Halloween Highlights!

The older I get, the less I go out on holidays. Mostly for money reasons, but I also firmly believe that Halloween is one of the biggest "amateur nights" out there, especially in New York City. Being smushed into costumed, drunken revelers and paying $12 for a cocktail is not my idea of a good time.

So, on holidays like this, my husband and I have to make our own fun. Bear is an artist and he obsesses over teeth and skulls in his work. So, as a Halloween treat, I bought us a 4D skull puzzle. I figured we'd assemble it together and then Bear could use it as a model for his art. 

But before we could get to the main event, Bear surprised me with a pumpkin! While I was at work, he went on a pumpkin search to every grocery store in the neighborhood, to no avail. He was even told by a shopkeeper that "There are no pumpkins in the 'hood!" However, he spied a pumpkin in a display window on his way back to our apartment. Ten minutes of negotiation and five dollars later, he was the proud owner of a lopsided, weirdly shaped pumpkin!

When I got home from work, we popped open a bottle of wine and got to work on Jack's lobotomy. I suggested we use the pumpkin's weird shape to our advantage and "Drunk Jack" was born!

He's "tipsy."

We decided to use all of Jack's parts wisely and made roasted pumpkin seeds and Crustless Keto Pumpkin Pie from our drunken friend's innards.

Drunk Jack's Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

1. Clean freshly scooped out pumpkin seeds in clear, cold water and pull stray pumpkin strands off of the seeds.
2. Lightly grease a glass casserole pan with unsalted butter.
3. Coat wet seeds in a mixture of salt, Old Bay seasoning, and garlic powder to taste.
4. Roast in oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 15-20 minutes or until nicely browned.

Breaking Bad-esque upshot!
 

These seeds smelled delightful, and the two I popped in my mouth were tasty...but I forgot to turn off the stove and the rest of the seeds burned to a crisp :-(

The reason for my fatal pumpkin seed error (other than my wine intake)? We were assembling the skull!


Spooky skull parts!

"Agent Dana Skully"


Disappointed by my lost pumpkins seeds but fortified by wine and our new skull friend, I decided to try my hand at making some pumpkin pie! 

I oven roasted Jack's innards in the same glass casserole pan until the pumpkin was soft to the touch (about 15 to 20 minutes).  I had to adapt this recipe after my first attempt at pie (following the linked recipe to the letter...) devolved into a soggy pile of pumpkin goo. 

Crustless Keto Pumpkin Pie

• 2 cups fresh roasted pumpkin, pureed in blender
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon cloves
• 1 heaping tablespoon Sweet Leaf powdered stevia

1. Mix all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
2. Pour mixture evenly into greased glass pie pan (I used unsalted butter).
3. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes, or until top of pie is browned and a toothpick can be inserted and come out clean.

We ate half of it before I could get a picture!

Jack's insides gave us enough pumpkin to make 3 pies -- one sad, failed pie and two perfect, delightful, deliciously keto pies!  I love the taste of pumpkin, and the amount of stevia I used gave just a hint of sweetness.  If you prefer a sweeter tasting pie, I would say another tablespoon or two of stevia should be used.  Bear ate an entire half of one of the pies and topped it off with fresh whipped heavy cream with a bit of cinnamon. 

All in all, our Halloween was very fun. After all the arts, crafts, and baking, we lit Drunk Jack up and watched a couple episodes of "The X-Files" by jack'o'lantern light.

Drunk Jack has now been thrown away, but I think we will be doing some more pumpkin experiments soon.  Bear brought this home on Monday:

Kitty not included...

Hope you had a happy Halloween and kαλή όρεξη!!

-Alex

 

P.S.

 

Check out T-Rex's costume!

 

Q: How many licks will it take the T-Rex Owl to get to the center of her Tootsie Pop?
A: She'll have to learn to take the paper off first! ;-)