I had to try ’em out. We’ve done the mummies. Why not the ghosts? They were at least horrifying in the spirit of the holiday.
These were really simple, here’s what I did…
Pre-heat the oven to 375°.
Cut 4 bun-length hot dogs in half, & stand them up on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Roll out a can of Pillsbury croissant dough, pinch the diagonal seams & cut it into 8 squares.
Put some shredded cheese and seasoning on the dough.
Wrap the dough over the dogs cheese & seasoning side in.
Use a metal straw (or whatever) to cut holes for the eyes and mouth.
Pop them in the oven for 13 minutes, because of course.
You can see how they turned out. My wife got a much more flattering picture:
She opted for ketchup. I made “Scary Sauce.”
Maybe 3:1:½ of Ketchup/Yellow Mustard/Miracle Whip, with some onion powder, paprika, and mustard powder. It was nice & orange for the season.
Next time, I may cut up black olive slices & use them for the eyes and mouths. Maybe. I also will use regular sized dogs instead of the bun length, so maybe they don’t half tip over.
What are your favorite or new fun Halloween themed foods?
Of course, I made these while listening to a Halloween playlist. You should too.
OK, so this recipe is really inspired by or let’s say heavily borrowed from a recipe that I saw on a Barilla Campanelle box years ago. I saw some Reggano Halloween Shaped Pasta at Aldi recently, and I thought the butternut squash sauce would hit the right color and flavor for fall.
I’m not fancy enough for pancetta, so I used bacon pieces, and I skipped the balsamic vinegar and added a dash of heavy cream because why not? I didn’t measure anything, but here’s what I did;
Ingredients:
1 bag Reganno Halloween Shaped Pasta (or whatever you have on hand, really).
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
⅓ cup bacon pieces
1 small Onion chopped
2 small butternut squash, cubed (It was about 8 cups)
I uploaded a photo a while back with the intent to blog, and sort of forgot about it. I have been a fan of LEGO ever since I can remember, and in the past decade or so, got back into it. I like the big epic sets, but sometimes these little ones are fun.
It can be a hit to the pocketbook and shelf space. I have checked out lots of off-brand LEGO sets. I remember having some TYCO sets as a kid, and I know I bought my son some He-Man Megabloks/Mega-Construx sets when he was little. I have a few AliExpress sets like the Eagle 5 from Spaceballs.
These were all fun, & of varying quality, and I have amassed them over time. Each was as expected for price paid, and fun to assemble.
LEGO | Arcade Machine 40805 – I typically order from the LEGO website any more, as I have had at least 2 sets tampered with from Walmart, and I have seen the pasta replacement insanity online. Obviously, LEGO is the standard and this set is awesome. It even opens up to a little gamer apartment that has basement vibes, and honestly looks like it was meant to be the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ lair. The minifigure and details inside are incredible as usual, and the lean on the screen is a neat build technique. I wish LEGO would come with less stickers. The coin slots are super cool, and this is the biggest scale-wise even though they’re all similar. Funny they have Pac Man, Donkey Kong, and Mario sets… but this a generic unlicensed game.
JAKI | Arcade Gaming Cabinet AK063 – This came from AliExpress with no brand listed, but JAKI was on the book & box. The quality was pretty good, better than what I expected from AliExpress anyway. This one is super cool because there’s a gear on the back that move bricks inside the clear screen (even if just a little bit) to create some action. I absolutely hate the stickers that cross over brick connections. It’s like nails-on-chalkboard level nope for me. It was cool that this came with an instruction booklet and a box. I have absolutely gotten AliExpress sets with a card to scan for a *.pdf and one that was a link to a YouTube video. That Bricksewer site seems shadier than AliExpress for real though.
Brickcraft | Atari Arcade Classics 72776 – I have noticed an aggressive uptick in Brickcraft advertising. Good for them, as their quality is getting better. I’d say they’re right alongside the Zuru Max bricks and whatever Mega Bloks/Mega Construx are called this week in quality. The best part of this was all the printed bricks! Brickcraft should lean into that and eschew stickers totally. The instructions were clear. The price is approaching actual LEGO, which is bold, but they lean into pop-culture licensing and again the printed bricks are awesome, so maybe that’s a fair trade-off. These sets are cool because you can get the coin out of the back. The ornaments up fun are cool too. Neat to see Asteroids, Pong, & Centipede still getting love.
