A colorful Halloween salad to add to your Trick r Treat table! Inspired by Chez Us’s Middle Eastern Inspired Black Rice salad!
Ingredients
Inspired by Chez Us’s Middle Eastern Inspired Black Rice salad
2.5 cups cooked, warm jasmine rice, divided
1 cup cooked warm Forbidden (purple) rice
Oil of choice
2 bags Tjs cut butternut squash chunks (cooked+cooled), or two cups cooked butternut squash chunks, cooled.
1.5 cups pomegranate seeds, divided
1 cup chopped cilantro
1.5 tbl TJs Organic Maple Vinaigrette, or honey mustard + more for serving
1/4 cup chopped red onion
Salt and pepper to taste
Trader Joe’s Crispy Crunchy Okra
Instructions
Lightly oil a wide shallow bowl (mine was x), then alternate thick stripes of black and (1.5 cups) white rices, pressing down to seal together to create a solid rice layer. Line sides of bowl with white rice. Chill in fridge until cooled completely.
Mix next five ingredients together, salt and pepper to taste, then press into chilled rice bowl.
Top with white rice, pressing to seal in squash mixture. Chill.
Flip onto plate, add okra and pomegranate seeds as you like! Serve with Maple Vinaigrette!
I LOVE HOT PANK. I love it in September, and in May, and in November, but I especially love it IN FEBRUARY. So much so, I make sure I am eating as many hot pink foods as possible. So I made this dish! Last year, inspired the viral Baked Feta Pasta made popular in the US by Grilled Cheese Social, I made a HOT PANK version, because…well, why not?
This dish is a delicious way to 1. Eat more hot pink foods, 2. Eat MORE Mac n’ cheese, and 3. Discover how damned good basil + beets are! HEART EEEEEEYES. Truly, shockingly delicious!!!
3 medium raw beets, peeled and cubed into 1/2” pieces- about two cups
1– 7 oz block of feta
2 cups medium sized pasta (fusilli, bowties, penne, ziti, etc) OR spiralize beets
1 tbl Oil
1/2–1 c pasta water, or plain water if spiralizing
Basil (recommended but optional)
Chopped toasted walnuts (optional) Vinegar
Salt + pepper to taste
*Spiralized*
3 beets (you’ll need a spiral cutter)
7 oz block goat/sheep feta in brine
Reserve 1/2–1 c pasta water
Olive oil
Fresh basil, chiffonaded (optional but highly recommended!)
Toasted walnuts (optional)
Balsamic vinegar (optional)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Peel and dice beets. Add to oven safe dish and toss with olive oil. Cover and bake for 20 minutes.
Make pasta.
After 20 minutes, nestle feta in the beets, cover and bake for an additional 15 minutes.
Drain pasta, and reserve 1/2-1 c pasta water.
When beets are done, mix cooked pasta with beets and feta, adding pasta water as desired, the more water you add, the creamier the sauce!
Serve and top with fresh pepper, chiffonaded basil and walnuts if you want some crunch!
*Spiralized*
Preheat oven to 400
Spiralize beets and toss with olive oil. Add to baking dish
Nestle block of feta in the middle of noodles.
Cover with lid or foil, and bake for 20 minutes.
Remove covering and stir noodles and feta, add 1/8-1/4c water if desired to thin sauce
Plate and top with cut basil, walnuts and a splash of vinegar.
Notes
*VEGAN VERSION*
You can substitute vegan feta cheese, but watch to see how it melts. Alternatively, you could mix in a salty, lemony cashew cream, like an unbaked Pepper-crusted Cashew Goat Cheese from Vegetarian Times
Pumpkin Spice? BASIC. Jack-o-lantern spice? EDGY. I love a PSL, but a Jack-o-lantern spice latte is the dark warming, spicy latte (okay, mocha really) for the hardcore Halloween lover. No pumpkin. No charcoal. A tricky treat and a pure Halloween FREAK. Sweet, spicy, and a little bit smokey. And almost black.
So many spooky, dark drinks are made with charcoal, which is v cool. And black. (HEART EYES!) But charcoal is messy and is not for everyone, all the time. It is cool if you are trying to detox, as charcoal binds to compounds, and keeps you from absorbing them. Also v cool! I like to pop a couple of capsules after a night of drinking to help carry out the stuff my body is trying to get rid of. But, that’s NOT cool if it keeps you from absorbing good stuff (like nutrients) or things you need (nutrients or medication).
So…What’s in it…?
BLACK COCOA POWDER! The cornerstone of the Jack-o-Lantern Spice Latte! Black cocoa powder is not new (ever eaten an Oreo?), but it isn’t usually stocked by the home cook. So let’s chat about it!
Per King Arthur Baking Co., black cocoa is “dutched” or processed with an alkalizing agent to make it less acidic, and results in a darker color. My favorite brand of black cocoa is Wierdo Good Black Velvet Cacao Powder, as it is ethically produced! It is not as black as it could technically be due to the restrictions on processing organic food.
I love using the products above for making my JOLSL (and lots of other things…DAILY!). The Bocha Sweet is the best tasting sugar-free sweetener I’ve tried, and I’m utterly OBSESSED with the Further Foods Vanilla Collagen. It is SO. GOOD. It has an excellent vanilla flavor and is also sweetened a bit with monk fruit.
AND FYI! The spices in this recipe may seem strange, but they all serve the same purpose: to keep it spicy! But spices also help to balance the body through their nutritive properties. Cinnamon and chipotle help to balance blood sugar, ginger supports digestion and black pepper can help with all of the above!
1 scoop vanilla collagen (optional), OR 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c milk of choice
1/2 c cold brew (I used cinnamon Chameleon)
1 tbl black cocoa powder
1 tbl sweetener of choice
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp chipotle
A pinch of black pepper
Whipped cream (optional)
Sprinkles (MANDATORY…jk they are optional too)
Instructions
HOT VERSION*
Warm coffee and milk in a small saucepan over low/medium heat until hot.
Remove from heat and whisk in collagen until dissolved (if using), then whisk in cocoa powder, sweetener, spices.
Stir until sweetener has dissolved, and cocoa powder is incorporated.
Pour into Halloween mug, and top with whipped cream and sprinkles!
ICED VERSION*
If using collagen, stir collagen into boiling hot water until dissolved, I like to use a handheld frother for this.
Add cocoa powder, sweetener and spices, and stir until sweetener has dissolved and cocoa powder is incorporated.
Pour over ice, then add cold brew and milk.
Top with whipped cream and sprinkles!
Notes
*Alternatively, blend all ingredients in a blender: for hot version blend spices with warm coffee and milk, for iced version blend hot water and collagen first, then add all other ingredients
