Today, the gang at Sunday Supper is celebrating the season with recipes for Passover and Easter. I decided to contribute with a little recipe that is fun for the entire family to get involved with. My mother in law actually told me about the recipe, and since I had the components already in my kitchen, it was a no-brainer!

These painted sugar cookies are a fun DIY project, and an alternative (or added) project to dying Easter eggs. All they take are a few simple ingredients, and you’re ready to get the creativity flowing!

First: sugar cookie dough. You can make your own cutout cookie dough, or if you’re like me and feel like cheating you can always buy one of the bagged mixes that you simply add an egg and butter to. It’s up to you. Today, I took a shortcut, but added a few drops of almond extract for extra flavor in the dough. No shame.

Roll out the sugar cookie dough and cut it into fun shapes. If you don’t happen to have an egg shaped cutter and are looking to make egg shapes, you can always use a circle cutter (or…a drinking glass rim) and gently mold the sides to an egg shape. That’s what I did with the egg shaped cookies in this batch, and although they weren’t 100% uniform in shape, I think they turned out pretty well.

The fun part is the painting, of course! Make sure to thoroughly wash any paintbrushes before using them on the cookies…or simply purchase a brand new pack. I found a pack of 24 brushes at the dollar store and those worked just fine for me! Have fun creating various paint colors with food dye. I am particularly fond of the neon food coloring pack I bought – the colors turn out really vibrant and fun. The egg yolk paint gives the cookies a nice sheen – so pretty! And another great thing is that one color “batch” of paint goes a really long way. You only need to make one “batch” per color you want to use, unless you’re making mass quantities!

Once the cookies are painted and ready to go in the oven, wait with anticipation to see the final product! I also made these painted cookies with my Sweet Treats class, and our 3, 4, and 5 year olds really had fun seeing their beautiful creations. I actually think some of theirs turned out better than this batch that I made did! I don’t claim to have amazing skills at cookie painting. Perhaps I need more practice…

Do you have any family traditions you take part in around Easter time? Dying Easter eggs? Making cookies? Having a family meal?

Sugar Cookie “Paint”

Ingredients

(For a single paint color)

1 egg yolk

1/4 teaspoon water

1 drop food coloring (more if needed for desired color)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven according to sugar cookie dough baking instructions (I heated my oven to 360 degrees F).

2. Prepare sugar cookie dough, roll to about 1/4 inch thick on a floured surface, and cut with cookie cutters. Place cut cookies on a baking sheet.

3. To prepare the paint, separate one egg yolk into a small dish (I use ramekins). Add the water and a drop of food coloring of your choice. Stir thoroughly to incorporate, and add extra food coloring if needed to reach desired color. Repeat this process as needed until you have a color palette of egg yolk paint for the cookies.

4. Use clean paintbrushes to paint the top of the cut sugar cookies. Keep each paintbrush in one paint color’s ramekin to not dilute/mix the colors.

5. Bake the cookies for 5-7 minutes. Keep an eye on them as they cook – when the cookies bake for too long or on heat too high, the paint will start to crack. Remove cookies from the oven and allow them to rest on the cookie sheet for 3-4 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.

