Halloween is just 2 days away and my daughter has changed her mind 3 times about what she wants to be. Her original costume was to be Micheal Jackson. I know that’s so cute. She loves Micheal Jackson. We bought her the essentials CD, every great MJ song. She knows all the lyrics to every song. The Micheal Jackson costume is easy, she wants to be the Billie Jean MJ. I’m borrowing I suit from a family member. I thought I had it good, not having to buy a costume but now she wants to be a zombie or a skeleton. I think I’ll wait until the last minute when she decides.

Last night was so much fun, we carved our gigantic pumpkin. Surprisingly there wasn’t alot of seeds or pumpkin guts! We have the best pumpkin the famous Micheal Jackson pose.

I have a couple Healthy Halloween recipes that I would like to share:

Yummy Pumpkin Cupcakes

Preheat oven 350F.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3 cups organic raw sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger or use fresh ginger
• 1/4 cup of wheat germ

Mix all the dry ingredients. Then add 1/2 cup of sunflower oil, 4 free range eggs, 1/2 cup of crushed pineapple drained, 2 cups of pumpkin. Depending on the consistence add about 2/3 cup of water or apple juice to make the batter just right.

Prepare muffin tins with some festive Halloween cupcake liners. Fill 2/3 full with pumpkin cupcake batter. Bake for 20-30 minutes. Until toothpick tested in muffin comes out clean.

Let cool then try topping with whipped vanilla icing colored with orange food coloring. Or cream cheese icing.

Use some fun candy treats to place on top of iced muffin. Small Halloween candies like spiders or eye balls!! You can also add your favorite nuts and dried fruit like cranberries or raisins.

Spooky!!!!!

Want a really quick lunch or supper idea. I recently made a giant sandwich or in my house they are called Sangies. Any kind of meat will do use what you like. My family love turkey deli and ham. Cut the top off the sourdough loaf and gut out some of bread so it’s almost a hollow bowl. Spread your favorite dressing on the bottom of the bowl. My family likes miracle whip with mustard pretty easy.

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Layer some favorite cheese on top, jack, chedder, provolone all really good cheeses. Then load up on the meat. As for veggies I like to use spinach and arugula(spicy green) great flavor. You can add all the veggie you want like cucumbers,peppers,tomato whatever your kids will eat. Once you have every item in the carved out bowl add some dressing on the top of the cut out piece. Then place on top. Cut into 4-6 pie pieces and ready to eat. Yummy!! I usually bake some fries to go on the side. Sweet potato fries are really good too.

There is only 3 days left before my babygirl starts kindergarten. I never thought the day would come, honestly I can’t believe that she starts her first day of school in only 3 days.  My daughter is definitely ready for it. She has been in preschool for the last 2 years. I had her in morning preschool 3x a week. Also in swimming lessons and 4 cats art academy. These are things I would like for her to keep at but I don’t want to over load her with activities. I have my daughter in kinder-care, which is before school care it starts at 845am to 1225pm. Then she goes to her kindergarten class at 1225 to 3pm. Busy day for her. I have stayed home with my daughter since she was born. Well I work part time as a RCA in that whole time  I was always there to bring her to all her activities. My husband and I have alternate schedules which means he has a great 9 to 5pm job Monday to Friday. I on the other hand work weekends and some holidays. Now that our daughter is starting kindergarten I would like to get away from working weekends. It breaks my heart to have her in school all week then when she’s home on the weekends I’m at work. In my area of work it’s really hard to find Monday to Friday day shifts permanently.

Anyway getting back to kindergarten. I recently went to the grocery store to get all the wonderful healthy nutritious snacks for her to have while at school. I also want to keep it simple and easy when getting her lunches and snacks ready the night before.

One really cool recipe is mock sushi. You buy whole wheat tortilla wraps (the green tortilla wraps are fun because they kinda look like the seaweed),cucumber,avocado,carrots,zucchini,orange peppers and cream cheese. I buy garlic and herb cream cheese buts it’s up to you. I usually cut all the veggies julienne style easier to roll up. I cover the whole tortilla with cream cheese the I put in cucumber,peppers and avocado. Roll it up and slice into 3/4 inch wheels. Mix it up with the veggies too. Sometimes I’ll have just cucumber in one roll and shredded carrot in another roll. Plus you’ll have left over wheels for the next day or a great snack for after school.

Protecting your child from viruses can be tough especially with all the news about H1N1. Teaching my daughter proper hand washing skills and keeping her aware of how to protect herself from others germs by showing her proper ways of covering up her mouth when coughing and sneezing. It really starts at home if your doing all the things that your showing your child you become a great role model by setting a good example. I purchased a travel size hand sanitizer (alcohol-free) bottle for her to keep in her lunch bag. That’s another protective measure to ensure that she’s a bit more protected. Which gives me some peace of mind.