By Heather Nicholds
Do you remember that crazy lady on your trick-or-treat route who gave out raisins? Or the even crazier one giving out apples?
I aspire one day to be that crazy raisin lady. I live in an apartment building right now, but if I ever have a door on a trick-or-treat route, I’m totally going to give out those little boxes of raisins.
Don’t get me wrong – I’m all for having fun and having treats. I just remember the pile of candy I used to come home with, and I’m pretty sure one little box of raisins instead of one more box of candy-coated chocolate isn’t going to rain too hard on the parade.
I would love to make some kind of healthy-ish treat, but I know they’d all get thrown out. There’s always the worry that they’ve been filled with drugs or poison. Apparently only the candy manufacturers can be trusted. Does that qualify as irony, or is it just insanity?
The really dangerous part of giving out Hallowe’en candy is when you buy it well in advance, and when you have leftovers. You know what I mean – you don’t want to run out, so you buy a bit (or a lot) more than you think you’ll need.
That candy will burn a hole through your cupboard if you let it stick around. I don’t know about you, but I find it almost impossible to let chocolate hang out in my kitchen without eating it.
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Now, a little bit of candy here and there won’t kill you. But that’s also what makes it so easy to let yourself eat it. And if there’s a seemingly endless supply of tiny little boxes and bags, it can get out of hand.
What I like to do instead is make myself a treat that I feel good about – that’s both delicious and doesn’t compromise too much on my healthy eating plan. I like a good hot chocolate, made with cocoa or carob powder, almond milk and some unrefined sugar like sucanat.
Phil loves a batch of healthy vegan cookies, but I made so many recently testing them for the 28 Day Healthy Meal Plan update that I think he might actually be cookied out for a little while…
I’ve also been experimenting with something I call caroblate over the last few months. It’s homemade chocolate, but I like to make it with carob powder instead of cocoa. I’m going to show you how to make it in my recipe video this week.
What are your favorite healthy Hallowe’en treats? Let me know below.
