Feels Like Halloween

It’s Halloween today. After a night of watching scary movies, I decided to give my flight or fright instinct a break before my heart pops right out of my chest. I wracked what is left of my brain to come up a family Halloween recipe. All I could remember is that my cousin, Carole, used to decorate sugar cookies to look like pumpkins. I got a kick out of how she thought people would allow their kids to eat her cookies if she put her address label on the baggies of cookies she passed out to the Halloweeners that came to her door. Somehow, a sugar cookie recipe wasn’t working for me today. So, I guess I’ll post what I would bring to a Halloween party.

My favorite website to find festive recipes is Better Homes and Gardens. For the last few Halloween parties we attended, I baked something similar to what our family called pepperoni bread. When I saw this recipe on BHG, I had to try it. It was a big hit at every party.

Constricting Snake Bites

Makes: 24 slices

Prep: 45 minutes Rise: 20 minutes Bake: 25 mintues

Ingredients

• 3 16-ounce loaves frozen white bread dough, thawed

• 6 tablespoons brown mustard
• 16 ounces thinly sliced ham

• 12 ounces thinly sliced salami

• 6 ounces provolone cheese, shredded

• 6 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded

• tablespoon water

• Green, red, and yellow liquid food coloring

• egg yolks

• whole cloves
• tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, optional
• 2 small pimiento-stuffed olives
• Bottled roasted red sweet pepper strip (6x1-inch)

Directions

1. Line 3 cookie sheets with foil, grease the foil and set aside. Roll one of the loaves of dough on a lightly floured surface to a 26 x 6-inch rectangle. May need to allow dough to rest a few minutes occasionally while rolling out. Lightly brush 2 tablespoons mustard to within 1 inch of the sides of dough. Layer one third of the ham and salami over mustard. Mix together cheeses. Sprinkle one third of the cheese mixture over ham and salami. Brush edges of dough with water. Roll up into a spiral, tightly, starting with one of the long sides. Pinch all edges to seal. Shape dough on baking sheet in an "S" shape.

2. Combine one of the egg yolks, one teaspoon water, and several drops of desired food coloring. Repeat making green, red, and yellow egg wash. Using a small brush paint stripes crosswise over loaf, allowing wash to drizzle down the sides.

3. Let loaf rise in a warm place for about 20 minutes. Sprinkle top of loaf with 1 tablespoon of the Parmesan cheese, if desired.

4. While one section of the "snake " rises, repeat with remaining bread dough and ingredients. Taper one end of each of these loaves to a rounded point making a head and tail. Insert 2 whole cloves at one of these ends making nostrils of the "snake". Place on remaining prepared cookie sheets. Paint and let rise as above.



5. Bake snake sections in a 375 degree F oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until bottoms of loaves are golden. Insert olives with toothpicks above the cloves, to form eyes. Place red pepper strip in front of snake's mouth. Assemble snake portions on bamboo leaves, if desired. Slice and serve warm. Makes 24 slices.

The Manilla Recipe Connection

I haven’t felt like myself at all lately. I lost another job! What are the odds of losing two jobs in a one year time period? My ego has definitely been deflated. But, I have a great family and several good friends that have been very supportive. I’ve made a decision to work as a temp; that way if I do not like the job assignment I know that it won’t last forever and something new is just around the corner. This new endeavor has caused my creative juices to flow again. I’ve vowed to try new things, meet new people, experience new eateries, and experiment with new recipes.

My cousin Greg met a lovely young woman from Manilla named Jyrene. Since I had so much time on my hands, I started playing Café World on Facebook and discovered that Jyrene plays the game too. We took our Facebook gaming one step further and began to e mail one another too. Jyrene mentioned that she was interested in cooking. We began swapping messages on our likes and dislikes about food. I told her about my blog and promised to send her some family recipes. In turn, she promised to send me some of her favorite recipes too. So in keeping with experiencing new things and meeting new people, I am posting Jyrene’s recipe for Pork Sinigang. Enjoy!

Pork Sinigang Ingredients

• 3/4 kilo Pork, cut into chunks

• 3 tomatoes, sliced

• 2 onions, diced

• 5 cloves of garlic, minced

• 100 grams Kangkong (river spinach)

• 100 grams String beans

• 2 pieces horse radishes, sliced

• 3 pieces gabi (taro), pealed

• 2 pieces sili pag sigang (green finger pepper)

• 200 grams sampalok (tamarind)

• 3 tablespoons of patis (fish sauce)

Directions

• Boil sampalok in water until the shell shows cracks. Let cool then peel off the shells and with a strainer, pour samplalok (including water) into a bowl. Gently massage the sampalok meat off the seeds, strain again.

• In a pot, sauté garlic and onion then add the tomatoes. Let simmer for 5 minutes.

• Add pork and fish sauce . Bring to a boil then simmer for 15 minutes then add the gabi. Continue to simmer for another 15 minutes or until the pork is tender.

• Add the horse radish and simmer for 10 minutes then add the string beans, kangkong and sili (for spice-optional). Let boil for 2 minutes.

• Serve piping hot.