Halloween

~Halloween Fun ~

The crisp air of October not only gives a set go 

to an array of Indian festivals but also to one of the 

most awaited fun centric celebration of Halloween

 too. My first introduction to the eerie ghostly festival

happened sometimes in middle school via Agatha 

Christie's - Halloween party. I still remember how 

I spent countless hours with my encyclopaedia, trying 

to gather more information about the festival that 

was almost unknown to the kids back then. 

Crack - o - Lantern 

( when Crackers become Jack o lanterns )

Crackers topped with Veeba cheese & jalapeño dip, 

trimmed olives and  pickled cucumber eyes n mouth 

 bean stems and cheese ghosts

Halloween is synonymous to the carved pumpkins 

or the jack o lanterns. even if you are not carving a 

pumpkin for your kiddos , these tiny treats are sure

to put a smile on the lil faces !!Jus a few basic 
ingredients n some dips / spreads are enough to set 
the fun mood in .You know how much I love
 playing around with dips and spreads !!
 Life is so much easy if you have some
 in the refrigerator . 

 Shopping for freshest ingredients 

from local farmers markets to picking up some 

exotic ingredients from global gourmet stores

my heart just loves ingredient shopping !! With the 

festival season and ongoing professional assignments 

the market trips took a backseat and Veeba came
 in as a rescue and had to be surely put to test ! 

Daughter wanted to invite her besties for a 

quick snacking and of course with the weekend 

around I couldn't turn down her request. A generous 

smear of Veeba cheese and  jalapeño dip over 

the crackers , some extra paprika and quick olive

and pickle cutouts our first appetiser was ready. 

The cheesy goodness of the dip beautifully balanced

the heat of the jalapeños. Oh how I wish if there 

was packet of tortilla chips in the pantry too !! 

who said the gingerbread cutters are just 

for Christmas ?? Our second appetisers were some 

mummy sandwiches !! I prepared a filling of some 

minty coleslaw using Veeba's mint mayonnaise while 

some regular eggless mayo went in the piping bag 

for decorating the mummy with some mayo bands.

The kids had so much fun cutting the cucumber 

and pepper  bats !!

Whole wheat bread cut with gingerbreadman cutter ,

filled with minty coleslaw, piped with mayo stripes 

and served with pepper and cucumber bats. 

The mint mayo is definitely a must try , the minty 

aroma can add a fresh zing to almost anything !

( n I couldn't resist licking the spoon.. shhhh !! ) btw 

we had so much fun with our mayo piping bag, the 

kids didn't even leave the chance to decorate the snack

plate with some polkas too , I'm sure we will be trying 

much more with this creamy delight soon. The Burger

 Mayo is still in the pantry and will soon be put to

some creative culinary use. 

Have a great healthy Happy Halloween folks 
with loads of healthy booooolicious delights !!

SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave
SaveSave

Halloween-3

~ Healthy Halloween~

Halloween brings out the kid in all of us. Funky costumes, crazy 

decorations , colorful marketplaces and tons of treats -everything 

just looks out of some story tale. No doubt Halloween  the most fun

yet scary time of the year . With all the trick o treat fun, comes a scary 

 overdose of artificial colors  and sugar laden candies causing cavities.

Hungry ghouls and goblins would surely love to munch on these 
 sandwiches without actually losing out on fun. Just a few ingredients 
and you are ready to scare away your kiddos sugar cravings with 
these easy to make cutie treats .......make sure to prepare these in 
advance so that  you can fill the lil tummies  with lots of whole 
grain and veggies before they hit the streets to trick or treat. 

Funky Frankenstein 

Turn a simple sandwich into cute green monster Frankenstein 

sandwiches.... What about pairing the fun with a ghosty egg ???

Spread some mayo, bread spread or flavored cheese spread on a slice

 of bread. Lay some cucumber ribbons and top with slices of carrot , 

olive, pea , and red bell  pepper ( for mouth). Use cheese and nachos to

 make teeth , scar and hair respectively. Draw some funky features 

on a hard boiled egg andf let the fun begin.

Juicy Jack- o - Lantern 

This adorable Jack o lantern sandwich is easy  to make  and frightfully

 fun to eat ... pair it up with an eyeball egg n let the voodoo begin.

Spread some mayo, bread spread or flavored cheese spread on a slice

 of bread. Lay some carrot ribbons and top with some beet and cilantro.

Draw a scary eyeball and veins  on a hard boiled egg and let the fun begin.

Yummy Mummy 

Yummy mummy starts as a simple slice of bread but slowly slowly 

takes shaaaaape of a MUMMeeeeeeehhhhhhh  !!!!!!!!! Add more 
fun and life by serving with a zombie egg......

Spread some hummus, pesto  or flavored cheese spread on a slice

 of bread. Lay carrot & olive eyes & top with radish  ribbons . Draw 

some zombie features on a hard boiled egg n get ready to cast a spell. 

Halloweggs 

Some unshelled hard boiled eggs & colorful food markers &  is 

all that you need to make this lil Halloween edible craft. 

Have a wonderful Boolicious Halloween .......full of fun & frights .

Halloween -2

~Happy Halloween~

The magic of Halloween , big bright orange pumpkin o lanterns , colorful

candy corns and uncanny devilish food had made a silent place in my little

teen mind. My first introduction to the eeerie ghostly festival was through

Agatha Christie's - Halloween party . During that time the dictionaries and

 encyclopedias were our Google and I still remember the endless hours and

efforts i had put in to know about this festival extravaganza  absolutely

unknown to the Indian kids back then. Mom ,  an ardent listener to both

my sensible and senseless teenage talks listened  patiently about my

stories from the other half of the globe.

