WHAT TO COOK

What is more spooky than a bone-chilling cold front that swept in like a dementor? The time has finally arrived to pull down those stock pots and get creepy in the kitchen. If you’re like us, you’re cooking all the time. Why not liven things up on the Day of the Dead by cooking with a theme?

SWEET POTATOES

Sweet potatoes and their beta-carotene-packed flesh seem like the obvious anchor vegetable for any Halloween themed meal. Why not make a sweet potato soup, and then garnish the top with two dollops of sour cream and a black olive in the middle to make it look like some eyeballs are peering from beneath your bubbling brew? Or, roast some whole sweet potatoes, slice them wide open, and top them with bloody beet chorizo? Again, turn to your friends sour cream and black olives to make some eyeball-like garnishes. Here is a recipe for the imitation beet chorizo , and here is some chorizo-stuffed sweet potato inspiration.

Did you catch last week’s sweet potato albóndigas, or sweet potato meatballs, recipe? Why not make these meatballs, serve them over pasta and tomato sauce, and make it spooky by transforming the balls into... you guessed it... more eyeballs. This recipe uses mozzarella and olives for the pop factor.

Hector's sweet potato albóndigas, with some added eyes. You get the idea!

Photo by Kat Wirsing, courtesy of Delish. Link to the recipe above!

Many of you often wonder why we don’t grow pumpkins, and we once devoted a whole blog post to that very question. Though we don’t grow pumpkins, you can just use our sweet potatoes and in a move of true culinarian theatrics, and pretend like the potatoes are tiny pumpkins. These potato jack o lanterns might be better than the actual gourds.

Photo by Jill from her blog Simply Jillious. Link to the recipe is above!

TURNIPS

Believe it or not, before people were carving pumpkins, they were decorating and cutting up turnips… an ode to the myth of Stingy Jack who was given a lump of burning coal by the devil, which he kept in a carved-out turnip. Why not pay homage to this very weird and creepy myth by first carving a little face into and then roasting, some turnips?

Not keen to carve any vegetables? Wooden skewers, toothpicks, and glue go a long way.

GREENS

Dark leafy greens and fragrant herbs abound, and there is no shortage of recipes out there that turn these greens into an insatiable and cheesy dip. People are doing ghoulish things with dips to make the presentation a bit more... grotesque. You can serve the dip in a bread-mummy or have it projectile out of a pumpkin. Which is kind of gross, but if gross is what you’re going for, carry on. Traditionally spinach is used in a dip like this, but a combination of spinach, kale, or even finely chopped and cooked collards would work well. Don’t forget to add whatever herbs you might have on hand like parsley, dill, or green onions. They will bring life to the deathly dip.

CARROTS & BEETS

What better way to celebrate the season’s first bunched carrots than to carve them up to look like actual farmers’ fingers, accidentally sliced off during the harvest and packed in your CSA box? Too much?  Might we suggest making this brightly-colored beet hummus to dunk the fingers into.

Ada's beet hummus. Link to the recipe above.

Photo courtesy of Tesco. Use your JBG peppers to create the finger nails. They're glued on with a bit of cream cheese.

WHAT TO DO With traditional tick-or-treating off the table, we thought we’d share some of the creative Halloween happenings around town.

From 2-4pm on Saturday, Wheatsville is hosting an in-store experience called Trick or Treatsville. Why not grocery shop in costume, while providing your kids with a trick or treat experience?

Our friends at Tiny Tails to You are celebrating Halloween and hosting Virtual Animal Costume Parties that you can invite your friends to.  Cute, cuddly, and even creepy-crawly Tiny Tails animal friends will be in attendance. Wear your costumes to join in on the fun! Our party animals will be dressed up in animal-safe costumes to put smiles on your friends' faces.



Manor Farm Tour: Our friends at Bee Tree Farm, F-Stop, and Two Hives Honey are teaming up to offer free tours of their farms from around 9am to 1:30. There will be hayrides at F-Stop, seed bombs at Two Hives, and goats at Bee Tree. Details here. 

Last, what is scarier than a democracy wherein people don’t participate? If you haven’t voted yet, please do. Early voting ends today, and then you’ve got one final chance this upcoming Tuesday. Happy Halloween to you all! As always, thanks for reading!