I love all the emails I get around Halloween asking me for “healthy” candy recipes. I wish there was such a thing, but sadly, there isn’t. I usually just give in and allow my kids to enjoy a few chocolatey or sugary Halloween treats. HOWEVER, in the past, when I’ve put out a bunch of bowls filled with nuts, popcorn and chocolate chips for trick or treaters and given them holiday themed bags to let them make their own trail mix, they love it! Sure there’s always one or two kids who try to fill their bags with 99% chocolate chips and maybe one nut, but there are also plenty of little ones who stuff their bags with a healthy portion of the good stuff and they absolutely love it.

Whether you’re looking for a healthy-ish treat on Halloween or just a fun holiday snack idea for the younger set, this Popcorn Trail Mix fits the bill. And until someone invents healthy candy, you can’t do much better!

Popcorn Trail Mix (Makes 5 1/2 Cups)

4 Cups Popcorn, popped
½ Cup Chocolate Chips
½ Cup Dried Cherries or Cranberries
½ Cup Roasted Mixed Nuts, almonds, walnuts or peanuts

1. Place all of the ingredients in a bowl and combine.
2. Place mixture into individual treat bags.
3. Serve.

I always heard there is no harder job than being a mom, but not until I had my own kids did I understand what that really meant.

Being a mother is all consuming. Weelicious may be my passion and creative outlet, but being a mom is my real job. No matter whether they work full time, part time or not at all, that’s true for most mothers I know. From the second you wake up until the time you go to bed (and possibly several times during the night if you’ve been in my house the past 4 1/2 years), your work never ends. It’s all at once exhausting, exhilarating, empowering, frustrating and most of all, a magical experience.

And within my “job” there never seems to be enough time to do the things I need to do (if I am lucky these days I make it to the dry cleaner once every 2 months). Sometimes it feels like I have to move mountains to carve out 20-30 minutes of my day just to get a meal on the table for that night. Mornings can be so busy for me that I’ve started doing a good bit of crock pot cooking midday before school pick up, so having a one pot meal like this Tortilla Mexican Lasagna is perfect for my schedule. Layered with tortillas instead of lasagna noodles and packed with tons of veggies, salsa and cheese, this is a delicious meal that’s great when you want utter convenience and a dinner that is unique and special. Just toss in all of your ingredients, turn your crock pot on and come home a few hours later to a finished meal that will make the hardest job in the world look easy!

Crock Pot Tortilla Mexican Lasagna (Serves 8 )

1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Large Onion, diced
1 Garlic Clove, minced
1 lb Lean Ground Turkey
1 Tsp Ground Cumin
1 Tsp Kosher Salt
1/2 Tsp Chili Powder
1 Large Egg, whisked
1/2 Cup Sour Cream
1 Cup Carrots, peeled and grated (about 2 carrots)
1 Cup Frozen Corn Kernels, defrosted
1/4 Cup Cilantro, chopped
1 12 oz Pkg. Corn Tortillas (12 Tortillas)
2 Cups Mexican Cheese Blend
2 16 oz Jar Mild Chunky Salsa

1. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a large sauté pan and cook the onions for 3 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté an additional minute.
2. Add the ground turkey meat, cumin, salt and chili powder and cook for 6-7 minutes until cooked through. Place turkey mixture aside and cool.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the egg and sour cream together. Add the cooled turkey mixture, carrots, corn and cilantro and mix to combine.
4. Spread a 1 cup of salsa on the bottom of the crock pot.
5. Layer 5 tortillas on top of the salsa, cutting them if necessary to fit the crock pot and covering the salsa completely.
6. Place half the turkey mixture on top of the tortillas and top with 1 cups of salsa and 1/2 cup of cheese.
7. Add another layer of 3 tortillas on top of the cheese. Pour the remaining turkey mixture on top of the tortillas and top with another 1/2 cup of cheese.
8. Top the lasagna with another layer of tortillas, pour the remaining salsa on top and cover with 1 cup of cheese.
9. Cook on low for 2 1/2 hours.
10. Serve.

