start at the "neck" and criss-cross pieces creating a braided effect that looks like mummy cloth wrapping. When you get to the end, tuck crust under. At the "head" tuck crust around as in picture above.

5. Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Bake until golden brown. Add olives for eyes.

REALITY: I would RECOMMEND this fun and easy recipe which can be varied in many ways. You can choose any type of lunch meat or cheese that you want, even making it a pizza mummy, and serve it with an assortment of dipping sauces. As you can see we finished it off, but I guess we were weirded out by the thought of eating the head!

Crunchy Mummies

These are so simple to make and although it looks weird to have lunch meat with celery, it tastes really yummy and I hate green vegetables. This recipe came from another Halloween recipe book and can be adapted for any time, by leaving off the eyes and just laying down the ham in strips. A few years ago, I took this to a Thanksgiving dinner and they were eaten up very quickly.

Ingredients:

• celery
• vegetable flavor cream cheese spread
• ham
• raisins

1. Clean and cut your celery into 4 inch long sticks. (I also slice a little off of the back so that they will not roll off of the tray and lay flat)

2. Spread cream cheese down the middle of each stick.

3. Cut ham into thin strips and carefully criss-cross meat to create a mummy wrap effect.

4. Cut raisins in half and place them as eyes at the top of the celery stick. (Kitchen scissors worked well for this)

REALITY: I would RECOMMEND this exciting twist on plain celery sticks and the combination of crunchy, sweet, and salty makes me want to try more green vegetables! Oh, the horror!

Meatball Crawler

This was another special Halloween recipe from a Pillsbury book, but can be made into a fun Friday night meal for the kiddos. All you have to do is throw it together and bake it. Of course, you can decorate in a million different ways, including "painting" it with ketchup and mustard, adding shoestring potato legs, or even giving it a pickle tongue!

Ingredients:

• 1 can refrigerated biscuits; the layered kind
• 16-20 frozen meatballs; thawed

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment or grease.

2. Carefully separate the biscuits in half.

3. Place a thawed meatball in the center of the biscuit and fold around and seal inside. Place seam side down on cookie sheet and continue with remaining biscuits and meatballs creating a snack lie shape. (Make sure that each ball is touching so they back together and have to be pulled apart)

4. Bake until golden brown. Serve with ketchup and mustard.

REALITY: I would RECOMMEND this fun Halloween recipe that has endless possibilities to it.

Hot Pizza Dip

Okay, so you are going to have to use your imagination for this dish's picture, because as you can tell, we all but licked the dish clean it was that amazing! I found this recipe in a Pampered Chef cookbook called "All the Best" and decided to try it out for our Halloween Super Scary Supper. It is served hot and bubbling along with sliced french bread for dipping, or spooning.

Ingredients:

• 1 package cream cheese (softened)
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 can pizza sauce
• toasted bread

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In small bowl combine cream cheese and seasoning, spread in bottom of oven proof bakeware.

2. In small bowl combine both cheeses. Sprinkle half of cheese mixture over the cream cheese mixture. Top with pizza sauce, spreading evenly. Top with remaining cheese mixture.

3. Bake 15-20 mins. until bubbly. Serve with toasted bread slices.

REALITY: I would definitely RECOMMEND this dish the next time you entertain, or just to serve up as a yummy snack for your family. It is quick and easy and very tasty. I followed the recipe very closely, but feel free to try and add other toppings such as green peppers or olives and see what happens. I promise this dip does not disappoint.

Easy Tortellini Soup

This recipe was made for another MOMS Club event and is great for these fall nights and super easy to make. My mom makes a great tortellini soup, but I decided to try a different recipe that I found online at Grouprecipes.com. Although not a lot of people were able to make it to the event, a soup recipe swap, Tim was very happy because it meant he got to eat more of it. I also liked this recipe because being a "particular" eater, I could leave behind the tomatoes, and it was still hearty enough to fill me up.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef
• 3 1/2 cups water
• 1 28oz can diced tomatoes, no drain
• 1 can condensed french onion soup, or cream of mushroom
• 1 9oz package frozen green beans
• 1 9oz package thawed cheese tortellini
• 1 medium onion
• 1t dried basil
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Brown ground beef and drain. (I added one medium onion, diced, and a tablespoon of garlic to this process for added flavor)

2. In a large soup pot combine rest of ingredients except for tortellini. (I used the cream of mushroom soup since I had that in my pantry and it made it a little bit creamier)

3. Bring to a boil, then add tortellini and boil approx. 5 mins. until tender. (I used frozen tortellini, then put it into my crock pot and kept it on low about an hour, just until tender. It kept of warm all day until dinner time, but by then was a little "mushy")

REALITY: For as simple as it is, I would RECOMMEND trying this recipe, especially because I think the kiddos would eat it, or at least pick out the pasta which is exactly what Ahnnie did. I am hoping to try even more soup recipes as the night gets chillier. Hmmm, chili?

Kitchen Re-opens!

Sorry recipe fans, but for the past month the Hess family kitchen has only produced hum-drum frozen, canned, or sandwich-based meals. But every good chef needs a little break and throwing in two trips across the country has helped apease the fast food beast that lives inside me and so it's back to trying out new recipes!