It's almost that time of the year again- Halloween! The fun holiday allows our kiddos to run around in their precious costumes, buzz with the excitement of all the creative outfits & play makeup and eat a little too much candy they will be getting later in the evening. With all that sugar coming in the door, it can be easy to allow ourselves to slip and fall into consuming much more than we intended! But, let's shift our mindsets to the positive: Halloween does not have to be so bad after all!
Allow the kids to have a few pieces of their FAVORITE candy in the pile. This could be a good activity to do with them- have them lay out all of their candy and organize it into their favorites, counting, sorting, and even make a game of letting them trade each other for their favorites. Then, allow them to pick a few of favorites to eat then. Donate your candy to the local food bank, or bring to TransFit and we will share with our friends at the Mercy Health Center. Reminding our families and ourselves that we should do all things in moderation. Moderation and portion control is an important lesson to learn as a child and even as an adult. All things should be done in moderation.
Here are some fun Halloween Healthy recipes to try this week and weekend with your family!
Lyla enjoyed making the jack-o-lantern face while I blended the smoothie! Crafts and healthy afternoon snack! Check!
Jack-O-Lantern Smoothie
Ingredients:
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1 cup frozen peaches
- 1/2 cup pumpkin purée
- Handful of carrots
- 1 serving vanilla protein power or Greek yogurt
- 1/2 frozen banana
- 1tbs flax seed
- Crushed ice
- Honey to taste
Pumpkin Protein Muffins
Ingredients (makes about a dozen)
- 1 cup whole white wheat flour
- ½ cup or 2 scoops of protein powder (unflavored or vanilla)
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil or coconut oil
- 2 whole eggs or 4 egg whites
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin-pie spice (ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon mixed together)
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons rolled oats
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350°F , and place a rack in the center. Put liners in muffin cups. Combine flour, protein powder, baking soda and baking powder in a bowl. In another bowl whisk together pumpkin puree, oil, eggs, pumpkin pie spice, sugar, and salt until smooth, then whisk in flour mixture until just combined. Stir together cinnamon and rolled oats in a small cup. Divide batter among muffin cups (each should be about three-fourths full).
Then sprinkle tops with cinnamon-oats mixture.
Bake until puffed and golden brown and wooden pick or skewer inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.
Cool in pan on a rack five minutes, then transfer muffins from pan to rack and cool to warm or room temperature.
Monster Mouths
Ingredients:
- Apples
- Lemon Juice
- Peanut butter
- Almonds, peeled
Directions:
- Slice the apples into pieces that look like lips (just a standard slice will work).
- Place the sliced apples in a bowl or lemon water for about 10-15 minutes so they don't brown.
- Heavily spread peanut butter on the tops of each apple slice.
- Stick the "teeth" into the peanut butter of one apple slice.
- Place an apple slice without teeth on top
Frightening Fruits
Ingredients:
- Bananas
- Chocolate chips
- Clementines
- Celery
Directions:
For the ghosts, take each banana and slice in half. Add a chocolate chip for the mouth. If you have mini chocolate chips use these for the eyes, and if not slice a regular sized chocolate chip in half. For the pumpkins, peel each clementine, making sure to keep the segments together. Cut small pieces of celery and use these as stems.
As Halloween approaches and October comes to a quick end, let's keep in mind our October goals. We hope that you have joined us for the October challenge. Bring in your calendars next week or send us a picture if you have completed the daily challenge. We will enter each of your names in a drawing and announce the winner next week! Thank you for all of your hard work and dedication this month! We are so proud of each of you! Hope to see you in the studio soon!
Blessings,
Team TransFit