6. Allow cookies to fully cool/dry before serving. Enjoy your creations!

~~~~~

Make sure you check out the other amazing offering from the Sunday Supper crew today -

Easter

• How To Color Easter Eggs Naturally from Shockingly Delicious

Breakfast, Breads, and Buns

• Bunny Rabbit Bread from In The Kitchen With Audrey and Maurene
• Easter Brunch Creme Brulee Baked Oatmeal from In The Kitchen With KP
• Fresh Blueberries Hot Cross Buns from My Cute Bride
• Jamaican Easter Spice Bun from The Lovely Pantry
• Paska – Ukranian Easter Bread from Cupcakes and Kale Chips
• Portuguese Easter Bread | Folar de Pascoa from Family Foodie
• Resurrection Rolls from Neighbor Food

Appetizers and Sides

• Asparagus, Brie & Ham Crostini from Daily Dish Recipes
• French Gratin Potatoes (Dauphinoise) from Simply Gourmet
• Lemon Glazed Carrots from Curious Cuisiniere
• Not So Deviled Eggs from Country Girl in the Village
• Orange Raisin Couscous from Vintage Kitchen Notes
• Potato and Leek Gratin from Webicurean
• Spinach Spaetzle (Spinat Spaetzle) from The Not So Cheesy Kitchen

Main Dishes

• Roast Leg of Lamb with Garlic and Rosemary from Small Wallet Big Appetite
• Slow Cooker Honey Glazed Ham from The Meltaways
• Sicilian “Enchiladas” from The Cooking Actress

Dessert

• Alebele – Goan Coconut filled Pancake from Masala Herb
• Bunny-Approved Baked Easter Doughnuts from The Weekend Gourmet
• Carrot Cake Cheesecake from Chocolate Moosey
• Carrots in Dirt from The Urban Mrs
• Coconut and M&M’s Cookie from Peanut Butter and Peppers
• Coconut Cake with Coconut Buttercream from Juanita’s Cocina
• Coconut Cupcakes from Magnolia Days
• Cream Cheese Candies from Cravings of a Lunatic
• Easter Egg Cookies from That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Easter Simnel Cake from Happy Baking Days
• Exotic Walnut Cookies from What Smells So Good?
• Honey Panna Cotta with Grand Marnier Mixed Berries from Gourmet Drizzles
• Japanese Easter Petit Fours and Flowers from Ninja Baking
• Nutella Easter Egg Candy from The Messy Baker
• Old-Fashioned Peanut Rolled Eggs from Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
• Painted Sugar Cookies from Ruffles and Truffles
• Strawberry Bundt Cake from Basic N Delicious

Passover

• Homemade Matzo from The Foodie Army Wife
• Mock Gefilte Fish from Fast Food to Fresh Food

Dessert

• Apple and Cranberry Charoset from The Little Ferraro Kitchen
• Flourless Chocolate Torte from Girl in the Little Red Kitchen
• Moroccan Haroset from MarocMama
• Pavlova with Red Berries, Lime and Hibiscus from YinMom YangMom

Wine Pairing Recommendations for #SundaySupper Religious Feasts from ENOFYLZ Wine Blog

I seriously can’t believe it.

Flowers are always a sign of spring for me, so it should come as no surprise that I’m embellishing things around the house with pretty petals. Today, I wanted to share a really quick and easy tutorial for creating some cute little lollipop flowers. I’d give them out as a favor at a party…give them as a little treat for a teacher…or simply set them out on a table/desk for people to take and enjoy at will!

Another great part – you can buy all the supplies to create these lollipop flowers at (you guessed it) the dollar store! Pick a crepe paper streamer color to your liking (or mix and match) and get wrapping!

You’ll need: lollipops (I used Dum-Dums), clear tape, crepe paper streamers, and scissors. That’s it!

To start, tear a piece of clear tape about one foot long and place it sticky side up on your work surface. Starting with the end of your crepe paper streamer roll, begin finger pleating the streamer in small folds. Stick the pleated paper to the tape as you go (leaving half of the tape’s width exposed; you’ll need it for wrapping the lollipop), pressing down to secure it.

When you’ve completed pleating the length of the tape, snip the crepe paper from the roll. You’ll be left with a long strip of pleated streamer, ready to be affixed to the lollipop!

Take a lollipop and place it at one end of the tape/paper strip. Make sure part of the tape is touching the stick of the lollipop a bit so the flower bud will stay put. Begin wrapping and pinching the pleated streamer tape around the base of the lollipop.

Continue pinching and twisting until the length of the streamer tape is used. Press firmly to secure the bud around the lollipop. I also tear an additional piece of tape 1-2 inches long and wrap it around the base for extra security.

Now it is time to fluff the flower! Gently slide your finger between the rolls of the streamer, unfolding the petals. As you work through the flower, the “petals” will flop downward: that’s ok!

