Whole30 Day 10: Halloween is such a fun holiday for me, but growing up I can only remember being allowed to trick-or-treat maybe once or twice. Usually my fundamentalist parents held the opinion that the holiday was satanic and blasphemous and so we weren’t allowed to dress up and canvass the neighborhoods for candy.

Nowadays, I proudly flaunt my witch’s costume with pointed hat, medieval gown, full length black cape, magic staff, glitter, and all! We even move our firepit down to the driveway to add to the eerie effect and pass out candy from a large black cauldron. I absolutely love it! If we’re lucky, our Tuxedo cat, Salem, and one of our Calico’s, Ginger, will make an appearance providing us with our very own live props! It’s wicked fun! Our neighborhood goes all out too with treats for adults even, which we disappointingly had to skip this year due the Whole30 thing. Ah well, there’s always next year!

Since moving to our new home, I’ve started the tradition of making a batch of chili for our dinner Halloween night then transfer it to my slow cooker and set it up on our witches table out on the driveway to share, if there should happen by any hungry goblins that is. This year, I set the table up with wilted roses, a Ouija board, and the very scary Pinhead Jack-o-Lantern Amy carved. Last year I also made a chilled Caramel Apple Witches Brew with glow-in-the dark eyeball ice cubes for us adults and a Polyjuice Potion Punch for the kiddos. Sadly, with the whole no sugar/alcohol commitment, the punch and witches brew did not make a reappearance this year, but I still drank my seltzer from the Witch Wine glass I painted at a party awhile back. It was definitely super, incredibly hard to not indulge in any candy or booze this Halloween but we enjoyed our chili dinner, trick-or-treater’s and their costumes, and even wrapped up the evening with an episode of The Walking Dead. Whole30 put a tiny kink in our usual traditions, but it in no way kept us from having a spooktacular Halloween!

4 Alarm Short Rib Chili 

Ingredients: 

2 leftover Beef Short Ribs, shredded

1 lb sugar free Pork Sausage (found mine at Detwiler’s Farmer’s Market)

2 sm Red Bell peppers, chopped

1 Sweet Onion, chopped

1 lg Tomato, chopped

2 cups sugar free Chicken Stock

4 tbsp TexJoy Chili powder

4 tbsp Cumin powder

2 tsp Chipotle powder

1/4 tsp Red Pepper flakes

1/2 Lime

1 tsp Spanish Paprika

1 tsp Grapeseed oil, or oil of choice

Salt and Pepper to taste

Garnish: Diced Tomatoes, Guac, Fresh Cilantro

Method: 

In a large Dutch oven over med high flame, heat the Grapeseed oil until shimmering. Add in the bell pepper and onion and saute until just tender, about 5 minutes. Add in the garlic and saute about 1 minute more. Add in the pork sausage next and saute until golden brown, about 10 to 15 minutes. Add in the tomato, chili powder, cumin powder, chipotle powder, red pepper flakes, and Spanish paprika. Stir until well incorporated and saute about 2 minutes longer. Squeeze in the lime juice, add in the chicken stock and shredded short ribs, and then continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened, 30 to 45 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed (I like adding about a tsp or so of TexJoy Chili powder at the end of the cooking time to help brighten the chili). Serve immediately. Garnish with diced tomatoes, guac, and fresh cilantro.

Note: to tone down the heat, add less Chipotle powder and skip the red pepper flakes

Sweet Potato Chips

Ingredients: 

2 Sweet Potatoes, washed, trimmed, and sliced into thick medallions

2 tsp Grapeseed oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

Method: 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Arrange a sheet pan with a baking rack positioned on top of it. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, toss the sweet potato with the oil, salt, and pepper. Arrange in a single layer on the baking rack. Back in the oven, in batches if needed, until lightly charred and crispy around the edges, about 15 to 20 minutes (vary by how thick the slices are), flipping the potato medallions halfway through. Finish with additional salt if desired. Serve immediately.