You don’t need to have a big Halloween party to enjoy these adorable, sweet and savory treats. I have some terrific recipe ideas to get you started on your own wonderful love affair with October.

Putting out Skeleton and Brain Dip for an after school snack means they might eat like to eat their veggies instead of Goldfish crackers or cookies. Serve Yummy Mummy Meatloaf for dinner and you won’t get any complaints about “mealoaf again.”

If you’re in the mood for a party, try hosting a “trick or treat dinner” before the main event. This year, Halloween falls on a Sunday, which is a perfect day to try a party like this. Another idea for earlier in October is to host pumpkin carving. Set up tables in your driveway or garage, make some treats to serve, and make it BYOP (bring your own pumpkin).

I like to serve something hearty such as Chicken Soup with Dumplings or Route 66 Chili and cornbread for the adults. Halloweenies were introduced to me by a good friend and now they are an annual tradition. Treat the adults to a cup of Apple Pie Cider (if it is a chilly night) or Apple Pie Punch (if the night turns out to be warmer or you live in a warmer climate) to accompany the trick or treaters or pumpkin carvers, and they’ll be doing the Monster Mash in no time.

Read more by Robin Horrigan

Robin Horrigan writes the column Cooking from the Carpool Lane. She lives on Boston’s south shore and is a stay at home Mom to Ryan, seven, and Maegan, three. Her fascination with cooking sprouted from watching Julia Child cook on a little black and white TV; Robin helped her Mom in the kitchen until she was old enough to ask Santa for her very own copy of The Joy of Cooking. She experiments with all kinds of cooking and baking, from quick weeknight dinners and easy cookies to long simmering weekend stews and complicated, fancy desserts. Ryan thinks if his Mom will ever be famous, it will be “for her awesome cookies.” Her friends say it will be for the cocktails. Either way, if she’s not doing volunteer work or shopping for shoes, you’ll probably find her in the kitchen. Robin’s favorite recipe.

My father carving a beautifully roasted lamb, my brothers exclaiming over the silky texture of the chilled soup, the children relishing their brussels sprouts… it just doesn’t happen.

What does happen is that the kids are hungry long before the meal is ready, they need their plates of food dished first, something spills to soak the tablecloth and there are 17 requests for refills and other accompaniments all at different moments. By the time my sister in law, my Mom and I all sit down to actually eat our own meals, we’re sweating and exhausted. And our chilled soup has actually gotten warm.

For Easter this year, my solution to the usual chaos is a Barefoot Contessa-inspired casual brunch buffet that has foods to please the adults as well as the kids with very few modifications. I’ll do a station outside the kitchen for coffee, juice and the Peach Bellinis. The Sour Cream Coffee Cake and dessert will be made a day ahead of time. I have a double oven, so the Orange Baked Ham can go in one while the asparagus roasts in another (small kitchen hint: if you only have one oven, try steaming the asparagus instead of roasting–it will still please people). Hands’ on tasks: arrange the salad, carve the ham, and scramble a huge pan of eggs. This will leave me plenty of time to enjoy the short as well as the tall folks in my family, no sweating required.

I’ll put aside a little bit of fruit from the Fruity Spinach Salad for the kids, and I’ll need to omit the nuts from the coffee cake recipe because of an allergy, but otherwise this menu will please the entire crowd. Lastly, my friend Eleanor’s genius idea of turning a simple pan of brownies into Easter Brownie Cups would charm even the most hard-hearted adult. View her instructions here. I found the edible Easter grass at Target.

The great thing about brunch is that it is so easy to add to and change without messing with the overall theme of the meal. If this menu is too sweet for you or you need another dish, try a wild rice salad. Need more bread? Brioche and fruit butter or fresh bagels and flavored cream cheeses would be perfect. Happy Easter!

Photo courtesy of Eleanor Touchet

Two of our more Irish-inclined guest bloggers are planning a bit of a food extravaganza for St. Patrick’s Day. It has everything to do with fun and flavor, and not a lot to do with luck.

Robin Horrigan, guest blogger

Our house is covered with shamrocks and the local leprechauns have been getting into a lot of mischief. The head leprechaun in charge, ahem, that’s me, is planning a fun feast for dinner on the 17th.

My husband and I both love hearty Irish cuisine and always find March to be the perfect, blustery month to enjoy it. This week we roasted pre-seasoned lamb chops from Whole Foods and made Martha Stewart’s recipe for colcannon, the traditional Irish potato & cabbage casserole, to complement the meal. Tomorrow I am starting the day by baking Irish Soda Bread to go with Beef & Guinness Stew, and we’re finishing off with the Hot Nutty Irishman, an Irish coffee drink with Frangelico, Kahlua, Baileys and whipped cream while we snuggle up to watch one of our favorite movies, “Waking Ned Devine.” All leprechauns invited!

Julie Hallinan, guest blogger

I am not Irish, but my last name certainly is. I decided that was reason enough to cook corned beef and cabbage for the first time in my life, coupled with the fact that we have a special guest for dinner tonight. I found an easy corned beef, cabbage, carrot and potato recipe to prepare in the slow cooker–similar to this one. I can smell it now, fragrant after simmering all day. (Good thing I like cabbage.) Stay tuned for the reviews.

And don’t forget the Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes topped with “frothy” Baileys Irish Cream [cheese] frosting!

Recently, after playing in the snow with the kids, I realized that I didn’t have any marshmallows for their hot chocolate. I went to Whole Foods in hopes that I could walk out quickly with a bag of regular marshmallows. No such luck. The ever helpful staff directed me toward the bakery. Turns out that they have freshly made marshmallows–the peppermint kind. I bought them but was a bit annoyed at how everything was so gourmet. That’s where my luck changed.

I also bought some chocolate bars (gourmet, because that’s the only kind they have!) hoping to salvage the weird marshmallows by making s’mores. That’s where serendipity produced the most amazing s’mores.

I started by placing Keebler graham crackers on a cookie tray lined with aluminum foil. I just broke the graham cracker in half along the dotted line so that I had two squares. I placed one pepermint marshmallow cube on one cracker and a chunk of the Ghirardelli milk chocolate on the other cracker.

I preheated the oven at low broil, then placed the cooking tray in the middle rack of the oven. I cooked it about 3 minutes, until the marshmallows started to caramelize and turned light brown. Took the tray out of the oven and served immediately. AMAZING!

A hot cup of French Roast (hot cocoa for the kids) and plenty of napkins, and you are good to go.

Photo by Paul Jin