This has been a whirlwind past few months for Steven and me. We were in the UK in late August, we celebrated my birthday in Palm Springs, and we have been excitedly putting together our apartment. So when Halloween season rolled around, we felt less than prepared to celebrate. We didn’t buy a pumpkin, we didn’t put together costumes, and we don’t have a front door to the street to pass out candy. Steven also admitted he just wasn’t in the mood for Halloween this year.

I tried to get us out of our funk by having us watch some spooky classics such as Hocus Pocus, Little Shop of Horrors, and Ghost in the past few weeks. And last Saturday, we celebrated my friend Claudia’s birthday by going out to party in the Castro with her friends Halloween-style. We were able to slap together a last-minute costume by dressing up as the stereotypical Marina couple our friends joked we’d become after moving into the neighborhood. He wore sunglasses indoors, Sperry’s boat shoes and a Patagonia jacket, and I wore a yoga outfit, natural makeup, and a high ponytail while carrying a rolled up yoga mat with me. It was hilarious. And after dancing the night away with friends, it felt more like Halloween.

So in order to really get into the spirit of things (pun intended…you’ll see why) on the night of Halloween, I decided we should do another themed dinner to a scary movie. Last year we made a 1920s meal and Redrum punch to watch The Shining. This year we decided to theme our dinner to Poltergeist.

Before that night, I’d never seen the movie, but Steven informed me that much of it has to do with a television. So we made homemade faux TV dinners. to go with the theme. Complete with very Americana TV-dinner appropriate drinks and dessert. We hope you’ll enjoy this step-by-step rundown of what we did to make Halloween special in our own signature way.

To bring the entire TV-dinner theme of the evening together, but still be true to my sense of style, I chose to go with white divided melamine plates from Crate and Barrel. From what I hear, they’re also perfect for picnics, or serving food to kids

GET THE DIVIDED PLATE

Our Drink of Choice

Since there were already so many components to our meal this year, we kept the drinks easy! Steven suggested that beer would go well with a TV dinner, and PBR seemed like a very Americana beer to drink with our very all-American meal.

I decided to drink my beer out of one of our weighted beer glasses - which can make any drink look elegant. Steven opted to drink from right out of the can

GET THE BEER GLASS

Fried Chicken with Gravy

I know what you’re thinking, but don’t worry - this chicken is maggot-free. When I found out that one of the most memorable scenes in the movie involved a gross-out piece of fried chicken, I knew we had to make it for our TV dinner. Steven came up with this recipe himself. And of course, we had to use our favorite Panko crumbs for the breading!

FRIED CHICKEN WITH GRAVY INGREDIENTS

2 chicken breasts (butterflied)
½ cup grapeseed oil

CHICKEN BREADING INGREDIENTS

⅓ cup flour

1½ cups of Panko
1 egg
A splash of milk
1 tsp Powdered Cayenne Pepper
1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
½ tsp Garlic Powder
½ tsp Chili Powder
Salt and Pepper

GRAVY INGREDIENTS

Drippings and oil left over from frying the chicken
⅓ to 1/4th flour
1 cup milk
Salt and pepper

FRIED CHICKEN DIRECTIONS

Pour your flour into a medium sized bowl.
Combine the Panko with all of the spices and seasonings. Add it to a second medium sized bowl.
Combine your egg and milk in a third medium sized bowl
Pour your grapeseed oil into a large pan and heat it to medium-low/medium depending on how hot your stove gets.
Line all of your bowls up next to each other to create a breading station. Individually coat each chicken breast in the flour, followed then by the egg mixture, and finally the Panko.
Fry each breast on both sides for around 7 minutes each side, or until dark golden brown and a safe temperature on the inside. DO NOT discard the remaining oil in the pan, as it’s perfect to use for the gravy!
Let the chicken breasts drain of oil on a paper towel before plating.

GRAVY DIRECTIONS

Turn heat on stove to low
Take the uncleaned pan that the chicken had been frying in and scrape any large bits of breading or chicken out of the oil.
Remove the pan from the heat, but keep the heat on low for the moment
Sprinkle flour evenly onto the pan and stir into the oil it becomes a thick roux.
Slowly pour the milk in and return it onto the low burner. Stir until there are no lumps
Season to taste, but keep in mind that there will already be some seasoning in the gravy from the chicken’s breading.

SERVINGS: 4

This recipe is ridiculously delicious. I'm so proud of Steven for coming up with this on the spot. It’s definitely one for the books!

Mac and Cheese

If you’ve followed my recipes in the past, you’ll know that this Mac and Cheese is a go-to for us. It’s an incredible yet easy recipe by The Domestic Geek that’s always a major hit. I can guarantee that if you try it for yourself just once, Kraft will become a four-letter word.

