The Trick to Balancing Treats

Halloween is here again and that probably means your home has been inundated with miniature sized candy.  Does this mean it has to be a day of painful deprivation?  Of course not.  Here are a few tricks to keep the treats in balance:

• Focus more on your good eating habits today - be sure to drink 8 glasses of water and try to get 9 servings of fruits and veggies in.
• Stick to a regular meal schedule today - don't skip a meal in anticipation of treats tonight.  Halloween candy does not constitute a well-balanced meal.  
• Plan out and enjoy the anticipation of your favorite treats.  Mindfully eating a few pieces of your favorite candy is much preferred over mindlessly eating whatever is at hand.
• Prioritize your candy consumption.  Have a piece or two of only your very favorites.  It's not worth wasting calories on mediocre sweets.
• Have a plan in place for leftover candy.  Whether you donate it to the food bank, toss it in the garbage or save a few favorites in the freezer for later enjoyment, make a plan and stick to it - don't leave it out on the counter to tempt you the next few days.  (Notice I didn't say send the leftovers to work?  Healthy eating at work is hard enough without a bowl of Halloween-dregs candy at every turn.

So yes, enjoying Halloween is definitely doable with a little planning.  I can promise you that there is a twix and a hundred grand bar (and maybe a mounds for the freezer) with my name on them out there today, but there is also a big water bottle, a banana, clementine, veggie soup and dried fruit & cereal mix out there with my name on them as well.  Happy, healthy Halloween!

The After-School Sandwich Bar & Grill

If you and your kids are tired of the same old routine for after school snacks, try opening up the After School Sandwich Bar & Grill.  Tap into your kids creativity and possibly their competitive natures by setting out some:

• whole grain bread or tortillas
• nut butters 
• cheese slices
• dried fruits (raisins, or berries)
• sliced fruits (apples or mandarin oranges)
• grill pan, sandwich press or toaster

When a half sandwich or quesadilla involves protein from nuts or cheese plus some fruit and the whole grain from the bread or tortilla, you've got a nutritional knock-out that is just the right size for snack time.   Plus you're kids may come up with some creative and gourmet combinations.  For example:

• grilled whole wheat tortilla, colby jack and granny smith
• toasted wheat bread, almond butter, mandarin orange slices and a few mini-chocolate chips
• peanut butter, dried berry panini

Let your kids (and your own) creativity run wild and with very little prep or clean-up you've got a fun, new after-school snack to add to your repertoire. 
Find more tips on Studio 5: Art of After-School Snacking

Going Green for Vitamin C

We all know that dark green foods are packed with nutrition.  And since it's cold & flu season, a lot of people start thinking about upping the vitamin C in their diet.  Well, green is the way to go for vitamin C - broccoli, kale, green peppers, and kiwi all contain fabulous amounts of America's favorite health-boosting vitamin.  But did you know that green tomatoes contain almost twice the vitamin C that red tomatoes do?  To me that means one thing: it's time to serve up some fried green tomatoes!  Don't worry, I'm talking pan-frying in just a touch of olive oil here, so no need to fret over the term fried.  This time of year as I get ready to tear out my garden, I hate the idea of wasting all those cute yet unripe tomatoes, so to me, fall is the season for this dish.  I cooked up a few for my lunch today (since the rest of my family fails to appreciate the culinary appeal of a tart, crispy-coated, green tomato slice). 

I love to mix a little BBQ sauce with some plain greek yogurt for a delicious dipping sauce.

If you're not sure you're quite ready for the southern dish of fried green tomatoes straight up, try them on a BLT.  I love the Fried Green Tomato BLT recipe from Cooking Light.  Whether or not you're getting vitamin C from green tomatoes or broccoli, be sure to load up your diet with plenty of fruits and veggies and you'll easily have enough vitamin C in your diet to face whatever winter dares to send your way.