VeganMoFo: Nadia G. and Halloween Treats: Eyeballs, Coffin Sandwiches and Witch Fingers

Hello Boys and Ghouls! The "V" Word continues its celebration of VeganMoFo, the month of vegan food, with its theme, "If TV Celebrity Chefs Went Vegan." Today we have Nadia G. of Cooking Channel's Nadia G's Bitchin' Kitchen and some of her favorite Halloween recipes.

As many of you know, Nadia G. and Bitchin' Kitchen hold a special place in my heart. Not only do I love the show but Nadia and the rest of the BK Crew are great people - really nice and so much fun!

Me in my TSAKETA shirt with my BK Swag.

They hold a SupperClub Challenge every week and always welcome my vegan versions of Nadia's recipes. I've posted quite a few of them here on the blog: Sartu di Patate, Balsamic BBQ Ribs, Puttanesca Panzarotti, Gluten-Free Pumpkin Gnocchi with Spiced Butter Sauce in Lemon Cashew Cream, No-Bake Cream Cheese and Peanut Butter Pie with Chocolate Whipped Cream, and Seitan Steak with Beurre Blanc Sauce with Oven-Baked French Fries.

I was also honored last year to be one of 5 winners nation-wide and have my recipe for Tofu Piccata published in Nadia G.'s 2nd cookbook, Cookin' For Trouble.

I keep the cookbook open to MY recipe on my kitchen island to inspire me to work on my own cookbook (I know, I KNOW!)

MY RECIPE!!!

Last year I also veganized some of Nadia's Halloween dishes and I posted the pictures on Facebook but never blogged the recipes. Given my VeganMoFo theme and the fact that Halloween is less than 2 weeks away, it seemed a good time to do that now.

You should also check out Nadia G.'s Bitchin' Halloween Bash that is airing on The Cooking Channel. There are lots of great recipes for your Halloween party and if they aren't already vegan (because Nadia does make a lot of vegan dishes), they may be vegetarian and/or easy to veganize.

Here are 3 Halloween recipes that I made last year. They are all vegan but please note that 2 of them are NOT gluten-free. These treats are really fun and easy to make. Trick or Treat!

Mozzarella Eye Balls with “Blood” Salsa

 
Note: this recipe contains gluten because of the deli slices

4 large green olives stuffed with pimento
2 blocks of vegan mozzarella cheese
8 slices vegan deli slices
Your favorite jarred salsa (or make your own)

Slice the olives into disks about ¼ inch each. With a cookie cutter, cut rounds out of the vegan cheese blocks. Place an olive dish in the center of each cheese round and with a paring knife, trace around it.

Cut out a chunk of the cheese from the outline so that the olive can fit inside.

Wrap the vegan deli slices around the cheese round eyeball. You may need to hold them in place with toothpicks. Repeat with the rest of the cheese rounds.

Fill bowls with the salsa and carefully place your eyeballs…well, 2 of the eyeballs you made...into each bowl. Alternatively, you can fill a large bowl with salsa and lots of eyeballs to stare at your guests. Lookin' good, huh?

Double Decker Coffin Sandwiches

Note: this recipe contains gluten. It can be made gluten-free by using gluten-free bread and cookies.

1 cup pesto
1 loaf Pumpernickel bread, sliced or 6 thick slices
1/2 cup vegan mayonnaise
1 cup almond slivers, toasted
1 cup Alfalfa sprouts
4 McIntosh apples, sliced 1/4″ thick
1 package vegan chocolate cookies

Cut the pumpernickel slices into coffin shapes. On one slice of bread, spread some mayo and some pesto. Sprinkle a few toasted almond slivers on top of the pesto. Add a few Alfalfa sprouts and a layer of sliced apples.

Place a second coffin-shaped bread slice on top and repeat the process for another layer. Top it off with a third slice of bread. Repeat to make a second sandwich. Each sandwich is big enough to feed to 2 people but if you want one per person, double the recipe. I also added a small plastic skeleton in my sandwich because an empty coffin isn't any fun.

To make the grass and the “dirt” for the coffin, add a layer of Alfalfa sprouts onto a platter. Crumble the chocolate cookies and place them on a platter. Arrange the coffin sandwiches on top of the “dirt.” Stick a small spoon in the dirt to act as a shovel. Your guests will really dig this dish!

Witch Fingers

Note: this recipe is gluten-free.

1 cup vegan butter at room temperature
1 cup vegan cheddar cheese
1 cup vegan grated parmesan cheese or nutritional yeast
1 ½ cups chickpea flour
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. paprika
½ tsp. cayenne pepper
Black pepper
Kosher salt
Raw skinless almond slices

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the butter, flour, baking powder, paprika, and cayenne in a food processor.

Sprinkle some extra flour on a smooth surface. Remove the mixture from the food processor and shape into a tube. Break the tube into pieces about 2 inches each. Roll each piece into a thin tube. Pinch the tube slightly in the middle to make it look like a finger. Look at your own fingers for a guide but pretend you are a hundred years old.

Using a toothpick or a fork tine, draw on knuckle lines. On the end of each tube, add the almond, pointy side up so that it looks like a finger nail. Arrange the fingers on a baking sheet, sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake for 20 minutes or until they start to turn golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool. Be careful when you're eating these - keep track of whose fingers you're chewing on.

Serve these creepy noms at your Halloween party and have a scary good time. Beware....uh, I mean, Enjoy!

The "V" Word: Say it. Eat it. Live it.