Healthy Halloween Appetizers

This menu is all about Healthy Halloween Appetizers. The haunting hand that returns from beyond the grave puts a fiendish spin on finger food along with our creepy eyeball appetizers. This ghoulish duo of Halloween appetizers will set the stage for your party table and have everyone grabing for more healthy Halloween yummyness.

Creepy Eyeballs

Ingredients:

Raw carrots
½ 8oz pkg cream cheese
1 jar pitted black olives
3 Tbl milk

Directions:

Peel and cut your carrots about a ½” thick. Cut your olives in half. Mix half a package of softened cream cheese with the milk and put in a small baggie. Clip off the end of the baggie and squeeze a small amount on each carrot, top with the olive and push down until the cream cheese comes up through the hole in the olive and you have creepy eyeballs.

Haunting Hand Coming Back From the Dead

Homemade Hummus

Ingredients:

(1) 16oz pkg Dried Chickpeas
3 oz Pine Nuts
3 Tbl Olive Oil
¼ Cup Roasted Sesame Tahini (You can find this in the organic food section)
1 Lime Juice
1 tsp Chopped Garlic
Salt & Pepper to Taste
1 ½ Cups Water

Ingredients for creating the hand

1 Small pkg of thin sliced almonds
Small amount of white frosting
1 cucumber

Directions:

In a 4Qt pan add water and dried chick peas, put lid on with Redy-cook valve open. Turn heat to medium high. When it whistles (about 5-6 minutes) turn heat down to medium and close Redy-cook valve and cook for 25 minutes.
Roast pine nuts in the small skillet on medium high heat for 2-3 minutes. Watch them closely and shake pan a few times to move pine nuts around for even roasting. Do not walk away from pan as pine nuts are easy to burn.
Reserve ½ cup of water from chick peas in case you need to thin your Hummus.
Drain water off chick peas and let cool to room temperature. For a silky smooth hummus you can pinch the skins the chickpeas. They come off very easily.
Put chick peas, pine nuts, olive oil, garlic, lime juice, roasted sesame tahini and salt and pepper in a blender or food processor. Pulse for 2-3 minutes until well blended.
Hummus can be made 1 day ahead. Keep it in an airtight container and refrigerated for up to 3 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Assembly:

To create our hand coming back from the dead you will need your favorite dip, we used hummus; carrots, thin cut almonds for your fingernails, a small amount of frosting, a cucumber and thick tooth picks. You can either peel your carrots or leave the skin on; it’s up to you how spooky you want your hand to look.

Take your carrots and slice the end you want to use for the fingernail on a diagonal, add a small amount of frosting and adhere your almond slices.

Here’s a little trick we used to make sure our fingers stood up without falling over… take the cucumber and cut it a wee bit larger than the length of the bowl you are using, (use a shallower bowl for best result.) Push the cucumber down into the bowl so it is securely wedged in there. Next cut your carrot fingers the lengths you think you want them to be and stick a tooth pick in one end and then stick the tooth pick into the cucumber. Fill in with the hummus and you have a very fun Halloween hand coming back from the dead.

Serve with a variety of fresh carrots, celery and your favorite party crackers

Hints:

Instead of making hummus if you’re pressed for time use your favorite store bought brand or any other dip you like to pair with carrots.