When I was a kid and went out to dinner with my family, few things made me feel as grown up as getting to order a Shirley Temple. Made from ginger ale, grenadine syrup, a bit of OJ and topped off with a maraschino cherry, this drink was the most special of special treats to me.

When we went on vacation this summer, I would occasionally make my kids (and me and hubby) special cocktails to cap off a long day of play. Using just a bit of juice, some cut up fresh fruit and sparking water — and a fun straw or umbrella — it was something the kids looked forward to every day and it was so cute to watch them sit there each evening holding their pretty drinks and feeling grown up.

This virgin sangria is my take on the beloved Shirley Temple of my youth, but without all the sugar and high fructose corn syrup from the soda and grenadine. And when you get into the fall and winter months and you want to pretend you’re on vacation even though you can’t get away, just substitute any of your favorite seasonal fruits to make a yer round refreshing cocktail that everyone in the family can enjoy.

Kiddie Sangria (Serves 4)

1 Peach, pitted and sliced
1/2 Cup Strawberries, stems removed and quartered
1 Lemon, halved & sliced
2 Cups Cranberry and/or Orange Juice
2 Cups Sparkling Water or Club Soda

1. Place the first 4 ingredients in a pitcher and chill in the fridge for one hour.
2. When ready to serve, stir in 2 cups of sparkling water.
3. Serve.

As many of you know, we’re big on dips in our house. I find that if you put out a big platter of veggies next to a yummy dip for plunging into, the variety of vegetables you can get into kids’ little bodies increases by….well, a lot! Case in point was the day that I made this Avocado Honey Dip. Chloe had just woken up from her nap and was sitting with me at the kitchen counter while I was concocting this creamy spread. She asked if she could try some, so I made her a little plate with baby carrots, sugar snap peas and pretzels. Chloe dipped a few times and then, in the time that it took me to turn around to grab something and turn back, she had her little arm wrapped around the mixing bowl and the spatula I had used to stir it in her mouth. Eventually I surrendered and let her finish it all.

There’s nothing worse than sending your child to school with a lunch box packed full of fresh veggies only to have them come back home exactly the way you sent them: uneaten. My advice? Add some of this dip and see if it adds to your kid’s fun of wanting to munch and crunch on the good stuff that goes with it!

Avocado Honey Dip (makes 1 cup)

1 Avocado, peeled and pitted
1/4 Cup Whipped Cream Cheese
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1 Tbsp Honey

1. Place all of the ingredients in a bowl and mash together.
2. Serve with cut up veggies, crackers, pretzels or even as a spread on toast.

I was scouring some of my cookbooks recently trying to find a recipe for a peanut butter and jelly popsicle. Oh yeah, I said it: a PB & J pop. Nothing. Ziltch. How was that possible? OK, maybe there is a recipe for one out there, but I certainly couldn’t find it or get the thought of making them out of my head.

Coincidentally, cut to me discovering a box of 100 Dixie cups in the bathroom cabinet later that day. “When did I buy these,” I asked myself. The box must have been in there for over a year, but not a single cup had been used. Ah ha! Why not make my PB & J popsicles in them!

I headed back to the kitchen and played around until I came up with what seemed like the perfect mixture and then began the layering and freezing process.

An hour later, Kenya opened the freezer and accidentally dumped the tray of pops all over, my little experiment pouring all over (if you’ve never tried cleaning peanut butter out of a freezer, trust me, it’s not a ton of fun). After we made a new batch and let them freeze completely (check out the image at the end of this post) there were two kids (and a mom) who happily dug into these PB & J pops, loving every last bite. I don’t know if I am the first person who has ever made a popsicle out of peanut butter and jelly, but I certainly hope I’m not the last!

PB & J Pops (Makes 4 pops)

1/2 Cup Peanut Butter, smooth
2 Tbsp Honey
1 Cup Milk, divided (any type of milk will work)
1/2 Cup Your Favorite Fruit Preserves (I used Raspberry)

1. Combine the peanut butter, honey and 1/2 cup of milk in a bowl and whisk until smooth.
2. Whisk the preserves and the remaining milk in a separate bowl to combine.
3. Pour both mixtures into 2 separate liquid measuring cups for easy pouring.
4. Pour 2 tbsp of the peanut butter mixture into each Dixie cup, followed by 3 tbsp of the fruit preserves mixture.
5. Freeze for 30 minutes.
6. Pour the remaining peanut butter mixture on top. Pok a popsicle stick in the middle of the cups.
7. Freeze for at least 6 hours or more.
8. Serve.

