The 'Green' Reaper Platter (Green & Black Fruit and Cheese Tray)

The last few years, I've used color as inspiration to guide my Halloween recipes and decorating ideas. Last year, was traditional Black and Orange. The year before, a sultry and elegant Violet. And the year before that, I went for sophisticated neutrals with black accents.  This Halloween season is all about the color Green!  I've already got started and blogged a few of my green ideas like these fun 'Let Nature Run its Corpse' Cakes and this dramatic Slithering Salad.

So this brings us to The 'Green' Reaper Platter!  My purple Abracadabra platter from two years ago (pictured below) continues to be very popular on Pinterest, so I decided to make another platter featuring the color green and black.
First, I needed to find some showstopping cheeses to anchor my cheese board. And thankfully with all this 'Stay at Home' going on here in California, I've been doing a lot of on-line shopping and discovered this Green Pesto Gouda and  Sage Derby Cheese from igourmet.com. I ordered these two cheeses and the Spooky (Looking) Cheese Tray because the Spooky platter also came with these cool black charcoal crackers. It also came with a beautiful purple swirled cheese that would've been perfect for my Abracadabra platter and a layered orange cheese that would've been great last year, if I had done a cheese platter last year, maybe I still will? Anyway, I got my order 3 days later and got straight to work throwing together this gorgeous green and black themed platter. 

As for the name... the green being an obvious pun, but there's a cute back story why I named it 'The Green Reaper Platter'. When my oldest son, Jackson was around 5 or 6 years old, he loved to play with a hanging grim reaper Halloween decoration. He loved to go by it and clap his hands and it would shake and make eerie sounds. He loved it but didn't know what it was called so I told him that it's a grim reaper. He seemed to take the name in stride and didn't ask any questions about it. A few days later he kept talking about the green whopper this and the green whopper that. My husband and I were so confused we couldn't figure out what he was talking about. We asked, "What's the green whopper, Jackson?" He went over to the hanging decoration and pointed to it, "The Green Whopper". We laughed so hard and even to this day, the Grim Reaper will always be the Green Whopper.  💗

The 'Green' Reaper Platter (Green & Black Fruit and Cheese Tray)

Cheeses
Green Pesto Gouda  (link)
Sage Derby Cheese by Thistle Hill (link)

     Fruit                                 Veggies
Blackberries                           Broccoli
Black grapes                         Cucumbers
Green grapes                    Green cauliflower
Green apples                           Celery
Dried Mission Figs

     Nuts                    Assorted Crackers
Pistachios               Charcoal Crackers (link)
Pumpkin seeds          Spinach Kale Thins
Wasabi peas            or Multigrain crackers
         

         Sauces
Fig Balsamic Dressing (bottled)

Guacamole Hummus (homemade)
Makes ~1 1/2 cups

1 cup white beans
1 avocado
juice of one lime
1/4 cup cilantro leaves
1 T jalapeno
1- 1 1/2 t onion powder
2-3 T canola oil
salt and pepper (to taste)

Blend all ingredients together. until smooth. Salt and pepper to taste.

More Halloween recipes to try:

Abracadabra Platter

Antipasto De Los Muertos

Amputated Appetizer

Spider Caviar

Easy Halloween Kabobs

I'm on a roll with easy Halloween appetizers. Yesterday, I posted an easy recipe idea for Witchy Finger Food (Blistered Shishito Peppers with Sesame Soy Sauce) and today, these simple and festive Halloween Kabobs.  I'm rolling through Easytown this year because I missed my annual Summer of Halloween. If you're wondering what the heck is "Summer of Halloween"? It is the most wonderful time of the year for this gal who plans Halloween dishes all year. When everyone else is basking in the summer heat and splashing around in pools, I'm up to my eyeballs in Halloween projects, decorating and cooking up fun Halloween dishes. Unfortunately, a health issue kept me from my annual frenzy, but I'm all better now and back in the kitchen scrambling to get a few of my summer Halloween ideas together to share. 🎃 So, I'm picking ones that are quick and easy to put together and what could be simpler than fruit and veggie kabobs? 
Haha! Don't be a smart Alec....I heard you say, "a fruit and veggie tray!" 
Yes, a fruit and veggie tray would be simpler, but this platter is much more beautiful and way more fun to eat! Plus this yumminess comes with dipping sauces! The basic fruit tray doesn't come with dipping sauce... Imagine taking these beauties to a Halloween potluck!  Impress everyone with your melon balling and knife skills...It'll be so worth the extra effort to thread these onto fun picks.  By the way, if your'e wondering, I got these super cute and festive 5" Orange Skull picks online from Pick On Us.

