Halloween Recipe Roundup!

I don't love Halloween. But I DO love treats that ANYone can enjoy without the sugar crash or guilt afterward!

Try a few of these at your next get together whether it's spooky or not!

Chickpea Brownies

Original recipe from 21 Day Fix!

I am a FAN of brownies. I've tried several different recipes that call for almond flour, coconut flour, or even almond butter and no flour! I  love brownies you guys....show me a recipe that falls within my foodie guidelines and I'll probably try it. Currently, my favorite brownies are these chickpea brownies. Whether you are gluten free, paleo, or you think all of that is stupid. These are sure to please :) 

Ingredients:

1 (15 oz) can of chickpeas/garbanzo beans.  Rinsed and drained.
1/4 cup of butter (or extra virgin coconut oil)
2 large eggs
1/2 cup of maple syrup
1/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 pinch sea salt
1/4 cup of Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Line a 9×9 inch baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.
• Place chickpeas, butter, eggs, maple syrup, vanilla, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a food processor; cover.  Blend until smooth.
• Add chocolate chips; mix by hand until blended.
• Evenly spread batter into prepared pan.
• Bake for 25-28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of brownies comes out clean.
• Cut into squares and use powdered sugar to decorate with fun patterns for any occasion.
• Enjoy!

*NOTES - these brownies crumble easily and so they do better if you really let them cool and then place them in the refrigerator for awhile. It makes them more fudge and easier to handle!

Vanilla Cupcakes

Who doesn't love a cupcake? This recipe is from www.elanaspantry.com and I would highly recommend you check out her site for more amazing recipes!

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup coconut flour
• ⅛ teaspoon himalayan pink sea salt
• ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
• 3 large eggs
• ¼ cup palm shortening
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. In a food processor, combine coconut flour, salt, and baking soda
2. Pulse in eggs, shortening, honey, and vanilla
3. Line a cupcake pan with 6 paper liners and divide batter between each
4. Bake at 350° for 20-24 minutes
5. Cool for 1 hour
6. Frost with Whipped Cream Frosting  

NOTES* Alternatively you could make chocolate cupcakes  and/or make paleo chocolate frosting and decorate it like a poop emoji for halloween.....yes I just said that ;D

Witches Fingers

This recipe is from forkandbeans.com!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 dates, chopped with pits removed + 1 Tb water
• 1/3 c. raw walnuts
• 1/3 c. raw almonds
• 1/3 c. raw cashews
• 1 Tb raw cacao powder
• 4 raw almonds, sliced in half

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a food processor, blend dates and water until a rough paste is formed.
2. Add nuts and cacao. Blend until a dough forms.
3. Using 1 Tb of dough, form into finger shapes with hands.
4. Place almond slice at the tip for fingernail.
5. Chill for 15 minutes or devour immediately.

Dipped Apples

This recipe is from paleoleap.com!

Ingredients

• 6 organic apples (granny smith, gala, and fuji are some of the best varieties to pair with the sweetness of the chocolate);
• 1 lb of white or dark chocolate, cut into chunks;
• 1 cup of each topping choice (crushed macadamia nuts, chopped almonds, shredded coconut…);
• 6 Popsicle or lollipop sticks

Directions

1. Wash the apples and twist the stems off, push a stick into the core of each apple.
2. The chocolate will adhere better to the apples if they are cold, so place the apples in a refrigerator while preparing everything else.
3. Place your topping choices into individual bowls. It’s best to make sure your toppings are in small pieces; anything too large will not stay on the apple.
4. Heat the chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave until almost fully melted. Remove from the heat and stir: it should fully melt and be warm, not hot. If using a microwave, heat in 30-second intervals, stirring in-between, to make sure the chocolate doesn’t burn. White Chocolate has a lower burning point than dark chocolate so it’s important to watch this more closely. If using the microwave method to melt white chocolate, reduce the power to 50%.
5. Dip the apples into the chocolate, raising them to allow the extra chocolate to drip back into the bowl.
6. Using your hands or a spoon, sprinkle your topping of choice onto the freshly dipped apple. I found it easiest to hold the apple horizontally close to the core and slowly spinning it while spooning on the toppings.
7. Place on a wax paper lined cookie sheet and in the refrigerator until the chocolate is set, about 15 to 30 minutes.
8. Enjoy right away or keep in the refrigerator until serving.

Whats your favorite Halloween tradition? Leave a comment and let me know!

Beware of the Halloween sugar trap!

Hey hey Diva friends! So much has been happening recently and I am just so excited about all of it! Before I hop into the strategies to a healthier Halloween, I wanted to make some fun announcements!

