Today feels like a Monday. While I didn’t have “off” yesterday, it still felt like a three day weekend, because Lu worked from home and we saw Gone Girl after the gym and work.
Yes, I saw Gone Girl. I immediately regretted not reading the book first, since I loved the movie and I could only imagine what a nail biter the book would have been. And I was just in search for a new book!
Alas, it’s not a Monday, it’s now a Tuesday and I have a special treat for you: a Halloween inspired spiralized dish AND a giveaway from my friend at Wild Mint Shop!
Hannah is a girl I went to college with and she started her own online shop, Wild Mint. I did a giveaway for her months ago and I’m welcoming her back today! Scroll to the bottom of this post to enter the giveaway.
Now, making Halloween-themed spaghetti dishes is a bit tough, but luckily, I found this adorable oozy eyeball recipe when literally Googling “scary Halloween pasta.” Kraft definitely nailed this one!
I decided to recreate the recipe, using sweet potato noodles or “worms.” The sweet potato noodles break apart as they simmer in the flavorful tomato sauce, making them look more like tiny worms, which is perfect! Remember – boiling or simmering sweet potato noodles in a sauce will cause them to fragment. You still get the same sweet taste, though!
These oozing beef eyeballs are gluten-free and easy to assemble. I took some process shots to help you.
First, after you make your golf ball shaped meatballs, you’ll need to press your finger into the center of each “eyeball” and make a small indentation:
Second, you will fill these cavities with a half-teaspoon of the tomato sauce:
Third, you will add in the tiny halved mozzarella pearls over the tomato sauce.
Finally, you top the cheese with a jumbo sliced olive:
After you bake these in the oven, they’ll become very oozy and really look like eyeballs! So, whether you’re making a special Halloween dinner for your kids or you’re having friends over to watch Hocus Pocus, drink wine and want to serve them something themed, this is the dish. It’s tasty, healthy and very Instagrammable a la this shirt.
Let’s talk about these stainless steel wine glasses. Obviously, they’re perfect for a Halloween bash with adults and wine or for kids with some grape juice.
According to my friend Hannah at Wild Mint, they are made of 18/8 stainless steel which is a high quality grade of stainless steel that helps protect against rust and corrosion. Also, if you use these glasses for white wine, your wine stays chilled much longer than if you were using a glass or plastic cup, which is ideal if you don’t have your wine on ice.
The best part for me? They’re pretty much unbreakable. There’s nothing worse than when you’re cleaning the inside of a beautiful wine glass and it breaks or if you drop it and it shatters – you always find shards of glass for a week!
These wine glasses are different, fun and definitely a great conversation starter – I had never really seen stainless steel wine glasses beforehand. If you love them like I do, you’re in luck – because Wild Mint is offering Inspiralized readers a giveaway!
Note: Although Wild Mint Shop provided these stainless steel wine glasses for photographing, all opinions are my own.
Nutritional Information & Recipe
Spooky Sweet Potato “Worms” with Oozing Beef “Eyeballs”
Ingredients
- For the meatballs:
- ½ pound 90% lean ground beef
- 1 tablespoon freshly minced parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano flakes
- 1.5 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 garlic clove finely minced
- For the eyeballs:
- 3 small mozzarella pearls sliced in half (about ½ inch in diameter)
- 3 jumbo pitted black olives sliced width-wise into two hollow circles
- For the pasta and sauce:
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ cup diced red onion
- 1 15 oz cans crushed tomatoes
- 2 teaspoons tomato paste
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano flakes
- ½ teaspoon dried basil flakes
- 1 large sweet potato peeled, Blade C, noodles trimmed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Place all of your ingredients for the meatballs into a bowl and mix together. Using your hands, mold into slightly larger than golfball sized meatballs, about 6. Arrange on the baking tray. In each meatball, press your fingertip into the center to create a cavity for the “eyeball.” Set aside.
- In a large saucepan over medium heat, add in the olive oil. Once the oil heats, add in the garlic. Let garlic cook for 30 seconds and add in the red pepper flakes and onions. Let cook for 2 minutes or until onions begin to soften. Add in the tomatoes, tomato paste and season with salt, pepper, basil and oregano.
- Stir to combine the seasonings, lower heat to a simmer and cook for about 2 minutes to allow flavors to develop. Reserve 3 teaspoons of the sauce in a bowl and then turn off the heat on the stovetop, but leave the skillet there.
- Place a half-teaspoon of the reserved sauce into the eyeball cavities of the meatballs. Top with a mozzarella piece and top with an olive slice. Cook for 18-20 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through and eyeball cheese is oozing.
- Five minutes into cooking the meatballs, turn the heat back to a low simmer and then add in the sweet potato noodles, toss and cook for 10 minutes or until sweet potato noodles are cooked through.
- Divide the noodles onto plates and top with 2 meatballs.
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