Halloween Cancy Chocolate Bar

To prepare for Halloween, prepare to have leftover candy from your kids that you are not going to know what to do with! Besides donating to Unicef (which is a great cause) you should make this candy chocolate bar! Aside from having all the ingredients at your whim for this…the Halloween candy…you only need to other things.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Halloween candy!!
We used:
Whoppers
Candy corn
Tootsie rolls
Reese’s peanut butter cups
Ghost sprinkles
12 oz semi-sweet chocolate
¼ cup coconut milk

Line a baking sheet with wax or parchment paper.

Chop up your candy into the size you want.

In a double boiler, heat about an inch of water on the bottom, and in the top melt your chocolate, constantly stirring, slowly adding a little bit of coconut milk at a time while stirring so that it is completely absorbed.

Pour chocolate onto baking sheet, sprinkle with candy, stick in freezer, and eat when ready!

This is particularly great with ice cream!!

 

 

Squid Ink Couscous

Nothing says adult spooky like cooking with squid ink! This dish will impress all of your fancy grown up friends out there, and is great for Halloween dinner parties. We have made for you squid ink couscous, topped with Andouille sausage, oven roasted acorn squash, and dehydrated kale! Enjoy!

Ingredients: serves 4

3 cups pearl couscous
4 teaspoons squid ink
½ yellow onion
2 cloves garlic
1 acorn squash
4 pre-cooked Andouille sausages
2 large leaves kale
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 Tablespoon canola oil
1 teaspoon garlic salt
kosher salt

I always like starting by preparing the items that top the dish, so that I can have that out of the way and cooked.

Preheat oven to 400. Cut acorn squash in half, then into 1 inch thick slices. Using a knife, remove skin, cube, toss in oil, place on baking sheet, then sprinkle with garlic salt. Cook squash for about 30 minutes, rotating half way through.

Reduce heat to 275. Tear kale up into small pieces, discarding the stem, and placing on a baking sheet.   Cook kale for 15 minutes.

Since the sausage is already cooked, simply cut on a diagonal and cook at medium high until you get a slight sear. This will also bring out the spiciness of the meat.

Set all of this aside so we can now make our couscous. Melt butter in a large non stick sauce pan on medium high heat. While that is melting mince up garlic and onion. Cook onion and garlic in butter until onion softens and becomes semi translucent. Add 4 ½ cups of water to onion and garlic and bring to a boil. Add squid ink and make sure that it completely dissolves before adding the couscous. Bring the water back to a boil, lower to a simmer, cover and let simmer for 10 minutes.

Once the couscous is done, fluff it with a fork. Serve in a dish, pinch salt to your taste, top with squash, then sausage, then add the kale at the very end.

Boo!!!

 

Vegetable Bone Pocket

Welcome to the boneyard!! These vegetable pockets are great for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, standing on your head, dancing in the halls…whatever your heart desires. What is even better about these is that they are super easy to put together, a great last minute Halloween party item. To make it even easier we used premade pizza dough as the crust, and there is nothing wrong with that! Sometimes you just need a little cheat to make things go easier.

Enjoy your meal, bonedaddy!

Ingredients: depending on size makes about 5-6

4 Pillsbury pizza doughs (it is super easy, and can just roll right out)
3 large leaves kale
1 medium leek
1 /2 cup shredded Brussel sprouts
3 Tablespoons canola oil
2 teaspoons garlic salt
2 cups cubed pepper jack cheese
Pinch of flour

Start by chopping up all of your vegetables. Heat oil in a sauté pan on medium high heat, and place vegetables in. Sprinkle salt on top, and sauté until slightly cooked, about 6 minutes.

Next preheat oven to 425. While preheating start rolling out your dough on a lightly floured surface, roll out one at a time so it doesn’t get cray in your work area. Once you roll out the dough, cut shapes of bones that are about 8 inches long, and 3 inches wide. Place vegetable mix on the dough, making sure that you don’t get too much towards the edges of your bone shape because the oil will make it tough to close all the way. Top with cheese and place another bone cut out on top.

Once you have filled all of your bones, use a fork to pinch the sides down to close all the way.

Place in oven and cook for 14 minutes, or until golden brown, turning half way through!

Enjoy!

 

Devil Eggs

We are always a fan of the classic deviled egg; it is a great go to appetizer, and in this case an awesome thing to dress up!

Enjoy our Devil Eggs!

Ingredients: makes 2 dozen –make sure you have a ziplock  bag      

A dozen eggs
½ cup roasted red peppers
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
¼ cup canola oil
1 fresh red pepper
Cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons kosher salt

Place all 12 eggs in warm water and set to high heat. Once the water comes to a boil, let boil for 12 minutes. Remove from water, and set eggs in an ice bath.

Once all eggs are cool, peel, and slice in half. Remove yolk and set aside.

Now we can make the filling, in a blender combine oil, salt, mustard, yolk, and roasted red pepper and blend until smooth. If you want it smoother add more oil.

To pipe the filling, place into a ziplock bag and cut the corner off fill in a circular motion.

To finish them off, cut pepper into thin slices, and then into little triangles to create the horns, and then sprinkle with cayenne pepper.

Let chill in refrigerator and then serve!

Happy Halloween 2015

Happy Halloween! We have a week of awesome Halloween recipes. Some are playful, some are a bit more on the grownup side, but they are all delicious!

Cheddar Filled Pretzel Bites

Alas we are in October, the month of my birth, the month of one of my favorite holidays, and an awesome month to celebrate the soft pretzel! According to the tales, pretzels were invented in Italy by monks in 600s from leftover breads. Pretzels have since been linked to Christianity, and featured in many Catholic holidays and traditions. The Germans really grabbed onto these traditions, and it is the Germans we have to thank for immigrating to America and introducing the US to pretzels!! There is some history with your food.

To honor the Oktober tradition of enjoying a good soft pretzel and some beer, we have made cheddar stuffed pretzels balls. This dish is really easy and is great with an Oktoberfest beer.

Ingredients: makes about 2 dozen

11 cup warm water + 1 Tablespoon
1 envelope active dry yeast
3 cups bread flour or all-purpose flour plus more for work surface
1 tablespoon coarse kosher salt
2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, well softened
Vegetable oil for bowl
Medium cheddar cheese
2/3 cup baking soda
One egg

 



Stir together 1 cup warm water and yeast in a large bowl and let stand until foam forms. If it doesn’t, start over.

In a smaller bowl, stir together flour, salt, and light brown sugar.

Add flour mixture and butter to yeast mixture, and stir together completely and then knead with your hands. Take dough out of bowl and wipe with oil, put dough back in, cover, and let stand in refrigerator for an hour.

Once an hour is up preheat oven to 450 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper and rub a little oil on it.

Cube cheese into small inch pieces.

Cut dough into three pieces and one at a time roll out onto a flour dusted surface. Cut into 8 pieces. Place a cube of cheddar into the middle of the dough, and roll, making sure the dough seals around it. Set aside, and continue until you have made all of your pretzel bites.

Boil 10 cups of water and 2/3 cup baking soda. Place 4 pretzels at a time in the water to boil for 30
seconds, and then place on baking sheet. Once you have boiled all of them, mix together 1 egg yolk and one tablespoon of water, and brush all of the pretzels. Sprinkle with salt, and bake for 14 minutes.

Enjoy! These are so addicting.