Just a Taste’s Kelly Senyei Shares Her Halloween Tricks and Treats (Exclusive)
Spooky fun and time-saving tips from the ‘queen of Halloween’—plus your chance to help name her next yard decoration!
Key Takeaways
- Just a Taste founder Kelly Senyei shares how she makes Halloween fun for her family.
- The chef reveals shortcuts for saving time and money in the kitchen.
- From clever leftovers to spooky snacks, Senyei makes everyday cooking more fun.
It would be an understatement to say Kelly Senyei, the professionally trained chef behind JustATaste.com, loves Halloween. Kelly, a mom of four kids ages 4 to 10, is known as the internet’s “queen of Halloween,” a title she embraces with glee. “There’s no better holiday in terms of creating recipes, and nothing is too weird,” says Kelly, who is sharing her fun, spooky creations and traditions with Woman’s World.
It all started with a spider. A few years ago, Kelly thought she ordered an 8-inch faux spider to display. What arrived? “An 8-foot, 64.2-pound atrocity.” (See photo below) Kelly’s Instagram followers voted to name him Steven, and a tradition was born. Now, she adds to her yard display each year, and her followers vote on the name (follow along on Instagram to help name this year’s addition). “I have become obsessed with Halloween.”
But Kelly isn’t only known for her Halloween antics—her blog is filled with mouth-watering everyday recipes and fun holiday appetizers, desserts and more. She describes her cooking style as “easy but impressive.” As for the name? “My great-grandmother, Momoo, always reminded me to have ‘just a taste’ of dessert after meals. Now I’m the fourth generation carrying on the name.”
Read on for Kelly’s tricks to save time and money, then pick up a copy of Woman’s World for her recipes for fun, festive treats!
Opt for easy shortcuts
With four kids and a full-time job, Kelly is all about making life easier. “If I can’t do it and save time, I can’t do it,” she says. Her secret? Semi-homemade cooking. “I like to think of myself as a millennial Sandra Lee,” she laughs. “I’ll buy a rotisserie chicken, tortillas and hoisin sauce and wrap it up like Peking duck—in a quarter of the time. I probably have 227 ways to use a rotisserie chicken: I make insane green chile chicken enchiladas, chicken salad, stir-fries… Name the cuisine, and I will work a rotisserie chicken into it.” Her advice to other busy women? “Don’t be so turned off by these store-bought shortcuts. When you find the right brand, the right product, it saves an infinite amount of time.”
Be flexible with recipes
“My biggest tip when it comes to saving money is to shop your own fridge and pantry first. It may sound like a very basic, straightforward tip,” she admits, “but so many times you forget about that can of garbanzo beans stuck behind something. And there are so many ways to use what you already have,” she says. “And if you understand some basic principles of cooking, you can make the most of leftover odds and ends by shopping your own fridge and pantry, and not feeling like you always have to go out and buy every single ingredient that a recipe lists. Recipes are really just recommendations. Yes, baking is a science, but when it comes to savory, you really can get creative and be versatile based on what you have in your fridge and pantry.” (Speaking of baking, click here for this week’s cover recipe: Kelly’s Skeleton Cake!)
Have fun
“I love Halloween,” says Kelly. “It allows me to be as creative as I want.” In addition to holiday treats, she turns everyday eating into an adventure, finding creative ways to serve foods her kids might not embrace. So they don’t eat sautéed zucchini—she cuts the veggie into noodles and serves it as ‘worms.’ “We’re like the grossest, coolest people ever,” she laughs.
Make leftovers taste new
Her secret? An air fryer. “I can air fry anything so it tastes like it was made on day one,” says Kelly, who also uses leftovers for lunches, transforming a pot of Bolognese into chili or Sloppy Joes or rice into fried rice. “I love the ‘cook once, eat twice’ mentality.” Not only do the meals taste better on day two, when the flavors deepen, but Kelly raves,It’s such a great way to save time, save money, and eliminate a lot of stress when it comes to packing lunches or just trying to figure out what’s going to be on the table that night.
More Halloween joy
We’re sharing the Queen of Halloween’s dessert recipes here, but the chef has also developed savory snacks and a festive sip for Williams Sonoma. The popular retailer’s new The Nightmare Before Christmas line includes dishes, cooking essentials (oven mitts, potholders), foods (cookies, marshmallows, cake pops) and more, and Kelly has created some festive recipes, like Jack Skellington’s Breadstick Bones, Sally’s Spooky Snack Mix and Oogie Boogie Brew.
Fun & Fast Facts with Kelly!
Q: Favorite Halloween candy?
Kelly: “Milk Duds.”
Q: Most memorable Halloween costume?
Kelly: “I don’t know how I’m going to beat my costume from last year. I dressed up as [Kansas City Chiefs] football coach Andy Reid, and I stay up at night wondering what I’m going to do this year. It’s going to take a lot to beat that. I walked through the streets in San Diego, and I was calling out plays on my headset. I laminated a play sheet… When I commit to it, just look out.”
Q: If _____ isn’t happiness, I don’t know what is:
Kelly: “If eating a meal with your family is not happiness, I don’t know what is.”
Q: Which social media follower made your jaw drop?
Kelly: “Nick Carter and Howie Dorough. If you had told 16-year-old Kelly two of the Backstreet Boys would be following her on Instagram, I would have been like, why? For what? What did you do?”
Q: What’s the most used or most loved item in your kitchen?
Kelly: “My most used would be my KitchenAid stand mixer. Most loved would be my great-grandmother’s 160-year-old cookbooks. They’re falling apart and they are epic.”
Q: A meal your mom, Noni, made when you were a kid?
Kelly: “Noni’s famous fried spaghetti. It’s made with her iconic Bolognese sauce. It’s salty, it’s chewy, it’s delicious.”
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