Halloween is fast approaching – are you ready? We sure are. Halloween is a month-long celebration at our house. We decorate early, spend 31 days gorging on candy, watch every Halloween movie possible, and make some fun themed treats to enjoy. I want to share with you some of my new Halloween recipes and ideas for this year. Each is fairly customizable and will be sure to put your friends and family in a mood to celebrate.

My first Halloween idea is for a Char-Spookery board. This is a traditional charcuterie board but with a spooky flair. To be called a charcuterie board, it must contain meat. Otherwise, it’s just a plain old board. What I like about charcuterie boards is how easy they are to put together and how customizable they are. Choose 2-3 meats, 3-4 cheeses, some fruit, nuts, olives, and maybe a few pieces of chocolate, and you are good to go!

To make this board Halloween themed, swing by the dollar store or your local party supply store to find a small-scale skeleton to use as a prop. If you wrap prosciutto or salami around the skeleton it looks like muscles. You can arrange the cheese and other ingredients around the board to help prop the skeleton up and to create a beautiful masterpiece.

 

There is no set recipe for a charcuterie board. Simply choose a variety of items, slice, and arrange. You can make the boards as large and elaborate as possible, or as small and simple as you want. These are completely customizable to fit your taste!

A fun idea for dinner is Bloody Eyeball Turkey Meatballs. The meatballs are incredibly flavorful and moist throughout. The “blood” is marinara sauce, and the “eyeballs” are sliced olives. These will be sure to please your hungry family!

The recipe can be found here.

Start by making the meatballs. In a large mixing bowl, combine the chicken broth, egg, white onion, garlic, parmesan, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, and basil. Mix until well combined.

Then, add the ground turkey and use your hands (yes, your hands. It’ll make for a more evenly mixed and ingredient distributed meatball) to mix until just combined. If you don’t care for ground turkey, you can easily substitute ground chicken.

Form into 12-16 meatballs. It all depends on how large you want them to be.

Pour the entire jar of marinara sauce into an 8×8 or 9×9 baking dish. The sauce should come about ½ way up the sides of the dish.

Arrange the meatballs in the marinara sauce. It’s OK if they are close and almost touching – they should all fit!

Add a black olive slice on top of each meatball, to resemble and eyeball.

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until cooked through.

I like to bake the meatballs, but you could sauté them in a skillet if you prefer. If you are going to sauté in a skillet, I would recommend cooking the meatballs about ¾ of the way, then add the marinara sauce to the skillet to warm through while the meatballs finish cooking. Add the black olive eyeballs at the very end, right before serving.

Serve warm, on a bed of cooked spaghetti noodles. Make sure to scoop some of the marinara sauce over the noodles as well. Garnish with parmesan cheese (optional) and enjoy!

The recipe can be found here.

Another great meal idea is Creepy Hand Pizzas. These pizzas are the size of well, your hand 🙂 They are baked until the cheese starts to turn golden brown and maybe becomes a little dark to resemble a burnt hand. They just look creepy!

The recipe can be found here.

Start by preheating the oven to 450 degrees F. Spray a baking sheet (or 2, depending on how many pizzas you are making) with cooking spray. Lightly flour the counter.

Unroll the refrigerated pizza dough. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a thin crust, about ¼-inch thick or less.

Place your hand near the edge of the dough and carefully use a knife to cut around your hand. It’s OK if the fingertips aren’t perfectly rounded – it’s easier to make jagged edges while using the knife and add to the creepy aspect. Place the dough on the baking sheet. Repeat until you have used up all the dough; you should be able to get about 6 adult sized hands out of 1 roll of dough.

 

Disclaimer – adults should be prepping the dough! Bring the kids in to help decorate. If you do not want to cut around your hand, trace your hand on a piece of cardboard. Cut out the shape with a pair of scissors and use that as a guide when cutting the dough.

Use a spoon to add marinara sauce onto the palm of the hand. Use the spoon or your fingers to spread the dough around, just be careful to not add too much sauce to each finger because they are so thin!

Add the toppings of your choice. There really is no recipe for the toppings because you are making a pizza that YOU want to eat, so add what you like! I think it’s best to add toppings to the palm only and leave the fingers empty, but if you have smaller ingredients, you can also add to the fingers.

Top with shredded mozzarella cheese. Take care when adding cheese to the fingers so you don’t have clumps of cheese falling off and resting on the baking sheet. So…use the cheese sparingly on the fingers! This also helps the cheese get a little crispy in the oven, which adds to the creepy effect.

Bake for 9-10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and start to brown.

Remove from the oven and carefully remove the pizzas with a large spatula so you don’t break off the fingers. Serve warm with extra marinara sauce on the side for dipping. Enjoy!

The recipe can be found here.

A wonderful side dish is Crescent Roll Witch Hats. This recipe requires soft and flakey crescent roll dough that is rolled out and shaped like a witch hat and is baked to golden brown perfection. If these are a hit for Halloween, you could even try making them for Thanksgiving but shape the dough into a pilgrim style hat.

The recipe can be found here.

Start by preheating the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Open the crescent roll tube and roll out the dough on the counter. Use a knife to separate each segment. The knife helps keep the edges clean and even.

Slice cheddar cheese (or any kind of cheese) into thin strips. Place 1-2 strips of cheese on the widest part of the crescent roll. Fold over the widest part to create the brim of the hat. Press down along the edges to close the seams.

Add another strip of cheddar cheese at the edge of the brim. Place a small piece of white cheese in the center. Please note, you can also skip this step and add the cheese AFTER the crescent rolls have finished baking. The cheese will melt during baking so if you want it to have a clean / more finished look, I recommend waiting to add the cheese.

Place on a baking sheet and lightly sprinkle each hat with dried basil.

Bake for 8-9 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm and enjoy!

The recipe can be found here.

My final idea is Ghost S’mores Dip. You can’t make themed meals throughout the week without having dessert and this is sure to be a hit! The marshmallows are perfectly toasted, the chocolate is warm and melted, and the graham crackers are the final touch. You could even substitute the ghost marshmallows for pumpkin marshmallows for the same dessert with a different look.

The recipe can be found here.

Start by preheating the oven to 450 degrees F.

Pour the semi-sweet chocolate chips in the bottom of a 9-inch pie pan. Spread into an even layer.

Pour the heavy cream over the top of the chocolate chips.

Arrange the ghost marshmallows in a single layer over the top of the chocolate chips. You want to cover most of the surface and will need about 12 marshmallows.

Bake for 7-8 minutes or until the chocolate has melted and the marshmallows are starting to turn golden brown. Remove from the oven.

Add the mini chocolate chips to each ghost marshmallow to create eyes and a nose. The originally eyes and nose on the marshmallows will fade while baking.

Serve warm with graham crackers for dipping. Enjoy!

The recipe can be found here.

This Ghost S’mores Dip is the perfect treat to end the night or to serve at a party. Any of the above recipes will be sure to wow your guests so get to meal planning, pick your favorite spooky foods, invite some friends over, and celebrate Halloween in the best way possible….with Menacing Meals!

Happy Halloween and Happy Cooking!