Vegetarian Halloween Dinner Recipes

Making a great vegetarian Halloween dinner doesn't have to be difficult. You just need to use a little imagination.

Creepy Pumpkin Crouton Soup

½ cup butter

2 lbs pumpkin, peeled, seeded and cut in chunks

Pumpkin shell

1 cup warm water

Pinch of nutmeg

Pinch of thyme

Pinch of sage

Salt to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

6 cups of milk

¼ long grain rice

Big croutons or French bread

Melt butter in large saucepan. Add pumpkin and stir well over medium heat for 10 minutes. Add water, nutmeg, thyme, sage, salt and pepper.

Puree pumpkin mixture in blender using ¼ cup of milk. Return to saucepan adding the remainder of the milk and rice. Cook on medium for about 30 minutes stirring occasionally.

Now, if you purchased big croutons or French bread you need to use pumpkin cookie cutters to make designs like a ghost or pumpkin.

Serve the soup in the large shell of the pumpkin if you still have it. Put a few cut-out croutons on top and a pinch of nutmeg. The croutons make it a holiday special treat.

Pumpkin Ravioli

4 cups flour

5 eggs

1 teaspoon olive oil

4 tablespoons water

2 lbs pumpkin, peeled and seeded

½ cup grated parmesan cheese

1 cup crushed macaroon cookies

2 ½ cups bread crumbs

Salt to taste

Dash nutmeg

First mix flour and three eggs well. Add oil and then the water. Knead to firm like you would with bread. Cover in plastic wrap and let it rest for about 1 hour.

While waiting, make the filling. Blend the pumpkin well but not drippy. Put it in large bowl and add 2 eggs, parmesan, cookies, bread crumbs, salt and nutmeg. Mix well.

Roll out the dough as thinly as you can. Make into two rectangle pieces. Put pumpkin mixture, about a small teaspoon at equal intervals across one of the two dough pieces. Put the second dough over it and use a pastry wheel to make the ravioli. Seal each edge with fork and let sit for one hour.

Cook in boiling water with salt for about 8-10 minutes. Drain and serve. I am not a vegetarian but these are so flavorful, I do not put any kind of sauce on them. I just love them as they are but you can add pasta sauce, alfredo sauce or butter.

Eyeball Radicchio Salad

1 head of radicchio lettuce

1 cup cooked beats, diced

2 carrots, grated

1 medium onion, diced

1/8 teaspoon garlic (optional)

1/8 teaspoon cilantro, diced (optional)

6 hard boiled eggs, shelled

Parsley sprigs

12 black olives

¼ cup feta cheese or bleu cheese

Put radicchio on plates.

Mix the beets, carrots, onion, garlic, cilantro and celery in a bowl. Put over the Radicchio. Cut eggs in half and put black olives in center to look like creepy eyeballs. Sprinkle bleu or feta cheese. Garnish with parsley if you like and put your favorite salad dressing on the side.