Halloween Menu

Tis the season! My friends and I wanted to have a virtual movie night and all watched “Hocus Pocus” with our families. I decided it was only right to also create a Halloween menu for the night as well!

Spooky Stuffed Peppers

4 Orange peppers

1lb lean ground turkey/beef/chicken

1 can black beans

1 can corn

Shredded cheese

Garlic

Seasonings

Recipe

Preheat oven to 350

Cut the top of the orange pepper and remove all inside seeds, carve a pumpkin face

In a large skillet heat olive oil then add ground meat, corn, beans, seasonings of choice and garlic

Stir occasionally until meat is cooked. Drain and discard fat as needed.

Stuff the peppers with the mixture

Place in a baking dish, Bake for 15-20min until peppers cook

Add cheese on top of peppers bake for another 3-5min

Jello Tombstone Treats

Chocolate Jello pudding cups

Oreos

Milano cookies

Writing Icing

Gummy worms (optional)

Recipe

Take out milano cookies and use the icing to write “RIP” or other funny messages

Crush up oreos

Optional - bury gummy worms inside the pudding

Place milano cookie in the far back of the jello cup

Sprinkle the oreos in front of the milano cookie as dirt

Hocus Pocus Punch

V8 Mango

Gatorade/Body Armour Mango

Mango sorbet or vanilla ice cream

Optional - rum or vodka

Recipe

Mix half a cup of V8 with half a cup of Body Armour

Optional add a shot of your favorite alcohol

Add a scoop of ice cream to make a float

Add a straw & enjoy

Trader Joe's Cauliflower Gnocchi

You’ve seen it all over the internet, it has taken over your Instagram feed. But have you jumped on the cauliflower gnocchi bandwagon? It took me a little bit, partially because my Trader Joe’s was always sold out and another part was extremely skeptical.

TJ’s Haul

When I finally got my hands on the cult favorite, I knew I would need to get all the supplies for the perfect meal right then & there!

From the top: I grabbed a bag of baby spinach - an entire bag may be daunting but you will use a good amount in this dish since spinach shrinks when it cooks, the rest you can use for salads during the week and any left over freeze for smoothies. Next the gnocchi, obviously - it’s in the frozen food section. Next, a new favorite, the cashew pesto. Since I’m trying to stay away from dairy, any alternative I can find, I have to try. I figured the pesto would add some flavor and who could say no to more greens? Since I went with the pesto I decided to add some sun dried tomatoes for another texture. I read the gnocchi could get a little soggy - tips on how to avoid that later. And while I do enjoy a meatless Monday, I also enjoy meat and decided to go with a chicken sausage. This one is from Whole Foods, it was already in the fridge but I’m sure TJ’s has some great options if you are looking for a one stop shop.

“Do NOT follow the directions on the bag of gnocchi. I repeat, do NOT follow those instructions. Rumor has it that is a recipe for soggy and sticky blobs. ”

I went with a pan seared option. I put some avocado oil in a pan and took the gnocchi straight from the freezer into the pan. I had them cooking on high for about 10-12 mins flipping them as needed. I waited until they had some brown on them. I then took the chicken sausage and chopped it up. They are precooked so it was a matter of heating them up. Had them cooking with the gnocchi for another 5 min then I added the spinach and tomatoes. Once the spinach wilted I added the pesto, stirred it up and took the pan off heat. Viola! I was able to split this into one dinner and two lunches!

Matcha Maddness

Everyone is talking about matcha! It’s the new it flavor, so much so that coffee drinkers are ditching the java!

The literal translation is “powered tea” and matcha is a speciality version of powdered green tea packed with health benefits and caffeine! I’m dairy free so when I found an oak milk matcha latte I had to try it! I fell in love! The caffeine was not overpowering so I did not have the jitters like some coffees (I’m looking at you Cuban coffee!) and the oak milk was super creamy and did not bother my stomach at all.

Now of course, this cute little cafe with my new favorite drink is nowhere near my home. Time to recreate! I stumbled upon Vimco Wellness on Instagram. I saw they had products that combine collagen and either coffee and matcha powder in these little handy bags. Typically you can just put hot water in a cup and then drop the powder and stir - talk about easy - but I wanted to have an iced latte.

I boiled some water mixed the matcha collagen powder in a cup until the powder dissolved then put the cup in the fridge. I let the mixture cool down for about 15 minutes (while preparing the rest of my breakfast). I took the mixture out and put in a quarter cup of oak milk (found at Target). Added some ice cubes and boom! Homemade iced matcha latte with benefits of collagen!

Photo from Vimco Wellness