Best Dressed

I have a rule in my house, no Halloween until October 1st. I hate how stores push holidays so early, it takes the fun out of it for me to see Halloween costumes already out in August. But it’s October so at my house we have finally made it to Halloween season, my favorite baking season. Halloween is all about playing with foods for me, but there’s so much more as well. I love to decorate my house, and I’m living vicariously through all of my friends’ posts about costumes.

The way I see it, there’s a whole progression in the costume timeline. It starts when the children are little and this is one of my favorite times. I get to pick what they wear and take adorable pictures.

Then the kids get a little older and they get to pick insist on picking their own costumes. This is about the time that moms start frantically shopping and designing and working night and day to live up to their child’s vision. But there’s nothing like the look on their face when you do.

During these years the parents get to dress up too, for school parties, for handing out candy and, for us, adult costume parties; different treats but lots of fun.

Following those years there’s a bit of a lull for the kids. Many hit the age where they don’t dress up. During these years I host tons of teens for a party in my basement on Halloween. I make Halloween treats but most of the kids don’t dress up. This is the stage that we’re in now. I know eventually the kids will find dressing up fun again, but for now here we are.

Snake Sandwich

And during this lull I find myself looking back at some of the costumes I made we wore through the years. The best ones are easy to remember. I loved this butterfly one because it’s the first one I ever really made myself.

The worst Halloween costume I’ve ever worn was also the scariest. And the sad thing is that I wasn’t even wearing a costume.

It was the day of Halloween and I was just putting the candy into a bowl when I had an itch on my eyelid. I’m not sure how i did it but I ended up scratching my eye. It didn’t hurt but it bled. Since there was no pain involved I just forgot all about it. That night, dressed in my normal clothes, I happily went to answer the door, big bowl of candy in my hand. The neighborhood children took one look at me and, deciding to forgo the candy, went screaming from the house. Parents even gave me nasty looks. Wimps.
But that’s OK, I was perfectly happy drowning my sorrows in candy. And I have it on good authority that chocolate has healing powers. Bet my eye got better much faster once I started making my way through that candy bowl.

The worst Halloween costume my children ever wore is a matter of perspective.

I happen to think that this picture of my boys is the cutest thing ever. Yet now that they’re teens, when I take this adorable picture out to show to their friends each Halloween, my boys (who agree on absolutely nothing) will both tell me that these are the worst costumes EVER. In fact, they claim that it’s possible that if I don’t lose this picture they’ll require therapy for life.

Once they got a little older and could choose their own costumes, my boys showed me what a Halloween costume is really all about. They actually had me make these for them:

Anyone wondering why I’M in therapy for life?

 

Snake Sandwich

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Printable Recipe
 
Ingredients:
1 (1 #) loaf of frozen bread dough, thawed
2 TBSP sweet hot mustard
6 - 8 slices deli ham
6 - 8  slices deli turkey
Approximately 20 slices pepperoni
6  slices provolone cheese
¼ cup black olive slices
3 different colors of food coloring
3 tsp water
3 egg whites
1 thin slice red pepper about 2 inches long
*You will need 2 toothpicks
 
Directions:
*Grease a baking sheet. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
*Flour a working surface and roll out the dough to approximately 24 inches by 8 inches.
*Gently spread mustard onto the dough, leaving a ½ inch border.
*Layer on the cold cuts, cheese and all but 2 of the black olive slices.
*Roll the dough up, rolling from the long side. Pinch the ends of the snake so the meat is enclosed and the back one comes to a point. Fold the front dough under to form a face.
*Move to the baking sheet, seam down and manipulate so the entire sandwich looks like an “S”.
*Mix each food coloring separately with an egg white and a tsp cold water. Using a pastry brushes, “paint” stripes onto the snake.
*Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until the bread is golden.
*While it’s baking, cut a 2 inch long strip of red pepper and cut a “v” out of the end to look like a tongue.
*When the “snake” comes out of the oven, cut a small slit in the front where it comes to a point and insert the flat side of the red pepper inside so it sticks out and looks like a tongue. Insert toothpicks where the eyes would be and put black olive slices onto each toothpick.