Snap & Switch | Skee-Ball Construction Set – I got this from Five Below on a whim. It was not nearly $20 like it is listen on this website. The bricks feel… fragile? The quality of the plastic is just not quite right. Again, with the stickers that hit multiple bricks. Why? Who does this? I am not gluing these sets together. No Kragle! At any rate, Snap & Switch is a Well Played Toys brand, and they were awesome when I wrote about a missing piece, and they sent a replacement for free. Also, this is totally playable. It comes with little skee-balls. How fun is that?
You may be aware that I draw mazes. You may be aware that I have some maze books out, and that you can get my mazes printed on stuff to wear, hang, or sit around the house. You may be aware that I have a bunch of mazes posted here for free. In my never ending quest for World (and Lunar) Domination, I’m moving on to your phone, tablet, laptop, PC, and there’s probably somebody out there with a Raspberry Pi enabled potato or something. Maybe the DOOM fruit fly can solve a few?
While, it’s not ready to roll out to a full-ass audience yet, my buddy Jason has put together a way to solve my hand-drawn mazes on your phone, tablet, or computer. You can use your finger, a stylus, the control in the bottom left corner, the arrow keys, the WASD keys, or a mouse to move the cursor to solve the maze. You can change the ink color, erase, or “snap back” to get to the solution. You can pick the difficulty level & keep playing through to that level or all the levels if you’d like. You can also share your stats to social media or via text.
Screen shot from my laptop.Cropped shot of being zoomed-in to solve the maze on a laptop.The start screen where you can pick your difficulty, ink color, how you want to play, and type in a user name.Solving the skull maze on the phone.
So, my buddy Jason is helping to make my hand-drawn mazes solvable on a screen. This is a 5x-ish sped-up playthrough on my phone. Looking for people interested in testing functionality & providing feedback. That you? Might blog about it later. #maze#mazes#puzzlegame#apps#AiXeLsyD13
So, we need some people to test this out! What is working? What isn’t? What’s intuitive? What’s not? Tell us about the functionality, and even if you like the idea. Sometimes, I feel like it is difficult to find maze-solving enthusiasts. Share this with your people who may like to do such things!
I’m not sharing the url for the test phase super wide right now so just reach out to me via email, social media, via comment here, or my contact form if you’d like to test the game out and tell is what’s working & what’s not. To quote the infamous Jimmy Pop, I’d appreciate your input.
If people dig it, I’ll add more & draw more! Do you think it’s something that you or someone you know would enjoy?
Also, if you like movies, you have to check out this other game that my buddy Jason made! In FlashFrame, you guess the movie title by a screenshot or poster/promo image from 4 answer choices. You go in to rounds of 10. You can play against other people, or do solo practice. You can pick your genres and narrow it by decade too if your cinephilia has highly specific interests.
I have gone head-to-head in movie naming competition with my kids, and with Jason himself. It’s a fun way to test your movie memory!
I like to narrow in on 80’s sci-fi, comedy, & action films. What would your decade & genres be?
It’s definitely fun and worth your time to check out. A few rounds go by super quick and you might surprise yourself with your movie knowledge!
Also, the more people who play, the more fun it is. You can invite your friends to play head-to-head battles.
So, I recently made a meatball sub inspired by wedding soup flavors. In that post, I considered making a turkey meatloaf with flavors like stuffing and mashed potatoes in it among other weird meatball subs. I like to mix it up with meatloaf. I have done a mushroom one(and a Swiss Mushroom one too actually), a breakfast one, and I do “normal” ones with the ketchup glaze, or A1, or gravy all the time. I think next up is a taco-inspired meatloaf. Maybe. It’s probably fair to call it “white people taco” inspired.