Once the petals are fluffed, gently place your hand below them and pop them back upward – you’ll be left with a fluffy lollipop flower! Adjust the petals as needed to make it look perfect.

You can place the completed lollipops in a container for a pretty display at that point! Pretty little things, aren’t they?

And if you feel like having a bit of variety in size with your flowers, you can always pick up some different sizes of lollipops at the store! I used some Tootsie Roll pops and coffee filters to create this one! I used the same method as my Coffee Filter Roses, but with the lollipop in the center! Easy peasy.

So – do you think you will be crafting up some lollipop flowers in the future?

Well, since it is nowhere near the winter holiday season, we wanted to use the idea of gingerbread houses, but with a springtime twist. Thus: the springtime candy house was born.

Instead of creating a house out of gingerbread or graham crackers, we constructed a frame out of foam core board (and hot glue). We wanted to make sure it was sturdy and would hold up to a class of twelve 3, 4, and 5 year olds pushing candy on to the sides. In the process, a “yard” was made as the base, and some extra board was used to cut a “pool” shape and a rectangle was cut out for the garden. To make the garden fence, we hot glued orange sugar wafer cookies around the edges.

To decorate, we raided the dollar store for tons of sweet treats. Marshmallow ropes, sugar wafer cookies, gummy flowers, marshmallow bunnies, coconut…we had a lot to choose from!

To create the garden, we lined the garden plot with a thin strip of styrofoam, then had the kids crush up chocolate sandwich cookies into crumbs to make “dirt,” and filled the garden plot with it. We attached marshmallow flowers to toothpicks and had the kids stick them into the garden plot (the styrofoam helps hold them in place).

In order to stick the candy to the outside of the house, we created a paste. You could use frosting, but a much cheaper option is simply made from flour, salt, and water! It isn’t an exact science: we filled a few short cups about halfway full with flour and a sprinkle of salt. Then, we added water and stirred until it reached a thick paste consistency. For the roof, we added a drop of red food color to make the paste turn pink, and for the grass we added some green to the paste cup. We tiled the roof using pink sugar wafer cookies, and then trimmed it with marshmallow ropes!

For the grass, we added some green food coloring to shredded coconut, spread the green paste to the “yard” area, and sprinkled the coconut on top for a grassy look! Necco wafer candies were laid down as the path to the front of the house.

There were so many options for decorating: we just got creative with it in the end, and the kids had a great time constructing their masterpiece! Looks pretty amazing, don’t you think?

Have you ever made a gingerbread/candy house before?

Although they aren’t always necessary, I think it’s fun to play around with citrus rinds every once in a while to create something fun.

You may recognize these little orange rind garnishes from the brunch photos a little while back.

I wanted to jazz up the mimosas just a little bit, and they were the perfect little touch that was easy to create!

To start, you need an orange! Use a paring knife to cut the orange in half.

Once the orange is sliced in half, carefully cut thin, round slices from the center (1/4 to 1/8 inch thick, approximately).

Use the paring knife to carefully trim the rind and white part of the rind from the exterior of the orange slice.

Hold the sliced rind in your hands and carefully tie it into a knot. Trim off any excess, and mold the knot a bit to achieve a circular shape (instead of the pretzel shape you get from the initial knot).

Then, it’s time to pour your beverage! You could use these on a number of different drinks and glasses, but for this one, I decided to make a cranberry orange mimosa. I filled a champagne flute with orange juice and a splash of cranberry juice, then filled the rest of the glass with sparkling wine. Yum!

Slide the orange rind knot onto the rim of your beverage glass. The knot shape will keep it snugly in place!

Now, sit back and enjoy your handiwork! I feel just a bit fancier when I have one of these garnishes on the side of my drink. Heck, I’d even slip one onto my regular glass of orange juice on the weekends: it’s not just for cocktails!

What is YOUR favorite drink garnish?

