Halloween Candy Alternatives

Are you wondering what you can do this Halloween about at the candy your kids are going to get from trick or treating? Let me help you with some idea,s which allow your kids to feel like they partake in the holiday and don't get gypped. Here are some ideas and links to help with this Halloween.

For older kids:

• You can simply buy back their candy. This works well with older kids.

• Two years ago I found a dentist that bought my kids candy by the pound and then he shipped it to our troops overseas.

• You could also get gift cards to their favorite places and trade out the candy for a gift card.

For little one's you can go with these ideas:

Set up a "shop" after they are done trick or treating you can have a table with items from the dollar store or appropriate candy and have prices near them. For example:

• 25 pieces of candy for : a  plastic ball or whoopee cushion
• 5 pieces of candy for: fruit snacks like Annie's or TastyBrand
• 10 pieces of candy for: pack of stickers

You get the idea. The kids might think its really fun to go shopping after they trick or treat. I suggest giving them a heads up so they know what to expect when they get home.

Ideas:

• Stickers
• Plastic ball
• Whoopee cushion
• Play dough Halloween packs- sold at Target
• Temporary Tattoos
• Glow Sticks
• Bouncy Balls
• Hair clips
• Hair bands
• Fun Socks
• Match box cars
• Earrings
• Nail Polish
• Squishes
• Bubbles
• Slime
• Fruit Snacks : bunnies, Tasty (they have Halloween characters at Costco)
• Lollipops without all the bad stuff

Some sites to buy stuff at are:

http://www.indiecandy.com/default.asp they have gummies, lollipops and chocolate that is all 8 major allergens free

http://suncups.com/ - Liam can't eat these due to dairy, but if you can have dairy and not nuts, corn, soy or gluten this site is for you!

http://www.crispygreen.com/where-to-buy.html - freeze dried fruit in a bag

http://www.tastybrand.com/api/Index.cfm/cms.page/i/3406/Tasty-Store-(Gummies)/- gummy fruit snacks

Breakfast ideas

A typical breakfast for us is eggs and bacon. Its nice to change things up a bit though so the kids don't get sick of it. Here is what we eat. I will try to post the recipes soon.

• Eggs: scrambled, fried in olive oil, or steamed with some water and a lid. 

• Meat: Bacon, Canadian Bacon, sausage patties all nitrate free. Sometimes I just cook up a bunch of meat and give them a fruit smoothie and they are good to go. 

• Frittata: I will take a 8x8 Pan and spray with coconut oil or Olive oil. I put left over carnitas, or ground sausage or turkey from tacos, ham, or bacon on the bottom. Next I take whatever veggies I have. For Liam I saute them so they are a little less crunchy. Don't saute too much because they will cook down in oven. His favorite is bell pepper, spinach or kale, and mushrooms. Savy my daughter loves all those too as well as asparagus, onions and garlic. After you layer the veggies on top on the meat you pour over beaten eggs. For our family its usually 10-12 eggs. If you have ramekin's you can make individual ones for your kids. Then just place pan in a 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes. Take a toothpick and poke the center, if it comes out clean then its cooked. I make this ahead and cut up into squares and store in a glass container and reheat in the mornings for school. 

• Smoothies: My kids love smoothies for breakfast. I make fruit ones, chocolate banana ones. I will post these recipes soon.

• Muffins: I make muffins up a head of time. Right now my kids are loving an almond flour blueberry muffin. click here for the recipe 

• Oatmeal: When Liam isn't feeling so great he still asks for Oatmeal. This would be a cheat he has that isn't Paleo. I let him eat it though because it seems to feel good on his tummy.

If you have any questions feel free to ask. 

Gluten Free Dairy Free Banana Bread Muffins

Banana Bread Muffins

I have been tweaking this recipe and think I finally have it. My kids love the muffins for breakfast or as a snack in their lunch. Hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

3 ripe bananas mashed
4 beaten eggs
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup agave
1/2 tea liquid vanilla stevia
3 Tablespoons Coconut oil or Grape seed oil

Dry ingredients:

1/2 cup coconut flour sifted
1/4 cup tapioca flour
pinch of sea salt
1/2 to 1 tea cinnamon
1/2 tea. baking soda
1/2 tea baking powder

oven temperature 350 degrees

In your mixer mash bananas, then add eggs and mix. Add honey, agave, stevia and oil. Mix thoroughly. In separate bowl mix all dry ingredients together, don't forget to sift the coconut flour first. Add dry ingredients in with the wet ingredients and mix.

Place cupcake liners into your muffin tins and add mixture until its 3/4 full. Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
 

Gluten and Dairy Free Cake Pops

Gluten Free Cupcake Pops

1 Chocolate Cake, from The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook, page 84 (view the PDF)

1 Bag Wilton Chocolate

1/4 - 1/2 cup Coconut oil

Sprinkles

*Dairy Free frosting like Pillsbury is optional to help bind and give a creamer taste to the cake

Special Equipment:

30 paper lollipop sticks

2-4 Styrofoam blocks

Bake Chocolate Cake as directed from the The Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook. Cool cake so that you can crumble into a big bowl. If choosing to bind cake with frosting add just enough to bind it together. If your opting to roll without the frosting take a clump of cake and knead together like you would play dough. Next roll into 1 inch ball. After rolling, put on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Once all the balls are on your cookie sheet freeze for at least an hour.

Melt the chocolate in a small bowl over a boiling pot of water on medium heat. If you have a double broiler than heat it up with that. To make the chocolate thinner add 1/4 cup coconut oil. If you don't have coconut oil you can use Crisco. Take your cake balls out and let sit for 5 minutes. One at a time, dip about ½ inch of the tip of a lollipop stick into melted chocolate. Next, Insert the lollipop stick straight into a cake ball, no more than halfway. Holding stick with cake ball attached, dip entire cake ball into melted chocolate, until covered. Twirl  any excess chocolate coating off the cake pop so it is evenly coated, then apply sprinkles. Place cake pop in Styrofoam block. Complete with remaining cake pops and store in refrigerator. 

*You can store these gluten free cake pops in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

*You can also freeze just the balls for up to two weeks, then make the pops the day you want to serve them