My Beloved: Happy Halloween!

Hi everybody! I've been out of town for a couple weeks and I'm back just in time for a few last minute recipes for a spooky fun dinner tonight! I started a tradition with Zac last year of making a scary dinner on Halloween night and will continue that fun tradition tonight and top it off with a scary movie, oooOOOoooo ;) Last year the menu included eyeballs (I will share the recipe because he loved them so much he wants them again this year, ha!) monster cupcakes and witches brew with shrunken heads. We just had spaghetti to go along with it all but of course it was scary spaghetti or something like that. Anyway, today's menu is going to be super fun! I'm going to make his favorite meatloaf and turn it into a mummy! I'm also going to pair it with cheesy swamp creatures and of course we have to have the eyeballs too. I can't wait to get started! Also, just to let you know, I'll include the links to the recipes for last years Halloween dinner as well at the bottom of the post. Enjoy!

My Mummified Meatloaf

* You can use your favorite meatloaf recipe or use the one I've included. It's a Tiger family favorite sure to please!

Prep: 20 min
Cook Time: 1 hour

1 1/2 lbs of lean ground beef
3/4 cup of milk
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger
3/4 cup of crushed saltine cracker crumbs

1/2 cup of ketchup
1/2 cup of packed brown sugar

*Additional ingredients special for the mummy part

Sliced olives stuffed with Pimiento
American cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a 5x9 inch loaf pan. After you mix the ketchup and brown sugar separately from the rest of the ingredients, spoon a little bit onto the bottom of your pan. Only spread about 2 spoonfuls of it down. In a mixing bowl, mix all remaining ingredients and place in pan. In this case I plan to add a little bit extra of cracker crumbs so I can shape my meatloaf into a mummy. After you have created your mummy, spread rest of ketchup mixture on top of loaf then place in oven for one hour or until juices run clear.

After it is cooked and removed from oven, wait about 3 minutes, then lay one inch thick strips of American cheese across the body leaving a narrow space on the head for the olive slice eyeballs. Trim any excess cheese from sides and place loaf back into oven to melt the cheese for about one more minute.

Scary Swamp Creatures

Prep: 15 min
Cook Time: 25 min

Macaroni & Cheese
Sautéed Spinach
Olive slices stuffed with Pimiento

Mix up the batch of macaroni & cheese then spoon it into greased muffin cups and bake until firm, about 25 minutes. Let the creatures rest for about 10 minutes, then gently remove from tins. Then, place them upside down on a bed of sautéed spinach and add olive slices for eyes.

Spooky Eyeballs

Prep: No time at all ;D
Cook Time: 10 min

Eggs (choose amount based on guests, it's just my husband and I so I will do 5-6 eggs...I know it's a lot but he really likes them, haha!)
One package of cream cheese
Sliced olives stuffed with Pimientos
Hot sauce or Ketchup

*Also on this recipe, you can use your favorite deviled egg recipe instead of mine.

Boil your eggs, cut in half and remove yolks. Place yolks in mixing bowl with cream cheese and mix with fork. Fill egg whites with filling and top with olive halves to create your eyeball. Next, dip a toothpick in your hot sauce (or ketchup) and draw on your veins. Easy!

Can't wait to get started on our fun dinner for tonight. I hope you all are able to enjoy some of these recipes too! Happy Halloween!!

- Recipes from last year's Halloween dinner...

Witches Brew with Shrunken Heads