Late last summer, a storm ran through our part of town. It wasn’t unusual by any means, but my in-laws’ backyard was unlucky enough to suffer a blow by lightning. A tree outside was struck: thankfully it didn’t fall down and damage anything, but the state it was left in necessitated its removal from the yard.

That’s when the lightbulb went off in my head. We were having Sunday lunch at my in-laws’ house and they were telling me about the tree/pointing it out in the yard. The wheels began turning in my brain. I asked if I could go outside to look at it, and after assessing the width and appearance of the tree, I turned to my father-in-law and asked him if I could have it. I’m pretty sure he thought I was crazy at that point, but I had a plan for that tree. A plan that took months to complete, but was absolutely worth it in the end. You see – I wanted that tree to become an end table for our new house. And I knew I could convince my dear husband to help me with it. So, shortly after I secured the tree as mine, Justin spent a Saturday afternoon with a chainsaw, cutting it down to size.

There were a few pieces to choose from, but one in particular caught my attention because of the shape – I knew it would sit in a pretty way on the floor…looking like it is growing into the ground.

Funny enough: the process to create this tree stump table was actually very simple. It just takes a long time to complete: you must have patience.

To start: we cut down the stump (of course). We measured the height from the floor to the arm rest of our couch to know how tall the table should be, and added an extra 2 inches to that measurement (to leave room for sanding/leveling). Justin then used a belt sander to level out the log on top and bottom.

When the stump was leveled, it was time to wait. The stump needed to be drained of moisture before any next steps could be taken. So, we set the log under a covered area out in my in-laws’ backyard and let it sit…for about 3 months. At that point, the stump was pretty much dried out (and had lost a few pounds).

Next step: stripping the bark! Justin used a small chisel to strip the bark off the sides of the tree stump. The process wasn’t very difficult, as the 3 month drying process had loosened it up at that point. When the bark was fully removed, we kept the stump outside on our covered patio and began the sanding process (Justin completed this over the course of a few weeks when he had free time).

For the sanding: Justin began with 60 grit sandpaper (over the entire stump). When he’d smoothed it as much as he could with the 60 grit, he progressed to 150 grit paper and repeated. Then, for the finishing touch, he worked with 220 grit sandpaper. After the 220 grit was used on the stump, it was completely smooth to the touch, and there was no fear of splinters for anyone touching it.

When the stump was finally complete with the sanding process, we moved the it inside our garage for about 2 weeks to acclimate to climate control. If you live in a colder area (we are in Florida and it was warm at the time), I would suggest moving it inside your house so the stump can adjust to the typical room temperature.

Next, it was time for the polyurethane coating. We were thinking about staining the wood before sealing it with polyurethane, but we determined that we wanted a natural look for the stump and didn’t want to make it darker at all. If you DID want to stain your tree stump, this is when you would do it. However, we decided to just seal it. Justin applied the polyurethane coating with a foam brush – in a well ventilated area (we opened the garage door)! After the first coat had dried, he used the 220 grit sandpaper over the entire stump. Then, a second coat of polyurethane was applied.

The polyurethane needed 2 coats on the sides and bottom of the stump, but ended up taking about 5 coats on the top (it kept soaking into the stump). When complete, the entire tree stump was shiny and beautiful! We allowed it to dry completely, then flipped the stump over to hammer in some felt feet on the bottom to protect our wood floors from the heavy table.

And then: we placed this beautiful stump table creation in our living room and started enjoying it. I really do love how it turned out, and it has definitely become a conversation piece when people visit our home. I love that we can proudly say we made it. Ok…I conceptualized it, and Justin pretty much made it…but you get what I mean.

All in all, it was a very affordable project (the cost of sandpaper and polyurethane…maybe around $20), but just took a good chunk of man hours to complete. If you don’t happen to have a tree that was struck by lightning in your backyard like we did, you could also look into fire wood lots that would have large logs to purchase: I’m betting it still wouldn’t cost you too much.

