Healthy Halloween Food Ideas
Halloween – an entire holiday dedicated to asking for, then binge eating, sugary snacks. This year it’s a double whammy of diet-induced guilt because not only am I training for the Arnold bikini competition, I’ve also committed my family to the #EatBetterEatTogether challenge, which is to eat together five times per week and incorporate more nutritious foods in the mix. So of course the very best thing for me to do was throw a Halloween party. Right? It was actually just supposed to be a get-together for my Toastmasters club but then the kids wanted to invite their friends from the neighborhood and Scouts, so it expanded a bit at the last minute, which meant I had to figure out kid-friendly healthy options along with the standard Halloween junk food fare.
Here’s what I came up with:
Appetizers
Ghost bananas
- Cut bananas in half, remove peel and draw scary faces. This is the extent of my culinary creativity.
Fruit and Veggie Trays
- Kids may not down broccoli, but most of them will nosh on baby carrots and some celery sticks if given the option.
- If veggies aren’t their thing, grapes usually are eaten up faster than a zombie eats brains. Or something like that. Strawberries go pretty quick too
Main Course
Protein
- While kids like pizza and Texan adults like brisket, we went with a healthier option of two rotisserie chickens and one baked turkey breast. They were leaner white meats, tasted great and didn’t make you feel bloated after eating it.
Salads
- Spinach salad with strawberry slices
- Garden salad with Romaine lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, broccoli, apple and almonds
Dessert
Parfait Cups
- Mix a layer of fruit followed by a layer of vanilla Greek yogurt. The fruits I used were: pineapple, blueberry, strawberry, blackberry and raspberry. I prefer Greek yogurt to plain yogurt because it has more protein and I use the low-cal, no-fat kind.
Baked Apples
- Honestly, this is really good. You know the hot cinnamon apples you get from a homemade baked apple pie? It tastes like that minus the extra calories. Here’s the recipe: Low-Cal Baked Apples
We also had traditional options for our guests like cheese and crackers, pepperoni and sausage, chips, cupcakes and Halloween candy so everyone could find something they liked and feel satisfied. I was also personally satisfied to give away all the left over desserts to my parting guests so we wouldn’t be tempted to eat it mid-week. Healthy options for Halloween are absolutely doable. Give it a try!
Lisa 😉
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Lisa Traugott is a personal trainer, Mom’s Choice Award writer, original cast member of FOX/John Cena’s “American Grit” and has a monthly fitness column on Bowflex.com. She won Ms. Costa Rica Sports Model 2017 and her transformation story was featured in Muscle & Fitness Hers, Good Day Austin, Great Day Houston and Texas Monthly. She blogs at ShesLosingIt.com and is passionate about her clients.
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