Nutritional Halloween Treats

It feels like the summer holidays were only but a blink away!   Not only is it half term, but it’s that spooky time of year; Halloween. It's a time when adults get to show their inner child with fancy dress and pretending that trickle treating is for the children’s benefit!  With celebrations and holidays to celebrate, we thought we would give you some tips on how to keep it healthy and still fun. Here are a few treats for your Halloween party.

Alcohol Free Mulled Wine Made with elderberries, lemon, ginger and cinnamon is rich in vitamin C to boost the immune system fighting off the common cold and flu. Alcohol free mulled wine Serves 2 Ingredients 400g of elderberries 1.25 litres of water 2 cinnamon stick 50g raisins 10 cloves 3 large oranges 3 tablespoons of manuka honey ¼ lemon 1 piece of ginger root (grated) Method Grate the zest from the oranges and lemon, and then juice them with the elderberries and add the cloves. Place all the above into a large saucepan. Add the water, honey, cinnamon sticks, grated ginger and raisins. Heat the mixture for 20 mins, try not to let it simmer. Remove from the heat and drain through a sieve into a large punch bowl. Your wine is now ready to serve.

Raw Cinnamon Chocolate Truffles Made from chopped dates and nuts, cocoa powder, nuts and cinnamon. The combination of nuts and cinnamon stabilise the blood sugar levels, meaning you won’t have hyperactive children and adults on your hands! Raw Cinnamon and chocolate truffles Serves 10 Ingredients •           100g of chopped pitted dates •           100g of chopped mixed nuts •           1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder •           2 tablespoon of cocoa powder Method 1.         Use a food processer to turn the dates into a paste. 2.         Add the chopped nuts, cinnamon powder and a    tablespoon of cocoa powder and mix together evenly. 3.         Roll the paste into small balls between the palms of your hands. 4.         Roll the truffles in the remaining tablespoon of cocoa powder to give them a nice finish and take the stickiness away.

Pumpkin Soup Made with garlic and a dash of pepper. Its good fun to get creative with pumpkin designs to show off your talent in your window. Make the most of it, and cook the pumpkin itself, it is nutritiously rich in vitamin A to help you see in the dark when out on ghost and ghoul watch. Pumpkin Soup Serves 5 Ingredients ·         2 tablespoon of coconut oil ·         750g of Pumpkin deseeded, and cubed (scooped from the pumpkin, important you keep the pumpkin for decoration) ·         4 cloves of crushed garlic ·         2 finely chopped onion ·         1 teaspoon of ground black peppercorns ·         250g of double cream ·         600ml of vegetable stock ·         2 finely chopped red chillies Method 1.    Add coconut oil to a hot pan and fry off the onions until golden brown. Add the crushed garlic and chilli, lightly fry and leave to cool 2.    In a saucepan add the stock and pumpkin cubes, simmer for 10 minutes and then add the cream and ground black pepper and take off the heat 3.    Add the contents from the frying pan to the pumpkins and blend with a hand blender The soup is now ready to be reheated when needed and served