Bloody Rats for Halloween....

1 pound ground beef

1/4 onion, chopped

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup dry bread crumbs

1/2 (1.25 ounce) packet meatloaf seasoning mix (2T)

1/2 cup cubed Cheddar cheese

1-1/2 (10 ounce) cans tomato sauce

1/2 cup white sugar

1-1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1/2 ounce uncooked spaghetti, broken into fourths

1/4 carrot, cut into 1/8-inch thick slices or 2 for each rat

1-1/2 teaspoons frozen green peas or 2 for each rat

1.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
2.In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, onion, egg, bread crumbs, and meatloaf seasoning.

3.Use your hands to mix until well blended.

4. Measure out 1/3 cupfuls of the meat mixture and mold around a cube of cheese like a meatball. Shape into a point at one end and lengthen the body a bit by rolling between your hands. Place your ''rat'' into a shallow baking dish, and continue with the remaining meat.

5.Insert pieces of uncooked spaghetti into the rounded end of the rats to make tails. I used 2 pieces of spaghetti for each rat and just shoved them up the back until i hit the cheese. The noodles will cook in the sauce while it bakes.

6. Add two pea eyes and two carrot ears to each rat.

7.In a medium bowl, stir together the tomato sauce, sugar and Worcestershire sauce.

8.Pour over the rats in the dish and cover the dish with a lid or aluminum foil. Make sure to get it on the tails so that they cook.

9.Bake for 45 minutes in the preheated oven. Uncover the dish and continue to bake for another 30 to 40 minutes, basting occasionally with the sauce to glaze the rats.

10.Carefully transfer the rats to a serving platter so that their delicate tails don't fall off.

11.Spoon some of the tomato sauce around them and serve.