Recipes from Winy’s kitchen: Fall food & Halloween Treats

　　Winy Chen, registered dietitian at Beach Cities Health District’s Center for Health & Fitness shares a few of her favorite recipes for fall and for good-cookin’ Halloween fun.
Black bean and corn pitas

　　Black Bean and Corn Pitas. Photo courtesy Vitality Cities
Servings: 8 Prep Time: 5 min Cook Time: 0 min Level: Easy
Ingredients:
1 (15 oz) can low-sodium black beans
1 cup frozen corn, thawed
1 cup fresh or no salt added canned tomatoes
1 avocado, chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper or more to taste
2 teaspoons lemon juice
¼ teaspoon chili powder
3 medium whole-wheat pita pockets, quarter
1/3 cup shredded part-skim Mozzarella cheese
Directions:
Drain and rinse beans.
In a medium bowl, combine beans, corn, tomatoes, avocado, and garlic.
Add parsley, cayenne pepper, lemon juice, and chili powder.
Cut pita bread in quarters and serve.
Nutrition per serving:
170 calories, 5 g fat, 8 g protein, 8 g fiber
Halloween Tips
Halloween conjures up fond memories of carving pumpkins, dressing up in the perfect costume and of course trick-or-treating. As a dietitian who also loves to celebrate this tradition with my children, here are my 5 pieces of advice for parents.
Relax and lighten up. Indulging in candy treats on this one special night ( and maybe a handful of days after) is not going to undermine the everyday healthy habits you’re trying to nurture in your children. The more your focus you put on forbidding children to have candy, the stronger their desire to have it.
Shift children’s focus away from candy by: decorating the house with spooky décor, visiting a local fall festival or pumpkin patch, reading, writing scary Halloween stories, doing arts & crafts such as carving the pumpkin or making masks out of paper plates.
Make good use of Halloween theme cookie cutters to make sandwiches and fruits look more ghoulishly delicious.
Offer healthier trick-or treat giveaways like tattoos, stickers, and small toys like eyeballs and skeletons. If you prefer offering food treats, consider like high quality chocolates, chocolate covered raisins or almonds, pretzel, or fruit puree roll-ups.
Encourage your children to savor the candy one bite at a time. Such treat is be to savored and not gobbled up mindlessly. The practice of mindful eating can even allow your children to eat less as a result.
If you don’t make the candy a major issue, it’s likely your children won’t either. Keep Halloween in perspective. Take the pressure off of your kids and yourself – and enjoy this delightful, guilt-free day!
Fun and Healthy Recipe Ideas
Mummy Bones:
Wrap banana in a whole wheat tortilla with Nutella spread
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

　　photo from SewCraftyMeg
1 pumpkin
Salt totaste
1) Carve the pumpkin as a family activity.
2) Remove the seeds from the strings. Do not wash
3) Place seeds in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle a little salt to season
4) Baked at 350 F for about 20 minutes or until seeds turn a light golden color.
Carrot Finger with Pumpkin Dip
3 Tb canned pumpkin
1 cup low fat Greek yogurt
1 Tb honey
1 Tb orange juice
½ tsp cinnamon
1) Mix all ingredients together.
2) Put dabs of dip onto the top of carrot sticks. Stick almond slivers on top to make carrot fingernails.
Black Bean Soup
2 ( 15 oz) cans drained black beans
1 ( 14 ½ oz) can low salt chicken broth
½ cup salsa
1 Tb chili powder
½ tsp cinnamon
1) Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and heat through. Simmer for 20-30 min until thickens.
2) Serve with sour cream, lime slices, and whole grain tortilla chips if desired.