My husband is a lot more adventurous than I am. As in, sky-diving, high-adventure, has eaten funny things like escargot, adventurous. I am not, but I like my husband. So when his sister told him about a show he would like called Man vs. Wild (I know, it has not only been out for a while, but has already been canceled. We are a little behind the times.), I started getting ideas for a fun, if not absolutely disgusting date night. I got an episode (Season 4: Guatemala) from Amazon, and projected it onto a wall in our room while eating much tastier bugs than the ones Bear Gylis was enjoying. One of my sisters is still in shock that I would even contemplate such an idea.
(Want to know the secret? There are benefits to wearing glasses- I can take them off when things get too gross and not see a thing. It has come in handy many times to not have perfect vision.)
Strawberry-filled, chocolate spiders
Rumor has it, one of my grandmas was an amazing chocolate dipper- to the point that she was being invited to teach other women the fine art. Unfortunately, I didn't ever get to benefit from her amazing knowledge in that regard (she taught me many other things, but by the time I came along she had moved on to healthier hobbies). Thanks to the internet, I have now made my first filled-chocolates. I used a Wilton Halloween candy mold (it contained spiders and ghosts). I melted some Wilton Dark Chocolate flavored melts according to the package directions, and painted the chocolate into my molds. For the filling, I started with a recipe found
here that I adapted slightly. I cut the recipe in half, used strawberry extract (because that was what I had on hand), and added a tablespoon of milk (I needed my cream to be a little more flowing). After I added the filling to my chocolate painted mold, I topped with more chocolate to cover the tops. A little time consuming, but very easy. Either that or chocolate-dipping genes are coming through.
-some of these spiders became peanut butter filled. I just took equal amounts of peanut butter and powdered sugar and combined it together with a drop of vanilla to make the filling. I don't like peanut butter, but I liked those spiders.
Bug Crackers
The inspiration for these probably came from
here (I don't remember exactly where, but this is the idea). I cheated and just bought chive and onion cream cheese. These actually weren't my favorite- I made them a couple hours ahead of time because that is when I could, but they were slightly mushy by the time we ate them. You would have to make these at the very last moment if you don't want them soggy).
Gummy Worms
(No prep required- I just picked up a bag from the store. If you would like to make some more realistic
ones, a tutorial can be found
here.)
Fruit Dip
This was some tasty stuff. I found the recipe
here. I even ended up making more the next morning when we shared the leftovers with the kids. The graham crackers are Keebler's Bug Bites. I only found them in a variety pack at Walmart that also came with Scooby Snacks and Rice Krispie Treats.
Pina Colada
I tried to find a more exciting glass to put these in, but decided it wasn't worth buying glasses that I would only use occasionally. The recipe for these came from
here, the non-alcoholic version of course.