Do you love creating DIY projects for your home? What is your proudest DIY accomplishment?

I probably didn’t need to decorate much, but I couldn’t help myself. With the help from the dollar store, I was able to throw together some decor, and I really like how it turned out!

Instead of using fresh flowers, I topped the table with blue tins filled with paper flowers. The white ones are coffee filter roses, and the pink ones used the same technique, but with pink crepe paper streamers.

The coffee filters, streamers, and the blue tins were all found at the dollar store, of course! And I couldn’t pass up the adorable floral mini favor boxes I found there as well. I filled each with a few pieces of chocolate (the dollar store candy aisle is my favorite, I can’t lie).

I didn’t have enough place mats to set the table with, so I decided to create my own! I bought a roll of brown kraft paper (again: dollar store!), sketched out a place mat shape by hand, then used it as a template to cut out enough mats for each place setting. I think they looked pretty nifty in the end!

Recognize the tablecloth on our table in the kitchen? It’s one of the tablecloths we used on our tables at our wedding reception. We sold most of them to our venue, but kept a few of them. I loved being able to break out the pretty green pintucked cloth again!

One other simple dollar store decoration I implemented were some white crepe streamers. I measured and cut them the length of our sliding glass door and taped them next to each other to create a “curtain” of streamers. I still have them hanging right now…I like them!

Oh, and there’s a peek at our new couch, curtains, and a verrrry special side table in our living room. I will be sharing how Justin made our stump table very soon, and I have more photos to show it in all its glory…don’t worry!

As for the food? I didn’t get a lot of time to take photos of what I served because…well…I was cooking! But, the menu included Belgian waffles with fried chicken and maple syrup, eggs in purgatory (baked egg with tomatoes, onion, and sausage), a spring mix salad with cranberries, almonds, feta, and a homemade honey lime dressing, and a fruit salad. Not to mention the array of desserts that were presented later on. Oh so much food.

All in all, I think the dollar store did right by me when it came to decor for our birthday brunch celebration!

Do you like using items from the dollar store to decorate your home? What’s your favorite thing to use/make?

Today, there’s one more flower I want to show you how to make: a big, fluffy peony! This tutorial is even easier than the rose, and you are able to customize it as well. Pointy edges, rounded edges…solid color, two colors…you can vary it quite a bit!

This tutorial is for the flower portion of the peony. If you’d like to add a stem, you can simply tape the bud to a straw (or something similar) and wrap with floral tape. Easy peasy.

To start, you’ll need the following materials: coffee filters, masking tape, and scissors. That’s it. Seriously!

1. First, separate 6 coffee filters from the stack.

2. Gently smooth/flatten out the filters so they are easy to fold.

3. Next, while holding the filters together in a stack, fold them in half, then again into quarters.

4. Use a pair of scissors to cut points (or scallops if preferred) across the top edge of the folded filters.

5. Separate one filter from the stack and set aside. Keep the remaining 5 filters folded into quarters.

6. Hold on to the folded filters and carefully snip off the pointed end. Don’t cut too much: just a small snip!

7. Pick up the filter that was set aside. Pinch it in the center and twist to make a pointed end.

8. Unfold the other filters and smooth them out. Pick up one of them and slide the pointed end of the twisted filter into the hole in the center. Hold the pointed end and gently twist the filters together. Continue this process with the remaining filters. You will see a fluffy peony shape form!

9. When all the filters have been added, twist the bottom end firmly and fluff the flower to desired texture. Then, clip a piece of masking tape about 3 inches long and carefully wrap around the base of the flower. Pinch to secure, then fluff the peony again to finish.

Enjoy your flowers! I hope you take a few moments to create one of these easy coffee filter flowers – they are seriously a snap to make. Use them to decorate an item (like my lampshade), or spread them out across a tabletop for a pretty centerpiece or tablescape! There are plenty of options.

