by alextabar
Halloween and the Day of the Dead are back! Many of us are anxiously awaiting these celebrations by preparing the spookiest costumes, decorating our homes with pumpkins and skulls, and devising the recipes that we will use to surprise everyone this year. Boo!
For these fun celebrations, there is no need to limit yourself to the candy sold in stores. Better yet, what if we create a whole menu, complete with sweet and savory dishes, to celebrate the spookiest holidays of the year?
Halloween Chili
The weather during these holidays is perfect for preparing a delicious chili. With this super easy recipe, you can concentrate on the most important thing: the scary decorations. Ahhh!
To prepare the chili, preheat the 4-quart Dutch Oven at medium-high heat until you sprinkle a few drops of water on the pan and they dance on the surface without evaporating. Add ¼ cup red onion and one teaspoon of garlic, and stir for 1 minute. Then add 2 cups of chopped butternut squash and 2 cups of sweet potato, and cook for 2 more minutes. Finally, add ½ cup of corn kernels, ½ cup of green beans, 1 tablespoon of chili powder, 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, 4 cups of vegetable broth, 1 tablespoon of brown sugar, and salt to taste. Cover with the Redi-Temp® valve open, and cook until it whistles.
Reduce to low heat, and when the valve stops whistling, close it and cook for 2 more minutes. If you want a creamier chili, let it cool down and put it in the Royal Prestige® Blender and blend on high for 45 seconds.
To serve the chili, take a bread roll, scoop out the soft insides and use it as a bowl. You can even use food coloring to paint the bowl orange so that it looks like a pumpkin.
Halloween Bento Box
And what do we have for the little ones? A Halloween version of a bento box, with spooky figures made of rice.
Begin by preparing the 2 cups of sushi or short grain rice (sticky rice) in a 2-quart saucepan with 3 cups water, and cover with the Redi-Temp® valve open. Cook at medium-high and wait for the whistle (about 6 minutes).
Next add salt to taste and stir. Cover with the valve open and cook until it whistles again (about 30 seconds). Reduce to low heat, and when the valve stops whistling, close it and cook for an extra 15 minutes.
While the rice is cooking, you can prepare the eggs. Soak 2 paper towels in water and place them in the 3-quart Dutch Oven. Arrange six eggs on top and cover with the Redi-Temp® valve open and cook at medium-high until it whistles (about 3 minutes). Reduce to low heat, and when the valve stops whistling, close it and cook for 12 more minutes.
To put the dish together, rinse the eggs in cold water, peel the shells off and make fun figures with the rice, like ghosts or bats, using nori algae for details like the eyes and wings. Use mini carrots, cherry tomatoes, ham and fruits to garnish.
Halloween Deviled Eggs
Who doesn’t like deviled eggs? And what if we put some cobwebs on top? Keep reading to find out the secret to preparing this fun decoration for your devilish eggs.
To begin, soak 2 paper towels in water and place them in an 8-inch skillet. Arrange 6 large eggs on top. Cover with the Redi-Temp® valve open, and cook at medium-high heat until it whistles (in about 3 minutes). Reduce to low heat, and when the valve stops whistling, close it and let it cook for 12 minutes.
To make the spider web decoration, combine 1 cup of water and one cup of frozen blueberries in a 3-quart Mixing Bowl. Crack the shells on the cooked eggs and, without taking them off, place the eggs in the blueberry water. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
The next day, peel the eggs, slice them in half and save the yolk. In a 2-quart Mixing Bowl whisk together the egg yolks, avocado, salt and pepper, paprika and one tablespoon of lemon juice. Transfer to a Ziploc bag, cut off the tip of the bag, and pipe the mixture into the egg whites. Garnish with sesame seeds, paprika and cilantro.
Spooky Spicy Brownies
You can never go wrong with chocolate, and there’s nothing better than some brownies with a crunchy crust on the outside and gooey, sweet inside! But that’s not all–you will also amaze your guests with the spicy aftertaste.
In the 2-quart Mixing Bowl combine the following ingredients slowly, and in this specific order: 3 cups of brownie mix, 2 eggs, 1/3 cup of milk, ½ teaspoon of cayenne pepper, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and chocolate chips. Then in the preheated 10½ inch skillet coated with spray oil, cook the mixture on low heat with the Redi-Temp® valve closed for 15 minutes.
Turn off the stove, remove the skillet from the burner and let it rest for 3 minutes. Carefully invert the brownie onto the Bamboo Cutting Board, sprinkle with candy corn and paint a spiderweb in chocolate on the plate.
Enjoy!
Presented by Royal Prestige®
