Having a get together with friends and family this Halloween? Or maybe you’re having a party for one (honestly, that’s how I usually celebrate most holidays)? I recently found a ton of fun, easy, and (yay!) vegan halloween recipes. I like that they’re also healthy recipes, not ways to use up leftover halloween candy (not that there’s anything wrong with that), since I never buy any.
Bonus points: the vegan halloween recipes I found use seasonal ingredients like potatoes and pumpkins! There are some dessert recipes, but many of them use whole wheat pastry flour.
I’d never tried pumpkin juice until recently, but I’m glad I finally did! Nothing makes me think of fall and halloween more than pumpkins do. Until now, though, I had no idea what to make with all the great looking pumpkins I see at grocery stores, road-side stands, and pumpkin patches!
Healthy Halloween Sweet: Pumpkin Juice
- 10 dried apricots
- 1½ cups water
- 2 cups apple juice
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 7 whole allspice berries
- 2 (2-inch) pieces of thinly sliced ginger
- ½ vanilla bean, split (or ½ teaspoon vanilla extract)
- ½ cup pumpkin puree
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Soak the apricots in the water for at least 4 hours or overnight in the fridge. Add apple juice, cinnamon stick, allspice, ginger, and vanilla bean to a saucepan. Bring almost to boil, then turn heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Next, take off heat and let it cool a bit.
- Add the apricots and the soaking water to a blender and blend until smooth. Add the pumpkin purée and nutmeg and blend again. Strain the apple juice mixture into the blender to make sure only the liquid comes through. Blend until smooth.
- Put a fine mesh strainer over a pitcher and strain the pulp so that only the thick juice drips into the pitcher. Lastly, sprinkle with ground nutmeg before serving.
Recipe from The Ghoulish Gourmet by Kathy Hester