In a large bowl, combine ground turkey, soaked stuffing, potato flakes, eggs, shredded carrots, French-fried onions, and all seasonings. Mix until just combined.
Divide into two loaves (~1½ lbs. each) and shape onto a parchment lined sheet pan or into loaf pans.
Bake at 400° F, tented loosely with foil, for the first ~30 minutes.
Remove foil.
Continue baking, checking internal temp starting around 45 minutes. Apply glaze in the last 15 minutes or so.
Pull loaves once they hit 165° F internal.
Rest 5 to 10 minutes before slicing.
Glaze Method:
Melt jellied cranberry sauce over medium-low heat.
Whisk in applesauce and brown sugar until smooth.
Add apple cider vinegar, honey, white pepper, and mustard powder to taste.
I thought about sautéing a mirepoix here instead of just the carrots. Maybe next time? I do that for my stuffing, and it adds so much.
I used something that’s somewhere between cheese-grater and lemon-zester so my shredded carrots were TINY.
I normally may cook meatloaf at a lower temperature, but I was cooking butternut squash at the same time, popped on to the top rack.
I also served this with canned green beans (hit with butter & onion-powder), instant potatoes (mixed THICC), and some turkey gravy from a packet so everyone had their choice of glaze, gravy, GTFO, or both.
I put my beef meatloaves on top of bread to prevent burning and soak up grease, but there was hardly any fat here. I could have skipped it & let the parchment paper do its thing.
I don’t like the cranberry sauce with whole (or mushed) cranberries, and neither does my diverticulitis… but, if you do, I’m gonna guess that would work well here too.
In the name of mad science, should I include squash, green beans, and/or cranberry sauce IN the loaf next time?
If you don’t have poultry seasoning, use sage, thyme, & rosemary.
Apologies for the absolutely atrocious photo, but I was hungry.
A poorly composed photo of two Giving Thanksgiving turkey meatloaves fresh from the oven.
This might be a cool thing for a second holiday gathering, a small gathering, or in June when you want a turkey dinner. I have some Thanksgiving mazes you can solve too. Maybe skip the ground beef one, unless you wanna just get the book(it even made the cover!).
Really though, if you’re here, you gotta make these Thanksgiving sliders some time too. Should I make a thanksgiving dinner meatball sub with gravy to dip it in?
Hit me up in the comments with your thoughts, concerns, questions, tips, or tricks! Do you make one like this? What kind of themed meatloaf do you make?
Lots of other people have done this and there are certainly other recipes out there, but as always I did my own take here. I get real tired real quick on foodie gatekeeping about the “right” way to do stuff, as it recipes and ingredients haven’t always changed across generations, borders, & families.
I had what I wanted to do and a taste I was going for in my head, and it definitely hit the mark. My son tasted a meatball before we made a sandwich and he said the meatball tasted exactly like wedding soup. I’ll take that!
I ended up making a broth on the side to kind of have like a a French Dip sandwich. Google says it’s a Brodo di Bollito. I took the bun that I messed up, but it still looks pretty good. I’ll try to make the recipe concise below. I just kind of throw stuff together, don’t measure, and hope it works.
How would you do yours? I present this as a guide and a reminder for myself the next time I make these. I encourage you to make it your own. Here’s what I did, I’ll try to present it as a recipe:
Dash of extra virgin olive oil, for sautéing mirepoix
Seasonings! (To taste, throughout.)
onion powder
garlic powder
black pepper
Dash table blend
paprika
dried parsley
Italian seasoning
rotisserie chicken seasoning
poultry seasoning
3 tsp. jarred minced garlic (I know, I know, the internet hates this. Use fresh then.)
1 (32 Oz.) box chicken stock
1 (32 Oz.) box chicken broth
1 beef bouillon cube
1 cup whole-milk ricotta
4 cups fresh spinach
4 hard rolls, split on top
1 cup fontina, freshly shredded
½ cup fancy shredded Parmesan, for topping
Method:
Preheat the oven to 400° F.
In a soup pot, sauté the Carrots, celery, & onion in some butter & a splash of olive oil, with the jarred minced garlic. Season with a bit of the herb/spices to taste, add minced garlic after the stuff cooks a bit.
