How we enjoy Halloween (and other holidays)...the all natural way!

I have had several friends ask how we deal with candy issues at Halloween (and other holidays), when we don't consume artificial colors, artificial flavors, or artificial sweeteners. It really isn't as difficult as one may think. It is all in the art of imagination and replacement, and creating fun traditions.

Our schools in Texas have three party days that are announced each year. For these parties, I usually try to make my child's favorite treat. This almost always ensures that they will pick their homemade goody over the other parent's treats. I also provide the juice/drink of their choosing. During those parties, our kids get to consume anything and everything like the other kids. BUT, only during the party. I have found this method to be the most effective way to keep my children from feeling deprived and different (you know, the bad different) from their peers. Do they consume some chemical laden junk? Yes. But, we deal with it.

How do we deal? As soon as they get home, the bags and buckets from parties are dropped on the kitchen table. On Halloween, we usually are right back out the door to go trick-or-treat, or catch a fall festival in our area. When we are finally in for the night, all of the candy and treats are left on the table. My kids get to take a "magic crystal" bath (just equal parts baking soda and epsom salt, with a little lavender oil), to help detoxify their little bodies. Then, they get into pajamas for a fun fall movie before bed. Keep in mind that the candy and treats are still on the table....

Before bed, my children take a brief inventory of all of their things, and we tell the story of the Switch Witch. The switch witch is a naughty and wild witch. She loves candy! The more candy you leave out for her at night, the better she will reward you. She usually leaves each child a small bag of non-chemical candies, and a pretty awesome gift or toy. Her gift is not usually more than $20 in value (She is no comparison to Santa!). The switch witch doesn't ever take small toys, stickers, and other non-edibles. She doesn't want them, just the candy and treats. Then, she leaves the home, taking all of the treats with her, so she can continue on her naughty and wild night!  Here is the bag of candy that our Switch Witch has already prepared for my children this year:

Now, the real magic is truly taking it all out of my home. If I leave it anywhere, the three amigos will locate it, thus ruining the magic of the Switch Witch. The bad candy can always be donated to a local hospital waiting room, a CPS office, your husband's job, etc. There are lots of people willing to take this stuff off of your hands.

The next morning, the small bag of candy and unwrapped gift are on the kitchen table with the original bags/buckets that they got at their parties. My kids have never once questioned about why they can't have it, because this tradition is not about restriction as much as it is about replacement and rewarding good choices. They are always ecstatic to find their gift, and most of the time ignore the "good" candy until later in the day and/or week. In fact, my eldest daughter has been collecting candy for the switch witch for two weeks. The buy-in for them was almost too easy! I hope it works the same for your children.

Now, here are some of our favorite candy choices. And, no, we do not keep this amount of candy around all of the time! I have listed where I purchased in parenthesis.

Chocolates:

Trader Joe's Smashing Smores (Trader Joe's), Trader Joe's Chocolate candy coated Sunflower Seeds (Trader Joe's), Trader Joe's mini milk chocolate peanut butter cups (Trader Joe's), Trader Joe's Chocolate Covered Marshmallows (Trader Joe's), Trader Joe's Mini milk chocolate bars (Trader Joe's), and an Endangered Species Dark Chocolate bar (Kroger).

Hard Candies and Suckers:

Yummy Earth Organic Pops (Whole Foods), Glee Gum Pops (Whole Foods), TruSweet Candy Canes (Amazon), Trader Joe's Peppermints (Trader Joe's), and Torie and Howard Organic Hard Candy (Whole Foods).

Gummy Candies:

Yummy Earth Fruit Snacks (Costco or Whole Foods), Yummy Earth Gummy Bears (Whole Foods), and Surf Sweets Bears (Whole Foods).

Trader Joe's Candy Coated Licorice (Trader Joe's), Tree Hugger Bubble Gum (www.TreeHuggerGum.com or Whole Foods), and Sweet's Candy Corn (www.sweetcandy.com or Whole Foods).

Some of my favorite places to find All Natural Candy online:

www.amazon.com
www.squirrels-nest.com
www.naturalcandystore.com

Trader Joe's has an amazing selection of all-natural candies. You just have to make sure to buy a Trader Joe's brand. Also, Whole Foods has a decent selection, but you will get the best prices by buying around holidays in the holiday packaging. Hint: Surf Sweets and Yummy Earth produce holiday packaging, but the inside packages are always the same (not holiday specific). This makes it awesome for stocking up!

Fall Rosettes....or dumplings!

I decided to try a new way to "cheat" when baking, and decided to use a couple of cans of immaculate baking croissant dough. Well, I looked through multiple pins on pinterest at various recipes for canned croissants when I ran across a pin for rosettes. Basically, they rolled out croissant dough, sliced in thin strips, then rolled them into pretty little flower shapes. It sounded good, but I am in a dessert mood. I decided to add some diced pears, and voila...Fall Rosettes. It is very similar to a dumpling, but since I shaped it like a rosette, we will go with that! Anyway, Phillip and I experimented with variations on how to cut them and roll them, in fact we did a couple that weren't cut at all. The beauty is, you can get creative, and know that they are going to be amazing!

You will need:
1 cans of refrigerated croissants (We prefer Immaculate Baking Co.)
5 medium pears
1 TBSP organic sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, or follow croissant label instructions.

Peel, core, and dice pears.

Add in Cinnamon and Sugar, then stir until well combined.

Unwrap your crescent rolls. Leave two sections connected. Pinch gently along the perforated seem, and then use a rolling pin to expand.

Add a few tablespoons of filling. Then, begin to roll from one corner down.

Once rolled in one direction. Then, roll it into itself, making a flower shape.

Place on a baking sheet, and bake according to crescent roll instructions. We baked ours at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. *Note: We experimented with multiple cuts and folds. Rolling with no cuts was the easiest and less messy.

Remove from oven, and serve hot. Enjoy!

5 Ingredient Complete Chicken Dinner!

I have seen lots of chicken dinners in a casserole dish. My mom used to make a fail-proof chicken, green bean, and potato bake when she would host "Senior Luncheon" at our church. Her version consisted of a lot of butter and dry Italian dressing packets instead of a bottle of Italian dressing. I won't lie, I loved her version! But, for the sake of not using an entire pound of butter in one dish, I opted for a slimmer version using one of our favorite Italian dressings, which has lower fat and great flavor. As noted in the title, this recipe has 5, that's right FIVE, ingredients. It takes about five minutes to chop the onion and potatoes, and completely assemble the dish. That is a quick fix on any night! Of course, I always encourage you to use good whole ingredients, and organic, grass-fed or free-range when you can!

For this recipe, you will need:

Two pounds of chicken
4 Cups of frozen green beans
6 Medium Gold Potatoes
1 Medium Onion
1 bottle of Italian Dressing

First, chop your potatoes and onions. The cut is your preference.

Place you chicken in the center of a 9x13 baking dish. No greasing or oiling the pan.

On one side of the chicken, add in your four cups of green beans.

Add chopped potatoes to the other side.

Sprinkle chopped onion over entire pan.

Now, add entire bottle of Italian dressing to the pan to cover. Don't worry about mixing and stirring!! 

Finally, place this dish in a 350 degree oven, and cook for approximately one hour, or until chicken is cooked through and potatoes are tender.