Laura, of “Real Mom Kitchen” is a mom busily keeping track of three children and a husband. Since she was little, she has loved to cook. She keeps a file of “tried and true” recipes and loves to shake them up with new ideas. This month, she shakes up taco night with all-new SeaPak Popcorn Fish. Check out Savoring Shrimp and Seafood to see what she and her family think about Popcorn Fish and how they served them at the dinner table.

I have a hard time getting my family to eat any seafood. However, SeaPak Popcorn Shrimp is one item I know that I can always get them to eat. I was excited to hear that SeaPak now had Popcorn Fish. This Popcorn Fish isn’t filled with diced fish pieces. It actually is filled with Pollock cut from whole fillets. Much better! So I decided to give the Popcorn Fish a try and used them in place of the Popcorn Shrimp in a recipe for Fiesta Shrimp Tacos. It was one of many shrimp and seafood recipes I found on the SeaPak website. The whole family gobbled the tacos down and loved the Popcorn Fish. No complaints at all from the dinner table!

Fiesta Fish Tacos

Tacos

• 1 (22 oz) package of SeaPak Popcorn Fish
• 10 flour tortillas, heated according to package directions
• 14 oz bag cole slaw mix (shredded cabbage)
• 8 oz cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 large tomato, diced
• 2 cans sliced black olives
• 10 lime wedges

Sauce

• 8 oz sour cream
• 1 oz packet ranch dressing mix
• 1.25 oz packet taco seasoning
• Milk, as needed to thin

BAKE Popcorn Fish according to package directions.

COMBINE sauce ingredients, adding taco seasoning to taste. Thin sauce if need with 1-2 tablespoons of milk.

SPREAD a tablespoon of sauce over each warm tortilla, shredded cabbage, cheese, tomato and olives. Top each taco with 5 cooked Popcorn Fish. Serve with lime wedges.

Lucky for you this blog doesn’t come with audio because I’ve had the song “On top of spaghetti, all covered in cheese …” stuck in my head for over a day and I might be tempted to sing you a few bars. (Why is it always some random old song that gets stuck in your head??) No matter. I decided to channel this energy into something you might appreciate and have come up with one last Halloween meal idea – Anthill Spaghetti with a side of Savory Cheesy Bread.

Before you get nervous, I will tell you that the “ants” on top of my spaghetti are really popcorn shrimp. (You can think of this recipe as seafood version of chicken parmesan but in a more kid-friendly format.) I added some fresh spinach leaves for color in the pictures but those are optional. The brilliant part of this recipe is that you can add a bit of diced zucchini and yellow squash into the sauce for a little extra hit of veggies. I bet your family won’t even notice!

Here’s a little recap of the spooky recipes I’ve featured this Halloween. I started with Witch’s Fingers with Dragon Tails and Pumpkin Soup. Then, I served up Pumpkin Patch Salads with Dracula’s Popcorn. I finished the Halloween dinner series with today’s post, Anthill Spaghetti. Are you inspired yet to get creative for Halloween dinner this year? What are you going to be cooking up for your boys and ghouls next Sunday night? If you have other fun and creative ideas for Halloween dinner, I would love to hear about them.

Anthill Spaghetti

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Total time start to finish: 15 minutes
Makes: 4-6 servings

• 1 package (20 oz) SeaPak® Popcorn Shrimp
• 1 package (1 lb) spaghetti noodles
• 1 package (2 lbs) spaghetti sauce
• 1 medium zucchini, diced
• 1 medium yellow squash, diced
• shredded mozzarella cheese

PREHEAT oven to 450°F. Bake Popcorn Shrimp according to package directions. When Popcorn Shrimp has 8 minutes left to cook, place Savory Cheesy Bread (recipe below) in the oven.

COOK the spaghetti noodles according to package direction. When spaghetti noodles have 7 minutes left to cook add diced squash and zucchini to pot. Continue cooking until noodles are fully cooked to desired level of tenderness. Drain and set aside.

