Although we celebrated Halloween around these parts last night, I’m still in a festive, creepy, freaky kind of mood.
K, that sounded weird.
Actually, Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. First of all, hello – free candy. Second of all, it’s just plain fun. Third of all, did I mention the free candy??
(Ah yes, bangs a la 1991.)
Growing up, my master seamstress of a mother would hand-sew my costumes every year, morphing me into everything from a fairy princess, to a cuddly bunny, plump pumpkin, Minnie Mouse and/or pretty much anything that wouldn’t look crazy with a zillion warm layers stuffed underneath. 
After my brothers and I bundled up against the October chill, my Dad would take our neighbor friends and us around the ‘hood, scampering from house to house to collect our booty.
Finally we’d run home to sort, trade and grumble over the rolls of pennies someone inevitably gave out in lieu of actual candy (as if we needed ANY more!)
Now that I’m all grown up, and trick-or-treating at 28 is generally frowned upon, I’m bringing the creepy, crawly fun to me. In the kitchen, no less. Tonight I whipped up Sautéed Grubs over Roasted Rat Tails and Mouse Brains for dinner – MUWAHAHAHAHA!
Fine. It’s Pumpkin Gnocchi with Roasted Asparagus & Brussels Sprouts. But come on, which one’s more fun considering it’s Halloween?? 
This festive dinner was pretty much all made yesterday, so all I had to do tonight was heat and eat. Pretty awesome for a busy Monday night.
First I pre-made my Pumpkin Gnocchi/grubs (I’m committing to the theme.) These were a cinch, really!
I made my orange-tinted gnocchi dough by combining pumpkin puree with egg yolk, salt and flour until it formed a barely sticky dough.
PS I’ve started boiling a pot of water while making gnocchi dough so I can do a quick test to see if it falls apart while cooking – meaning I need to add more flour to the dough – or if it holds up well to a 2-3 minute boil before rolling the whole batch out.
If the dough passes the test, I continue rolling, cutting and flicking it over fork tines to create gnocchi (see complete, step-by-step instructions here.)
Next I stuck them in the freezer on a sheet pan, then into a freezer bag when they were hard.
All I had to do tonight was bring a steaming cauldron of water to a boil and plop those babies in straight from the freezer.
A few minutes later they were floating at the top and cooked through.
Finally I plucked the pumpkin gnocchi from the water and let them sizzle in browned, organic butter and fresh sage for a few minutes, until they had a yummy crust on ‘em.
Grubs = done! (Gross!)
While the gnocchi were doing their thang, I roasted pans of mouse brains and rat tails, aka brussels sprouts and asparagus in EVOO, salt, pepper and garlic powder, then plated everything up.
All together now!
Ok, I probably should have thought about the whole grub/mouse brains/rat tail concept after I ate because, while the flavors were incredible, I actually got a wee bit squeamish eating this! It’s all fun and games ’til someone loses their appetite! #HalloweenFail
Ben, though, thoroughly enjoyed. What a boy.
Linkage!
Pumpkin Gnocchi in Brown Butter and Sage Sauce (I didn’t use the lemon)
Roasted Brussels Sprouts (asparagus seasoned the same way and added to the oven in the last 8 minutes.)
Now onto the truly fun part of the evening – Ben and I are off to do some grown up trick-or-treating…at Best Buy! They are having some redonk sales on really nice televisions that we are going to take advantage of. I have my joke all ready to tell if need be. No I don’t.
Happy Halloween!
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What’s your favorite holiday of the year?
I think I like Thanksgiving the best – it’s such a fun time with family – but I HEART the Christmas season. Merry, bright and so festive!
This looks amazing!!! Happy Halloween!
THIS looks awesome!!!! Pinned.