I’m not kidding when I say there are so many amazing coffee filter flower tutorials around, so make sure to check them all out to get inspired like I did! Aunt Peaches has spectacular watercolor versions (the two tone ones on Design*Sponge are a really fun variation too), Lemon Jitters created some really awesome shapes with her flowers, I love the simple shape of the ones by Orange Kitty Crafts, All Things Paper has a really funky looking flower tutorial, Brown Paper Packages and Unusually Lovely made their own peonies using Michella Marie‘s tutorial, The Pink Doormat made peonies out of cupcake liners, I love how Homemade Serenity used various petal textures on her flowers, a Weddingbee member crumpled her filters to make peonies, and Papery + Cakery shared a template to print and hand painted the edge of the filters to get stunning results. I’m sure this isn’t an exhaustive list, but it should get you started!

Do you have any other clever uses for coffee filters?

I used the technique I’m about to describe for about 2/3 of the flowers on the lampshade. This tutorial is simple to follow, only requires a few simple materials, and allows for many variations to achieve different looks!

Let’s get started, shall we? This is what you will need:

Materials: masking tape, coffee filters, scissors, plastic drinking straws

1. To start, separate the number of filters you’d like to use for the flower. For this rose, I used 3 filters, but I have used anywhere between 2 and 6 to create different sizes of roses. 3 coffee filters achieves a pretty nice sized rose, in my opinion!

2. Gently smooth/flatten out the filters so they are easy to fold.

3. Next, while holding the filters together in a stack, fold them in half, then again into quarters.

4. Use a pair of scissors to cut a scallop (or, alternately, a pointed shape) shape through the bottom third of the filters. Set the bottom third (the bottom corner) aside. Then, cut a scallop shape (or points) across the top of the filters.

5. Unfold the cut filter pieces – you will be left with 3 donut shapes and 3 small scalloped circles. Use the scissors to cut a straight line through one end of the donut shapes.

6. Cut a strip of masking tape about one foot long and set it on your working surface, sticky side up. One at a time, pinch one of the scalloped circle pieces in your fingers and twist. Place the twisted piece on the tape strip, about one inch from the end. Repeat with the other center scalloped pieces.

7. Once the scalloped pieces are placed on the tape, it is time for pleating of the donut pieces. Stick one end of one of the donut pieces to the tape, next to the twisted pieces already on the tape. Pleat and stick to the tape. This process does not have to be perfect – the pleats will create the ruffle effect of the petals on the flower, but nature is not perfect, so do not worry if your pleats are not even and perfect! Repeat the pleating with all three strips. If you start to run out of masking tape, simply affix an additional few inches at the end of the strip and continue pleating.

8. When the pleating is complete, affix the end of a plastic drinking straw to the end of the tape strip (next to the twisted pieces from the beginning). Gently roll and pinch the tape around the straw. You will start to see a flower shape form!

9. When you reach the end of the tape strip, press it down firmly. Then, fluff your flower. I run my fingers through the ruffles and smooth them downwards. Then, I quickly pop them back up, creating a fluffed rose flower!

10. Snip the excess amount of drinking straw from the bottom of the flower if you just want the flower bud. Alternately, if you wish to have your roses with stems, you could wrap some green floral tape around the masking tape and drinking straw to create a green stem!

As I mentioned before, you can use this method to create a number of varieties of flower shapes and sizes! I used both brown and white filters for my lampshade: I would swap the center pieces to create brown centers with white petals/white centers with brown petals. Scalloping the edges gives the flower the appearance of a rose, but by snipping points instead of scallops you can get a dahlia-like shape. Just have fun with it!

