75°F
weather icon Partly Cloudy

Spooktacular appetizers for Halloween

Oh, the crisp night air, the warm apple cider, the pumpkins. Don’t you just love this time of year?

For our family, Halloween means the first BIG bash of the holiday season. While my sons love the creepy, spooky side of this holiday, I’m all about the food.

My kids understand that we bend the rules for special occasions and eat things we wouldn’t regularly have. With all the candy, it’s important to get some protein into the kiddies, but you need to scare up some party food they’ll want to eat. What kid doesn’t like hot dogs?

Here are two happy appetizers that give a creative spin to the humble hotdog. Budget friendly party food your little monsters will love.

Menacing Mummy Dogs

Making these cute little guys is too easy for words.

What You’ll Need:

Hot dogs – one package

Crescent rolls – one tube

Here’s How:

Take regular hot dogs and cut them in half so you have short dogs. Open the crescent rolls and tear them into strips. Wrap the strips around the hot dogs. Wrap the bottom a bit bigger so they can stand and leave room for “eyes” to peek out.

Bake standing up for 11-13 minutes or until the crescent roll wrapping is baked and golden brown. Use mustard dots to make the eyes. Serve with mustard or honey mustard.

Spooky Spider Bites

Tell me this isn’t the cutest creepy idea you’ve ever seen? People will wonder how you did it but it’s really very easy.

One package of hot dogs and box of spaghetti makes a mountain of little spiders.

You could use any dipping sauce you wish, I like the look of the red pizza-flavored sauce but a gooey cheese sauce would be wonderful also.

What You’ll Need:

Hot dogs

Spaghetti – dried NOT boiled

Italian Dressing or olive oil

Dipping Sauce – spaghetti or pizza sauce

Here’s How:

Start a large pot of well salted water off to a rolling boil. Slice the hotdogs into pennies, about 12 slices per hotdog.

For each spider; break 2 pieces of spaghetti in half and skewer the 4 pieces through each hotdog slice to make 8 legs.

Boil for 14 minutes OR 3 minutes longer than the directions on the box of spaghetti. Test one to be sure the pasta in the center of the hot dog is cooked. Meanwhile put about a TBSP of Italian dressing in a large bowl. Drain the spiders well.

Toss the spiders in the dressing, or olive oil, to keep the little legs from sticking together. Serve with dipping sauce of your choice.

For more Halloween inspiration go to Divasonadime.com and enjoy the Halloween $urvival Guide filled with creative, frugal and fabulous ideas for a Spooktacular Booffet, Bewitching Beverages, Daunting Décor, Creepy Crafts and more. Eat, Drink and be Scary!

Frugal festivity contributed by Patti Diamond author of Divas On A Dime – Where Frugal, Meets Fabulous!, www.divasonadime.com. Join us on Facebook at DivasOnADime DotCom.

THE LATEST
Beatty Clinic gets tons of help with new a/c

BEATTY — The Beatty Foundation, an affiliate of AngloGold-Ashanti (AGA), did tons of good at the Beatty Clinic on March 22. Nine tons, exactly.

How an injured and abandoned dog in Pahrump overcame the odds

A stray dog that was homeless, hospitalized and facing euthanasia earlier this month is now on the mend thanks to several in the community who helped raise thousands for its life-saving care.

End of an era: 50-year-old Beatty business closing

Owner Jane Cottonwood, who made ribbons, trophies and awards for organizations all over the country, plans to retire and close her shop at the end of February.

PHOTOS: How Pahrump helped dozens facing homelessness

Every three months, the Community Crisis Intervention Committee puts together the Homeless Wraparound, quarterly happenings geared specifically toward serving those experiencing homelessness in Pahrump.

PHOTOS: Wild horses come home for the holidays

The wild horse herds that were removed from the Pahrump Valley earlier this year are finally home, and just in time for Christmas. Here’s how the community came together and made it happen.