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To continue my tradition of representing different holidays in healthy, crunchy, colorful vegetables, my latest is a cauliflower skull with an array of colorful dipping veggies and two dips.
This was probably my most difficult project, to date. There is no form or mold for this one and the cauliflower is a little tricky to work with.
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WHAT YOU NEED
- small piece of styrofoam
- veggie tray (I prefer a plastic)
As usual, I start with a small piece of styrofoam which is cut and hot glued into the center of my plastic platter.
I like to use these plastic veggie trays:
I did this because I needed to travel with it. You could easily do this without gluing it if you want to use a nice platter.
I used bamboo skewers to start securing my shapes. It is very helpful to have a skull "model" to look at while you are doing this.
There is definitely a little trial and error involved in this project.
I suggest using a large head of cauliflower for the head and then, you must get crafty with a knife and extra pieces and chunks of cauliflower, securing them with round toothpicks. I really had to play around with my face. I used 3 small heads of cauliflower, total, but there was some left over to eat in the tray as well.
I cut small and large chunks of cauliflower to become the chin, jaw and eye sockets.
The larger the better to start with, then fill in with smaller pieces.
I used small florets of cauliflower to fill in the skull shape and secured them with round toothpicks.
Then I laid a nice bed of colorful curly kale around the skull.
What really makes it look like a skull is the teeth. I carved them out of the cauliflower stem.
The other important part of this project is to get the nose and eyes just right. Again, a lot of experimenting and finally cutting into the area where the nose should be with a knife. Scary, but doable. It is nice to have that extra cauliflower on hand in case you goof...
Then, I was lucky enough to have these beautiful full head, kale, "flowers" to fill in on the side and back of the skull. I used all the extra leaves to make a bed, then nestled two different home made dips on my tray. Finally, I put in all my cut veggies for eating and dipping.
Next time, I wish I had saved a couple black olives from my Spicy Spiders project, this week, for eyes. The tomatoes worked, but I think I would prefer the black eyes if I ever do this again...
Check out all of my Halloween Food.
Want more? I have other Cute Veggie Platters
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These are just wonderful.I have worked in the food service industry for 20 years.
ReplyDeletethat is cool and then they eat alot of differnt veggies
ReplyDeleteThe skull veggie platter is awesome! I might have to try that.
ReplyDeleteLove it!! I would make it all year long cuz I love skulls but my grandma would give me the look....lol. Perfect for Halloween,
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun and healthy idea! Every one in my family LOVES veggies, so they would destroy this in about 10 minutes lol I'll be doing this for Halloween this year! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI love it. This is such a cute idea. This would be great for my girls class party.
ReplyDeletelove this! had to share it, I may give this one a try!
ReplyDeletehave to try this - looks great
ReplyDeleteThis is freaking AWESOME!!
ReplyDeleteThis is cute but time consuming for something you are going to eat.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the most terrific Halloween idea that I've ever seen!! Definitely have to do this for my grand kids!
ReplyDeleteWhat an awesome undertaking. Hats off to you!!!! I'd slap ANYONE who tried to eat any part of that so think there would be dishes of the other veggies nearby. This is really magnificent.
ReplyDeleteTavette - S. Fla.
This is really cool. The kids would love it also. Thank you for the information.
ReplyDeleteI love all of the sculpted food ideas!! So imaginative.
ReplyDeletei really appreciate that you stated this was your hardest project. i love how it looks, but am looking for something easy that will travel! so... maybe next year. thank you for posting this
ReplyDeleteI would really love to use this recipe in a post for BargainBabe.com. We have a very large readership. I would of course give you full credit plus a link to this page!
ReplyDeleteHi there! I love the creativity! I'm a naturopathic medical student and health coach. My Instagram is all about plant based foods, ideas, and inspiration. I would love to repost one of these skull photos today for Halloween and credit you. Thank you
ReplyDeleteHi there! I'm a naturopathic medical student and health coach. I'm becoming a doctor to heal people with food and help teach people how to use food as medicine. I love your creativity with veggies. My Instagram is all plant based foods ideas and inspiration. May I repost one of your photos of the skull platter today for Halloween? I will credit you. Thank you for your time :)
ReplyDeleteYou may post one and credit @rightonmom if you want there are 2 on my Insta account you can repost.
DeleteTook this to a Halloween party last night, and it was a HIT! Your directions and pictures were very helpful, especially the photo of the skewers and basic structure. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThat is SO cool! YOu are very welcome and I'm glad everyone enjoyed!
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