Take out maybe ½ to ¾ cup of the mirepoix and set aside to cool.
Add the chicken stock and beef bouillon cube to the pot with the remaining mirepoix, and bring it to a boil.
Add the acini di pepe, cook about 9 minutes per the box, just shy of tender — you want it barely cooked, not swollen.
Set aside about ½ to ¾ cup of the acini di pepe to cool.
Put the stock on a warmer or a low simmer.
Mix the meatballs! Combine ground beef, ground chicken, 2 large eggs, 2 tablespoons milk, plain & panko breadcrumbs, 0.5 cups grated Parmesan. Gently fold in the cooled mirepoix/acini di pepe mixture, Mix by hand until just combined, don’t overwork. Don’t forget to season the egg mixture, the breadcrumbs, & the meat.
Form a bunch of meatballs on a backing sheet with some parchment paper. Mine were probably just a little smaller than 2 inches in diameter. I seasoned them after forming, too.
Bake the meatballs at 400°F for 17-ish minutes (until they reach 165°F internal).
Season the ricotta: While the meatballs bake, mix ricotta with a pinch of the seasoning blend until well combined.
Wilt the spinach in a pan with some butter & seasonings.
Split 4 hard rolls on top. Spread the herbed ricotta inside, then toast in the oven at 400°F for about 5 minutes. (You can time it to go in with the meatballs or wait until they’re done.)
Layer wilted spinach into each toasted roll, top with meatballs, then sprinkle fontina & shredded Parmesan generously over the top.
Melt the cheese: Return assembled subs to the oven at 400°F for about 7 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
Warm the broth and serve alongside the subs for dipping, French dip style.
Notes:
I should have used fresh parsley in addition to the dried stuff.
Use “real” garlic if you’re cooler than me.
I should have put a tiny bit of spinach in the meatballs too.
This could have made like 10 sandwiches, I only made 4. We’re gonna freeze stuff for later.
Use plain or panko or seasoned breadcrumbs, or crush up crackers, parmesan Cheez⟐It, or croutons. Hell, crush up Ritz. Use what ya got.
Just melt butter with herbs/seasonings & spread it on the bun, then add mozzarella or provolone or whatever kind of cheese you like here if you’re so inclined. I went with Ricotta and Fontina because they seem more mellow for some reason.
I would use a little pasta here. Maybe orzo or stelline or any kind of pastina.
Of course you can use sausage, or veal, or pork, or whatever floats your boat.
The spinach could have used some type of vinegar maybe, to cut the richness? Lemon would work too, but I’m not a huge fan. We had these with a nice small side salad.
I feel like red bell pepper may not have been out of place here somewhere? In the meatball sauteed? Roasted red peppers on top?
I hate rice in meatballs, so I subbed in veggies for my cabbage rolls, and that really worked well.
FoundationsMeatball Before & AfterAccoutrementsRoll out! Sub assembly collage.
So, there you have it. What do you think? Do you make a similar sub or know of a restaurant or food truck that does? What other kind of soup would make a good meatball sub? My wife suggested French onion. That seems doable and delicious.
What if we got weird with cheddar cheese-filled meatballs dipped in tomato soup? Broccoli cheddar soup inspired, made with meatballs sort of like ham loaf ? I suggested a meatloaf made like a green bean holiday casserole and the family told me that the madness had to stop. (It’s not that far off from mushroom meatloaf mayhem.)
Wait. Ground turkey, boxed stuffing as the breadcrumbs, and a cranberry glaze? That would make one hell of a meatball sub or a meatloaf. (Sort of like my Thanksgiving sliders?)
I was recently reminded of this, & it’s pretty good comfort food. It’s like if chicken noodle soup was a casserole. Once upon a time I started then abandoned a blog for recipes. I remembered this was living there.
I think I may sauté a mirepoix next time I do this. I also have thought about adding canned condensed cream of chicken soup to make it a creamy casserole.
