BY SANDRA GUY

What better time to enjoy healthy Halloween treats as COVID and the Delta variant call like terrifying wolves to ease up on vigilance?

So here are a few examples — with no soy, nuts or gluten — which you can use as a jumping-off point for your own fun creations.  

Green apples with googly eyes

Just green apples, sunflower butter, sunflower seeds, a strawberry tongue, and a batch of homemade googly eyes.

The secret to the eyes:

1 c. powdered sugar

1 tsp. cornstarch

1 Tbsp. corn syrup

2 tsp. nondairy milk

1/4 tsp. almond extract (or vanilla extract)

mini non-dairy chocolate chips (like Enjoy Life)

Whisk together the powdered sugar and cornstarch. Add the rest of the ingredients except for the chocolate chips and mix until combined. It should be a thick paste at this point.

Place into either a piping bag or Ziploc baggie and pipe dots into one row onto a baking sheet lined with wax paper. Gently top each dot with the mini chocolate chip–you don’t want to wait too long to place the chocolate chip in the middle or it will set.

Repeat until all the paste is gone.

Allow the googly eyes to set for at least 24 hours on your counter.

Halloween Ghost Fruit Kabobs

You Will Need:

Marshmallows

Fruit of your choice

12-inch wooden skewers

Black food coloring markers with a fine tip

For the marshmallows, use the marker to draw a ghostly face onto each marshmallow — or a friendly or goofy face, depending on the children’s ages.

Let the marshmallows dry for a few minutes before using.

Wash and cut the fruit into bite-sized pieces. Add the fruit and then a ghost marshmallow in a pattern to the skewer, and continue with the pattern.

Remember, as tough as it may be to take the time to focus on a healthy diet, it can have a profound effect on a child’s emotional well-being as well as keeping the immune system healthy.