Tips for a Super Halloween Party!

Disclosure / Disclaimer:  I received this info, free of charge, from Westside Market NYC, for blog posting purposes. No compensation,  monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post/review. Nor was I told what to say, all opinions are my own, and yours may be different.

I know, I know, you're thinking already????

But tis true 30 days and counting!!!!!

Are you ready????

Maria Zoitas, catering director at Westside Market NYC and creator of "Maria’s Homemade", 
a line of prepared food sold exclusively at Westside Market NYC, 
is sharing her tips on how to throw a ravishing Halloween party.

1. Children’s Activities: For children that aren’t out trick-or-treating ensure that there is something at the party to keep them entertained and occupied. Set-up a small table for spooky cookie decorating by providing plain sugar or chocolate-chip cookies, and decorations such as chocolate chips, festive sprinkles and colored icing.

2. Pumpkin Dishes: After spending all of that time carving pumpkins for decoration, use the fruits of your labor as unique, autumnal offerings for your guests. Dish ideas include toasted pumpkin seeds as an item to snack on before dinner, oven roasted butternut squash with toasted pumpkin seeds for a side dish, crusted pumpkin seed chicken as a main dish at dinner and baked apples with pumpkin seeds as a delicious, sweet dessert.

3. Creepy Cocktails. In the spirit of scary, create a signature drink for your Halloween party and give it a creepy name. Cocktails such as a Bloody Mary or red sangria provide a traditional cocktail offering to suit your guests’ taste buds, but are in tune with the Halloween theme due to their blood-red coloring. Serve the sangria out of a Witch’s cauldron and the Bloody Marys in individual “mad scientist” beakers. 

4.Haunted Playlist. To top it all off, make sure to have a playlist of Halloween classics such as Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and the age-old party favorite, “Monster Mash,” to ensure guests stay in the spooky spirit.

And now, how about a super easy recipe that uses up some of those pumpkin seeds,
from those AMAZING pumpkins you and the kids will be carving this year! 

Crusted Pumpkin Seeds Chicken

INGREDIENTS

·         2 chicken breasts

·         2 cups of panko

·         2 cups of pumpkin seeds

·         4 whole eggs beaten

·         1 cup all purpose flour

·         1 tbsp. salt (kosher)

·         1 tbsp. fine chopped oregano leaves

·         1 tbsp. orange zest

·         1 cup sunflower oil

·         1 tbsp. black pepper

DIRECTIONS

1.  You need 2 chicken breasts, sliced in half.  Pound them down lightly until they are ¼ inch thick.

2.  In 3 separate bowls, put flour in one, eggs in another and the panko, pumpkin seeds, salt, black pepper, chopped oregano and orange zest in the third bowl

3.   Coast the chicken breast with flour, then dip into beaten eggs, followed by into the panko bowl.

4.   In a sauté pan, heat up the oil at medium heat.  Lightly sauté the coated chicken breast until it reaches a golden color – about 1 minute on each side.

5.     In the meantime, pre-heat oven at 350⁰ for 10 minutes.  Place the chicken breast onto a sheet pan and cook it for an additional 10-15 minutes.

** Note: You can also use your favorite fish fillet instead of chicken.  You may put it in the oven for less time or you may finish in a pan.

I hope you enjoyed the recipe and the post gives you some great ideas 

for your own bootiful Halloween party this year!