Halloween celebrations are often synonymous with candy. But they don’t have to be. Leave the candy for the trick-or-treats and serve some ghoulishly healthy food instead! These recipes are perfect whether you’re throwing a Halloween party or wanting to fill your kids up with something a bit healthier before they head out with their treat bags.
Orange Pumpkin Hummus (Total time: 10 minutes)
Everyone loves to dip vegetables, pitas and corn chips. This pumpkin hummus is great way to fuel your little ghosts and goblins.
1 can of chickpeas
2⁄3 cup of pumpkin puree
2 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp tahini
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp garlic powder
1⁄2 tsp salt, to taste
2 Tbsp toasted pumpkin seeds
1. Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Place them in a food processor or blender with the pumpkin puree, water, olive oil, tahini, lemon juice, garlic powder and salt. Pulse until smooth and well blended. It might take a bit more water to get the chickpeas to fully blend.
2. Taste and adjust the salt as needed. Spoon into a bowl for serving and top with the pumpkin seeds.
Ghoulish Guacamole (Total time: 5 minutes)
This ghoulish guacamole is packed with healthy fats, vitamin and minerals. To turn it into a meal, serve it with simple quesadillas made from flour tortillas stuffed with refried beans and cheese.
4 avocados
1 Tbsp lime juice
1⁄2 tsp salt
1⁄4 tsp garlic powder
1⁄4 cup of sour cream
2 Roma tomatoes
1. Remove the pit and scoop the avocado out into a medium sized serving bowl. Use a fork to mash the avocado.
2. Add the lime juice, salt and garlic powder. Stir to mix all of the ingredients.
3. Spread the sour cream around the edge of the guacamole dip.
4. Finely chop the tomato. Drain any liquid from the tomatoes. Spread the tomatoes out on top of the sour cream.
5. Serve with corn chips.
Monster Pizza Faces (Prep time: 5 to 10 minutes, Bake time: 10 minutes)
Mini pizzas are fun for kids to make and decorate themselves! Offer a bunch of different ingredients and a choice of orange or white cheese. You may even find them choosing to try something new, just because it was the right colour for their monster face.
Tiny pizzas can be made using small portions of pizza dough. However, this recipe is for English muffins, because they’re so much easier. Perfect when you need a quick meal. If you want to use pizza dough, form pizzas using about 1⁄2 cup of dough per pizza. Then bake for 20 minutes instead.
4 English muffins
1 small can of pizza sauce
1 cup of grated cheese
Other toppings
1. Preheat the oven to 400˚F.
2. Prepare your pizzas while the oven preheats. Slice the English muffins in half, so each English muffin makes two monster faces.
3. Spread the cut side of the English muffin with pizza sauce. Then encourage your kids to make monster faces from whatever you happen to have in the kitchen. If they are old enough, they can slice and dice everything to exactly the shape they need. Younger children may need a bit more help with their monster creations. Offer ingredients like mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes. Get creative with frozen peas or corn, sliced olives, or pickles. Even sliced fruit can make fun and delicious pizza toppings.
4. Place the pizza faces on a cookie sheet and bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the cheese is melted.
Dill Pickle Popcorn (Total time: 15 to 20 minutes)
Popcorn is an easy, healthy and delicious treat! Stove-top popcorn is also zero-waste! Here’s a simple recipe for stove top dill pickle popcorn. Yum!
Probably the hardest ingredient to find is citric acid. It provides the tanginess in this recipe. If you don’t have it in your cupboard, leave it out along with the coriander and mustard seeds, for a ranch flavoured popcorn instead.
Spice mix
11⁄2 tsp coriander seeds
1⁄4 tsp yellow mustard seeds
1⁄4 tsp dill seed
1⁄2 tsp dried dill
1⁄4 tsp garlic powder
1⁄4 tsp onion powder
1⁄4 tsp citric acid
1 tsp salt, to taste
Popcorn
2 Tbsp of vegetable oil
1⁄2 cup of popcorn kernels
6 Tbsp melted butter
1. Mix the seeds in a spice grinder and grind to a fine powder. Mix the freshly ground spices in a small bowl with the rest of the spice mix. Set aside while you make the popcorn.
2. Place the vegetable oil in the bottom of a large pot with 3 popcorn kernels. Put the lid on the pot and place it over medium heat.
3. When one of the kernels pops, the pot is hot enough to make popcorn. Add the rest of the kernels and gently shake the pot over the burner. Get your older kids to help! It’s fun to listen to the popcorn pop!
4. Once most of the kernels have popped, dump the popcorn in a large bowl. Melt the butter and drizzle it over the popcorn. Toss to mix, then add your spice mix and toss again.
5. Serve immediately or store in a zip-top bag for up to two days.
