By Suzanne Corbett

I don’t think anyone outgrows Halloween. Perhaps the reason why Halloween has crept up on New Years Eve and replaced it as the number one favorite adult party.  And why not, Halloween is fun. It captures the imagination offers a variety of party options.

From ghoulish themed adult dinners to relaxed zombie open house gatherings, Halloween is a good thing. Even Martha Stewart’s usual good things are taunted each October as wickedly bad. But beyond Martha there are plenty of ideas to make the Halloween menu spook-tacular without taking tons of time or a coffin of cash.

Start with lighting and linens. Dim the lights and break out the candles. Tea lights and the new battery powered tea lights are a favorite to illuminate and cast a ghostly glow. Besides slipping tea lights into a Jack-o-lantern drop them into mason jars or position them in apples, mini pumpkins or gourds that a have a niche carved out to accommodate them or a taper candle.

Linens can complete an eerie table but simply mixing and mismatching what you have on hand. And don’t forget while sheets. Alone of splashed with red paint can make a great table cover.  Scatter leaves and branches to create a centerpiece or decorate a mantle.

Add a few dime-store decorations as fake spiders, skeletons or orange ribbons for a finishing touch. Set with tarnished flatware and grandma’s old, chipped dishes for a touch a creepy chic.  Next, think creatively when planning your menu and be as camp as you like.

Cut coffin shapes from bread and fill with pimento cheese or PB& J, add thinly sliced bananas in memory of Elvis. Use ketchup, jelly or piping gel and write R.I.P. onto the top of each coffin sandwich.

Finally, to make the menu more in tune with the season, rename the recipes. Shrimp can become Creatures of the Deep. Hot Chicken Wings becomes Gates of Hell Bat Wings or chili, a traditional Halloween favorite sounds more wicked when renamed Cauldron Chili. Make menu cards to list the night’s devilish delights you plan to serve.

The following recipes are a Halloween are those from one of my Dierberg’s cooking classes, and The Wisconsin Cheese.

Halloween Grazing Cheese Board

Crave Brothers Farmstead Classics® Fresh Mozzarella cheese–Ciliegine (cherry-sized balls)
Sliced ripe and green olives
Baker Mozzarella String Cheese
Chopped sweet red, orange and yellow bell peppers
Blaser’s Natural Muenster cheese, thinly slice
Hoard’s Dairyman Farm Creamery Belaire cheese
Thinly sliced Finocchiona (fennel) salami or salami of choice
Thinly sliced fully cooked chorizo sausage
Thinly sliced prosciutto
Sweet potato chips

Candy corn

Thread mozzarella balls on toothpicks; top with olives. Cut small grooves in string cheese for fingers; top ends with bell peppers for fingernails. Cut muenster with a ghost cookie cutter.  Arrange the mozzarella eyeballs, string cheese fingers, muenster ghosts and Belaire on a serving board. Fill in board with salami, chorizo, prosciutto, chips and candy corn.  Serves 8

Voodoo Chicken

Marinade

1 cup honey

2 sticks butter (melted)

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup bourbon

1 lime (juiced)

3 ounces balsamic vinegar

Dipping Sauce

1 cup Chinese sweet chili or plum sauce

1/4 cup bourbon

1/4 cup fresh cilantro (chopped)

1 lime (juiced)

1 tablespoon hot sauce

1/3 cup honey

3 tablespoons sesame oil

1-pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts (sliced into long strips)

6-inch wooden skewers, soaked in water for an hour

Mix all of the ingredients for the marinade together in a bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl, mix the ingredients for the dipping sauce and set aside. Take the skewers and slide them lengthwise through each piece of chicken breast. Place the skewered breasts in marinade and let stand refrigerated for at least one hour. Grill the chicken until done or lightly browned on each side. Remove from the grill and serve with the dipping sauce.  Serves 6

Angel of Death Cheese

1 large bulb garlic, roasted

8 ounces cream cheese

4 ounces Gorgonzola cheese

1/2 cup whipping cream

salt and pepper to taste

2 –4 fresh sage leaves, finely minced

1/3 cup finely chopped pistachios

Combine roasted garlic with cream cheese and beat until smooth. Add Gorgonzola, cream, sage, salt and pepper. Press into a serving dish and sprinkle with pistachios. Serve with crackers or pita crisps.

Creatures from the Deep (Peppered Shrimp)

1 pound (large to jumbo sized) shrimp, peeled and deveined

3 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

3 Tbsp. white wine

2 Tbsps. olive oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tsps. paprika

1/4 tsps. red pepper

1/4 tsps. white pepper

1/4 tsps. dry mustard

1/4 tsps. kosher salt

1 tsps. dried thyme leaves

2 green onions, chopped

extra chopped green onion and hot red pepper flakes as a garnish

In a bowl, combine the shrimp, Worcestershire sauce and white wine. Heat oil in a skillet over a medium high heat; add garlic and cook for a minute. Remove shrimp from bowl, reserving liquid. Toss sprinkle with spices; add to skillet and sauté for 2 minutes. Add green onion and cook 2 minutes longer. Remove to serving dish. Add reserved worshetershire mixture to pan and bring to a boil. (For a clearer sauce with more body, stir a teaspoon of cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of cold water and add to sauce).  Serve as a dipping sauce for shrimp. Sprinkle shrimp with chopped green onion and red pepper before serving. Serve 6-8

Cocktail Bones

2 pounds cocktail spareribs, cut into 2-inch pieces

Salt and freshly ground black pepper; to taste

1/3 cup pure maple syrup

1/3 cup Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons molasses

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

1 teaspoon ground cumin

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place the ribs in a shallow roasting pan and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for 35 – 45 minutes. While ribs are cooking, combine the remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Stir well and set aside.  Remove the pan from the oven and drain off any fat. Toss the ribs with 1/2 cup of the marinade. Return them to the oven and bake, turning the ribs and basting them occasionally (if needed) with the remaining 1/4 cup marinade, for 30 minutes.  Serves 8 – 10

Halloween Pumpkin Cheesecake

18   Chocolate wafer cookies, finely crushed (about 1-1/2 cups)

2 Tbsp. Butter, melted

3 pkg. (8 oz. each) Cream Cheese, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin

1 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice

3 eggs

1 cup Sour Cream

1 square Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate

1 tsp. butter

Preheat oven to 350°F if using a silver 9-inch springform pan (or 325°F if using a dark 9-inch nonstick springform pan). Mix cookie crumbs and 2 Tbsp. butter; press firmly onto bottom of pan. Set aside.

Beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice; mix well. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended. Pour over crust.

Bake 50 to 55 min. or until center is almost set; cool slightly. Carefully spread sour cream over top of cheesecake. Run knife or metal spatula around rim of pan to loosen cake; cool before removing rim of pan.

Place chocolate and one teaspoon of butter in small microwaveable bowl. Microwave 30 seconds on high; stir until chocolate is completely melted. Drizzle over cheesecake in spiral pattern. Starting at center of cheesecake, pull a toothpick through lines from center of cheesecake to outside edge of cheesecake to resemble a spider’s web. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight before serving. Store leftover cheesecake in refrigerator.