Trick or Treats

On the 5th day before Halloween, my True Ghoul gave to me...some treats to give besides cannnn-dy.

I mentioned our local food bank yesterday and here is a thought. While giving candy at Halloween is a tradition as entrenched as ghosts in the attic, why not start another one or two?

We have hundreds of precious kiddos come to our spooky door...some with a lot of help from a brave adult, other dragging a scared silly adult along with them. Once they work their way past the sticky, insect-infested webs, the cemetery ghouls and a really creepy clown to get to the witch with the dish, many seem to be ravenous and it always makes me wonder if the candy I give out is a "meal". I shudder to think...yes, for some, it is.

Here are a couple of things I will be doing and adding in as traditions. First, a little too late for this year, I found a site that has a fabulous cauldron full of healthier-than-most candies. I plan to order other holiday's sweet goodies from them and to order my Halloween candy from them next year. Here is the site http://www.naturalcandystore.com/. They have all kinds of green, organic, gluten-free and fair-traded candies, delivered in the bat of a newt's eye.

(However, it is not to late for those of you in New York to head to Orient to load up at The Candyman. They have been making fresh, homemade candies there on site for over 30 years. If you go, please buy me a bag of Dark Chocolate Chunks!)

Second, for this year, to offset some of the sugar I will be passing out (along with eyeball erasers) I am going to take some nutrient dense foods like various dried beans, nut butters, canned low sodium tomatoes, brown rice, raisins and dried apricots, boxed nut milk to my local food pantry.

Maybe you could do the same?

Check with your local pantry about donating nut products and perishable items. Some pantries, like one of my favorites in New York, also take fresh foods, such as apples, oranges, and root veggies.

What's that song? Trick or Treat, Trick or Treat, Give me something good to eat? Let's do it. And so, in light of your support to treat as you trick, this The Red White and Food is for you!!!

I want to give another The Red, White and Food shout out to my sister-in-law, Robin, for organizing a soup sale last weekend with all the proceeds going to needy families. Way to go girl!! xoxoxox