MAC AND CHEESE INGREDIENTS

1 box macaroni
¼ cup butter
¼ cup all purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 cup cream
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
½ cup parmesan, shredded
Salt and pepper
Red pepper flakes
½ cup panko crumbs (optional)

MAC AND CHEESE DIRECTIONS

Cook macaroni according to package directions and set aside.
In a small saucepan, gently heat milk and cream. Do not let it come to a boil.
In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat.
Once the butter is melted and frothy, add flour and whisk.
Whisk constantly until the butter and flour mixture are totally combined and become a golden brown colour – about two or three minutes. This is called a roux.
Carefully pour your milk and cream into your roux, whisking constantly. Use extreme caution as the mixture will bubble up and you don’t want to burn yourself.
Continue to whisk until the mixture is smooth and has thickened – another one or two minutes.
Add the shredded cheddar cheese and whisk until it has fully melted.
Add the shredded parmesan and whisk until it has fully melted.
Add salt, pepper and any other seasonings you’d like, stirring constantly.
Pour cheese mixture over macaroni and stir thoroughly.
Add red pepper flakes and stir to combine.
For baked mac and cheese, pour mac and cheese into a casserole dish or individual ramekins.
Top with Panko crumbs and bake at 350 until the Panko crumbs have become golden brown.

SERVINGS: 8

Cornbread Muffins

Originally, we planned on watching Children of the Corn and making cornbread for Halloween. But when we decided to watch Poltergeist instead, we knew we had to still incorporate cornbread into the menu. We already had our hearts set on it, after all! So we included cornbread muffins into the mix. The perfect addition to fried chicken and mac and cheese for a night of comfort food, despite the fact that we’ll be watching an un-comfortable film…

I found this recipe on Once Upon a Chef! Many cornbread recipes require whole milk or buttermilk, but this recipe works perfectly with 2% which is what I keep around in the fridge!

CORNBREAD MUFFIN INGREDIENTS

1¼ cups all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off
¾ cup yellow cornmeal
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons of sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons honey
¾ cup milk (Whole milk is best, but like I said low-fat works as well!)
1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter - melted and cooled

CORNBREAD MUFFIN DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350°F degrees.
Line a muffin pan with paper liners.
In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, milk and honey together.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
Mix the milk mixture and melted butter with the dry ingredients until they are just combined. With recipes like this, you don’t want to overmix anything, as it could throw off the texture of the muffins.
Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared muffin pan, filling each cup about 3/4 full. I noticed that the ones that had slightly less batter didn’t dome at all, wheras the ones all the way to the 3/4 mark did. So for the most uniform muffins, make really exact measurements of batter.
Spray the back of a spoon with Pam and use it to smoothen out the top of the muffin batter.
Bake for 17 to 20 minutes, or until the tops are set and golden. I needed around 18 minutes personally. (Note that the muffins will not dome.)
Cool the muffins for a few minutes in the pan, then serve warm.
According to Once Upon a Chef, you can make a loaf of cornbread using an 8-inch square pan lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. I personally think the muffins look effortlessly neat so that’s how I decided to make them.

SERVINGS: 12

As for the peas and carrots I served next to it, you can just steam a bag of frozen vegetables in the microwave, strain them if needed, and pour them into a bowl that has 1 tbsp butter and salt and pepper in it. Just mix and you are good to go!

Brownies

And for our dessert for the evening, I decided to go with a classic packaged dessert that everyone looks forward to after a TV dinner: A packaged brownie. But of course, I had to make them fresh. So I used a third of the recipe for the Barefoot Contessa’s brownies.

BROWNIE INGREDIENTS

5 ⅓ oz of butter (or 1 ⅓ sticks)
5 ⅓ oz chocolate chips, plus an extra handful for folding in later
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2 extra-large eggs
1 tablespoon instant coffee granules (Optional. We did not use these.)
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
¾ cup sugar
Measure ½ cup all purpose flour, remove about a teaspoon from it, and add the rest of the half cup to the mixture. This is because we need around 0.41 cups of flour, as we’re doing a third of the listed recipe.
1 teaspoon baking powder
⅓ teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped walnuts

BROWNIE DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Line a square brownie pan with wax paper.
Melt together the butter, 1 pound of chocolate chips, and the unsweetened chocolate in a medium bowl using the double boiler method. Allow to cool slightly.
In a large bowl, stir (do not beat) together the eggs, vanilla, sugar, and coffee granules if you’re using them.
Stir the warm chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and allow to cool to room temperature.
In a medium bowl, sift together half of your flour, baking powder, and salt. Then add your dry ingredients to the cooled chocolate mixture.
Toss the walnuts and your leftover handful of chocolate chips in a medium bowl with the rest of your flour. Then add the mixture to the chocolate batter. This is a proven technique that you can use with most baking recipes that you have mixed nuts, chocolate or candy into. Mixing them in flour before adding them to the rest of the batter helps them to not sink to the bottom of the mixture while baking! Keep all that goodness in every single bite.
Bake for 20 minutes, then (using an oven mit of course,) tap the baking sheet against the oven shelf to force the air to escape from between the pan and the brownie dough. Then bake for another 15 minutes, until a toothpick - or dry spaghetti noodle comes out clean. Do not over-bake these!
Allow to them cool thoroughly in the refrigerator before cutting them into squares and dusting with confectioners sugar. They are super tricky to cut if you don’t let them cool.

SERVINGS: 6

I hope you enjoyed a look into our Halloween-themed dinner. Click here to check out our The Shining themed dinner from last year. I am hoping that this can be a tradition in our household for those pre-trick-or-treating with kids Halloweens, when we have work the next day. And for those of you who don’t like dressing up, clubbing or trick-or-treating, I hope this inspires you to celebrate Halloween in the way that suits you! Until we meet again!

Our "Poltergeist"-Themed Homemade Faux TV Dinners