Season 6 'The Walking Dead' Premiere Dinner!

No recipes tonight... just some photos of the fun (and TASTY!) dinner I made to celebrate the season premiere of one of our favorite shows, The Walking Dead. Enjoy!

Zombie head meatloaf-

Your favorite meatloaf recipe, onions, bacon, ketchup... you get the idea...

Orzo risotto and Parmesan cream spinach make for yummily gruesome sides...

Pretty sure it's dead now...

And for dessert, Carl's chocolate pudding with Carol's cookies!

We didn't climb on the roof to eat it though...

Pumpkin Pancakes

So, this morning a minor miracle happened. Everyone was home, hungry, and I actually felt like cooking something for breakfast. Okay so it was afternoon and brunch, but hey... I don't normally ever cook breakfast (unless it's for dinner). Being the season for pumpkin/pumpkin spice EVERYTHING, and having a can of the squash in question, I set upon making some pumpkin pancakes. Everyone loved them!

Pumpkin Pancakes

2 C. flour

1/4 C. brown sugar

2 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

2 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. nutmeg

1/2 t. ginger

1/2 t. salt

1 egg

1 1/2 C. milk

1 1/3 C. canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

2 T. vegetable oil

In a large mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients; mix well with a whisk. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together egg, milk, pumpkin, and oil. Add the wet mix to the dry, stirring until well combined. Cook on griddle or in skillet until bubbles stop popping and top looks somewhat dry. Flip and continue cooking until done. These take a little longer than standard pancakes, but they're totally worth the wait! This recipe made about 15 pancakes.

One-pot Bucatini with Sausage and Bacon

I wasn't going to cook at all. Everyone else in the family was off doing their things, and I hate cooking for just myself. I didn't even feel like cooking, but I suddenly found myself in the kitchen peering into boxes. Oh... have I mentioned that we recently bought a house and moved? Yeah... hence the box-peering. Anyway, I started seeing things... like pasta and the two lonely pieces of bacon in he fridge and the breakfast sausage that was about to go south. The more things I found, the more they started telling me they wanted to be together. NEEDED to be together. Not only did I end up clearing out some room in the fridge and putting away a couple of boxes, I came out of the kitchen with this!-

It was deeeeeeeeelicious!!

One-pot Bucatini with Sausage and Bacon

2-3 slices thick-cut bacon, cut into 1/2" wide pieces

1 package breakfast sausage links, cut into 1/2" pieces (or bulk Italian sausage... or whatever ground meat you want to use)

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 large onion, chopped

1/2 C. red wine + 1/2 C. water

1/4 C. tomato paste

1 C. tomato sauce

1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained

2 C. chicken broth

1 6.5 oz. can sliced mushrooms, undrained

1 t. dried basil

1 t. dried oregano

pepper to taste

1 C. water

1 16 oz. package bucatini pasta, broken into 3-4" pieces (or whatever pasta you happen to have on hand... just remember to adjust the cooking time if you need to)

1/2 C. grated Parmesan cheese

In a large soup pot or Dutch oven, saute bacon until crisp. Remove and set aside to drain. Add sausage to remaining fat in pot. Saute until browned and cooked through. Remove and set aside with bacon. Drain all but 1 tablespoon of fat from pot. Saute onions and garlic until soft. Deglaze pot with wine/water mixture, scraping up browned bits from the bottom. Add next nine ingredients and bring to a boil. Add pasta and return to simmer. Cover and cook 5 minutes (or approximately 2/3 of the recommended cooking time for the pasta you're using), stirring occasionally. Turn off burner, add reserved meats and Parmesan cheese, stirring well. Cover and let stand about 3 minutes, or until most of sauce is absorbed. Serve with additional cheese, if desired.