I had the wonderful opportunity to share some seasonally inspired dishes that are both organic & non-GMO on NBC’s Charlotte Today you don’t want to miss!
- 1 cup black quinoa
- 2 medium sweet potatoes
- 1 pomegranate
- 2 tsp chopped red onion (optional)
- ¾ cup chopped pecans
- sea salt and black pepper to taste
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp coconut oil
- 1 tsp honey to drizzle
- 4 green olives
- 1 green pepper cut into thin slices
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- Wash and scrub sweet potatoes and prick with a fork
- Bake sweet potatoes on pan for about 40-50 mins or until tender
- While sweet potatoes are baking, cook quinoa to package instructions
- After quinoa is finished cooking, combine onions, pecans, coconut oil, nutmeg, and pomegranate seeds to quinoa and stir
- Allow sweet potatoes to cool slightly, cut in half longwise, and scoop out a couple of tablespoons of the middle
- Fill each sweet potato half with ¼ quinoa mixture
- Decorate each "coffin" with green olive head and green peppers for the body
- Drizzle each coffin with honey if desired
- You might have left over quinoa, depending on how big your sweet potatoes are, the left overs are perfect to enjoy the next day as a salad.
The little green alien men on the coffins were made using green olives and green peppers. This recipe also uses black quinoa, which has the same amazing nutritional qualities as golden quinoa, but is a little nuttier in taste and texture. Quinoa is the only plant food that has all 9 essential amino acids and is why I incorporate it in my diet so much. It’s the perfect substitute for meat in a meal.
- 1 cup almond butter
- 3 tbsp Nutiva coconut oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 and ½ tbsp maple syrup
- ¼ cup of sunspire sun drops chocolate pieces
- Combine almond butter, coconut oil, salt, vanilla, and maple syrup and stir well
- Place mixture in a 8x8 pan or small dish lined with parchment paper
- Top with chocolate pieces
- Place in freezer for at least 3 hours
- Cut into small bite square sized pieces and enjoy!
These are not Reese’s Pieces! I bought these “Sun Drops” at Whole Foods and they have no artificial coloring or GMOs. The colors automatically remind me of fall, so they are perfect for Halloween or Thanksgiving.
If you are looking for more healthy Halloween ideas, be sure to check this post where I discuss all the good alternatives to the bad candies out there – there are fortunately a lot of options to live organically and non-GMO even on Halloween.
What Are You Going To Be This Halloween?
Food Babe
I am SO excited about this Halloween Bark! I love your dessert posts so much. I have a major sweet tooth. major! And it is always great to have healthy dessert options 🙂 Thanks so much!
You are very welcome Haley!
Awesome ideas! Thx! Sent you an email a while back asking if you have any advice on Near East products, sorry to write here, but my 2 year old loves them and I just want to make sure they are safe! Thank you
Perfect for the holiday coming and all my fave flavors in one dessert. Can’t wait to try it. Thank you!
These look delicious, thanks for sharing! I am allergic to nuts… do you think sunflower butter would be a good alternative to almond butter in this recipe??
It would work well – when you try it – let me know how it goes!
My daughter is allergic to nuts AND coconut. I’m going to give it a shot with sunflower butter, and I will replace the coconut oil with organic, grassfed butter. Here goes nothing!
If I have an almond intolerance, what do you recommend as a substitute for almond butter in this recipe??
Sunbutter would be a good substitute.
Thank you! Can’t wait to make it!
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your site and all of your recipes. However, I am a bit disappointed in your use of the Sun Spire Sun Drops candies. One of the ingredients listed on their website is caramel color, which I am pretty sure is a known carcinogen and is linked to cancer. Would be worth investigating more, as I know how careful you generally are in recommending products.
Domini – Actually that color they use is caramel coloring level 1 – not 3 and 4 that are made from ammonia.
Thanks for the information. I wasn’t aware that there were different types of caramel coloring. What exactly is caramel coloring level 1, and how can I know the difference when looking at ingredients on labels? Not sure if it’s possible, but I really try hard to stay away from bad ingredients, so I would be grateful for any guidance you can provide.