I used traditional Orange and Black for this platter but feel free to use any color combination that screams Halloween to you.  Do all fruit kabobs, or all veggies, the choice is yours.  Happy Halloween!

Easy Halloween Kabobs

Black Fruits (Grapes, Blackberries, Figs)
White Fruit (Dragon fruit,Jicama, Guava, Lychee, Mangosteen)
Orange Fruit (Cantaloupe, Mango, Persimmon, Mandarin Orange) 

Black Olives
1 container Fresh Mozzarella balls (substitute with your favorite soft/semi-soft cheese, cubed)
1 container Orange Cherry Tomatoes

Mango Dipping Sauce
1 mango, peeled and pureed in a food processor.

Balsamic Glaze
1 cup balsamic vinegar, reduced to 1/3 cup
honey (to taste)

Over medium heat, reduce the balsamic vinegar to about 1/3 cup. Cool and add honey to taste.

5" orange skull picks from Pick On Us. 

Cut up desired fruits and thread onto picks or small skewers and serve with mango dipping sauce. Thread desired cheese, olives and tomatoes onto picks or small skewers and serve with balsamic glaze dipping sauce. 
Easy breezy! Enjoy!

Other Halloween recipes to try:

Abracadabra Platter (Purple Crudite and Cheese Tray)

Antipasto de los Muertos

Bloody Eyeball Bruschetta

Toil and Trouble Soup (Roasted Potato Cauliflower Soup)

Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble...Hello my little pretties...It's time to get ready for All Hallows Eve. We've waited all year and the time is finally upon us, so fire up your cauldrons and get ready to fill up the kiddies with this mysteriously delicious Toil and Trouble Soup. Don't let the name scare you. You won't be stuck stirring your cauldron all day, it comes together as easily as a wave of your wand. Gorgeous roasted violet cauliflower and two kinds of purple potatoes are blended with sauteed onions, white carrots, garlic and fennel to make a satisfying and beautifully festive Halloween Meal. It's sure to keep the kids warm as they venture out for a night of trick-or-treating. Serve it all by itself or with BLT sandwiches.  I topped my soup with crispy homemade potato chips, sour cream and chives, but feel free add cheddar cheese and bacon bits, just like a loaded Baked Potato Soup.  Enjoy!
                             🎃🎃🎃 6 days until Halloween  🎃🎃🎃

Toil and Trouble Soup (Roasted Potato Cauliflower Soup)

Adapted recipe from wifemamafoodie.com
Serves 4-6

2 purple sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1" pieces
5-6 purple potatoes, peeled and cut into 1" pieces
1 small head of purple cauliflower, cut up
olive oil
3 very small purple potatoes for frying, sliced thin
1/2 bulb fennel, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small *white carrot, diced (1/2 cup)
4 cups chicken stock(substitute with vegetable stock)
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp Penzeys® Parisien Herbs (substitute 1/2 tsp dried chives & 1/4 tsp thyme)
chives (garnish)
fried purple potatoes (garnish)
swirl of sour cream

NOTE*Do not use Orange or purple carrots for this soup. Remember the color wheel in Art class...Orange + Purple = Brown. Trust me on this...my first attempt I used purple carrots...BTW they are orange on the inside...and the soup turned a disturbing shade of brown.  No beautiful violet soup...only earthy ugly brown.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees
Prepare potatoes and cauliflower and toss with enough olive oil to evenly coat vegetables. Spread out on a parchment lined cookie sheet and roast for 30-35 minutes or until vegetables are cooked.

While vegetables are cooking quickly fry some sliced purple potatoes into crunchy chips for garnish. Drain on a paper towel and salt. (I sprinkled these with a gorgeous purple sea salt I picked up at Aldi® last year, but don't sweat it if you don't have purple salt, regular Kosher salt works too.)

