Happy Halloween!
Growing up, my sisters and I were forbidden to participate in any type of Halloween activity. Our parents thought it was devil worship. So we were the only kids in the Halloween parade wearing normal clothes while everyone rocked out in costumes. One year, I rebelled and made Betty Rubble and Pebbles costumes for my sisters. I used large sheets of felt and hot glue to assemble. Good times. 
Candy was not forbidden though, so there was that.
Surprisingly, I never went nuts during Halloween even after my parents stopped caring about it. I never had a provocative animal costume or partied rain or snow like some friends did this past weekend. In fact, two years ago, ST and I bought Halloween costumes and still haven’t used them 
Our door bell is also broken so we don’t greet any trick-or-treaters. Needless to say, ST and I are pretty lame around this time of year.
Halloween is for the kids – what’s better than dressing up in an awesome costume and gorging on candy? Nothing, that’s what. Seeing my favorite monster and cupcake enjoy themselves made my day.
Yes, Kaitlyn is a cupcake underneath her big brother’s hand-me-down parka. Her hat is a cherry.
Winter is Here
Yesterday, the weather guy said to expect “snow flurries.”
There is nothing flurry-like about this!
I was utterly unprepared. They say you shouldn’t wear leather in snow. Oh, well.
I’m conflicted about snow. On the one hand, it’s great cuddle weather 
I get to do all the things I love – lazing, watching TV, and online window shopping without guilt. On the other hand, it’s freezing and going anywhere is a hassle. So I guess my positive and negative feelings toward this weather cancel out and I’m neutral to snow.
Winter is back too soon. Boo.
A Spooky Potluck
Every Friday night, I have fellowship meetings at my church. Each week, it’s a different group’s turn to prepare dinner.
For Halloween, we decided to have a spooky-themed potluck dinner. I’ve always wanted to try making Not Martha’s meat hand. So Mel and I decided to bring that Who doesn’t love meatloaf shaped into a creepy hand?
I love meatloaf and I’m always on the prowl for a better recipe. This time I tried the Pioneer Woman’s recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 lb of ground beef per meat hand – I used two pounds
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 6 slices of Italian bread
- A bunch of baby carrots
- Half a large white onion
- Worcestershire sauce (I add a lot)
- Seasonings – I used garlic powder, basil, paprika, spicy brown mustard, fresh ground pepper, and sea salt
The one thing that sets this recipe apart from the rest is that in lieu of bread crumbs, you soak slices of bread in milk for about 15 minutes. It seemed weird to me too but if it’s good enough for the Pioneer Woman, it’s good enough for me.
I put both the onion and carrots in the food processor. I’ve never done this before but I think it really made a difference. One thing I did was put the veggies in a paper towel and press out the water. There was a lot of liquid in there. Then, seasonings and veggies were unceremoniously dumped into a bowl.
A small part of the onion was reserved for the hand’s wrist bone and finger nails. Yummy. I used kitchen shears to cut the perfect manicure 
Then add the meat, soggy bread, Worcestershire sauce, and eggs into the bowl. Squish, squish, squish. I actually don’t enjoy this part but the homogeneous end-product is very satisfying.
Then it was time to mold the hand! Not Martha used a handy mold but since I didn’t think of this in advance, I had no time to order one. So I molded it myself taking care to keep the hand uniformly thick throughout so the meat doesn’t burn in some areas. Excuse the blurriness – these were action shots!
Since we had another pound of beef left, I decided to make a meat foot too I used a coil of onion to make the ankle bone. Mel’s foot was my inspiration – the resemblance is uncanny. Trust me. Then it was time to slather everything in a mixture of ketchup and Cohen’s special BBQ sauce.
I decided to make one meat loaf cheesy because some people prefer that. So, I added Parmesan cheese to the foot, making it hairy. Yummy.
Then, we popped these body parts into a pre-heated oven at 350 F for 65 minutes. While they were baking, Mel made mashed potatoes. Delicioso! We let the papas cool for 10 minutes or so before filling a small ziplock bag and using that to pipe between the fingers. Next time I’ll cut a smaller hole for neater piping.
For the foot, we ran out of time so I simply spread potatoes on the bottom of the dish and placed the foot on there.
Kim brought these cute mini pumpkin pies and creepy brownies with hands crawling up from the brownie grave. Adorbs! The hands are sans brownie because well… everyone loves brownies.
A good end to a rough week.