Clearly this year’s Halloween is going to look a little bit different, but that will by no means be stopping us from having some startling, socially-distanced spookiness. I thought it would be fun to use this month’s blog to share some inspiration for some healthy Halloween treats and some exciting Halloween games to keep the annual festivities thriving🎃👻.
To tell you the truth, when I started looking for some cool ideas, I wasn’t sure how much was out there, how many pretty pumpkins I’d have to scroll past or white sheet-covered children would fill the screen. But wow, and I mean WOW… people are creative! I thought we did Halloween well, we definitely give it a good dose of spooky, but I thoroughly enjoyed sifting through countless (EASY!) ideas of how to give your Halloween that extra kick.
Let’s start with food…
Healthy Halloween Treats
First up from the gorgeous “Hello Fresh” blog we have some…
Munchy Apple Minions!!!!
I mean if you ever needed a way to introduce more fruit into your kids’ diet, heck into your diet, these are the way:
- Cut the middles out of each quarter of the apple to create a mouth
- Coat the inside of the cut gap with a filling of peanut butter
- Stick 4 sunflower seeds into the top of the mouth like jagged little teeth
- Add 1 sliced strawberry inside the mouth- to give our minions a tongue
- Now for the eyes Hello Fresh use sugar eyes glued on with some peanut butter… but, of course, our cheeky supernature alternative is to stick on two of our Raspberry Chocolate Raisins... I mean it’s Halloween!... Raspberry-coloured eyes are all the more spooky ;).
Now here is what these Munchy Minions will look like… I mean I question my talents at food art but I have to say, with that step-by-step, I think even I would struggle to go wrong!
Next up on the snacks front we have this slightly kinder looking creation.. but of course still on theme, and most definitely just as tasty:
Sweet Potato Pumpkin Face Chips
These “Food Matters” beauties just look like the perfect way to turn an easy run-of-the-mill snack into some exciting Halloween fun.
Ingredients
- 1 large sweet potato
- 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
Method
- Preheat oven to 200° Celsius.
- Cut ends off sweet potatoes. Slice them thinly, then using a sharp vegetable knife cut out shapes to resemble Jack O’ Lanterns.
- In a large bowl, toss sweet potato slices with coconut oil, cinnamon, and salt, making sure all pieces are coated.
- Spread out over a baking sheet. Bake for 40-45 minutes (until edges are lightly browned), flipping halfway.
Ok, so the more I searched the more I found, and by the end I think I was just about ready to dish out a full five course meal of spookiness. But I shall restrain myself… sort of… moving on to the main meal!!
I have to say Food Matters have a VAST range of Halloween creations, and the credit for our final two recipes goes to them and their spine-chilling magic.
Quinoa Chili In a Pumpkin Cauldron
Ingredients
- 1 pumpkin – hollowed out & seeded (keep the seeds and the lid)
- 2 cups of cooked quinoa
- 1 can chickpeas & kidney beans
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 medium carrot, diced
- 1 large celery stalk, diced
- 1 cup mushrooms, sliced or diced
- 1 bell pepper, any color you like!
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 2-3 tsp ground chili (depends on how hot you like it)
- Salt & pepper to taste
- Cilantro or parsley, roughly chopped for garnish
- Avocado, diced for garnish
- Olive oil for light frying
Method
- Preheat oven to 180°C
- Cook quinoa as per packet instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions, carrots, celery, and mushrooms. Once coated in the olive oil, add the spices and stir. Cook through until onions are translucent and carrots and celery are nearly cooked through. All the residual moisture from the mushrooms should be cooked out by this point.
- Add the minced garlic and chopped bell pepper. Cook for 3-5 min
- Add the canned beans and tomatoes and give a good stir. If too thick, fill up half the can of tomatoes with water and add it into thin out.
- Let simmer on low for 10 minutes and remove from heat.
- Add in cooked quinoa and stir to combine. Pour your chili mixture into the hollowed-out pumpkin and place it on a baking tray and transfer to your oven.
- Bake for 45 min- 1 hr. Once the pumpkin is dark orange and you can pierce the inside and have no resistance from the knife when putting through the flesh, it’s ready to come out!
- Serve with the lid off to the side and a fresh sprinkle of cilantro or parsley, and have diced avocado on the side as an optional topping.
Finally, and as a chocolate-lover this one has my mouth watering the most…
Chocolate Mousse Jack O’Lanterns:
Ingredients
- 6 mandarins / oranges
- 2 cups soaked cashews
- 1 cup coconut cream
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 1/2 - 1 cup Food Matters Superfood Chocolate or raw cacao powder (1 cup will have a much richer flavour)
- Handful of mint leaves
Method
- Prep the mandarins by slicing off the tops (save these) and scooping out the fruit to leave an empty skin.
- Draw faces on the Jack-o’-lanterns.
- Make the chocolate filling by adding soaked cashews, coconut cream, maple syrup and Superfood Chocolate or raw cacao to the food processor and process all ingredients in the food processor until smooth and creamy.
- Fill the emptied mandarins with chocolate filling and place in the fridge to set for 1-2 hours.
- Slit a small cut in the top of the mandarin tops with a sharp knife and slot in 1-2 mint leaves.
- Once the chocolate has set, remove from the fridge and serve with the mandarin tops… And of course, for a little crunch, we have a feeling some Chocolate Covered Hazelnuts would be delicious paired with a bite of smooth ‘moussey’ creaminess… what a combo!
Fun and Easy Halloween Games!
Now that we have the tasty treats in the bag, let’s move on to the activities!🎉
Let’s start off nice and simple,
Grab some ping pong balls, draw on spooky, googly eyes and get some ‘beer-less beer pong’ going... otherwise known as EYEBALL PONG!!👀
Another easy twist on a classic favourite is 'ghost-ghost-witch'. I think you know where this is going... Throw on your least favourite white sheet, for a good old-fashioned game of 'duck-duck-goose' where instead of our lovely farm animals running around, the 'witch' must chase the ghost around the circle and when they catch them, they put a spell on them to pull a spooky face, or do a funny dance or whatever other witchy spells you've got up your cloak sleeves.
Ok let’s keep the ball rolling.. now it’s time to head over to that closet full of toilet paper rolls we know you’ve been hoarding since the last lockdown.👀
Well we have found a use for them:
GHOST BOWLINGGGGG
Well a picture says a thousand words and I think that one’s pretty self-explanatory so let me hit you with my favourite… It’s a good one, I promise.
The one, the only, PUMPKIN PUTT PUTT GOLF
Get yourself a good pumpkin, scoop out the gooey guts, cut out the face like the picture, whip out your golf clubs and get putting!
OK guys, so I had to cut myself off by this point because clearly the ideas are endless... officially no excuses for that startling, socially-distanced spookiness!! So get the ghouls going guys and enjoy some funky Halloween fun this year!
Until next time,
Happy snacking! xoxo