FRIGHTFUL FOOD THAT’S AWFULLY GOOD
When writing a story—whether it’s spooky or not—an author needs to include the five senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste). I love to do a presentation with students to help them incorporate these senses into their stories and better bring their scenes to life.
One of my favorite senses to highlight is TASTE. While it’s not always as easy as some of the others to readily include, the sense of taste can immediately transport a reader into a story.
Fudgy chocolate. Buttered popcorn. Salty peanuts. Spicy salsa. Even monster cookies.
I could go on and on, but you get the idea. I’m sure at least one of these examples caused your mouth to water a bit. For certain, you could quickly identify the difference between the sweet chocolate and the hot, tangy salsa.
Food creates the opportunity to include the senses of SIGHT, SMELL, and TOUCH as well. That bag of fluffy, glistening, buttered popcorn in your hands is warm and a bit lumpy. The fragrant steam rising to your nose is totally tempting. When you include food in your story, you have a great opportunity to pull a reader in with numerous sensations.
Okay, enough writing tips for today. Now for the important part—some actual spooky food treats! No—not any of the over-the-top gross food I had such a fun time inventing for my monster stories. The recipes below may look a little ghastly, but they will be amazing taste delights.
BITE-SIZE BATS
½ Cup of creamy or crunchy peanut butter
2 Tablespoons honey
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
Stir these ingredients together. You may need to microwave the mixture for 10-15 seconds to blend smoothly.
½ Cup of old fashioned oats
½ Cup of crispy rice cereal
2 Tablespoons of cocoa powder
2 Tablespoons of mini chocolate chips
Add these four ingredients and stir lightly until combined.
Broken blue corn tortilla chips (for bat wings)
Tube of white icing gel and extra mini chocolate chips (for eyes; or candy eyes)
When forming the mixture into balls, carefully add a wing on each side. For the eyes, I squeezed out two drops of icing and put a chocolate chip on top. Or you could use this same method and place a candy eye on the icing drops.
This recipe makes about 10-12 bats. They won’t hang around long though. They are too yummy!
WITCH FINGERS
Carrot sticks (I used a small bag of baby carrots.)
Blanched almonds
Cream cheese
Guacamole dip (I used a prepared dip, but you could make your own as well.)
Top each carrot with a dollop of cream cheese. Attach almond (aka: fingernail). Stick in a bowl of guacamole dip.
Almost like magic—witch fingers to snack on.
I hope you scare up some of these goodies soon!
In my Ghosts of Ordinary Objects’ series, food plays an important role. Bone (the main character) is growing up in a relatively poor part of the world (Appalachia) that’s now experiencing war rationing. Yet, her childhood is filled with food: from sweet tea to ham biscuits to collard greens to preacher cookies. Appalachian and most of Southern cuisine, and in fact most cuisines worldwide, grows out of necessity: poor people making the most out of the ingredients they have around them. Food tells you so much about the culture and their part of the world. (See below for a preacher cookie recipe!)
Spooky Middle Grade 