I’m not kidding when I say there are so many amazing coffee filter flower tutorials around, so make sure to check them all out to get inspired like I did! Aunt Peaches has spectacular watercolor versions (and two tone ones on Design*Sponge are a really fun variation too), Lemon Jitters created some really awesome shapes with her flowers, I love the simple shape of the ones by Orange Kitty Crafts, All Things Paper has a really funky looking flower tutorial, Brown Paper Packages and Unusually Lovely made their own peonies using Michella Marie‘s tutorial, The Pink Doormat made peonies out of cupcake liners, I love how Homemade Serenity used various petal textures on her flowers, a Weddingbee member crumpled her filters to make peonies, and Papery + Cakery shared a template to print and hand painted the edge of the filters to get stunning results. I’m sure this isn’t an exhaustive list, but it should get you started!

Have you made coffee filter flowers before? Did you find it to be an easy process?

…lampshades to decorate…

I am SO pleased with how well my most recent DIY project turned out, and you will not believe how simple it was AND how affordable it was to create. Seriously: aside from the lampshade itself, the materials to DIY this floral lampshade cost me less than $10. Yes, you read that right: less than $10!!!

These pretty little flowers are made out of coffee filters, my friends. Simple little coffee filters that you can pick up at your local dollar store. Add to the filters  some masking tape, drinking straws, and a bit of hot glue and your boring lampshade can be transformed.

I’ve seen so many tutorials for coffee filter flowers out there, and I will be sharing the two methods I implemented for my lampshade in the next few days. Yes – there are only two different flower making methods involved,  yet you can yield so many different variations with them!

Coincidentally, this lampshade is also part of a little contest over on the Lamps.com blog. They asked a handful of bloggers to craft their own creative lampshade creations, and it is now time to vote on the favorite! So, visit the contest page and vote for me, will you please? If you prefer another lampshade over mine though, I totally understand. FYI – when you vote for your favorite lampshade, you will be entered to win a $100 gift card to Lamps.com. AND if you vote for me and I WIN, I will have another $100 gift card to give away here on the blog. So…vote for me. Just saying…

***Disclosure: I was provided with a lampshade from Lamps.com to decorate as a part of this contest. All decorating materials were purchased by me.

May I present to you…Meat Head…

He’s oddly cute yet terrifying, and is the perfect centerpiece for your Halloween party table.

One of the great things about Meat Head is that he is pretty easy to assemble, and you can put him together for only a few dollars – you can’t beat that! Actually, almost all of the ingredients for this project came from the dollar store (or were already in my home)…

Meat Head

Ingredients

Plastic skull

1 package jello (red in color: I used strawberry)

1/2 lb lunch meat ham, sliced thin

2 cocktail onions

2 black olive slices

Toothpicks

Lettuce, for garnish

Plate/tray for display

Instructions

1. Begin with a plastic skull. I found mine at my local dollar store. Wash the surface thoroughly with soap and water – Meat Head is technically edible, so you want to make sure he is clean enough to eat off of!

2. Prepare the jello in a clear 9×13″ pan! I used a box of strawberry jello, but any red color/flavor will do. I prepared the jello according to the package directions, but used only HALF of the water as instructed. You want your jello layer to be sticky so it will adhere to the plastic skull. My jello was about 1/4″ thick in the pan; the thicker the jello, the harder it will be to stick on to your skull!

Now, you sit and wait for your jello to set in the refrigerator…

3. Meanwhile, you can take this optional step to help you with the jello laying process. Wrap the plastic skull as tightly as possible with plastic wrap. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but attempt to get the face portion as smooth as you can.

4. Use a permanent marker to outline the eyes, nose, and mouth of the skull (the portions of the skull that you will want uncovered). This outline will help when you slice the jello to lay on top of the skull. Unwrap the skull, smooth out the plastic wrap, and place the wrap underneath the clear glass pan with the prepared jello.

5. Use a sharp knife to slice pieces of the jello out of the glass dish and place directly on the plastic skull (which you should now have sitting on the plate/tray you will be using for presentation). I used the larger slices for the large areas on top of the skull, and used my “guide” to slice smaller, hard to fit pieces (like the ones around the eyes/nose/mouth). The jello arrangement does NOT have to be perfect, so don’t worry about fitting slices together like puzzle pieces. When you’re finished, Meat Head should look a little like this: pretty scary already, right?