Oh, and you are totally the cutest little girl on the planet. Those pictures are precious!!!!
you make gnocchi look ridiculously easy! can’t wait to try the pumpkin version.
my favorite holiday is most definitely thanksgiving. it’s all about food!! well, after giving thanks of course
I do love Thanksgiving. Good food. Lots of family time. It’s great. My favorite summer holiday is the fourth of July. It’s just so festive, I can’t help but love it!
You are such a cute kid!!! I’m pretty sure I was mini mouse one year and I know I was most definitely a clown once or twice in my day.
Maybe Best Buy will be handing out Candy. They were at Michael’s today which was kind of cute.
I love the old Halloween photos! Christmas is definitely my favorite. It’s mushier than all the other holidays.
Kristin, where did that blond hair come from?! Your costumes were adorable.
I love everything about both Christmas and Halloween. Does the day-after-Thanksgiving shopping count as a holiday too?
My mom and I are out the door by 5:00am, and I love it!
I was getting kinda grossed out reading. Props for soldiering through, it looks fantastic!
this might be what i need to do to like gnocchi. whenever i’ve had it, it’s been mushy and not my thing. pumpkin + crust=yum!
I’m on a quest to get some good gnocchi, this recipe looks promising! incidentally, I dressed up as minnie mouse this year. as for my favorite holiday, I love the christmas season. I love when malls are decorated elaborately, I love the hustle & bustle, christmas movies and the songs!
halloween is by far, my favorite!
but christmas is coming in a close second!
What a yummy dinner. Christmas is my favorite holiday. I just love the sights, sounds, lights, etc!
Christmas hands down, I officially start my season November 1st with doing the outdoor lights and baking, and then mid November I start decorating and yes, listening to Christmas music
This is one pumpkin recipe I haven’t seen before! Definitely trying it out
Christmas is definitely my favorite holiday season!
skeeeeeve…I will never be able to look at gnocchi, asparagus and b sprouts in the same way.. yes, I have food issues.
This gnocchi recipe had me drooling all over my keyboard – and it’s only 11:30am here! Glad to see you got into the spooky spirit with your dinner. I am definitely going to give this recipe a try myself – I hope spelt flour works as well. We shall see
I am a Christmas girl too – it lasts nearly a month in our house and I never get sick of it
I love the old photos! Too fun!
I also heart Christmas. It really is the most wonderful time of the year
It’s definitely a tie for me between Thanksgiving and Christmas, mostly because of the FOOD!
Love the old pictures!
I like Thanksgiving because there is less pressure – it’s just about eating and not about gift giving.
Christmas probably edges out Thanksgiving though because there is more time off from work. 
Happy Halloween!! That food looks amazing! And all your costumes are adorable!
That gnocchi looks delicious.
Thanksgiving is definitely my favorite holiday, too, especially after going to college. It’s so nice to go home for a few days and it’s near my birthday!
Thank you for sharing the joys of healthy cooking with. Your blog shows that nutritious meals can be delicious AND simple to prepare. The importance of eating a balanced diet really can’t be understated. This message is even more important as Breast Cancer Awareness Month comes to an end. As a busy Iowa woman, I sometimes forget to prioritize my health. I need to think about staying active and eating well all year long–not just during the month of October, when the ubiquitous pink is such a potent reminder for me to look after my health.
Aw! I love old pictures and the costumes! So cute
That gnocchi looks amazing. I definitely want to try making gnocchi from scratch. I think it would be so rewarding and not to mention healthier.
I looove Halloween! Hope TV shopping went well. I think my fave holiday is between Thanksgiving and Christmas too
Seriously, your meals have been amazing lately! Pumpkin Gnocchi? It looks so good (and easy). Ben must really look forward to dinner every day!
I <3 Valentine's Day!!! But Halloween is a close second!
Yum! I love Thanksgiving and Christmas
ahh this dinner looks yummy!!! I wanna try it! (since I copy basically all of your meals
)
Halloween and Christmas are my absolute faces but I also love 4th of July, Thanksgiving, and my birthday (which is totally a holiday right?)
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