By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD
Imagine a pair of spooky eyes staring up at you from a plate of pale orange strands (or, could it be hair?), topped with red sauce. Then picture “bones” to dip into more red sauce (blood?) and you have the makings of a Halloween dinner.
Vegan Eye Balls (Adapted from Vive le Vegan! By Dreena Burton)
(makes 18 balls)
7 ounces firm or extra-firm tofu, torn or cut into pieces
1 Tablespoon cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon reduced sodium soy sauce
1½ Tablespoons catsup
1 teaspoon minced garlic (or to taste)
1 teaspoon oregano
1 Tablespoon nutritional yeast flakes
1 Tablespoon olive oil plus additional oil for baking sheet
Pepper to taste
1½ cups breadcrumbs
½ cup quick-cooking oats (uncooked)
18 pitted olives (pimiento stuffed olives are a nice touch, but black or green olives would also work)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and drizzle on a little olive oil. In a food processor, purée tofu until smooth. Add remaining ingredients except breadcrumbs, oats and olives and process until smooth. Transfer mixture to a bowl and stir in breadcrumbs and oats. Let sit for 5 minutes to firm up. The mixture should hold together – add more breadcrumbs if necessary. Form mixture into balls about the size of a golf ball, carefully pressing an olive into each ball, and place on the baking sheet, olive facing up. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden.
Spaghetti Squash
You can start baking this while you prepare the “eye balls.” Cut a spaghetti squash in half lengthwise and place cut-side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-45 minutes, until squash is soft. Remove from oven and let cool enough to handle. Remove seeds. Use a fork to comb through the squash, separating the strands. Place the strands in a serving bowl.
Top the spaghetti squash (or you can use regular spaghetti) with pasta sauce (homemade or your favorite vegan brand) and then add a couple of “eye balls.”
Breadstick “Bones” (Adapted from The Farm Vegetarian Cookbook, edited by Louise Hagler)
(makes 15 small breadsticks)
1 teaspoon vegan sugar
1 Tablespoon baking yeast
6 Tablespoons warm water
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup wheat flour
½ teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
In a medium bowl, combine sugar and baking yeast and add warm water. Stir and let proof for 5 minutes. Add olive oil, all-purpose flour, wheat flour, salt, and nutritional yeast and stir, adding water or flour to make a smooth dough. Knead dough for 5 minutes. Form dough into relatively thin bones shapes (or just make thin breadsticks), place on a parchment paper-covered baking sheet, and let rise for an hour. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake for 9 minutes or until done. Serve with a small bowl of pasta sauce for dipping.
Happy Halloween!