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!