Edible Jack O'Lantern

Happy Halloween everybody! In celebration of this wonderful holiday, I have created a non-traditional jack o'lantern. You see, us college folks aren't allowed to have the large knives required to carve a pumpkin. And we aren't allowed to light the candle inside the pumpkin. And we don't have a front porch to place them on. So, instead, I made this. It was fairly simple, quite delicious, and close to nutritious. So here's how it works:
First, toast a piece of bread. It doesn't necessarily have to be completely toasted (in fact, I personally prefer it that way), but it needs to be warm and fairly solid (you'll be cutting it into a pumpkin shape later...or now, if you find that easier...which you probably will).
Then, spread a very generous amount of Nutella on your piece of toast. Come on, it's Halloween, you're allowed to get a little out of control.

It'll end up looking like this (except not sideways...I have no idea why my photos sometimes turn sideways when they're being uploaded. I took this picture portrait style. There's no reason it should look like that, and it doesn't when I look at the actual file. hmmmm....maybe there's a phantom haunting my computer....Anyway,)
Next comes the fun part. Making the face. Take a banana and cut it in half length-ways. Then, cut out the curviest part of the banana and use this as the mouth. Cut out pieces to make missing teeth.

(Again, I have no idea why it appears vertically on here. The file itself is not like that. grrrrr...). Be sure to keep the stem of your banana. Now, place this on your piece of toast where you think the mouth should go. (If you haven't already cut your toast into a pumpkin-shape, make sure to keep some room so you can do this later).
Next comes the eyes. You can use whatever you want/have available for this part. I thought of using cheerios because I happen to have some, but ultimately decided on raspberries because I want to use them before they go bad. I loved how the raspberries turned out, though. It made my jack o'lantern look blood thirsty. To make eyes like mine, using raspberries, first clean your raspberry (you should only need one). Then, slice off the bottom tip. Then, slice the remaining piece in half so that you have two rings.

Now, place these on your jack o'lantern where you think the eyes should go.
For the nose, I used an oddly-shaped banana chip. But you can use whatever nose-shaped food you have lying around. Place this where you think the nose should go.
Next, cut the toast into a pumpkin shape, being careful not to cut the mouth or eyes. (if you haven't done so already).
Finally, use the step of your banana from earlier and place it at the top, so that it acts as the "pumpkin stem".
And, voila: an edible jack o'lantern.

Feel free to eat the scraps as you go (that way you are able to have all the nutrition and deliciousness of a full banana....plus, you paid for this food, why would you want to waste any of it?). And be sure to eat, enjoy, and clean up the mess. Because if you used two plates like I did, there's definitely going to be a mess. And messes like this could be the scariest part of your Halloween.

Dorm Food

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