POUR spaghetti sauce into a large pot on high heat. Stir occasionally until sauce starts to simmer. Add noodles with zucchini and squash to sauce and stir to fully incorporate. Turn heat to low until ready to serve.

PORTION spaghetti noodles into 4 bowls. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over top. (Place bowls under a broiler for 1 minute to melt cheese if desired.) Add the ants (popcorn shrimp) to the top of the spaghetti. Serve immediately.

Savory Cheesy Bread

Prep Time: 2 minutes
Cook Time: 8 minutes

• 1 loaf French bread, sliced
• olive oil
• Mrs. Dash® original
• shredded cheddar cheese (or shredded cheese of choice)

PREHEAT oven to 450°F. Use a pastry brush to brush olive oil over slices of bread.

SPRINKLE slices with Mrs. Dash and then top with shredded cheese.

BAKE for 8 minutes or until cheese is fully melted.

Did you know that October is National Popcorn Month? Who knew popcorn had a month? I decided it would be fun to create a Halloween dinner all around this month’s featured food. Of course I have to put a seafood spin on it, so I will be serving two types of “popcorn” this Halloween – popcorn fish and good old-fashioned popping corn!

My popcorn dinner starts with a Pumpkin Patch Salad. I use our new SeaPak Popcorn Fish as the “pumpkins” and the “patch” part is really all about artful assembly of the usual salad makings. Bring your kids in to the kitchen and let them help by assembling their own Pumpkin Patches. Even very young kids can at least add the “pumpkins” to the top of the salad.

Just to the make the meal a little more fun, instead of the usual garlic toast I would typically suggest with a dinner salad, I have a super simple recipe for Dracula’s Popcorn. What makes Dracula’s popcorn special? Garlic, of course! The really special part though is that the whole meal takes less than 20 minutes to make. Now that is a Halloween trick of the best kind!

Pumpkin Patch Salad

I love this salad. It is a great way to sneak a little seafood into your family’s diet. And it takes no extra time to dress it up a little and turn your salad into a Pumpkin Patch for extra fun on Halloween.

Prep Time: 8 minutes
Cook Time: 14 minutes
Total Time Start to Finish: 16 minutes
Makes: 4 large salads or 6 side salads

• 1 package (22 oz) SeaPak® Popcorn Fish
• 1-2 heads of green leaf lettuce
• 2 cucumbers
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 bag sliced carrots or 2 large carrots peeled and sliced on the diagonal
• Dressing of choice

PREHEAT oven. Bake Popcorn Fish for 14 minutes or until fully cooked.

CUT green lettuce and portion into 4 bowls.

CUT cucumber on a diagonal. Slide slices between lettuce and the bowl to form the fence around the pumpkin patch.

CUT red bell pepper into strips. Slide one strip into the corners of the dish to form fence posts.

TUCK carrot slices into the salads in front of the cucumber slices. When Popcorn Fish are fully baked, remove from oven. Top the Pumpkin Patch salads with the Popcorn Fish.

SERVE with dressing of choice.

Dracula’s Popcorn

This is a really fun alternative to bread at dinner. Popcorn and bread are both starches right?? And an unexpected side dish with a fun twist and festive name just may help you entice your trick-or-treaters to eat a little dinner before heading out to hunt for endless amounts of candy.

Prep Time: 3 minutes
Cook Time: 3 minutes
Total Time start to finish: 6 minutes
Makes: 4 side dishes

• 1 3.5-ounce package plain microwave popcorn or 1/2 cup popcorn kernels
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
• salt

POP the popcorn according to the package directions.

HEAT the butter and garlic in a small saucepan over medium heat until golden and bubbly (about 2 minutes). Scoop garlic out and discard.

TOSS the popcorn with the melted garlic butter and parmesan cheese in a large bowl. Add salt to taste (if you are using microwave popcorn you probably won’t need to add extra salt).