Sometimes I lack the patience to boil or a chicken or to break-down a rotisserie chicken. I have grilled chicken tenders for this, and this time I baked them. I used rotisserie chicken seasoning, table blend, poultry seasoning, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, & parsley throughout the process.
I’d start by roasting a chicken (425°F for 15 to 20 minutes per pound) & reserving the liquid, using a rotisserie chicken, grilling tenders (6 to 8 minutes on medium-high on a countertop/press) grill, or baking them (20 min. @ 400°F). Just get it to 165°F internal. You can boil a whole chicken too, but that will take some time.
Here’s my version written out:
Ingredients:
1 (16 oz.) bag Kluski noodles. (Obviously whatever kind of noodles you like is fine.)
I’m gonna call it beefaroni anyway, because these names are just ridiculous:
The dish commonly sold as “Beefaroni” (a trademarked name owned by Conagra Brands) has several regional and generic names. Depending on where you are in the US, the most common non-trademarked names for this ground beef and macaroni tomato skillet are American Goulash, American Chop Suey, Slumgullion, or Johnny Marzetti. [1, 2, 3]
Right?
Boy are deez tasty.
At any rate, I was hungry for it… and I am not a fan of the Chef Boyardee stuff/ (Sorry, Chef!) We would have this occasionally when I was growing up, and it’s a comfort meal I guess. It’s easy enough, and safe for the beef part these days, pretty economical.
Below is how I do it. How do you do it, & what do you call it?
Bring 4 quarts water to boil in a stock pot, ad the bouillon cubes, Italian blend, & Dash.
Brown the ground beef in your skillet, hit it will all those spices… or whatever you got or like. We don’t measure here. Season until you think it’s too much, then keep going a little bit.
Drop that Cavatappi or whatever pasta shape you dig into that water for 7 minutes or the recommended time on the box. Make sure you stir it up every once in a while.
Drain the pasta, leave a lil’ bit of pasta water, return it to the warm yet off burner.
Dump in the ground beef, the tomato soup, and stir like you practiced with the pasta.
Put it in a bowl and eat it.
Notes?
Yeah, tomato soup! Not tomato sauce, pasta sauce, tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, or any of that for me. This is cheap.
Obviously if you would prefer any of that, do it.
Sauteed onions, diced tomatoes, some type of beans, or even bell peppers would probably be great in this.
This is a memory I’m not messing with though. I’m keeping it basic and cheap.
You should really buy my maze book. It has mazes like this, only in black & white. It has all the solutions, too.
Of course, you can just enjoy these here for free too, just like all the other ones on my blog. I really like it when people share their solutions in the comments or by tagging me on social media.
You can use my maze book like an adult coloring book too. Some people color in all the dead ends until the path is revealed. I fully support maze solution anarchy.
Maybe print these out & try them while you’re waiting for Easter dinner to cook, passing time before your seder meal for Passover, fasting for Ramadan, or you’re contemplating what to plant in your vegetable garden.
If you do celebrate Passover, Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr, Beltane, Ostara, Imbolc, Chaitra Navratri, Ram Navami, Vishu, Ugadi, Vaisakhi, Baisakhi, Hanamatsuri, Qingming, Walpirgis, just Spring Equinox… or some other holiday… Would you like a maze themed for that? I try to approach everything with a mix of reverence & levity. I like to learn about other people’s holidays and the meaning & traditions behind them.
I may have to do a guinea pig themed maze soon…
Oh yeah, you can get the vegetable garden one on a T-shirt or a bunch of other stuff at TeePublic or RedBubble if you’d like to wear it while you garden or hang it on your wall.
I got it in my head a while ago that I wanted to try some local pizza places back-to-back, and three of my favorites are super close to each other, so… why not? I set out to get 1 slice each from Beto’s, Slice on Broadway(in Beechview), & Badamo’s(in Dormont). They are all less than 2 miles apart, so it was only a few minutes from one to the other.
Instead of a Birthday dinner, we made this my birthday lunch, albeit a few days early. I have a problem with loving alliteration. Should this be dubbed the Carroll Clan Cut Crawl?