6. Next, place the lunch meat slices on a cutting board and slice into thick strips. I worked one slice at a time – slicing and placing firmly to form the meat to the shape of the skull. You’ll need to spend a little more time on the areas around the face (eyes, nose, mouth) to make smaller cuts that will allow the hollows not covered with jello to show. Work piece by piece to cover the entire skull in a few layers of ham, making sure to cover all of the areas with jello on them. If needed, use toothpicks to hold ham slices in place.

7. When your Meat Head is fully covered with ham slices, it is time to finish him with garnishes! For the eyes, take a cocktail onion, pierce with a toothpick so about 1/4″ of the toothpick is sticking out the top (I had to break my toothpick in half to make it short enough), and hang a slice of black olive on the toothpick to create the pupil. Place the eyeballs in the eye sockets of the skull.

8. Arrange lettuce leaves around the base of Meat Head to make him more presentable. Place directly on your Halloween party table. If you aren’t using Meat Head right away, wrap him gently in plastic wrap and set in the refrigerator. Just make sure to warn any house guests about the scary surprise they might find staring at them from the fridge! Or don’t…it is Halloween after all!

Meat Head can be left alone as a scary centerpiece, but he is technically edible! Your guests can feel free to peel layers off of Meat Head to eat on a cracker…and they will discover the “bloody” surprise underneath the meat as they do so. I used ham for my Meat Head, but you can also use other lunch meat varieties to create different looks. Next time, I am going to try using corned beef for a more jagged, shredded look.

There are so many more amazing and fun recipes on the menu for our Trick-or-Treat #SundaySupper Halloween Party: make sure you check them out for some inspiration!

Bewitching Brews:

• Shrunken Heads in Cider - Girlichef
• Candy Corn Martini - The Messy Baker Blog
• Trick-or-Treat Wine Pairings for Halloween - ENOFYLZ

Ghoulish Gruel:

• Steak Bites with Bloody Mary Dipping Sauce - I Run for Wine
• Eggs in Purgatory - My Catholic Kitchen
• Mini Jack-o’-Lantern Sloppy Joe Pies - Small Wallet Big Appetite
• Baked Mummy Cheese Dogs - In the Kitchen with KP
• Meat Head - Ruffles & Truffles
• Goblin Eggs - Bobbi’s Kozy Kitchen
• Mummy Hot Dogs - Damn Delicious
• Spooky Kid Pizzas - Sustainable Dad
• Pumpkin Chili, Pumpkin Dip, & Wicken Witch’s Brew - Daddy Knows Less
• Monster Mash - Cindy’s Recipes & Writings
• Sloppy Worm Sandwiches - La Cocina de Leslie

Haunted Snacks:

Spooky Sweets:

• Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Biscoff Cream - The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen
• Spooky Ogre Eye Cookies - The Realistic Nutritionist
• Jack O’ Lantern Cookies - Magnolia Days
• Spooky Good Popcorn Snack Mix - The Weekend Gourment
• White Chocolate & Coconut Dipped Strawberry Ghosts - Sue’s Nutrition Buzz
• Monster Bites - Cravings of a Lunatic
• Vegan Halloween Sugar Cookies - Hezzi-D’s Books & Cooks
• Monster Cookies - Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts
• Tunnel of Doom Cake - That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Candy-Stuffed Rice Crispy Treat Pumpkins - Chocolate Moosey 
• Crispy Graham Bones - The Meltaways
• Dulce de Leche Bat Cookies - Crispy Bits & Burnt Ends
• Witch’s Fingers - Noshing with The Nolands
• Sweet Intestines with Broken Glass - The Little Ferraro Kitchen 
• Graveyard Brownies - The Wimpy Vegetarian 
• Boo Candy Corn & Chocolate Chip Cookies - Hip Foodie Mom
• Bleeding Devil Cakes - Momma’s Meals
• Pumpkin Halloween Munch - Big Bear’s Wife
• Halloween Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Cake Pops - Juanita’s Cocina
• Jack-O-Lantern Carrot Cake - Galactosemia in PDX
• Ghostly Chocolate Orange Tarts - Happy Baking Days
• Messy Monster Cookies - MarocMama
• Bewitchingly Delicious Butterscotch Broomstick Cake Pops - Mama.Mommy.Mom.
• Halloween Popcorn Cake - Pippis in the Kitchen Again
• Witches Morning Gruel - In the Kitchen with Audrey
• White Chocolate & Dulce de Leche Ghosts - Vintage Kitchen Notes 
• Peanut Butter Candy Bar Cookies - The Cookie A Day Challenge
• Monster Cookie Revel Bars - Baker Street 
• Halloween Cereal Bars - Basic N Delicious
• Ossi di Morti (Bones of the Dead Cookies) - Webicurean
• Pumpkin Pie Pinwheels - Midlife Road Trip

So – what do you think? Will you be creating your own Meat Head for Halloween this year? Have you made any scary centerpieces before?

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