Few holidays are as fun as Halloween. The dressing up, trick-or-treating, and the communal experience of coming together for the delight of children. For health-conscious parents and children-at-heart, however, the overabundance of candy can be exasperating. Not only that, sugar can depress the immune system for several hours — definitely not what any of us need in a year like this one.
But who said this holiday has to be unhealthy? Here are some spine-chillingly healthy and nutritious Halloween treats for kids and the whole family that you can serve on the spookiest day of the year!
Spooky Spider Bites
1 cup pitted dates
1/2 cup shredded coconut (optional)
1/8 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup unsalted, creamy sunflower seed butter
1/4 cup raw unsweetened cacao powder
1/4 cup hemp hearts
1 tbsp Organic Berry Power™ Powder
Bag of large pretzels
Combine the dates, shredded coconut, and sea salt in a food processor. Blend until finely crumbled, then transfer to a mixing bowl. Stir in the almond butter, cacao powder, berry powder and hemp hearts. Form the mixture into small balls and set onto a parchment paper-lined plate.
Cut out the spider leg pieces from the pretzels, gently press them into the balls.
Freeze for 20 minutes to set. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Boo-nana Ghosts
3 bananas
12 mini chocolate chips
6 regular chocolate chips
Peel bananas and cut them in half. Press two mini chocolate chips into each banana for the eyes, and one regular chocolate chip for the mouth. Use a dab of nut butter or sunflower seed butter to stick on the chips if need be.
Heat the oven to 350° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Fill a medium saucepan with about 2 cups of water and season with 2 teaspoons salt. Bring to a boil.
Meanwhile, scoop the seeds from your pumpkin. Add the pumpkin seeds to a bowl filled with cold water and swish them around until the seeds float and are mostly clean.
Add cleaned seeds to the boiling salted water. Simmer for 5 minutes. Drain and pull away any remaining pumpkin attached to the seeds.
Scatter the seeds onto clean dishcloths and pat them very dry. Add the dried seeds into a bowl with the oil, spices, and kale powder on top then toss until well coated. Spread the seeds into one layer on the baking sheet. Bake, stirring the seeds at least once, until fragrant and golden around the edges, about 10 to 25 minutes, depending on how large the seeds are.
Pumpkin Clementines
Clementines
Celery stalk
Peel the clementines. Slice the celery stalk into thin, short sticks. Insert celery sticks into the tops of each fruit, and voila — a healthy fall treat even a monster would love!
