Halloween Blue Plate Specials

Breakfast: Raisin Bran and milk
Orange juice if you can find it.
(It’s a holiday, AND a day off from Nelli’s dayjob, so Nelli’s sleeping in)

Dinner: Pumpkin Soup
Brats & Kraut
Saltine and/or oyster crackers

Soup: Cut a nice pie pumpkin into eight wedges. Reserve seeds for roasting. Place cut side up on baking sheet and drizzle with oil. Roast at 400 until tender – 60-70 minutes. Scoop out the flesh and discard skin. In a stock pot or Dutch Oven, Saute ½ cup each chopped onion, celery and carrot. Add 2 cloves roasted garlic, minced. Add 4 cups chicken stock or broth and the pumpkin. Simmer 20-30 minutes. Process in batches in blender or processor until smooth. Return to pan and stir in ¾ cup heavy cream and salt & pepper to taste. Heat through, but do not boil.
Meanwhile, broil or grill brats and heat the sauerkraut on the stove.
Ladle the soup into bowls and serve brats on the side on a bed of kraut.

Lunch: Mocha-Caramel-Coffee Shake
For each serving, use 2 scoops chocolate ice cream, a long squirt of chocolate syrup and ½ to 1 cup strong coffee, depending on how thick you like it. Blend until smooth. Pour into tall mug, swirl on whipped cream out of the can and drizzle with caramel topping. Serve with straw & long-handled spoon.

Supper: Homemade Pizza
Long Island Tea (Everybody’s a heathen on Halloween!)

Nelli and the gang are skipping church tonight to partake in their annual Halloween Homemade Pizza Drag Out The Old Costumes and Watch Spooky Movies Night. Something we’ve been doing since we all got too old to go Trick or Treat. Our favorite movie so far is “Gaslight” – an old Ingrid Bergman flick. “Don’t be Afraid of the Dark” starring Audrey Hepburn is a close second.

Pizza Dough: Put 2 Tblsp yeast and 2 Tblsp sugar into 1 cup warm water. Set aside for 10 minutes. Sift 4 cups flour. Add ¼ cup olive oil to the yeast-water mixture and pour into the center of the flour. Add 2 cloves roasted garlic, 1 Tblsp oregano and ½ tsp basil. Stir until dough forms. Knead until smooth and elastic – about 5 minutes. Let rise until double. Punch down and let rise again. Spread onto 2 pizza pans. Spread with sauce and your choice of toppings. Nelli’s Supreme includes country style sausage, ground beef, pepperoni, black olives, mushrooms and Mozzarella. Nelli’s Plain is Pepperoni, Canadian Bacon and Mozzarella. Don’t be skimpy on the cheese. Bake in 400 oven about 20 minutes, When all the cheese is melted, carefully lift up on one edge and look at the bottom of the crust. When the bottom is nicely browned all the way across, it’s all done.

Long Island Tea: Fill a tall glass with ice. Add ½ ounce each of tequila, rum, vodka, gin, triple-sec and 2 oz. sweet & sour mix. Top off with regular Coke. (So where's the tea? Nelli don't know - everything's a little weird in New York.)