Pepper Pumpkins

It’s becoming clear that with the time change approaching, I will need to set up some sort of photo studio in my guest bedroom. I am racing home from work and throwing bowls on the counter and pots and pans on the stove in an effort to speed cook  – just so I have natural light for my photos.

We have been a little “meat” heavy the past few weeks. Dan has been sick and hasn’t had much of an appetite this week and I’ve been craving veggies and lighter dinners. Last night was the perfect night to break out my beloved veggie slicer.

I am a sucker for picking up holiday themed magazines at the grocery store. I thumbed through a Halloween one and saw cute “Spaghetti Jack O’Lanterns”. The photo showed a plate of carved bell peppers spewing spaghetti. Awesome! Sounded appetizing to me, hah!

I already had bell peppers, zucchini and yellow squash in my cart, so I thought I’d have some “kid-style” Halloween fun last night.

The Ingredients:
1 Zucchini
1 Yellow Squash
1 Orange Bell Pepper
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
3-4 Sun Dried Tomatoes
A handful of oil cured olives – seeded, regular black olives would work fine
Salt and Pepper to taste

I heated up the olive oil and garlic in a sauté pan. I then added my zucchini/yellow squash noodles, sun dried tomatoes and olives. I let them cook a bit while I cut, cleaned, and carved my bell pepper pumpkin.

I spooned the squash pasta mixture into the pepper and then pulled some of the zucchini and squash strings through the mouth opening. I then strategically placed olives in the eye cut outs to make them darker.

My creation made me wish I had kids or lived closer to my niece. She is a huge pasta fan, so I would have used regular spaghetti or vermicelli noodles for her pepper pumpkin.

Halloween is my favorite time of year. I have 3 Halloween cookbooks and can’t wait to make some of the fun/spooky creations.

Rain is slated for the weekend, so I plan on spending lots of time in the kitchen.

P.S. – My afternoon snack is sliced up bell pepper and dill dip. Poor Mr. Jack O’Lantern…