63°F
weather icon Clear

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.

MOST READ
THE LATEST
Early voting in Nye County gets underway Saturday

Nevada voters can begin to cast their ballots in Nye County as early as this Saturday for the highly anticipated 2024 general election.

Check out what Pahrump’s businesses have to offer at the Home Show

In a place as physically large and spread out as the Pahrump Valley, it can be easy to overlook — and therefore miss out on — some of the businesses that call the town and surrounding areas home.

GALLERY: Homeschoolers come together at Steampunk Soiree dance

Homeschool students of Pahrump and the surrounding areas were invited to celebrate the start of a brand new school year with their very own homecoming dance — the Steampunk Soiree.

After 25 years, an empire of junk in Pahrump is being sold

After 25 years, Smitty, the owner of a local salvage yard, says he’s ready to call it quits. You might know him from his blunt classifieds in the Pahrump Valley Times that advertise the parts, machinery and other fixer-uppers he’s sold over the decades.

Beatty burros are burdening town — officials aim to remove some members of massive herd

The Bullfrog Herd Management Area, which includes Beatty, is grossly overpopulated with wild burros. According to previously stated management goals, the population of the animals should be kept to around 80 burros, but it has far exceeded that number for years. The last time a gather was carried out, there were more than 800 burros, and the BLM removed more than 400, which was the capacity of the agency’s holding facilities.

GALLERY: See photos from Pahrump’s Purple Heart Day

Military service often comes with sacrifice and National Purple Heart Day is intended to honor those who have suffered wounds or made the ultimate sacrifice with their lives in defense of America.

GALLERY: Helen Keller Days raises $2k for local Federation of the Blind Chapter

The 2nd Annual Helen Keller Days took place with members of the Southern Nye County Chapter of the Federation of the Blind coming together with community supporters for an afternoon of fun and excitement, all in the name of fundraising.

GALLERY: How Pahrump marked Juneteenth

Several members of the community met at the Black Cow’s open-mic session on Wednesday evening, followed by a candlelight vigil at the corner of Highway 160 and Basin Avenue in the Petrack Park parking lot. Hymns and songs of freedom were sung by the group to mark Juneteenth in Pahrump for the fourth year since President Joe Biden signed the nation’s newest holiday into law in 2021.

95-year-old grand marshal shares the secret to his longevity

More than 40 friends and family celebrated Emil Janssen’s 95th birthday on Saturday, June 8 at the Pahrump Senior Center. The co-founder of Pahrump Family Mortuary will serve as grand marshal for this year’s Fourth of July parade in Pahrump, and says the secret to his longevity is simple.