Halloween food can be frightfully good

  Halloween is a fun time of year, when kids and adults can be kids. Not only is it fun to dress up in scary or other kinds of costumes, it's enjoyable to conceive of creative ideas for decorating and entertaining.

  Several years ago, I hosted a Halloween party for friends and family. My pride and joy of the evening was La Llorona, the legendary crier who floats along bodies of water looking for children to drown.

  I fashioned the phantom out of a Dollar Store mask, a hairpiece and leftover fabric from a previous sewing project, then strung her from a mesquite tree in the front yard. Her scraggly hair and tattered wedding dress flowed in the breeze as her bony, shriveled face menaced arriving guests, who had to enter in the dark through the "fog-covered cemetery."

  One of my nephews clung to his dad and hid his face from La Llorona. "Don't worry, son," the protective father said. "That's just your aunt Nancy on her wedding day."

  That explanation soothed my nephew's fears much too quickly, I thought. But when he got to the punch bowl, he grabbed his dad and shrieked: "Ay! Cucuy!" (Roughly translated, "Coo-cooey" is the Mexican bogeyman.)

  A phantom ice hand floated in the thick, slimy green punch, which my friend Barbara had made and brought to the party. Illuminated with black lights, it looked like something straight out of a creep show.

  Barbara had found the recipe for the punch and the phantom ice hand in First magazine. Although it was appropriately sinister looking, it was so sweet that nobody really drank it. The original recipe called for two types of soda in addition to three boxes of Jell-O.

  But I've adapted the recipe to make a healthier, refreshing version of the punch that's not too sweet. It's fun and easy to make, and it goes well with the accompanying finger foods recipe.

  So if you need a hand with any Halloween parties, give these recipes a try. 

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GREEN SLIME PUNCH WITH PHANTOM ICE HAND

Three small packages of lime Jell-O
2 cups of boiling hot water
1 quart of cold apple juice
1 quart of cold seltzer
Disposable latex glove
Twist tie
Gummi worms and candy eyeballs (optional)

  Make phantom ice hand in advance, preferably the night before the party. Just fill a clean, disposable latex glove to the wrist with water. Seal with a twist tie. Place in freezer in an upright position, but try to bend the fingers (I used a bowl and placed the twist-tied end up). 

  Dissolve three packages of Jell-O in two cups of boiling water. Add to one quart of apple juice in punch bowl. Chill for about one hour, or until almost set. Add seltzer.

  Run frozen "hand" briefly under running water to loosen glove. Slip glove off carefully, so as not to break fingers. Place small bowl in center of punch bowl, to prop up phantom ice hand as if it's reaching partly out of the punch. Serve punch immediately in plastic stemware with Gummi worm and candy eyeball garnishes.

  Add spiced rum to each glass for a delicious cocktail. Disclaimer: The spiked version is not intended for anyone who's reading this article as part of the Newspapers In Education program. 

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BLOOD RED PUNCH WITH PHANTOM ICE HAND

Three small packages of cherry Jell-O
2 cups of boiling hot water
2 cups of 100 percent cherry juice
1 quart of seltzer

  Make phantom ice hand as directed in green punch recipe. Dissolve three packages of cherry Jell-O in two cups of boiling hot water. Add to two cups of cherry juice in punch bowl. Chill for about 40 minutes, or until almost set. Add seltzer.

  Float phantom ice hand in punch. Serve immediately in stemware, with two Gummi candy eyeballs floating in each glass.   

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FINGER FOODS

Vienna sausages
Sliced almonds
Cocktail sauce, ketchup or red salsa

  Nick front tip of each Vienna sausage. Wedge a sliced almond "fingernail" into the nicked spot. Arrange in red sauce so sausages resemble bloody fingers. Bon appetit!