And, now that I know it’s okay, I think I’m going to have to make these for Thanksgiving. 🙂
Well sometimes on the label it will say which E number it is and you can tell that way. But in this case, I actually had to call and ask Sunspire to find out – they call the safe stuff “natural caramel” sometimes too. You were right in the first place to be suspicious!
Thank you so much! I am going to show this to the cooking class our girls go to! We do mindful/vegan/vegetarian versions of each class. I have to bring my own ingredients to every class and help our girls…it’s more work for me, but so amazing and educational to the school and other parents in the class.
🙂 Thanks for your help in educating us all!!
Great show Vani….I love how you’re promoting organic non-GMO foods!! Looking forward to making these recipes!!
I LOVE the green men! We have 4 little girls and they are going to be so excited over them. I was just about to look online for some Halloween recipes.
OMG…sorry about the double…now triple post. Ugh!
LOL no worries 🙂
I LOVE the green men! So excited to try this out for our 4 little girls!
Wow! I just came across your site the other day b/c of a post you did on Chipotle…i LOVE their food 🙂 Got your email today about this post and had to check it out.
I can’t wait to try the bark recipe. I think this could be a great idea for something my daughter can start bringing in her school lunches.
Do you think the bark would actually be a healthier alternative to the Costco Trail Mix (the one w/ the M&M’s, peanuts, almonds, raisins etc.).
Perfect, I have a Halloween party to go to this weekend and was looking for something new to try. Can’t wait to try them both.
Sweet potatoes with white flesh is probably a Japanese Sweet Potato. They are incredibly delicious! Try them on another occasion!
Loved this one. Didn’t know almond butter helps you to burn fat while you sleep. What a great reason to have an almond butter dessert every night!
I will definitely try those delicious looking Sun Drops.
Thank you again,Joy ,Light Love
What about the soy and milk? If not organic, those are going to contain GMO’s.
exactly what i was thinking….this is not GMO free!
What a fun segment. Love your message and know it’s making a big difference in promoting consumer awareness at a time when it’s so desperately needed. And you do it with such passion and like ability. You go girl!
Really enjoyed!!! Look forward to making not only at Halloween!!! Thank you!!!
I could not open the ‘check this post’ site.
Here’s the direct link – https://foodbabe.com/2012/10/10/does-your-favorite-candy-have-gmos/
Hi! Thank you for the amazing recipes, my husband and I have been really enjoying the mealplans 🙂 Quick question about coconut oil .. tonight I baked your strawberry scone recipe and had a really hard time getting the recipe wet enough (b/c the coconut oil is solid and even after adding more and then blending it I still couldn’t seem to get it right consistency.) I’d like to try that delicious Halloween bark but am feeling a bit frustrated baking with the coconut oil. I’d love any tips you have 🙂 Thank you!!! 🙂
Try melting the coconut oil next time, I think that will work better for you. The room temperature coconut oil actually mixes pretty well in the Halloween Bark recipe – but you can also melt it before too. I just put a small dish with the amount I want to use directly on the stove for a couple of minutes. I am so happy to hear you are loving the Eating Guides! Please let me know if you have any more questions 🙂
Everything looked so yummy. I’m definitely going to try them out and thanks for sharing!! Once again, a great job well done!!
Thank you so much for your super ideas, i am always very care for good healthy food. Hope you continue with your great purpose.
Thank you Vani for sharing your passion of Ala Natural. I have been a fan of your site for about a month now & can’t wait to share the coffins with my family.
I too feel that if you don’t concern yourself with what goes into your pie hole you are staring down the barrel of a loaded gun. Sort of like playing Russian Roulette with food.
Thanks Again….Mr.Blues
YUMMY! Can not wait to make the Halloween Bark!
I saw the big container of Nutiva coconut oil that was shown during the cooking lesson. It’s the brand I prefer.
But it’s in a plastic container and because oil is a fat, I think it’s more likely to promote leaching (right?). So I started sourcing coconut oil in glass containers because if it’s not BPA, it will be something else. Glass will always (hopefully) be safest. What do you think? Plastic is definitely less expensive and I do go through a lot of coconut oil–maybe because it’s not in the container for years, it will be okay?