In a large dutch oven, add 1 T olive oil, onions, white carrots and fennel and saute until vegetables are tender, ~10 minutes. Add chicken stock and simmer for a few minutes. Add roasted vegetables to the pot and heat for about 2-3 minutes to soften some of the roasted vegetables that might have browned in the oven. Add 1 tsp Parisien Herbes or substitute with 1/2 dried chives and 1/4 tsp thyme.

In batches, transfer soup to a blender and puree until smooth. Salt and pepper to taste.  Ladle into bowls and swirl in some sour cream, top with purple chips and chives and Enjoy!

More Halloween recipes to try:

Vampire Slayer Soup

Eye of Newt Stew

Spider Caviar

Abracadabra Platter (Purple Crudite and Cheese Tray)

It's been a few months since my last post. My best laid plans for my annual "Summer of Halloween" never quite got going this year. Not that I don't have pages full of ideas, it's that I've been in somewhat of a slump. My youngest son promoting to middle school has left me feeling sad. The fun days of elementary school age kids and fun easy school days have been replaced with middle school boys who don't like to do any of the fun kid things anymore and homework that's a lot more important and more stressful than before, and the bottom line is that they just don't need me as much. 
Logically, I know that's the goal of being a mother is to nurture and guide my boys so they become kind, happy, self-sufficient adults. But emotionally, I'm grieving the childhood I've witnessed and been so integrally involved in the last 8 years I've been home with my kids. My boys growing up and moving onto the next stage is normal and expected, so I was surprised that this life change triggered such intense sense of loss. Confusing and crippling enough that I reached out to my therapist for help. The last time I saw my therapist was two years ago when she helped me through a family crisis. This time she helped me identify why I was feeling so crippled by sadness. I realized my feelings of sadness were not only about marking a milestone for my boys, but were wrapped up in my childhood feelings of instability when we moved away from where I felt settled and comfortable. We moved a lot when I was a child, so naturally this comfortable safe home/school environment I built for my kids, was now changing and it triggered a flood of fear, sadness and loss for me. I've done some work to honor these feelings, but I don't have a magic wand to wave over my head and say, "Abracadabra" to make it all disappear. I still have work to do, but I am on the mend. Most days I can see past sadness and see opportunity, in fact, yesterday, I seized the opportunity and played around with a Halloween idea and created this gorgeous violaceous Halloween appetizer. A dish called...Abracadabra Platter!

                                🎃🎃🎃 28 days until Halloween🎃🎃🎃

Abracadabra Platter

Purple Cauliflower, cut into florets
Purple Carrots, cut into sticks
Blackberries
Blueberries
Purple Endive
Red Grapes
Black Grapes (Moon Drop Grapes)
Dried Figs
Pomegranate seeds
Kalamata olives
Trader Joe's® Blueberry Vanilla Goat Cheese
Trader Joe's® Creamy Toscano Cheese Soaked in Syrah
Trader Joe's ® 3 Seed Beet Crackers


Beet Hummus 
3 beets, cooked and peeled
1 can black beans
1-2 cloves garlic
juice of 1 lime
1/4 tsp tandoori spice mix (or substitute 1/4 tsp garam masala)
1/2 tsp ginger 
salt and cayenne pepper (to taste)
1 tsp olive oil
red cabbage leaf cup

Blend all ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve in red cabbage leaf cup or small bowl. Drizzle with additional olive oil if desired. Arrange fruit vegetables and cheese by color and serve with your favorite crackers, bread and wine. Enjoy!

Here are some more pics of this gorgeous platter. :)

Other Halloween Ideas:

Amputated Appetizer Cheese Platter

Eye of the Beholder Salad

Antipasto de los Muertos

Roots of All Evil (Roasted Carrots w/ Maple Tahini Sauce)

It's time for a Halloween recipe...This lusciously disgusting side dish is sure to get looks of confusion as your Halloween party guests ask, "What are those?"  They may not recognize these gruesome looking root vegetables, but these are carrots...purple carrots to be exact! See, not so scary...

