Black and Orange Dinner

If you haven't picked up on it already, holidays (and holiday traditions) were very important in my family. Growing up, we used to celebrate Halloween by enjoying a Black and Orange dinner. My Grandma Wilson started this tradition with her kids and passed to on to us grandkids whenever we had the opportunity to celebrate the holiday with her. Basically, the premise is to come up with a menu that consists entirely (or mostly) of black and orange foods.

As a kid, I remember her serving us random foods like mac n' cheese, milk dyed orange with food coloring, carrots, raisins, oranges, olives, grape and orange jello. I used to love, love, LOVE this tradition and so have adopted it for our family. Of course I've tried to come up with slightly more sophisticated menu for our adult palates but there are only so many orange and black foods!

Tomorrow night we will be enjoying the following with a few good friends:

-Baked brie with apricot blackberry chutney
-Orange jello jigglers (just for fun :o))
-Peach and blackberry fruit salad
-Homemade pumpkin pasta with brown butter sauce and hazelnuts
-Pumpkin focaccia with walnuts and gruyere
-Brownie baked alaska (the meringue will be colored orange)

We will also have a tasty beverage and side veg brought by our guests to compliment the meal. What are your Halloween traditions?