Halloween: Trick or healthy treat?

Halloween is a time for spooky frights and sweet delights, but what if you want to keep your creepy celebrations clean?

With a little planning, it’s possible to have a healthy Halloween for all the family – without any meltdowns from your little monsters! Here are some ideas from the Detox Bible…

Fiendish fruit

Fruit is a great substitute for processed sweets which have little nutritional value. Here are some of our favourite nutrient-packed fiendish fruit treats…

• Dead Man’s Fingers
  Use bananas to create five ghoulish fingers. Stick on whole almonds for finger nails and add homemade strawberry puree for some ghastly blood!
• Ghostly Bananas
  Chop bananas in half to create your standing ghosts. Use a little melted dark chocolate to add spooky eyes and a mouth.
• Sweet Scary Pumpkins
  Turn easy peel tangerines into mini pumpkins! Simply peel, add a stalk using a vegetable of your choice (using the stalk from a pepper works well or alternatively try using a small piece of celery). Then create your pumpkin’s face using melted dark chocolate.
• Monster Melon Head
  Scoop out the contents of a melon then carve into the shell to create a spooky face. Add eyes then chop the melon flesh into chunks and add other fruit to spill out of your melon monsters mouth.

Spooky savoury snacks

There are lots of fun ways to turn ordinary healthy foods into spooky snacks. Here are just a few ideas…

• Monster Mouths
  To create these scary snacks, use mange tout, cheese and tomato or red pepper. Lay your mange tout flat then score a 2-3cm cut in the centre running lengthways down the bean. Open up to create your monster mouth. Add a slice of tomato or red pepper as your monster’s tongue and triangular cheese fangs to finish the look.
• Witch’s Broomsticks
  These spooky treats look great and are easy to make. Use a thin breadstick or pretzel stick as your broom. Take a thin slice of cheese then cut slices up to halfway up the slice to create your bristles. Wrap the cheese around the end of your stick and tie with a chive.
• Eerie Eyeballs
  Simply add a thin slice of black olive to your Babybel or bite size mozzarella eyeball with a splodge of pureed tomato in the centre. If you’re feeling creative, make your eyeball bloodshot by painting onto your spooky creation with red food colouring.
• Pepper Pumpkins
  Use an orange pepper to create a pumpkin by carving in a spooky face then simply filling with homemade guacamole or your favourite filling.

Slimy smoothies

Get creative and make some healthy but spooky smoothies that your kids will love!

Leafy greens such as kale, spinach and chard give a fantastically gruesome green colour. Add banana, mango or papaya to get that slimy smoothie texture that your little monsters will love! Experiment with ingredients to get your perfect spooky smoothie.

Get creative

There are lots of ways to keep Halloween healthy. Use your own favourite clean ingredients and simply use your imagination to make some of your own scary sweets and healthy treats!