Throw a little maple syrup and heat on these tubers and...they become the absolute perfect side dish to kick off my annual Summer of Halloween, a dish I like to call, Roots of all Evil. 💀
Dare your guests to try one of these sweet maple roasted carrots smothered with a maple tahini sauce topped with crunchy pistachios and tart pomegranate seeds. An unusual, elegant and savory palette of flavors that belies the macabre exterior... Enjoy!
                         🎃🎃🎃  124 days until Halloween  🎃🎃🎃

Roots of All Evil (Roasted Carrots with Maple Tahini Sauce)

Halloween-adapted recipe from Closet Cooking
Serves 4

2 lbs. purple carrots, peeled, cut in half lengthwise
1 T oil
1 T maple syrup
cooking spray

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray or line with parchment paper. Arrange carrots in a single layer and baste with oil/maple syrup mixture. Roast carrots in 400 degree oven for 20-30 minutes, turning once.

Maple Tahini Sauce
2 T tahini
2 T lime juice
1 T soy sauce
1 T maple syrup
1 clove garlic, grated
2 T water (add more if needed to thin sauce)

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl and top roasted carrots with sauce and garnish with pomegranate seeds, pistachios and parsley. Enjoy!

Optional:
pomegranates, garnish
pistachios, garnish
parsley, chopped, garnish

More Halloween recipes:

 Grubs Au Gratin

Roasted Fingers and Toes

Roasted Brains

Mulligatawny Soup

I'm afraid to say that it is still very warm here in Southern California.  It's been in the 80's and very dry with Santa Ana winds. But as hot as it gets during the day, once night falls, so does the temperature. My go-to easy meal for a cool night is always soup. If you've never had Mulligatawny soup, don't let the complicated name scare you. Mulligatawny is an Anglo-Indian soup that means, "Pepper Water". There are many versions of this soup, some highly spiced and contain meat and other versions omit meat and have lentils. This recipe is a warm and comforting curry soup with a little heat from the added cayenne pepper that cools to a mellow spiciness with a dollop of yogurt. I used leftover grilled chicken thighs but you can always use chicken breasts if preferred. Adding the tart apples also adds a exciting texture and complements the Indian spices beautifully. My husband was very skeptical of the apples and the almonds at first impression, but really liked what they added to the soup. I also added a little bit of rice as well to sop up all that wonderful curry. Enjoy! 

Mulligatawny Soup

Serves 8

1 T vegetable oil
1 leek, white and light green parts only
2 cups onions, chopped
2 carrots, chopped (first addition)
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 Pasilla pepper, chopped
4 cloves garlic, halved
7 cups chicken broth, divided 2cups/5cups
2" fresh ginger, chopped (~2 T)
3 chicken thighs, cooked and chopped
1 small carrot, finely diced (second addition)
2 T Penzeys® Sweet Curry (plus more to taste)
1 T ground cumin
1/2 t cayenne pepper
1 T tomato paste
salt and pepper to taste
1 can full fat coconut milk
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 tart apple, chopped 
1/2 cup toasted sliced almonds
Strained Greek yogurt or coconut cream (optional)

In a large dutch oven, add oil, leeks, onions, carrots (1st addition), celery, Pasilla pepper and garlic and saute until tender crisp. 

Add two cups chicken broth and continue cooking until vegetables are tender, about ~8-10 minutes. Place the ginger in a blender and coarsely chop. Once the vegetables are tender, Add the vegetables along with all the liquid to the blender with chopped ginger and puree. (Note: when blending hot liquids, remove the lid insert and cover with a towel while blending) Transfer blender contents back into the dutch oven. 
Add remaining 5 cups of chicken broth, chopped chicken thighs, finely diced carrot(2nd addition), curry powder, cumin, cayenne pepper and tomato paste and salt and pepper to the dutch oven. Heat to a simmer, taste and adjust seasonings. Add coconut milk and cilantro and simmer for 5 minutes. 
Add chopped apples and toasted almonds and top with a dollop of Yogurt or coconut cream and more cilantro.  Enjoy!

Other recipes to try:

Potato Gnocchi and Spinach Curry

Spiced Couscous and Carrot Salad

Indian Spiced Lentils