Boo – It’s Halloween!

This year Halloween is going to feel very, very different. Like most “holidays” Halloween is an ever evolving thing.

As a child Halloween is almost as magical as Christmas. You get to dress up and knock on doors and people give you candy. My mother liked to share a Halloween memory that I truly don’t remember myself. She said that the day after my first Trick or Treat experience, I got myself dressed again, and went out to get more candy. If you think about it, that would make sense from a child’s point of view. We have no concept beyond the here and now, and nothing to gage by except the past. If wearing the mask of a witch got you candy once, it surly would work again. According to my mother, it did. No one turned me away.

As a teenager, there are parties and dances surrounding Halloween. As a young parent, you experience Halloween all over again in the eyes of your children. When they become teenagers, you are on your own again with dances and parties. Along come the grandkids, and it’s full circle yet again.

This is the first year I can remember in a very long time that we have no little ones in our lives nor are there parties to attend. Hubby and Kiddo have decorated the outside of house as they do every year – designed to scare the little ones. Inside is my child-like love of cute Halloween decorations. That much hasn’t changed. Only this year we are home for Halloween and all the days leading up to trick or treating. There will be a lot of things that are different now. Death and separation do that. It will take some adjustments, but like always we will muddle through. There’s always a bright side to change. We just need to find it.

In the meantime, Happy Halloween everyone! Stay safe.

Ghostly Chicken Dogs and Beans
1 tube Crescent Dough
6 Chicken Dogs
Cornstarch as needed
1 (16 oz) can Baked Beans
Ketchup as needed
Tulip Red Food Coloring

Heat oven to 350-degrees. Cover a rimmed baking sheet with foil, set aside.

Unroll crescent dough, trim ends as necessary for straight lines. With a pizza cutter, cut dough in half length-wise, then cut each half into 6 strips for a total of 12 strips of dough. Set aside.

Cut hot dogs in half. Pat dry with paper towels. Dust very lightly with cornstarch. This will help dough to adhere to the dogs. Stand dogs up one at a time cut-side down. Wrap with a dough strip, shape into ghostly appearances. Arrange on the prepared baking sheet. (If yours are giving you trouble standing like mine, it’s okay if they lay down for baking. Just remember to turn them for even baking mid-way through) Place in the oven to bake until golden, about 12 minutes.

Pour a little ketchup into a small bowl. Add a little food coloring for a deeper, more bloody goo. Remove the dogs from oven, create eyes or faces with a fine-point brush and ketchup.

While the spooky hot dogs bake, warm beans in a pan on the stove-top until heated through. Once warmed add a little food coloring to the beans for a scary appearance.

Ladle beans into a glass dish such as a casserole dish. Arrange ghost hot dogs on top. Serve and enjoy.

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My soul is thirsting for the living God.