kid friendly – Lollipopsicle

I love Halloween! I always have, and one of the best parts of it for me is creepy food! I remember going to Halloween parties and drinking dry ice root beer and bobbing for apples. Halloween is the holiday that was always made a “big deal” of in my family growing up, when we had our restaurant my mom would make sloppy joe’s (which I never liked much, but I would call them brains) for fifty and her famous pasta salad. My sisters and I between sips of apple cider would spread those spider web decorations over the whole house and hang scary paper cut outs of witches, ghosts, and Dracula. I remember many a cool October night in Northern Utah, hopping from house to house trick or treating before we went home to do some candy swap out negotiations. My mom always has great Halloween parties, but now being a few states away I must carry out traditions for my kids. I am really not much of a decorator, but I definitely like to do some fun food! This one was inspired by a “Halloween party ideas” book from the 90’s, thinking it was some sort of marketing for Pillsbury or something, my sister and I made one of these about a decade or so ago, but I think I found a way to make one that will suit everyone’s personal tastes.
You will need:
1 package pizza dough, I used Trader Joe’s it makes one 12 inch pizza, so if you are making your own, most recipes make enough for two mummies.
2 cups pizza toppings of choice, I used ¼ Cup pesto, ½ cup sautéed spinach, 1 shallot, sautéed, 2 oz mozzarella, 1 oz feta, one green olive with pimento cut in half (eyes), one pepperoni cut in half (mouth), one cheddar stick cracker (Egyptian Crook that mummies hold) . You can use anything you like and personalize your mummy.
2 cups Bolognese, or any recipe you like.
Pre-heat oven to 400. Roll dough out with a little flour if needed into a rectangle about 12 x 9 inches, prep a baking sheet with parchment or cooking spray, place dough on sheet. Cut dough rectangle into 10 strips as shown in photo:

Spread topping out evenly:

Weave strips of dough over each other and ingredients:

Make sure you shape your head with dough and place desired facial features and crook (cracker), bake twenty minutes, serve with a bowl of heated Bolognese and enjoy at your next monster mash!

Kids love them!

My daughter is in first grade and she is totally reading like a boss. We have broadened our horizon in literature as well (See ya later Dick and Jane, wouldn’t wanna be ya!) and we are having quite a fun time with Dr. Seuss lately, the first book I could read when I was little was “One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish”, so of course she would have access to all the greats. My daughter told me the other day that she thought green eggs and ham would be “gross”. So in my usual style I put that to the test with this recipe…maybe not totally a “recipe” as it is more of a guideline to do your own thing, for example eggs can be replaced with tofu, and ham can be substituted with my mushroom bacon recipe here. Honestly I think we all need to add more vegetables to our meals, why not start with breakfast? This is easy, fun, and you don’t need any gross food color additives to create a bit of whimsy with your meals, I even served ours with star fruit slices to pay homage to “The Sneeches”.
Serves 2
You will need:
2 eggs, get the best one’s you can, totally worth the extra $1. Or sub with half a block of firm tofu, crumbled.
1 cup, blanched broccoli florets, chopped fine. Or use another green veggie you like, spinach, zucchini, etc.
1 shallot, minced.
2 tsp. rendered pancetta fat, this is what I used, you can also use oil, butter, whatever you like.
2 slices pancetta, or bacon, or ham, or even beets would be fun, and of course mushroom bacon.
1 Tbsp. Pesto, any variety you like as long as it green in color.
1 Tbsp. curly parsley, chopped.
2 slices, rustic Italian bread, toasted just before serving.
Cook pancetta, or whatever your “Ham” du jour is. Set aside.
In a non-stick pan, heat oil or rendered fat over medium high heat, add shallots, sauté 3 minutes, add broccoli, cook 2 more minutes, add whipped eggs, or tofu. Scramble together, and add pesto, combine to achieve green shade as desired, add half the parsley remove from heat.
Top each slice of toast with eggs and ham, sprinkle with parsley serve with star fruit and eat! Totally a fun way to start the day or end it! If it’s good enough for “Sam I am” it’s good enough for me! Yum!

Tag: kid friendly

Mummy Calzone with bloody Bolognese

Green Eggs and Ham (Pancetta)