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Everything Pumpkin

Batty for Halloween? Here’s your dinner

By Andria Dilling, Staff writer | October 1, 2014

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Pumpkin Stuffed With Everything Good (Photo: lawellphoto.com)

Halloween is one of those holidays that just needs overdoing. Think about it: Pumpkins! Ghosts! Dressing up! Squishy worms! Gobs of candy! For one short season, it’s all an acceptable reversion right back into our childhoods.

A couple of years ago, when I ran out of level surfaces to adulterate with a never-ending collection (started many years ago with college care packages from my mother) of pumpkin lights, noise-making ghosts, fluttering bats and felt gourds, I somehow had to step up my game. Which led to a whole new obsession that my family has affectionately named “Everything Pumpkin.”

How do you get more “Everything Pumpkin” than the orange glow that emanates from my living room between Sept. 15 (doesn’t everyone decorate then?) and Nov. 1? By making a point that everything – and I do mean everything – served at Halloween dinner must have pumpkin of some sort in it.

Pumpkin seed-crusted chicken. Pumpkin hummus. Pumpkin mac and cheese. Salad with – you guessed it – roasted pumpkin seeds sprinkled on top.

To some this might sound slightly wretched. But honestly, and of course objectively, it’s delish. (This coming from a person who once threw an all-chocolate party, where everything – sweet and savory – boasted a dose of cacao. Another story entirely.) A little compulsive? Probably. But also a gratifying challenge for my sous-chefs and me. When we pull it all off, we feel like we’ve won. And then we have a really great dinner.