Halloween Treat roundup
Halloween is just around the corner and I thought we all could use a little dessert inspiration.
I’m thinking of making a fancy Halloween cake this year, just have to find the time. I really like the idea of painting on a cake or using some stencils.
Here are a few of my favorites I’ve made over the years.
Cutest, easiest ghost sugar cookies. If you can frost a cookie you can make these.
Chocolate zombie cake. Gotta show the zombie love.
And zombies need some brains to eat.
Dandies Marshmallow ghost cake. I love anything that’s creepy and cute at the same time.
Or you can get really crazy with pumpkins, spiderwebs, bats and more.
Personally I always want to make chic-o-stick cupcakes around Halloween, but can’t ever find them.
What are your favorite Halloween treats?
Halloween Spirit
This weekend we had our 3rd Annual Halloween Movie Marathon. It wasn’t as crazy as last year, where we went for two weekends in a row, but we still watched movies from Saturday night all the way through to Sunday night.
I made some pb cups & peppermint patties, because you have to have some Halloween candy. Some roasted pumpkin seeds for something salty. And of course, some pumpkin spice & espresso cupcakes, well, because I’m good at it. I didn’t, on the other hand, take photos. Mainly because of our spooky Halloween lighting.
Shawn also made tofurky dogs for everyone to fuel us through the night. And lots of coffee. LOTS of coffee and popcorn.
Anyway…this is just a preface to say that my post today is neither cute nor delicious. In fact, it’s creepy. Shawn and I have spent a good deal of time at the Natural History Museum lately. We are trying to take full advantage of our membership there. Not to mention they have amazingly cool stuff.
I thought this might be the only time of year when I could get away with sharing some of the awesome photos I’ve been able to get there at the museum and at special events. Get ready for a bunch of bones, insects and dead things. So if you’re squeamish, you’ve been warned.
Antlers in storage.
A walrus skull. Massive.
Shawn and a blue whale skull at the museum’s marine mammal warehouse. This whale was recovered after it was hit and killed by a commercial freight ship about 30 years ago.
The Natural History Museum is part of the network that collects dead animals that have been washed ashore for research. They have the second largest collection of sea mammals, right after the Smithsonian.
Hippo skull. I’m pretty sure this is Bubbles, but now I’m not positive.
We ended our pre-Halloween weekend by going to the museum’s haunted cave party. It was really a family thing, but it was lots of fun wandering around after hours in costumes. I’m totally obsessed with all the taxidermy they have. I am really just obsessed with everything in the museum.
Oh and in case you were wondering what we watched this weekend…here is the playlist…
- Halloween
- Ghostbusters
- Chopping Mall
- An American Werewolf in London
- A Nightmare on Elm Street
- Scanners
- Child’s Play
- Carrie
- Poltergeist
- Simon, King of the Witches
- The Prowler
- Crawlspace
- The Shining
- Interview with the Vampire
- The Exorcist
Pumpkin curry
It’s pumpkin season. Hooray!
This is the year I had to actually roast one, not just get the puree from a can. I wanted to make something different than the usual pumpkin bread or the like.
I would like to introduce you to my version of pumpkin curry…also lovingly known as the orangest of orange curries.
So it started innocently with this little pumpkin. It was sliced in half, all it’s guts removed and then placed face down on a baking sheet.
Baked in a preheated oven for about 45 minutes until it was tender and left it to cool.
Then the fun part…peeling the skin off. Well, I thought it was fun.
Then this pumpkin got chopped up and ready to meet it’s other orange friends…
Two sweet potatoes. (Also appropriately chopped for the occasion.)
Even an orange cauliflower showed up for the party.
Where was I going with this?
Sorry I was hypnotized by the swirl of coconut milk and curry paste.
There’s all the orange veggies having a party in a pot. Making curry love. Ok, that’s creepy.
Some carrots were supposed to come to this party too but they may have been eaten on the way there.
Oh dear. I think it’s past my bedtime. I’m writing about vegetable parties.
Here comes the recipe!
Orangest of Orange Pumpkin Curry
1 roasted pumpkin innards
2 sweet potatoes chopped
1 head of orange cauliflower
2 Tbsp coconut oil
3 gloves of garlic, minced
2 cans of coconut milk
1/3 cup curry paste, or more if you like
1 cup vegetable broth
Heat oil in a stock pot over medium heat. Add garlic and curry paste and stir to combine for about a minute. Carefully add the coconut milk and then the vegetable broth and stir together. Add in the pumpkin. I decided to smoosh it in, but you could leave it as chunks if you preferred. Add in the remaining chopped vegetables.
Let simmer covered for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. When your veggies have softened, remove lid and simmer for 5 to 10 more minutes.
Serve over rice.
Vegan coffee cake
I have really good news for everyone. You can thank little vegan planet for finding this one. Trader Joe’s started stocking a few cake mixes and whenever I see something new on the shelves I check to see if it’s vegan. I picked a box of vanilla cake and it was definitely not vegan so I didn’t bother checking the rest. Turns out, the coffee cake is vegan. I don’t usually make boxed baked goods, but hey, who doesn’t like an easy dessert every once and awhile.
So I followed the directions on the box using almond milk and Earth Balance instead of milk & butter. Threw in a teaspoon of egg replacer and 2 tablespoons of water. Did some stiring and some crumbling. Forty minutes later we had a delicious coffee cake.
So go make some freaking coffee cake already. It’s easy, it tastes good. It’s vegan. Yay!
Italian Eggplant Pasta
Half way through today I realized that it’s my veganniversary. I’ve been vegan for 5 years now. I’m pretty excited about it. I’m looking forward to a time when I’ve been vegan longer than not.
I thought I’d share this little recipe that I made the other night. It’s inspired by eggplant cacciatore, but there aren’t any bell peppers. So I’m not sure what to call it, but it’s delicious and you should make it. Maybe I’ll call it Super Yummy Eggplant Pasta Thing. What do you think?
Anyway, here’s the recipe, maybe you can come up with a name.
Super Yummy Eggplant Pasta Thing
- 1 eggplant, chopped into bite size cubes
- 1 red onion, chopped
- 1/2 small head of garlic, minced
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1/2 tsp thyme
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1 26 oz jar of marinara sauce
- pasta of your choice
- olive oil
Begin with the eggplant by salting the pieces and letting them sweat while you prepare the other ingredients.
Put on a large pot of salted water to boil for your pasta. Cook according to the instructions for your particular pasta. I only recommend doing this first since I made an entire package of penne and the water took forever to boil on my spare burner.
Heat about 1 Tbsp of olive oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat. Once the oil has warmed, add in the onion. Saute until it has softened. Add in the garlic and stir until it becomes fragrant.
Add the marinara and spices into the pan, stiring together. Reduce heat and let simmer. A note here, my marinara had basil already in it, but if yours doesn’t you may want to add 1/2 tsp.
Rinse your eggplant of salt and dry. It doesn’t have to be bone dry, just get most of the water droplets off.
While the sauce is simmering, in another pan, heat some more oil and add in the eggplant. Saute until the eggplant is slightly browned and softened.
Combine the sauce and the eggplant in whichever has the larger pan. Continue to simmer for about 10 minutes. That’s it!
You can either mix with all the pasta or serve as a chunky sauce on top.
