Make a festive Halloween recipe of zoodles with pumpkin kale pesto. Drop them in a colorfully carved orange pepper, and you have a paleo, gluten free, vegan and Whole30 meal.

It's been crazy hot in Los Angeles, so it barely feels like fall, but pumpkins are popping up everywhere and copious bags of candy are lining the grocery stores in preparation for Halloween.

Seeing as sweets aren't really my thing, I have a savory Halloween recipe for gluten free zoodles with pumpkin kale pesto. It becomes seasonally festive when you carve a little fun face into an orange bell pepper and drop in the zoodles.

Pretty cute, huh? I can't take credit. All the credit goes to Yvonne Ardestani from My Eclectic Kitchen.

The fine folks over at Melissa's Produce invited me to sample some of Yvonne's healthy cooking, as well as take her fabulous recipe app for spin. You can get it for yourself here.

Yvonne's app is super user-friendly, not to mention, super allergy friendly. All the recipes are plant based and gluten free. Hooray for that.

You can search by ingredient, meal, diet or peruse the pretty pictures until one calls your name. Given the season, the zoodles with pumpkin kale pesto recipe shouted at me.

Who needs a pumpkin when you can carve yourself a fun Halloween face into an orange bell pepper. This pesto sauce utilizes pumpkin seeds and kale, but no oil. I threw in some mint since I think mint freshens everything up.

What's great is that this is an entirely raw recipe so there's just a little assembly required and then you have a festive dish to serve for Halloween. Kids, big and small, will love it!

Zoodles with Pumpkin Kale Pesto
{Paleo, Vegan, Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Whole30)

Adapted Slightly from My Eclectic Kitchen
Serves 4

Ingredients

Pumpkin Kale Pesto

• 2 garlic cloves

• 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds, toasted

• 3/4 cup fresh basil

• 1/4 cup fresh kale, stems removed

• 1/2 cup fresh mint

• 1/4 cup water

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

• Shake of cayenne (optional)

Other Ingredients

• 2 large zucchini

• 4 orange bell peppers

Instructions

1. Place the garlic and pumpkin seeds into a blender or food processor and pulse until broken down. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Adjust seasoning and water if necessary.

2. Rinse the zucchini, pat dry and use a spiralizer or vegetable peeler to create noodles.

3. Toss the zoodles with the pumpkin kale pesto.

4. Cut the tops of the bell peppers off and remove the seeds and veins inside. Carve your favorite face on the exterior of the pepper.

5. Place the pesto zoodles inside the peppers and serve.

*Melissa's Produce provided some ingredients for recipe testing, and I received a free download of My Eclectic Kitchen. All opinions are always my own.