1) In November I'll be launching an AWESOME Holiday Survival Guide - completely FREE!!!! You'll have access to a guide, a shopping list, tips, recipes and support!!! Get excited!!!

2) I've opened a FREE Facebook group where I will run all my free guides/groups/materials in the future including your holiday survival guide in November. So be sure to join Stop Dieting and Live your Life to join this fun community!

3) I'll be launching a paid group in January all about gut health called "Get Gutsy With Me". Our gut is our second brain! It's super important to have the right balance of bugs (good and bad), eat the foods that nourish our body, and find out what to eliminate in order for us to kick disease, bloating, gas, fatigue and more to the curb for good!!! This will be jam packed with lots of amazing materials, tips, recipes, and actionable items and I am thrilled to bring this to you January 15th 2018!!!

4) To make sure you never miss an announcement, blog post, workshop or free guide, you'll want to sign up for my newsletter that goes out once a week on Thursdays. Just click here to become my VIP!

Without further ado....let's get spooky!

Personally, Halloween is not my favorite. I simply don't like gross, gory, evil, dark, or negative things. I do like fun, sweets, and silliness however, AND it's my Mom's birthday. So Halloween has a few redeeming characteristics for me :) But for many of you, this is a big holiday every year! The dressing up, the trick or treat....the CANDY.

This can be a source of stress on many parents as they try to limit their children's intake of sugar and it can be a really self defeating time for individuals as well as they think "well there go all my goals this month!" 

While their are many strategies to navigating this, I wanted to focus mostly on the health impact that many of the traditional candies present and what we can focus on instead.

1) Gluten. In our house the #1 non-negotiable no matter what is that we are gluten-free. Our approach was to allow Keegan to go trick or treating, but he knew that certain candies with wheat or wafers in them like Twix and Kit Kats for example, would have to go. Honestly, this wasn't ever a huge issue since the sheer volume of candy the kids get these days is enormous! Trust me, he was left with plenty of options.

2) High Fructose corn syrup. Many candies will have this yucky ingredient that highly correlates with obesity, unlike other sugars like fructose from fruit. Decide ahead of time what your position on this ingredient is. Whether you are willing to have  little, or none at all.

For more information on HFCS read this article

3) Food dyes and unnatural, or highly processed ingredients. Many children are allergic to red food dye. This should be a warning sign to us that unnatural food dyes are just that....unnatural! Food dyes are correlated with hyperactivity, allergic reactions, and even cancer!!! 

For more information on food dyes and how to replace them naturally read this article

4) Artificial Sweeteners. While refined white sugar is said to be 8x as addictive as cocaine, artificial sweeteners are just as bad and have been linked to poor brain performance, migraines, addiction, bloating, and more! To find out more about artificial sweeteners and better alternatives click here. 

So what now?

Well good grief Kylene, you just eliminated all candy everywhere. Well, kinda :) But I realize that not everyone is as hard core as I am, and not everyone wants to eliminate everything all at once. So here are a few guidelines to keep your Holiday as healthy as possible. 

1) Limit yours and your child's intake. Whether that be 1 or 2 pieces of candy a day, this will limit any negative exposure to any of the ingredients above. Prioritize healthy foods full of vitamins and micronutrients the rest of the day. Particularly leafy greens and foods filled with chlorophyll which is a natural detoxifying agent in the body. You may even consider the chlorophyll detox drink below which Keegan happily agreed to drink every day in exchange for his daily dose of Halloween candy:

• 1/2 cup water
• 2TBS chlorophyll 
• Splash of cranberry juice ( to taste)

2) Know what candies you are and are not willing to have. Like I mentioned above gluten free is always our priority which means certain candies just get thrown out. The rest are limited. Decide ahead of time what your negotiables and non-negotiables are.

3) If you don't have a child that goes out to Trick or Treat, then this is easy! Don't buy the candy and bring it into the house! Out of sight, out of mind. On the flip side if it's sitting on your counter it's guaranteed to be eaten! If you choose to pass out candy, simply dump the rest of it into the last kids pillow case or throw the remainder in your trash can at the end of the night.

4) Consider healthier alternatives. There are candies out there are are higher quality and less damaging. Find these at your local Whole Foods or health food store. Enjoy Life and Theo are some of my favorite brands that you may find at your local grocery store. They provide a great and healthier dark chocolate! Whether you really splurge and pass these out to kids or you just stash a couple away for your own indulgence... that's up to you!

5) The safest bet is always to make your own candies or treats. You know what's in them, you can stick to your goals, and you don't have to worry about dyes, white sugar, gluten or other....

Need a little inspiration? Hop on over to my recipe roundup for some Spooktacular Halloween treats!

What about you? How do you handle Halloween and the candy rush in your family? Leave a comment and share your strategy!!!