Till half a decade back Halloween was almost unheard here but 

the popularity of the festival grew in leaps and bounds ... n today 

many homes, offices , restaurants and  clubs are a part of the ongoing 

scary fun. Funky Jack o lanterns, eerie masks, creepy costumes and

bewitching knick n knacks are a common sight at  upscale markets. 

During this time of the year when the markets are full of brightest 

pumpkins and the tables and minds are flooded with craziest 

 spookiest hallowlicious treats - a punch  of pumpkin is perfect to 

pamper little ghouls and goblins . Pair this pumpkin cake with some
 funky and  healthy Halloween  treats and  let the magic begin ......

 Healthy Halloween

( click to see all halloween fun foods here )

Halloween is incomplete without draculicious foods. These creepy

delicious treats are easy to make and free from artificial colors 

n  preservatives. 

Choco Pumpkin Bundt 

 (with glazed ganache) 

partially adapted from joyofkosher

Ingredients-

1/2 cup whole wheat flour , 6 tbsp all purpose flour, 3/4  cup brown sugar -

( can be substituted with regular sugar ),6 tbsp cocoa powder,   3/4  tsp baking
 powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/4  tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp allspice, pinch of
nutmeg, pinch of salt, 1/2 cup milk mixed with 2 tsp lemon juice, 200 gms
 pumpkin puree( I used freshly boiled n mashed pumkin) , 1 eggs, 2tbsp
olive oil, 2tbsp  honey , 1 tsp vanilla extract.

Method- 
Preheat oven to 180C. Grease n dust a  6'' bundt and keep aside.
Sift together flours, sugar , cocoa , baking powder, soda, spices & salt.
In another bowl whisk egg n mix in milk & puree. Stir in oil , 
honey n vanilla.Gradually stir in the dry ingredients . Transfer the batter
 to the prepared pan.Bake in a preheated oven for 40 -45 mins or till
 toothpick inserted in thecentre comes out clean. Cool on a wire 
rack for 15- 20 mins. Unmold n cool for an hour. 
Drizzle with glazed ganache.

For ganache - Melt 150 gms dark cooking chocolate add 1 tbsp butter ,

 n 1/2 cup cream ( I used Amul with 25% milk fat  )- stir until completely

mixed and  glossy . Cool n pour. Serve.

Halloween-1

~ Healthy Halloween ~

Halloween is incomplete without  adding fun to food . 

During this time of the year when kids are sinking their teeth into 

junk foods, calorie and artificial color laden desserts and whackiest 

candies wouldn't it would be wonderful to give a twist to their 

 treats with some Boolicious Spooky Oats Apple  Spiders . 

Just a few slices of apples, black grapes/ berries  & Strawberry

 flavored Quaker Oats is all thats needed to add some Halloween 

goodness and lots of fun to their breakfast !!!! 

Itsy Bitsy Oatsy Spider 

Strawberry flavored Quaker Oats , 2 black grapes/ berries, few apple slices .

While the rest of the world is gearing for Halloween , India 

is gearing up for the festival season too . Check out my recipes and
 photographs - Sweet Surprises in the October issue of Child 
magazine India (Pg 70 -74 and  also some Ethnic Entree on Pg 50) 

Snake Sticks

~ Snake Sticks~

Little one (shhh!!me too) is a sucker for cute food

and a die hard fan for all those cutie pie treats that

makes her tiny little heart top of the world.Healthy

homemade food that resembles a character from

the zoo, fairy-tales or cartoon coloring book are

always a bigggg hit amongst kids . I couldn't stop

myself from heading to the kitchen after seeing

these cuties at Crista's blog..... Little one loved

dipping the snakes in her soup eshhhhh .....

Snake (snack) Sticks !!

Cumin flavored savory breadsticks .

Original recipe states Refrigerated Breadstick dough, but its

not easy to find here hence I happily used the regular jeera

(cumin) cracker recipe n it worked wonderfully.

Gliding thru the oven ..Hissssss.......

Recipe for Cumin flavored breadsticks -

Ingredients - 2 cups refined flour ( i took 1 cup whole wheat & 1 cup refined ),

1 1/2 tsp salt , 1 tsp baking powder , 1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, 1/4 tsp roasted cumin

powder,1 tsp powdered sugar , 1/2 cup olive or refined oil, 1 egg , a few

peppercorns , dry whole chillies and wooden skewers .

Method- Sift together flour, salt & baking powder, mix in the cumin seeds &

cumin powder. Beat the egg & mix in sugar & oil . Knead into soft dough

adding a few tbsps of water as required. Divide the dough into 15 portions &

roll each into sticks (coils ) . Wrap each coil around a greased skewer . Flatten

one of the ends to resemble a snake's mouth & place two peppercorns for the

eyes. Cut out a piece from the chilly & put it as the tongue. Place on a greased

tray & bake in a preheated oven at 180C / gas mark 4 for 20-25 mins

or until light brown & crisp . Cool & serve .

Featured on Child magazine (July '11 issue)

Glad to share with you the Tiffin Time that got featured

in the July '11 issue of Child magazine . Click (link)

to read . A warm thanks to the Child family & all my

lovely viewers who motivate me for all the creations.

Halloween-5

~ Little Boo Junction ~

(Halloween Treats -5)

At this spooky time of the year ,

When all black cats hiss,

May sweets & treats all come ur way ,

And tricks give you a miss !!!

Happy Spooktacular Halloween !!!!

Today is Halloween & if you are still looking

for some creepy , haunting food ideas then

you need'nt go any further. With a small effort

& very very basic ingredients your party can

be anything but ordinary. Creep the kids out

with these Crepes that look scary to but are all

the easy to make .........

Fill the crepe batter (recipe link )in a squeeze

bottle & let ur creations go wild !!!

Ghost Buster

Skull & Bones ????

Caught in the Web !!!!