Halloween Ready

It is almost Halloween and I'm ready!  I remember growing up Halloween was one of the best times of the year.  Me and all my cousins always went together and came home with so much candy it was insane.  Between the 7 of us dumping out our buckets there was candy everywhere.

Remember how much fun I had as a child makes me eager to help pass on the tradition to other kids.  That being said, keeping candy around is not a good option for me and even though I know kids will eat tons of candy I dont feel good giving out tons of it when I dont think its so healthy.

So this year we've got an assortment; some lower sugar candies with calcium in them, a tiny bit of candy Halloween sticker treats, play dough for the really little kids, tons of fun Halloween rings and individual bags of pretzels and dried fruit.  I can't wait to hand them out!

What are you all giving out this year?

Dried Fruit, A Must!

We all know fresh fruit is a great option, but it’s not available all year round and isn’t always portable. Thus why I love dried fruit!

Dried blueberries are one of my favorite things ever.  I call them one of my happy foods because I enjoy eating them so much and always smile after knowing they’re not only delicious but super healthy.   I just found the dried cherries at Costco yesterday for the first time and was really excited because they can be so pricey at the grocery store. 

I call dried fruit nature’s candy.  They’re sweet and chewy and I love them as a quick portable snack in my purse or backpack, or just when need a little sweet snack.

My initial reaction the first time I bought the blueberries was “that’s too much money” then I realized that if you look at how many blueberries it took to make the bag, and how many servings are in each bag, it’s actually a health bargain!

Chocolate As A Healthy Snack

I like being healthy. I really do.  In my imaginary world I only eat health food…in the real world that’s not completely true.  Life happens and we make the best decisions for our bodies that we can based on the options available to us.

In my dream world I also have no sweet tooth, but in the real world…I cant even pretend that’s true.  I love sweets.  However sugar also tends to make me feel awful physically and over the last few years I’ve learned what I can enjoy and what makes me feel sick.  

So on that note I had to share a delicious sweet treat that’s also incredibly healthful!  My wonderful mom picked these up at Trader Joes for me the other day as a treat and they’re too good not to share.

These dry roasted edamame are coated in heart healthy dark chocolate and have 5 grams of fiber and 7 grams of protein per serving.  I love dark chocolate and the roasted edamame isn't sweet which keeps these from being overly sweet.  Plus the protein and fiber helps keep me satisfied so I don't want to eat the whole container.

Sloppy Joe..or Mexican Food...or BOTH!

I’ve been swearing I was going to try more recipes recently, especially since I’ve told my fiancé that fast food and  Restaurants do strange things to their food (the way it is chemically altered is so not healthy on a regular basis).  So on Sunday I wanted to make Sloppy Joes.  

I took the recipe from skinnytaste.com but being me I only used it as a guideline (I have an inability to follow recipes, I like to add whatever sounds good to me and it usually comes out good).  I cut back on the tomato sauce and halved the meat, added extra garlic, jalapeno tomato sauce, and added three more kinds of bell peppers, more dried herbs and spices and some raw sugar and a touch of molasses.  It was like a very spicy sweet Mexican Sloppy Joe style meat filling.  It was delicious!

It was scrumptious on a whole wheat bun.  I added some low fat swiss to my fiance’s which was pretty yummy but I skipped it myself.

Since I cut the recipe down it only made about 4 servings so there was just enough left for me tonight but I wanted to refashion it into a new meal.  So I make some baked potatoes and hollowed them out and stuffed them with the spicy sweet mixture and oh my goodness it was amazing!  Even better than last night.

So if anyone is interested here is my recipe:

Mexican Sloppy Joes:  Serves 4

• 10 oz super lean ground beef
• ½ large red pepper, minced
• ½ large green pepper, minced
• ½ large yellow pepper, minced
• 1 small pasilla pepper, minced
• 1 medium onion, minced
• 3 small carrots, minced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 small cans of tomato sauce (I used one of the spicy jalapeno tomato sauces)
• 1 TBS raw sugar
• 1 TBS dark molasses
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp sweet Hungarian paprika
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:  Sautee onions, peppers, carrots and garlic until translucent, about 10 minutes.  Add in the meat and brown.  Season the meat/onion/pepper mixture with salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, and onion powder.  Add in both cans of tomato sauce, sugar and molasses and cover.  Let simmer for 15 minutes and serve as desired!