Don’t rub your eyes when you look at the dish pictured above. That is in fact calamari you see and yes, it’s here on weelicious. Now you’re probably thinking:

a. What IS calamari? (Answer: squid.)
b. How the heck do I cook it? (Answer: it’s one of the easier types of fish to prepare.)
c. There’s NO way my kid will ever eat it. (Answer: Don’t be too sure about that.)

Trust me, the recipes that show up on weelicious are never some type of challenge that I offer parents to try and get kids to eat a host of foods they’re never going to enjoy. Quite the opposite, in fact. I have a 2 year old who constantly surprises me with her love of the most unexpected dishes to prove it. The first time Chloe tried calamari we were at one of our favorite Italian restaurants. I had ordered the grilled calamari and she scarfed every last piece of it off of my plate. Minutes after it was all gone she was screaming at the top of her lungs, “MORE CALAMARI!!! “The people at the table next to us looked over as if we were C-R-A-Z-Y! We now hear this familiar refrain from Chloe almost every time we are at a restaurant (whether they serve calamari or not!). Her demands for it became so frequent, I started making it at home and you’d be amazed by how quickly this child can put it away.

To remind you again, we’re talking here about calamari, not chocolate cake or vanilla ice cream, but they way my whole family enjoys it now, you’d think I was offering dessert.

If you’ve never tried calamari before, it’s time to give it a try because this unbelievably easy-to-make recipe is packed with protein and flavor, is inexpensive and unbelievably scrumptious no matter how old you are!

Calamari Rings (Serves 2-3)

1 Lb Calamari
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Garlic Clove, minced
1/4 Cup Sherry Wine
1/2 Tsp Kosher Salt
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice

1. Rinse, drain and pat calamari dry.
2. Cut calamari into rings and pat dry again with a paper towel to remove as much excess liquid as possible.
3. Heat a large skillet over high heat, add 2 tbsp of oil and immediately add the calamari rings sautéing for 2 minutes.
4. Remove calamari to a bowl.
5. Add the minced garlic, sherry wine, salt and lemon juice to the same skillet over high heat and allow to boil for 1 minute.
5. Add the calamari back into the sherry lemon sauce to heat through for 20 seconds.
6. Serve.

With school and busy schedules revving up again, the need for fast dinners that you can pull off AND everyone will love is even greater. I get tons of requests for recipes from readers every week — both here on weelicious and on Facebook — but for some reason, one that I’ve been getting a lot of demand for lately is chicken paprikash.

Often you’ll find recipes for this classic Hungarian dish swimming in a heavy cream sauce, but by adding just a little more sherry wine than most recipes normally call for and then boiling it down until the sauce starts to thicken, a dollop of sour cream is all you need to make a healthier version that is just as luscious as what you remember tasting as a kid. And while this dish may seem too fancy to be fast and easy, trust me, it is.

Chicken Paprikash (Serves 4)

1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Small Onion, diced
2 Cups Mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 Small Garlic Clove, minced
1 Tsp Paprika Powder
1 Tsp Kosher Salt
1 Lb Chicken Breast or Tenders, rinsed & cubed into bite-size pieces
3/4 Cup Sherry Wine
3/4 Cup Water
1/4 Cup Sour Cream*

1. Heat oil in a medium size sauté pan over medium heat and sauté onions for 3 minutes. Add the mushroom, garlic, paprika and salt, and continue to sauté for 3 more minutes.
2. Add the cubed chicken and cook for 1 minute, stirring occasionally.
3. Add the sherry and water. Bring liquid to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes until the liquid has reduced by half.
4. Turn heat off, add the sour cream and stir to combine.
5. Serve over pasta or rice.

* You can also use low fat sour cream

From the name alone this seems like an unbelievably simple salad to make. And you know what? It is!

