Halloween Day started off very rainy – almost 0.75″ of rain. But then late in the afternoon, it cleared off nicely. And look at the rainbow the storm produced. And a double rainbow, too. Beautiful!! It is supposed to be unseasonably warm this week. A true Indian Summer.

So we started the party. Look at what we had for ourselves for dinner and our guests. We had more people this year than we have had for a while – 9. We were happy that they stopped by. Enjoy!

Oven Roasted Chicken
with
Roasted Potatoes
Roasted Carrots

Brussels Sprouts Sauteed with Pancetta

Our dinner plated.

And then, Robin found this Pumpkin Soup recipe. It’s really good and deserves a try.

Ingredients:
1 7-lb. Cinderella pumpkin, with a 2″ stem
7 T Butter
Salt
1 lg Yellow Onion, peeled and finely chopped
1½ c 1 inch chunks White Bread Baguette slices

½ t ground Nutmeg
½ t ground Sage
Freshly ground Black Pepper
½ C cubed cheddar cheese
4 c Chicken Stock
2 bay leaves
½ c heavy Cream, optional

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°. Cut a lid about 4″ in diameter out of top of pumpkin and set lid aside. Remove and discard seeds and strings. Rub inside of pumpkin and lid with 1 tbsp. softened butter, season with salt, and place on a baking pan. I used a casserole that the pumpkin just fit – and cooked it with the casserole lid on – in place of the pumpkin lid.

2. Melt remaining 6 tbsp. butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add onions and cook until soft, about 10 minutes. Stir in bread chunks and cook for 2 minutes, then add nutmeg and sage and season generously with salt and pepper. Remove from heat, stir in cheese, then spoon mixture into pumpkin. Pour enough stock into pumpkin to come within ½” of the rim. Lay bay leaves on top, then fit lid onto pumpkin.

3. Bake until pumpkin begins to soften and brown on the outside and the stock bubbles on the inside, about 1½ hours. Carefully remove from oven and transfer to a serving platter. The casserole is a perfect serving dish. With a long-handled spoon, scrape flesh from bottom and sides of pumpkin and, just before serving, stir in heavy cream if desired.

Source: http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Pumpkin-Soup-in-a-Pumpkin

Tomato Soup going into oven.

Tomato Soup completed.

Robin made these cookies for the Goblins and Witches and Dragons!

BreadBugs being made.

An insect in the spider web!

Ingredients:
To make chocolate witch hats, you will need:

1/2 cup, or about 3.5 oz, chopped chocolate
1/3 cup heavy cream
12 pointy-tipped ice cream cones
12 thin, round cookies
2 cups, or about 12 oz, chocolate candy coating
1 fruit roll-up (optional)

Directions:
Make the Chocolate Ganache

First we need to make the chocolate filling for our hats. Put the cream in a small saucepan over medium-high heat and bring it to a simmer. Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate and gently whisk it until the chocolate melts and the mixture becomes shiny and smooth. This is your “ganache.” Press some cling wrap directly on top of the ganache, and place it in the refrigerator until it is firm enough to pipe, about 1 hour.

Prep the Witch Hat Cone
While you’re waiting for the ganache to chill, get the cones ready. We’re going to cut them in half so we use only the top halves. Use a sharp serrated knife and saw them gently about 2 inches from the base. Don’t press down, just use a gentle back and forth motion so they don’t crack or break. Try to get them fairly even, but don’t worry if they’re not perfectly straight.

Once the cones are cut, unroll the fruit roll-up and slice it into thin strips about 1/4 inch wide. These will be the ribbons for your witch hats.

Fill the Witch Hat Candy
When your ganache is the texture of peanut butter, take it from the refrigerator and place it in a piping bag, or, if you don’t have this, a plastic bag with a hole cut into the corner.

Insert the tip of the bag into a cone and squeeze until it is filled with ganache. Overfill it slightly, so that there is a little extra ganache coming out from the top. Press the cone on top of the cookie–the extra ganache will help “glue” the cone to the cookie. Fill all of the cones, then put the witch hats on a baking sheet and refrigerate it until the ganache is completely firm, about 1 hour more.

Coat the Witch Hat Candy in Chocolate
When you’re ready to dip the hats, melt the candy coating in the microwave and stir until it’s completely smooth. Once the coating is melted and smooth, dip the witch hats completely in the coating, spooning some over the top if necessary to make sure every bit is covered. Tap the fork against the side of the bowl and scrape the bottom of the cookie against the lip to remove excess coating. Once all of the witch hats are dipped, refrigerate them until the coating sets, about 10 minutes.

Decorate and Serve the Halloween Witch Hats
To add the ribbons, wrap one strip of the fruit roll-up around the base of the cone and cross it in front. These adorable chocolate-filled witch hats can be kept in the refrigerator for several days, but they’re best when served at room temperature soon after they’re made.

Source: Be sure to watch the video:
http://video.about.com/candy/Make-Chocolate-Witch-Hats.htm
and other treats on this same site – bread bugs with spiderweb dip, peanut butter eye balls, merengue ghosts, severed fingers.

Koby [Jacoby] Banks, our next door neighbor. A Green Dragon! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Koby’s Dad, Ben!

Sophie, The Cheer Leader!