Jeepers Creepers... (Blueberry Stuffed Lychee Fruit)

...where'd you get those Peepers? 
  
Here's my second installment of taking back the holidays...the Valentine's Day holiday that is...Halloween style! 
The eyes are said to be 'the windows to the soul' and what better way to show your love and commitment by serving this gruesomely sweet fruit garnish of lychees and blueberries with your favorite cocktail. Doesn't it just scream, "I've only got eyes for you!" Watch the flash of uncertainty cross his face when you serve this on Valentine's Day. 💓

These Peepers are made with Lychee fruit and blueberries dripping with bloody gelatin for a realistic look. If you're intimidated by the look of them and if you've never tasted lychees, I understand if you have reservations. My kids wouldn't even try the lychees before the gory wardrobe change, despite my pleas of , "You'll like it! Trust me!" Lychees taste like a cross between pear and guava with a texture that's smooth, sweet and tropical. Add the blueberries and raspberry jello and it's truly divine. A perfect complement to your favorite tropical drink or a sweet side to martinis.

Jeepers Creepers...

(Blueberry Stuffed Lychee Fruit)
Makes ~20 peepers

1- 20oz. can of Lychee Fruit in Syrup, 1/4 c. reserved
20+ blueberries
1 small package raspberry gelatin
1 cup water

Heat 1 cup of water and dissolve gelatin, remove from heat and set aside. Drain Lychees and reserve 1/4 cup of syrup. Add 1/4 cup lychee syrup to cooling Jello. Let cool and begin to thicken but don't allow it to fully set.
Stuff lychees with blueberries and place in a shallow dish. I used a Rubbermaid deviled egg carrier and it worked like a charm. Once the Jello has thickened, use a turkey baster to portion jello mixture over the blueberries. Refrigerate until firm for about an hour. This can be made up to 1 day ahead and refrigerate until ready to serve. Pierce lychees with toothpick and garnish your favorite cocktail.

Here's the cocktail recipe I used in this blog. Feel free to add 1 oz. of vodka to bump it up a notch. 😀

Makes 1 drink
1 oz. Malibu Caribbean Rum with Pineapple Liqueur
1 oz. Pineapple Orange Guava Juice
1 oz. Cranberry Blueberry Juice

Here's another idea using these peepers...If you are feeding a crowd for Halloween Valentine's Day, Triple the batch, pile them high and serve them as this gruesome "Eye of the Beholder Fruit Salad!" 💕💕

Other recipes to try:

Fangtini

Squirmy Wormy Shots

Bloody Eyeball Bruschetta

Squirmy Wormy Shots

Summer vacation is here and that could only mean one thing in my house...Halloween! If you've followed my blog, you will know that summer is when I create and blog all my Halloween food ideas, decorating ideas and props. After Fourth of July, 'RETAIL FALL' begins. Oh happy Day! I'm able to shop for Halloween items! It's the most wonderful time of the year, if you ask me! So lets get the summer started with a Halloween drink recipe.
These jello worms are all over Pinterest as a fun Halloween food for kids. Super Squirmy, Wormy, Icky, and FUN! Perfect for Halloween. I decided to make a grown up version by making these festive Jello Shots. I made them with Peach Vodka but you can make them with your favorite spirit and your favorite flavor of jello. I added coconut milk with green food coloring to create a deep red with a milky appearance. I had some separation of the cream when the jello set but I think it adds a really cool effect with the bright red or mottled ends. The flavor and color possibilities are endless. Enjoy!

Squirmy Wormy Shots

2 box sugar-free Cherry Jello
2 packets gelatin, unflavored
2 cups hot water
1 1/2 cups peach vodka(I used Ciroc)
1/2 cup coconut milk 
1/4 tsp green gel food coloring
1 box of bendable straws, rubber bands

Bring water to a boil and add jello. Stir jello until dissolved. Let cool a bit. While the jello cools, add green food coloring to coconut milk and stir until combined. Add green coconut milk to dissolved jello. Add vodka and set aside. 
Prepare straws by stretching out the bendable sections of each straw. Bunch straws with rubber bands. Put banded straws into a tall, narrow container with the bendy part down. Carefully pour the warm jello mixture into the straws. The mixture will fill up the container surrounding the straws. Fill to the top, cover with plastic wrap and then refrigerate overnight. 
Gently squeeze the container to loosen the jello from the sides. 
Peel away the extra jello. Then...Stop...Look around, make sure no one is watching, Check the time...if after 5pm, proceed to eat some of the extra jello.

There's always room for jello, right? After a few nibbles, all will be right in your world and you will be ready to host your party. Just kidding, there's still work to do to get those worms out of the straws... Working one by one, squeeze the straws to extrude the jello worms. I put them in plastic skull shot glasses I got from "The 99" but you can throw them in a bowl if you prefer. Just make sure they are away from the kiddos. These are for adults only!
Happy Halloween!

Other recipes to try:

Fangtini (Blood Orange Martini)

Michelada Pops

Pumpkin Spice Marshmallows

These little fluffers were so simple to make that I'm wondering why I never tried to make these before. These marshmallows are a lot softer than store brands and have a light airy texture and sweet vanilla flavor. I added orange food coloring and cut them into mini pumpkin shapes, and finished them with some cinnamon sugar as a festive variation for fall. They are amazing in hot chocolate with their hint of cinnamon. Imagine the endless variations, like adding peppermint extract and cutting into to Christmas shapes. Dip them into chocolate for ready made s'more or as an easy chocolate candy. This recipe makes a lot of marshmallows especially if you cut them with scissors into squares as the original recipe instructs. Instead, I made them into festive little pumpkins and still ended up with over three dozen. Enjoy!

