Healthy Halloween: Lynnwood mom on making good-for-you treats

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, October 24, 2018

EVERETT — Halloween can be more than candy corn, M&Ms and Tootsie Roll pops.

It can be about eating wisely, even healthy, if you choose.

That was the motivation for RawMama (aka Lynnwood’s Anne Meinke) to team up with Cafe Zippy’s Marilyn Rosenberg for a costume party/healthy Halloween snack-making demonstration. Participants get to sample the creations.

Rosenberg said the idea for the event — “Let’s get Batty Over Healthy Halloween Treats” — came about when she ran into Meinke selling her book, “Rawspiriation” on raw-food eating at Sno-Isle Food Co-Op.

Rosenberg said she wants more healthy food items in her cafe and loved the idea of Meinke leading a class on healthy Halloween alternatives.

“Everything she is presenting is easy for moms to make and tastes really good — and no processed sugar,” Rosenberg said.

People need to register for the event, which costs $5 to attend. Kids are invited to wear Halloween costumes. The class size is limited to 50 people. Register at battyhalloweentreats.bpt.me.

The Cafe Zippy event is open to both kids and adults.

Meinke said that health issues led her to begin exploring raw food, that which is uncooked and unprocessed. At age 23 those issues included digestion problems and hypothyroidism, where the body doesn’t produce enough thyroid hormone.

Meinke said her cooking skills in her early 20s were limited to making grilled cheese sandwiches and scrambled eggs. And although she admits to initially messing up a lot of recipes, she kept working on her skills.

Now 28, she said she believes that the switch to a raw-food diet made the difference in the turnaround in her health. “I’m no longer on any medicine,” she said. Her home diet excludes meat and dairy.

Her self-published raw cookbooks are the aforementioned “Rawspiration” and “RawMama’s Healthy Halloween Snacks,” which includes directions for offerings such as “Fudgy the Friendly Bat” and caramel apple nachos.

Her son, Axel, now 3½ years old, has become her taste tester. The Fudgy bat recipe is his favorite. “He loves it,” she said.

Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.

Boo-nanas

2 bananas

12-18 raisins

4-6 Popsicle sticks

Peel the bananas and cut in half (or thirds for extra large bananas). Using the tip of a sharp knife, score holes for the eyes and mouth. Firmly place the raisins in the holes and either place on a plate or on a Popsicle stick.

Serves 4-6.

Note: If you use Popsicle sticks, you can buy some styrofoam blocks at Walmart or a craft store to display them. Place some fake spiders along the base to surprise trick-or-treaters.

Caramel apple nachos

3 apples, sliced

1 batch caramel sauce

For the caramel sauce:

1 cup Medjool dates, pitted

1 cup water

¼ teaspoon vanilla

Pinch salt

After slicing the apples, arrange them nicely on a plate.

Making the caramel sauce: Blend the dates, water, vanilla and salt in a high-speed blender. Drizzle the caramel sauce on top using a squeeze bottle or piping bag.

Optional: Sprinkle “nachos” with shredded coconut, cacao nibs or chocolate chips, hemp or chia seeds.

Serve immediately. Serves 6-8.

Fudgy The Friendly Bat

15 Medjool dates, pitted

½ cup coconut butter

¼ cup cacao powder

½ teaspoon vanilla

Pinch salt

After pitting the Medjool dates, place them in a bowl with warm water (enough to cover) and let soften for 20 minutes. Soften the coconut butter in a pan of warm water (If your coconut butter is in a glass jar, just stick the whole jar in the warm water.) Once the dates and coconut butter are soft, strain the dates and dump ingredients into a food processor. Blend until fully combined. It should be a soft, fudgy consistency.

Press into a pan covered with parchment paper. Place in freezer for 30 minutes. Once frozen, pop the fudge out of the pan and cut pieces with a bat cookie cutter or your favorite Halloween shape. Store in the fridge up to 1 week.

Makes about 20 bats.

Note: You can substitute the coconut butter for the same amount of coconut oil or cacao butter. If using coconut oil, the fudge will soften quite a bit outside the fridge. Coconut butter and cacao butter will keep its shape and texture best outside the fridge. These keep up to 6 months in the freezer.

“RawMama’s Healthy Halloween Snacks”

By Anne Meinke

$4.99. 10 pages. e-Book.

If you go

What: “Let’s Get Batty Over Healthy Halloween Treats”

When: 6 p.m. Oct. 30

Where: Cafe Zippy, 1502 Rucker Ave., Everett

Cost: $5

More: 425-303-0474