Blood and Critters
In this house, even grilled cheese and tomato soup get a spooky disguise.
A simple spin on a childhood classic with a very spooky makeover. Perfect for any Halloween get together or that very important pre-trick or treating fuel. You only need a few ingredients to create a tasty treat that will please any ravenous ghouls and goblins. I included my recipe for tomato soup as well as some friendly suggestions to turn this humble classic into a fang-tastic delight. Now let’s get to cooking and have a bloody good time!
Critters (Grilled Cheese)
Your favorite sandwich bread
A blend of grated cheeses
salted butter, softened
Mayo
Halloween cookie cutters
Blood (Tomato Soup)
2 cans of whole peeled tomatoes
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Red and black food coloring (optional)
For the “Blood”: In a blender, add your onion, garlic and tomatoes; blend until completely liquefied. Transfer to a large pot and set to medium heat on the stove. Cook until your soup is hot and bubbly, season with salt and pepper to your taste. If you want the soup to look extra ghoulish, mix in a couple dots of red food coloring and a one to two dots of the black food coloring. The color should be deep red and resemble blood. Warning, it looks quiet gruesome but it’s still very delicious!
For the “Critters”: Preheat the oven to 450°F.
Mix together softened butter and mayo, put aside.
Using your Halloween cookie cutters, cut out shapes from bread slices. Butter slices with butter mayo mixture and assemble the grilled cheeses.
Line up your sandwiches on a baking sheet and bake until golden brown and delicious; check after 8-10 minutes and flip to get even browning. Serve with your bloody soup and enjoy!
*Notes: You can make the soup a day or two ahead of time. Just store in the fridge and reheat when ready to use. When serving to a crowd, I like to reheat the soup in a crockpot to keep it nice and warm.
You can use whatever cheese you like for the grilled cheese, I do suggest a nice melty cheese. Some of our favorites are Havarti, Cooper Sharp American, Vampire Slayer Cheddar and Swiss. Sometimes we will even use a mix of all these cheeses for a more complex and interesting grilled cheese.
You don’t need to mix the mayo and butter if you don’t want. I just find that it browns the bread perfectly while giving it a rich butter taste. But if you only have one or the other it’s fine you don’t need both to make a delicious grilled cheese.
For the cookie cutters, I suggest using cutters that don’t have a lot of detail to them. The more detailed the harder it will be to cut them out of the bread. I was pushing it with the bat cutter; if only I had a ghost, if only.
You can easily make a sweeter version of this idea if savory tomato soup and grilled cheese isn’t your thing. Melt chocolate chips with strawberry jam for the blood and make brie stuffed grilled cheeses. Boom, you have a sweet version of this childhood classic!