Ok, yep, Halloween is just about here and the stores are all decked out with everything you need to have a spooktacular Halloween gathering. Most of us look forward to Halloween so that we can impress our friends with what we feel will be the best costume in the room. But along with this haunting, festive mood comes the food. Since candy or other sweet treats will probably be in abundance, it’s a good idea to plan on serving some not so calorie heavy foods. This way since you care about what goes into your mouth, your friends may also like an alternative to having to wear a belt-extension after the party.
Below are a few ideas of what you can serve your friends that will keep them smiling like a Jack-O-Lantern, long after the witching hour is over.
Frozen “Boo”-Nana Pops
Even though this tasty treat calls for 1 cup of white chocolate, it still only has 98 calories, 4.5 grams of fat, and only 10.7 grams of sugar per serving. They’re perfect for Halloween as they end up looking like spooky ghosts! You only need three ingredients (bananas, white chocolate, and mini chocolate chips) and a few popsicle sticks to create this sweet treat that will put a smile on the gang of dressed up friends.
Cut banana in half lengthwise, then in half to make four quarters.
Insert Popsicle sticks into bananas, and freeze bananas on a wax paper lined cookie sheet.
When the bananas are frozen, fill a coffee mug with chocolate. Melt chocolate in the microwave 30 seconds at a time, stirring until the chocolate is melted and soft.
Dip the bananas one at a time into the chocolate, scraping off the excess chocolate from the back of the banana, and place it on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Quickly add the chocolate chips for the eyes before the chocolate hardens (you have to work quickly here).
Return to the freezer until frozen and ready to eat. Eat frozen.
Halloween Veggie Skeleton
One of the easiest ways to get your guests to ditch the sweets and instead, chomp down on the vegetables is to get creative with its presentation. You can create a bone-picking and tasty vegetable skeleton with several different vegetables. Cut up red bell peppers make an excellent rib cage while celery sticks can be used for leg bones. Throw in some carrots for the arms, cauliflower or broccoli for the hands and feet with a bowl of dip for the head, and your guests will jump right into munching on this healthy Halloween treat. This also makes a great table presentation.
Spooky Apple Smiles
Remember the cartoon “The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown”? The scene when they tried bobbing for apples and Snoopy came out of the tub? Well, here is an off-shoot of that for your party fun. Try making these Spooky Apple Mouths instead. These treats may bring back some memories for you. These scary Halloween chomping smiles can be made up in a flash because there’s no actual cooking involved! We used red apples for lips and stuck our 'smiles' together with creamy peanut butter. Our pearly whites were made from mini-marshmallows.
Picking out the reddest, shiny apple is a must.
Take an apple quarter and slice it lengthways in half and then half again.
Spread each slice of apple on one side with peanut butter.
Line 8 white mini-marshmallows up (as teeth) on top of the peanut butter.
Place another apple slice on top with peanut butter side facing down to make an apple slice ‘sandwich’. Your gang of tricksters will love seeing these cute, yet spooky apple smiles on display for your Halloween party.
Pop Corn Witch Hands
These popcorn witch hands are super easy to make and can be given out to trick or treaters in place of unhealthy candy options. Kids love popcorn, so they won’t really feel like they’re being forced into taking a healthy alternative. All you’ll need is some clear plastic gloves, candy corn for the nails, and lots of popcorn to make a tasty treat that kids and adults alike will love!
Ingredients:
Medium-Large clear plastic gloves
Popcorn
Candy Corn
Take one piece of candy corn and place it in the tip of the gloves where the fingernails would be. Then fill halfway up the fingers with popcorn. If you are going to add Rollo’s for the knuckles add them in the center of the fingers now. Fill the remainder of the glove up with popcorn. Tie the end of the glove with string or ribbon. Add a spider or other scary ring on one of the fingers if you so choose.
Just because it’s Halloween doesn’t mean you have to stray from your usual healthy eating habits. These are just a few of the healthy treat options you can trick your ghoulish party friends into enjoying on this spooky party night! Happy Halloween and healthy eating for all!