Tired of serving a plain steamed green veggie every night, I decided to jazz up some broccoli with a bit of added color, texture and a sweet sauce. At first I wondered if the kids would just eat the edamame, almonds and cranberries and avoid the broccoli, but they ate every bite and ended up asking for seconds.

I usually have all of the ingredients to make this dish on hand as they’re some of my staples. If you don’t have them, they’re worth picking up for whenever you want to enjoy this easy, yet impressive combination. Since you get a protein, a vegetable and a fruit, it’s like a healthy trifecta!

Broccoli Salad (Serves 4)

1 Tbsp Honey
2 Tbsp Mayonnaise
1/2 Tsp Kosher Salt
2 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
4 Cups Broccoli Florets, steamed
1/2 Cup Dried Cranberries
1 Cup Frozen Edamame, defrosted
1/4 Cup Toasted Almonds, sliced or slivered

1. Place the honey, mayonnaise, salt, and vinegar in a large bowl and whisk to combine.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and toss to coat with dressing.
3. Serve.

Somehow Kenya ended up “helping” me buy way more ears of corn at the farmers’ market last weekend than we could possibly eat in 7 days. It’s amazing how quickly the items in our cart can grow when my two little helpers get extra excited about what’s at the market. Between all that extra sweet corn and the ready-to-be-picked red bell peppers and parsley in our garden, I decided to make this salad. It’s bright in color and has a ton of texture, so it’s as visually beautiful as it is delicious.

This salad just says summer to me, so the time to make some is now!

Grilled Corn & Red Pepper Salad (Serves 4)

4 Ears of Corn
2 Large Red Peppers, seeds removed and cut into quarters
1/4 Cup Red Onion, diced
1/2 Tsp Paprika
1/2 Tsp Kosher Salt
2 Tbsp Fresh Parsley, chopped
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
Juice of 1 Lemon
1 Cup Mozzarella Balls, cut into quarters

1. Preheat grill.
2. Grill corn and peppers for 6 minutes and set aside to cool.*
3. Remove the corn kernels from the cobs and dice the red peppers.
4. Place the corn and peppers in a bowl with the remaining ingredients and combine.
5. Serve.

*You can remove the skin of the red peppers if they are charred.

There is the sweetest, homemade sno-cone stand at our farmers’ market called Sno-con AMOR where the owner (and Kenya’s newest love), Lauda, serves up the most incredible traditional Raspados (Mexican Snow Cones). With homemade syrups in flavors like walnut, coconut and mojito (I almost want to drop to the ground with embarrassment every time Chloe screams, “MORE MOJITO” in a crowd full of parents), these are nothing like the artificially sweetened and colored sno-cones you may be used to seeing. Lauda uses only the freshest, all natural ingredients to produce her frozen works of art.

Recently Lauda has been featuring watermelon-cinnamon as a flavor and it is heavenly. The first time she offered me a taste I was skeptical. Cinnamon and watermelon sounded like quite an unusual combo, but it took just one bite and I was knocked out. So knocked out in fact, that I had to replicate it at home. Given that the kids only see Lauda on Sunday, having granita (very similar to sno-cones) for them at home the remaining six days of the week made me very popular with them indeed.

And no, your eyes aren’t fooling you. That’s yellow watermelon pictured above. The kids can’t get enough of it when it is in season, so I used it to make this cinnamon spiked watermelon granita that tastes almost as good as Lauda’s sno-cones.

Whether you decide to make this with red or yellow watermelon, it’s a super sweet summer time treat that’s filled with AMOR!

Watermelon Granita (Serves 6-8)

5 Cups Watermelon Chunks
1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/3 Cup Sugar

1. Place all of the ingredients in a blender and puree.
2. Place the puree in an 8×8 inch Pyrex dish and put in the freezer for 1 hour.
3. Remove from the freezer and scrape with a fork to break up pieces.
4. Place back into freezer for 1 hour.
5. Remove from the freezer and scrape with a fork to break up pieces.
6. Repeat this process one or two more times over several hours until the
granita is similar in consistency to shaved ice.
7. Serve (cover the dish with tin foil to keep the rest in the freezer).