HALLOWEEN TIPS ‘N TREATS TO SATISFY ANY BOY’S OR GHOUL’S SWEET TOOTH

Halloween is a holiday packed with scary goblins, spook-tacular activities and lots of our child’s favorite treats (and ours too!).  And, half the fun of the day is the time spent going door to door seeing how many treats they can collect. The trick as parents is making sure that our children wait until they get home to go through and enjoy their bounty.  Allowing your children to enjoy their candy in moderation is ok and don’t get too concerned with the type of sugar in the candy (sugar, honey, high fructose corn syrup) as experts agree i’ve learned from research and partnering with the Corn Refiner’s Association, that it’s all about balance and moderation as sugar is sugar and all sugars are nutritionally the same.

So here are a few tips and treats to help you balance the sweets they eat and satisfy their sweet tooth:

TIPS

• Don’t send them out hungry
• Satisfy their ‘sweet tooth’ pre trick or treating
• Instruct them not to eat ANY items before they arrive home
• Compromise ‘n remember you were a child once too and Halloween was a day  for eating a few more candies then usual J

TREATS

YUMMY MUMMY Makes 4

What You Need:

• 1 8 oz. can of refrigerated crescent roll, seamless if available
• Cookie sheet
• Aluminum foil to fit sheet
• 4 slices of American or cheddar cheese
• Plastic knife
• 4 Pre-cooked sausages
• 1 raw egg, scrambled or cooking spray
• Mustard

How to Make Them:

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Unroll dough on tin foil
3. Use knife to cut 4 even sized squares
   1. If not seamless dough connect two crescents together to create four mummies
   2. Place cheese slices on dough before cutting ‘wrapping’ strips and cut at same time as ‘dough’.
4. Place cheese slices on dough before cutting ‘wrapping’ SP from center
5. Place ‘mummy’ i.e. sausage in center and wrap strip over strip
6. Brush with egg or cooking spray
7. Bake per dough package instructions or until brown:  approx. 10-12 minutes
8. Use mustard to make the eyes and mouth

TRICK OR TEETH:

What You Need:

Pear or Apple cored and sliced in approx. 1/4 inch slices width-wise

• Peanut butter or Nutella
• Mini marshmallows
• Food colorng

How to Make Them:

1. Cover the ‘jaw’ i.e. fruit slice with a thin layer of ‘gum glue’ i.e. peanut butter or Nutella
2. Place the ‘teeth’ i.e. mini marshmallows around the edge of the ‘jaw’ (fruit)
3. Open your mouth wide and enjoy!
4. Optional:
   1. Make an upper ‘jaw with teeth’ and place on top
   2. Dye one or several of the teeth using food dye

i.     Red for blood

ii.     Black or blue for rotten

 SPOOK-TACULAR SPICED TEA-Makes a Quart

What you need

Gummie worms

Ice cup trays

2 cups water, boiled

2 caffeine free, apple cinnamon spice tea bags

8 ozs. Apple cider

8 ozs. Ginger ale

4 tsp. sugar

How to make it:

Put a gummy worm in each ice cube compartment and cover with water.  Freeze 2-3 hours.

1. Dunk the tea bags in the hot water (which should be in the measuring cup) until it turns dark.  About three minutes, and, then, throw them out.
2. When the tea has cooled, pour it into the pitcher.
3. Add the apple cider, ginger ale, and sugar.  Stir with the wooden spoon.  Pour over ice, and get ready to enjoy a spook-tacularly spiced drink.

BLACK CAT CUPCAKE CONES Makes 12

What you need:

1 box (1l.25 oz) cake mix

12 flat bottom ice cream cones

12 cup muffin pan

1 16 oz can vanilla frosting

Black gel coloring

Decorative icing tubes in assorted colors

Assorted Candies:  red gum drops, twizzlers, Reeses Pieces, Red and Black shoe laces; Candy cones; M & M’s

How to Make Cupcakes:

1. Pre-heat oven to 325
2. Prepare batter per box instructions
3. Fill each cup 3/4 way up with batter
4. Stand cones straight in muffin pan
5. Bake 25 mins on center rack…use toothpick to test doneness.. it should come out clean
6. Cool for 10 min.

How to Make Cat’s Face:

1. While cupcakes are baking make ‘black paint’ for face with frosting and adding black gel per instructions
2. Spread on black paint with a plastic knife
3. Suggestions on making CAT face:

• Ears:  Candy cones
• Eyes: White icing to draw slanted football shaped eyes and use colored M & M of choice for pupils
• Nose:  Red round sugared gum drops
• Whiskers:  Red shoe lace candy or icing color of choice
• Mouth: Red icing or red twizzlers torn into 1 “ pieces.

 Goes purr-fect with big glass of milk!