Halloween finger foods can be frighteningly tasty and healthy

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Mummy dogs, scary pies and witches' fingers offer protein, fiber, good fat and taste for your Halloween party!

As cute as this Halloween food is, party guests don't even have to know health is in the picture.

"When you have a Halloween party, it doesn't have to be based on sugar, it can be based on healthy treats," said food stylist Denise Vivaldo.

Vivaldo and Cindie Flannigan make food look and taste good all the time, but for Halloween, they add spooky and a bit cooky to the list - like mummy hot dogs.

"Your favorite hot dog, then we split it down the middle and add a little ketchup," said Vivaldo.

Cut strips of store-bought pizza dough, baked and add store-bought candy eyes. The end result?

"Kind of oozie," describes Vivaldo.

Flannigan suggests an easy-to-put-together scary Halloween pie, which is a layered dip.

"It's made with things you can buy already finished," Flannigan said. "Shredded cabbage coleslaw mix, black beans, salsa, guacamole."

Put sour cream or yogurt slightly watered down in a plastic bag with a pastry tip to create a spider web.

"Make a big old spiral," Flannigan directs, then go from the outside in to make a web.

"Each spider takes two olives. One olive is a body and the other is cut into eight little pieces," said Flannigan.

Whole wheat tortilla bats baked and sprayed with chili powder are dippers for your festive pie.

If your kids are in for a high-sugar evening due to trick-or-treating, you want to arm them with the basics - something with a little fat, a little fiber, a little protein and hopefully some produce.

Vivaldo also makes witches' fingers.

"Carrots, cucumber, celery, you make it a cute shape and everybody wants to eat one," said Vivaldo.

She peels the veggie, cuts it at the top and adds a slivered almond. Then, she adds a no sugar added Hatch chili sauce in the bottom of the bucket for easy dipping.

Here are some fun recipes - courtesy of Denise Vivaldo and Cindie Flannigan of the Denise Vivaldo Group

HALLOWEEN FINGER FOODS

Mummy Wraps

The thinner you cut the strips of pizza dough, the more mummy-like these ghoulish goodies will look.

(Makes 10 servings)

Ingredients:

4 ounces prepared whole wheat pizza dough, cut into thin strips

10 hot dogs

5 teaspoons ketchup

20 candy eyes (like Wilton Candy Eyeballs)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray.

2. Using a sharp knife, split each hot dog down the center; fill each hot dog with teaspoon ketchup. This will look like oozing blood when cooked.

3. Wrap strips of pizza dough around hot dogs. Place on prepared baking sheet and bake until golden brown, about 12 minutes. Remove from heat. Nestle 2 candy eyeballs into the end of each hot dog.

4. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

Veggie Witches' Fingers

You can use zucchini, yellow squash or celery sticks - any vegetable that you can cut into finger-shapes.

(Makes 8 servings)

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons sliced almonds

2 medium hothouse cucumbers, peeled

10 small carrots, peeled

Directions:

1. Cut cucumber into 5-inch sticks. If carrots are large, cut into 5-inch lengths.

2. Using a peeler, peel down and cut one end of veggie sticks to round them (like the tip of a finger).

3. Slice into the tip of each finger, basically slicing away where the fingernail would be but going into the finger about 1 inch deeper.

4. Starting 1-inch back from the tip of each finger, cut straight down into finger and remove the wedge of vegetable to make space for the fingernail.

5. Insert a sliced almond into the tip of each finger.

Spidery Layer Dip with Bat Chips

You can make your own guacamole, salsa and black bean dip if you'd prefe, but this is much much easier. Anyway, if you think those little tricksters will care if it's homemade guacamole, you've started drinking the hard cider early! To make this even easier, serve it with any kind of chips you like; we just liked the scary bat shaped cookie cutter and used it to make our own low-fat homemade tortilla chips!

(Makes 10-12 servings)

Bat Chips:

Ingredients:

8 whole wheat tortilla chips (use plain or a colorful flavor if you prefer)

Olive oil cooking spray

Salt to taste

Cayenne pepper to taste (optional)

Spidery Dip:

Ingredients:

1 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon water

1 cup coleslaw mix

1 (14 ounce) can black beans, drained and slightly mashed

12 ounces salsa fresca, drained

8 ounces guacamole

12 extra large pitted black olives

Directions:

1. To make the chips, preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Spray tortillas on both sides with cooking spray. Sprinkle one side with salt and cayenne pepper. Using a bat-shaped cookie cutter, cut into long skinny triangles and place in a single layer on baking sheet. Bake until crisp, 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

3. Place sour cream and water in a small bowl, stirring to combine. Set aside.

4. Place coleslaw in a medium shallow bowl, making sure to cover the sides of the bowl and letting some stick out over the top.

5. Spoon beans over cabbage in bottom of bowl; smooth top.

6. Place salsa over black beans. Spoon guacamole over salsa, smoothing top with a spatula or butter knife.

7. Using a squeeze bottle (or a spoon if you have good hand-eye coordination), place about a tablespoon of sour cream in the center of the guacamole. Starting at the center of the sour cream, draw a spiral over the guacamole all the way to the edge. Lightly drag the blunt end of a skewer (or other object: small paintbrush, lollipop stick, paper straw, etc.) from the center of the sour cream to the edge of the guacamole. Touch up any parts of the web with extra sour cream.

8. To make the spiders, cut half of the olives lengthwise into 8 wedges each to make the legs. Place whole olives on the sour cream web. Place the olive wedges around the whole olives to make the legs.