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Tasty, Not Scary

Here's an idea for serving up a "Ghostly" supper that relies on an easy, chees-y white sauce (with a fancy name of a bechamel parmesan sauce but takes on a more seasonal spin with "Ghostly White Sauce") to put on your (or your kid's) choice of pasta. You'll need:

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups hot, reduced-fat milk
1 1/2 cups freshly-grated parmesan cheese

Over medium heat in a heavy saucepan, melt the butter until foamy, then -- bit by bit -- stir in spoonfuls of flour. You want to keep the mixture as smooth as possible, so add the flour slowly. Once the butter and flour have combined, cook over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes.

Meanwhile, warm the milk in the microwave in a glass measuring cup. (Microwaves vary; in mine, this takes 2 minutes, 30 seconds on high heat).

Once the milk has warmed, add it bit by bit, whisking it into the hot flour and butter mixture. Be careful here; you don't want to add the milk all at once causing the flour to clump and resulting in a lumpy sauce. Instead, just be patient as you whisk in the milk.

After the milk has been fully incorporated, whisk or stir for about five minutes. At this point, the sauce should coat the back of a spoon.

Afterward, stir in the parmesan until melted.

Serve the sauce over your child's favorite pasta.

Depending on your kid's age, they may be able to join in the fun of whisking or stirring. Definitely have them give you feedback on the kind of pasta they'd like to have. If you or the kids are adventurous enough, you all can -- once the pasta has cooled slightly -- also fashion strings of linguine into "Mummies" on the plate before serving. Little peppercorns (used only for decoration!) can be used for the mummy's eyes.

To complete your dinner plate in true Halloween fashion, consider serving the Ghostly White pasta with steamed butternut squash or honeyed carrots, and a mandarin orange fruit salad.

Finally, If you can get the kids into it, try serving steamed mussels with it... which look oh-so-Halloweeny in their black shells. But, if that's just not possible with your youngsters and not to their tastes, at least consider if it's a seafood the adults will enjoy!