Halloween!

Given that I apparently completely skipped December, it shouldn't be too surprising to learn that I have a huge backlog of food and crafts to share with you. So, we're going to kick off the New Year with a several-month old event: Our Halloween party!

First, we had carrot "fingers" -- baby carrots, cut in half, with a touch of cream cheese holding an almond "nail" on the tip. Tasty and creepy! We also had a stack of bowls holding bread, mozzarella slices, and salsa (a standard at almost any party we host).

Naturally, with vegetables taken care of, we needed some kind of fruit dish. Here, we chose to make a pumpkin dip with apple slices. This part of the snack-food feast ended up being one of the biggest -- if not the biggest -- hits at the party. Everyone loved it, and it was super easy to put together.

Obviously, libations were required as well. We mixed up a harvest punch, which ended up being a too sour for me (at least one guest would disagree!). I added more fruit juice to taste. The punch was pretty tasty -- maybe a 6? -- but I'm not sure it would be my first choice for future Halloween parties.

Naturally, dessert was required as well. I made miniature cupcakes (just from a mix -- nothing special) and put spider webs and spiders on top with icing. Delicious and precious!

Last, as the picture below shows, we made miniature hot-dogs wrapped in dough. Easy, delicious, and practically a tradition at holiday meals in my family.

All said, a delicious time was had by all. Moreover, the food was generally easy to put together, involved few ingredients, and I was able to make much of it earlier in the day or the day before. Success!