BTW, I can’t wait to make the Halloween Bark. I haven’t seen Sunspire at Whole Foods in a while–it used to be in bulk bins. But I saw the package while you were cooking–I’ll look for that.
Also, you rock!
I have commented on other posts but wanted to thank you again for the wealth of reliable information you provide. I am a RD & work at a outpatient oncology center in new york and use a lot of your posts to educate my patients- especially useful are the clean protein powders, healthy tea post, eating organic on a budget and many others I have used as information for my patients that I can really trust! I also have given them your website to check out healthy recipes, such as your almond flour waffles and more… I am completing my Masters degree in Nutrition and this week our topic is heart disease/ a heart healthy diet- we have to participate in a discussion board about the industry and large food companies and how they claim to be heart healthy on their boxes and make absurd health claims when really it is just processed junk (processed cereals like fiber one cereal, kelloggs heart healthy stamp on their cereal boxes)…. not WHOLE foods that have natural fibers and phytochemicals that are good four our bodies and our hearts. I am going to include your website in the post and encourage all of my classmates to read your website and sign up for the newsletter. I think what you do is awesome and really applies to this weeks topic so I am going to share this information.
This is a cute idea! I like the idea of Halloween decorations being edible & healthy! By the way, sweet potatoes are always white, yams are orange…people mix those up all the time. The white ‘coffins’ still look great, so don’t feel bad.
Hey love!! I made the dessert and although they came out DELICIOUS they did not come out with the same thickness 🙁 What size dish did you use to put the mix in? I cut them and they are way to thin to serve. But again, they were still so good!
Thank you so much for the creative ideas!! I’ve just started this journey for the healthiest eating for my family and your information has been much appreciated! BTW, I may be a box of Cheerios for Halloween…. now that’s scareeeeee!!! 🙂
Would peanut butter work?
So you recommend raw almond butter or toasted almond butter?
Thanks Food Babe, you are my heiress! I moved to the US a year ago and you have been great help to me, navigating food labels and the lack of them!
This recipe looks wonderful! I will make it tonight. Can i leave it in the freezer over night or after 3 hours is it good to leave out?
You say great things about coconut oil, but it has a lot of saturated fat. Is coconut oil better than olive oil? If so, how? Olive oil has less saturated fat. I know that there is more to it than just saturated or not, but could you clarify?
Thank you.
P.S. Great recipes!
I am so excited about this food bark. I will be sharing this recipe with all my clients and students as we kick off our Happy, Healthy Holiday Challenge! You are a wonderful resource and I’m looking forward to continuing to learn from you.
Do you use raw almond butter or roasted for a treat like this? Thank you!
Either works! I prefer raw.
Today I looked at the Sun drop chocolate pieces at Whole Foods and they have soy lecithin in them. So do the Unreal candies. My understanding is soy lecithin is GMO soy, yet you and several other nutrition experts say these candies are NON GMO. Can you please explain this?? I have seen countless people ask this question to different nutrition experts but NOBODY ever takes the time to answer this.
Thank you!!
Might be a dumb question, but can I use natural peanut butter instead of almond?
Yes!
AMAZING! Just made this awesome Halloween Bark, it’s sitting in the freezer now, thank you and I can’t wait to try it in 3 hours! 🙂
Glad to hear it! Let me know what you think!
Honestly? It was AMAZING. I gave some to all of my friends and everyone was SUPER impressed, what a brilliant snack! THANK YOU!
Thank you for the Halloween bark recipe! I’m making it tomorrow to serve at my Halloween party.
Hi Vani,
I love your recipes but, like so many people, am on a restrictive budget. Almond butter and coconut oil are quite expensive, as are the candies you mentioned. I have heard the argument “What is your health worth to you long term.” but cannot escape what my housing, heat (I live in Michigan), lights, and food for my family, are worth to me right now. Would you consider doing a segment on how to shop naturally and organically on a budget? Thank you so much for the work you do.
P.S. As an aside, I was riding my bike through a major university campus a few days ago and came to a stark realization. Everyone around me was thin. I’m sure this is due in part to the average age being 18-24, but poorer/poverty stricken neighborhoods are much more reflective of the national average of 60% of the population being overweight, regardless of the age of the resident. The two common denominators I can suss out are income and education.
