Last Minute ‘Candy Corn’ Fruit

For my two sons, having a mom that’s a nutritionist isn’t always cool. With that in mind, I don’t want to be “that mom” giving out stickers and pencils for Halloween trick-or-treaters to help combat childhood obesity.  Sure, it’s great to receive nice gifts and being thankful for non-candy items is an important virtue to instill in my kids.  But, in my opinion, giving out candy on Halloween is OK.  Halloween is simply one day out of a lifetime, and using it as the “line in the sand” for eradicating candy from your kid’s life is flat out going to backfire.  Trust me, they’ll just go to someone else’s house and gorge on their friend’s Halloween bounty… those kids end up here often!

The entire Halloween holiday has become all about the candy and parties, like most modern celebrations.  But it’s the day-in and day-out overconsumption of sweets from added sugars in foods and beverages that is causing our children to suffer and most likely die younger than they should.  Not because they filled their pillow case with all sorts of loot on October 31st.

Plus, in today’s culture, if you provide homemade baked goods to trick-or-treaters coming to your door, the parents will act like you’ve just presented a tray of bloody hypodermic needles for their precious children.

BUT…Offering healthy options at your Halloween House Party is absolutely a great idea and one that I’m always excited for at our annual spooky bash for kids and adults.  Here are a few samples of what we served up last year:

• Pumpkin Hummus
• Hazelnut Chocolate Halloween Cookies
• Baked Truffle Pumpkin Mashed Potatoes
• Sweet & Spicy Toasted Pumpkin Seeds
• Try this Trick or Treat Juice which also works well as a base for mixed drinks for the adult party-goers.

One key strategy for post-Halloween health and to prevent expanding waistlines is to get smart about how you get the leftover candy out of your house!

Pumpkins are for more than carving… well some types are!  Enjoy these 12 Perfect Pumpkin Recipes and read all about Pumpkin Everything! How to Cook, Eat & Enjoy

And here’s a last minute favorite of mine that you can whip up in no time.

Fruity “Candy Corn” 

Simple and sweet all you need are skewers, lollipop sticks or tooth picks and some fruit.  It’s all about eating with your eyes and how presentation can make healthy snacks more appealing.

Yield:  24 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 cantaloupe
• 1 pineapple
• 2 bananas

Directions:

1. Wash produce.
2. Remove cantaloupe and pineapple flesh from skin.
3. Peel bananas.
4. Cut pineapple and cantaloupe into rhomboid-like shapes. Make pineapple slices larger than cantaloupe.
5. Cut banana into small triangle shapes.
6. Build candy corn by placing pineapple on stick first, then cantaloupe and lastly banana so they resemble candy corn.
7. Serve and enjoy!