I’m not that guy that talks about one-bite rules or pizza flop, so I’ll rate all of these a 13/13. I think there are so many styles and recipes for pizza, they all deserve a spot at the table and some respect.
3 cheese cuts from Beto’s
🍕 Beto’s – $1.92/cheese slice | If you can’t get your head around Ohio Valley Style… I get it. But, it’s worth figuring out. I don’t put it in the same class as these New York Style pies, but there is room for many styles of pizza in this world. Beto’s is an institution. They are always packed. This stuff is a hit with me. It is simple, the crust is thick and square like Sicilian style with a savory sauce. The Provolone is just perfect, and the decision to leave it uncooked is wild but it works. I mean, you can ask them to cook it, but why? I got a small Mug root beer from the fountain. I love it. My son loves it, my wife is on the fence, and my daughter is not a fan (she got the mozzarella sticks). My son said Beto’s is his far & away favorite.
A slice from Slice on Broadway
🍕 Slice on Broadway – $3.50/cheese slice | They claim it’s NYC style pie made by Yinzers. I have never had a slice of pizza in NY, but I hope for New York’s sake it’s as good as this. The sauce is ever so slightly sweet… not overly sweet, but it hits. The crust is crispy and doughy. The cheese is absolutely just right. It was so nice & warm on a cold day… and it hits the spot consistently every time, even across different locations. I paired it with a Boylan’s Birch Beer. I ordinarily like to get it with Ricotta & meatball here. My daughter, son, & wife all loved it as usual. Of course I loved it too. I think Slice was my wife & daughter’s favorite.
A slice from Badamo’s
🍕 Badamo’s – $2.50/cheese slice | So much love and attention to the craft goes into this pie! Anthony & the people that work there are just incredibly cool and super welcoming. I opted for Pepperoni this time, but my son was getting full so I ended up eating his cheese slice too. The sauce is savory and delicious, it’s not sweet but it’s not acidic. The crust has an entirely different feel & taste than anyone else around. It’s delicious and perfectly crispy. I really need to try their Sicilian style too! The pepperoni is small and delicious without taking over. On regular trips, I like the Ricotta & basil. I paired it with a carton of Turner’s iced tea. My wife & daughter really liked this one, my son nope’d out for being full, and I loved it enough to have two slices. (Hey, listen to Black Tie Revue!)
All in all, to me the nearly side-by-side comparison was super fun, and confirmed that they’re all great pizza that can stand on their own, or stand together. It was a cool afternoon activity with the family & everyone was enthusiastic about the mini adventure.
We are lucky to have so many great independent & small chain pizza shops in the area with a wide variety of styles and flavors. I remember the first time trying Beto’s and I took it back to the old apartment in Dormont & the cheese was sort-of half-melted and it was just perfect. I remember when Slice opened and we checked it out and it was absolutely delicious. I remember going to A’Pizza Badamo in Mt. Lebanon before it moved to Dormont and absolutely loving their pie & the great people.
Of course, there are great spots all over in & around the city… but I kept this Crawl tight. If you did a pizza crawl, which spots would you hit? Bonus points for keeping them within say a 5 mile radius! Would you do more than 3? Could you?
![🧩 AiXeLsyD13 just solved "Banana!" on A-Maze in 8:45.3.
This session: 2/3 solved.
🏳️ Red Brick! -- 56.0s
🏁 Jason's Test Maze -- 1.8s
🏁 Banana! -- 8:45.3
Think you can beat me?
[Lemme know if you want the test url! We are looking for feedback!]](https://aixelsyd13.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/wp-17898477231676215161113381469191.png?w=1005)
![🧩 AiXeLsyD13 just solved "Banana!" on A-Maze in 8:45.3.
This session: 2/3 solved.
🏳️ Red Brick! -- 56.0s
🏁 Jason's Test Maze -- 1.8s
🏁 Banana! -- 8:45.3
Think you can beat me?
[Lemme know if you want the test url! We are looking for feedback!]](https://aixelsyd13.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/wp-17898477232311167688969755553375.png?w=1008)