Hi Tanya! Many readers have had this same question so Vani compiled an extensive list of over 75 tips to eat organic on a budget. I hope this helps! I try to read this a few times a week to remind myself of the little things I can do.
https://foodbabe.com/2013/05/20/how-to-eat-organic-on-a-budget/
Hi Tanya! I buy whole almonds in bulk (Sam’s Club has 48 oz for $13), I roast and grind them myself. It is little time consuming, but well worth it. And the taste of your own roasted almonds is incredible! When I grind them in my Nutribullet (that I got with 20% discount in Bed, Bath and Beyond just because I signed up for their newsletter), I have almond butter! And much cheaper! As far as coconut oil, Sam’s Club just started to sell organic coconut oil, giant 54 oz container for $15.88. That price is pretty awesome, considering it is organic. It can last you long. I know that eating organic might be little pricey sometimes, but there is always a way to find a good deal if you look for it! Happy shopping!
Hi Tanya! I buy whole almonds in bulk (Sam’s Club has 48 oz for $13), I roast and grind them myself. It is little time consuming, but well worth it. And the taste of your own roasted almonds is incredible! When I grind them in my Nutribullet (that I got with 20% discount in Bed, Bath and Beyond just because I signed up for their newsletter), I have almond butter! And much cheaper! As far as coconut oil, Sam’s Club just started to sell organic coconut oil, giant 54 oz container for $15.88. That price is pretty awesome, considering it is organic. It can last you long. I know that eating organic might be little pricey sometimes, but there is always a way to find a good deal if you look for it! Happy shopping!
I found the bark to be too oily for my taste.
I am thinking of making the Halloween bark for my kids’ book fair bake sale next week as they’ve requested vegan and gluten-free treats. I’m also planning to use Sunbutter since there are so many nut allergies. Once it comes out of the freezer, how long will it keep? Will it soften too much if it isn’t refrigerated for a couple of days? Thanks for all you do to keep us food-savvy!
Hey, I made the Halloween Bark, so do I store it in the refrigerator or in the freezer? I let is set out on the counter for 2 hours and it was mush. 🙁
Coconut oil liquefies below 78 degrees, so everything you make with it should be stored in the freezer or refrigerator.
Thanks Vani for this great recipe, the bark was just AMAZING!!! Sweet and healthy, that’s what I like! 🙂 I shared this recipe on my blog, too – SO GOOD! Great job! ♥
I’m making the Halloween Bark right now for my family. It looks great , thanks 🙂
We had the almond bark for a office pot luck today and it melted into one big glop. Did we do something wrong? Was it supposed to stay frozen?
I’ve been reading that low to no carbs is better for the brain. Can you help with no carb recipies? Thanks
I made the Halloween bark for a Halloween party and ran into the same problem as other reviewers – after less than a couple hours – it was mush! : ( We ended up dipping our rice crispy treats in them like a dip! Haha! Not very healthy any more… Any ways, I would love to be able to serve it and have them keep the same consistency as when they came out of the freezer… so they hold up and present themselves like true bark! Thanks in advance for any suggestions or modifications to this great recipe.
Hey! So I’m planning on making this for a party/baby shower soon and saw your post on PB2 (never heard of it) but was shocked by the information regarding heavy pesticide use. Does the same go for almonds (and other nuts)?? I’ve avoided almonds as I’ve been reactive to them but then read that you should soak and dehydrate them reduce the phytic acid (which may cause the upset) and is why you should get blanched almond flour (which I had no reaction to, so I want to see if almond butter is ok) BUT my question is, does almond butter and almond flour need to be organic? I have yet to find an organic almond flour. Also, for this recipe, do you know of any candy alternatives that would be good? Chocolate gives my husband migraines so I avoid using it in desserts 🙂 Thanks!
I made this and it was awesome! A little rich with the “butter flavor” from the almond butter so I might try 1/2 almond butter 1/2 organic peanut butter next time. I love your site and information!!!! Thank you.
About to make this tonight. Can I use the nutiva coconut mana???