{"id":18225,"date":"2021-10-29T10:00:20","date_gmt":"2021-10-29T14:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/?p=18225"},"modified":"2021-10-12T11:22:48","modified_gmt":"2021-10-12T15:22:48","slug":"spooky-vegan-halloween-dinner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/2021\/10\/29\/spooky-vegan-halloween-dinner\/","title":{"rendered":"Spooky Vegan Halloween Dinner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Photo by Reed Mangels<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imagine a pair of spooky eyes staring up at you from a plate\nof pale orange strands (or, could it be hair?), topped with red sauce. Then\npicture \u201cbones\u201d to dip into more red sauce (blood?) and you have the makings of\na Halloween dinner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vegan Eye Balls<\/strong> (Adapted from Vive le Vegan! <\/em>By Dreena Burton)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(makes 18\nballs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7 ounces\nfirm or extra-firm tofu, torn or cut into pieces<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 Tablespoon\ncider vinegar<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 Tablespoon\nreduced sodium soy sauce<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1\u00bd Tablespoons\ncatsup<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 teaspoon\nminced garlic (or to taste)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 teaspoon\noregano<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 Tablespoon\nnutritional yeast flakes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 Tablespoon\nolive oil plus additional oil for baking sheet<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pepper to\ntaste<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1\u00bd cups\nbreadcrumbs <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00bd cup\nquick-cooking oats (uncooked)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

18 pitted olives (pimiento stuffed olives are a nice\ntouch, but black or green olives would also work)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preheat oven\nto 375 degrees Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and drizzle on a little\nolive oil. In a food processor, pur\u00e9e tofu until smooth. Add remaining\ningredients except breadcrumbs, oats and olives and process until smooth.\nTransfer mixture to a bowl and stir in breadcrumbs and oats. Let sit for 5\nminutes to firm up. The mixture should hold together \u2013 add more breadcrumbs if\nnecessary.  Form mixture into balls about the size of\na golf ball, carefully pressing an olive into each ball, and place on\nthe baking sheet, olive facing up. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spaghetti\nSquash<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can\nstart baking this while you prepare the \u201ceye balls.\u201d Cut a spaghetti squash in\nhalf lengthwise and place cut-side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake\nat 375 degrees for 30-45 minutes, until squash is soft. Remove from oven and\nlet cool enough to handle. Remove seeds. Use a fork to comb through the squash,\nseparating the strands. Place the strands in a serving bowl. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top the\nspaghetti squash (or you can use regular spaghetti) with pasta sauce (homemade\nor your favorite vegan brand) and then add a couple of \u201ceye balls.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Photo by Reed Mangels<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Breadstick \u201cBones\u201d<\/strong> (Adapted from The Farm Vegetarian Cookbook<\/em>, edited by Louise Hagler)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(makes 15 small breadsticks)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 teaspoon\nvegan sugar<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 Tablespoon\nbaking yeast          <\/p>\n\n\n\n

6 Tablespoons\nwarm water<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 Tablespoon\nolive oil<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 cup\nall-purpose flour<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00bd cup wheat\nflour<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00bd teaspoon\nsalt<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 Tablespoons\nnutritional yeast flakes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a medium\nbowl, combine sugar and baking yeast and add warm water. Stir and let proof for\n5 minutes. Add olive oil, all-purpose flour, wheat flour, salt, and nutritional\nyeast and stir, adding water or flour to make a smooth dough. Knead dough for 5\nminutes. Form dough into relatively thin bones shapes (or just make thin\nbreadsticks), place on a parchment paper-covered baking sheet, and let rise for\nan hour. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake for 9 minutes or until done. Serve\nwith a small bowl of pasta sauce for dipping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happy Halloween!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 \u201cbones\u201d to dip into more red sauce (blood?) and you have the makings of a Halloween dinner. Vegan Eye Balls (Adapted from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18225"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18228,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18225\/revisions\/18228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}