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Columbus Day
by W.Holidays

Fun Food Ideas
Deviled Sailboats or Sailboat Eggs:  Make deviled eggs. Decorate with thin carrot sticks and pimentos. Cut paper into sails and attach to toothpicks. Put one sail in each egg.  Sail the boats on a sea of lettuce.

Make a tall glass of limeade or citrus beverage to ward off scurvy.

Explorer Meal
This is a fun meal for the little explorers in your home. The main dish is a meatloaf and mashed potato volcano with a hard-boiled egg hidden inside. The beverage is a tasty fruit drink layered with the colors of the sunset and dessert oozes with chocolate-orange filling.

Sailors Sunset
Volcano Island Meatloaf Surprise
Orange-ooze Cakes

Sailors Sunset
I created this after watching the sunset at the beach one day.

4 cups orange juice
2 cups ginger ale
ice
pineapple juice
grenadine

Combine orange juice and ginger ale.
Put some ice in the glasses.
Fill glasses 3/4 full with orange juice-mixture.
Add the pineapple juice to almost fill the glass.
Drizzle grenadine into glass and serve.

Volcano Island Meatloaf Surprise
Surround the island with a sea of green beans or peas. You might also try making individual volcanoes.

meatloaf
half of a 10-1/2 ounce can condensed tomato soup
2 pounds ground beef
1 package dry onion soup mix
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup water

5 hard-boiled eggs
3 cups mashed potatoes
butter
catsup, optional

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Lightly grease 2 quart baking dish; set aside.
Using your hands, combine all the meatloaf ingredients.
Shape meatloaf around the hard-cooked eggs and shape into a mountain.
Place in baking pan and bake 1-1/2 hours or until cooked through.
Cool in pan on wire rack 15 minutes.
Raise oven temperature to 450°F.
Place volcano on an ovenproof platter.
Frost with mashed potatoes creating a crater in the top.
Place a glob of butter into the crater.
Return to oven and bake until top is brown, about 10 minutes.
Optional, fill the crater with catsup or let the kids do this part and make the volcano flow lava.

Orange-Ooze Cakes
Adapted from a recipe found at SOAR.

filling
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/3 cup granulated sugar
yellow & red food coloring
6 ounces chocolate chips

cupcakes
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups water
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla
pre-made commercial frosting, optional

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Line cupcake baking pans with paper cupcake liners.
Beat cream cheese, egg and sugar.
Blend in 2 drops yellow food coloring and 1 drop red food coloring; add more coloring if necessary to reach desired shade.
Stir in chocolate chips and set filling aside.
In a mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt; set aside.
In second bowl, combine water, vegetable oil, vinegar and vanilla.
Add to the dry ingredients.
Fill cupcake liners half full with cupcake batter, then place 1 teaspoon of filling in the center of each one. As cupcake bakes, the batter will rise to surround the filling.
Bake approximately 25 minutes or until cupcakes test done.
Cool on wire rack.
Frost if desired.