My youngest son has quite the sweet tooth and pretty much single-handedly ate all of these over this last week. :)

Pumpkin Spice Marshmallows 

(slightly adapted recipe from My Baking Addiction)
Makes ~3-5 dozen

3/4 c. water, divided
1/8 tsp. orange gel food coloring
3- 0.25oz. powdered gelatin, unflavored
2/3 cup corn syrup
2 cups sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup corn starch
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

Prepare sheet pan with plastic wrap coated with cooking spray. Spray another piece of plastic wrap for the top. Set aside.
In a shallow container, add powdered sugar, corn starch and cinnamon and mix. Set aside. 

Add 1/2 cup water and gel food coloring into stand mixer and mix until food coloring is dissolved. Then add gelatin to bloom.

In a medium saucepan, add 1/4 cup water, corn syrup, and sugar and bring it to a hard boil over medium heat. Let boil for 1 minute. Turn off heat.

Carefully, add hot sugar mixture to stand mixer with gelatin. Beat on medium high for about 12 minutes until stiff peaks are formed.  

Add vanilla extract and beat until just combined. Pour marshmallow batter into prepared sheet pan. Smooth out with a cooking spray coated spatula. Cover top of marshmallows with second sheet of plastic wrap and let set for 4 hours or overnight. 

Peel plastic wrap back and cut marshmallows to desired shape using oiled cutters or scissors. Drop cut marshmallows into powdered sugar mixture to coat. Place in an airtight container.

Other recipes to try:
Pumpkin Spice Latte Ice Cream     Sugar Skulls              Gingerbread Biscotti

Michelada Pops

The idea for these Michelada Pops came from last Saturday's preseason Rams game. While standing in the beer line, I noticed a woman carrying a beer and a tomato-colored popsicle wrapped in plastic. Then I overheard her say it was a Michelada. 
Whoa! Wait just a minute? A Popsicle Michelada! ...what a genius idea! 
Where can I get one of those? Sure enough, the vendor to the right of us was selling beer with flavored popsicle chasers! They had about 5 different flavors of pops. 
I thought...I SO HAVE TO MAKE THESE AT HOME!
The next day, I picked up some V8® and peppers and this is what I came up with. I like spicy food and since I'm not much of a beer drinker, the spicier the Michelada the better. I added sliced Serrano peppers with the seeds and the yellow wax peppers just to give it that extra heat. Green onions aren't your typical ingredient for Micheladas, but I love the pop of pretty green. Plus it just looks way cool sticking out of the Pops as a edible popsicle stick.
Feel free to experiment with different flavors, like Habanero and mango; olives, pepper, and worcestershire sauce; or omit the spice all together and make a typical Michelada of tomato juice, lime and salt. Add other ingredients like soy, teriyaki sauces, radishes and celery...the sky's the limit!  Salud!

Michelada Pops

Makes 8 

4 cans of V8® Vegetable Juice
1-2 Serrano chilies, sliced
1 yellow pepper, sliced seeds removed
2-3 limes, juice and lime slices
8 green onions, trimmed
Tajin® Classic Seasoning

8 bottles Mexican Beer

Slice Serrano chilies and drop a few of them into the bottom of each mold. Squeeze half a lime and 1/4 tsp of Tajin® seasoning into each mold. Fill to about 1/4 inch of the top with V8® vegetable juice. Add green onion into the mold and thread a yellow pepper ring over the green tops until it sits on top of the V8® juice. The yellow pepper ring acts to stabilize the green onion while the pops freeze. Place pops in freezer for 4-5 hours or until pops are set. Rim the glass with Tajin® and fill glass with your favorite beer and drop a Michelada Pop in and let it cool and flavor your beer. The longer it sits the spicier it will get. Add more lime as needed. Enjoy! 

Other recipes to try:

Pork Verde Stew

Zucchini Enchiladas

Vegetable Ceviche

        

Fangtini (Blood Orange Martini)

What do you get when you take the martini and combine it with a *Bag of Bloody Fang Halloween Candy?  The Fangtini, of course!  
 
Martini's are the coolest cocktail around if you ask me. What's not to like... It's served in a way cool glass! It has yummy accompaniments, like olives, apple slices and cherries which often serve as a lite-meal during happy hour. ;)
Plus, there are tons of variations to suit everyone's taste...The Appletini, Dirty Martini, the Cosmopolitan, Lemon Drop...just to name a few. But above all, I think it's because the martini is strong and it is meant to be sipped. 
Savored. 
A martini cannot be rushed and that, in and of itself, is way cool. 
So throw on your costumes, invite a few friends over and mix up a Fangtini and savor the Halloween season.

Happy Halloween!
Enjoy!


*The idea for this cocktail was inspired by the Bloody Fangs Sour Candy, but you do not need this candy to make the Fangtini. However, you'll need to invest in vampire teeth to garnish your glass.  :)


Fangtini (Blood Orange Martini) 
Makes 2

2 oz. Vodka (I use Ciroc Peach Vodka)
1/2 oz. Grand Marnier
2 oz. Blood Orange Juice (or Blood Orange Soda)
splash of cran-blueberry or cran-grape juice (to deepen the color)
Ice

Fake Blood (to rim the glass)
Fake Vampire teeth (garnish)

Combine ingredients into shaker with ice and shake. Pour into blood rimmed glasses and garnish with fake vampire teeth.

Fake Blood for the Glass 
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 t of red gel food coloring

Mix fake blood ingredients on a small plate until well combined. Dip martini glass rim into the syrup. Twist the glass to remove and then place upright to allow for the fake blood to begin to drip down the inside of the glass. 

Halloween Appetizers to try:
Pickled Shrunken Heads 
Amputated Appetizer  
Ghoulish Goat Cheese Torte