Eat Well: Trick Their Treats

The following post is sponsored by Fresh & Easy. Thanks, Fresh & Easy!

So, this post is kind of a follow up to my mom's post last week which, whoa, right? Anyway, I know how hard it is to come up with "treat" ideas while trying to cut sugar out of a child's diet so I wanted to share a few of my "Hacks of Life" in today's post as they pertain to sugar, specifically, what we have done to replace the usual "cookies after dinner" for not only Bo, but all four kids, because while Fable and Archer are allowed the occasional after dinner treat, we have also been able to substitute with some "less treaty treats" listed below, or as I call them, "treats that trick,"

All of these do not take much prep, by the way. I am not a baker and while I would love to someday become better at making, for example, sugar free peanut butter cookies, I just... it's not me. I am down with non-recipe recipes and that goes for quick + low maintenance after dinner (or lunch) treats. 

1. "Ice Cream"

My mother-in-law recently bought us these frozen pop maker monster things that are amazing and we've been filling them with coconut, almond, soy milk and frozen berries and serving them after lunch on a hot day. 

monster push-pop molds

Bo and Revi LOVE these and get so excited when I'm like, "ice cream time!" and then they go outside and eat their "ice cream" and I rub my hands together and cackle because YOU HAVE BEEN PUNKED, MISS! You are eating frozen "milk" that has zero grams of sugar!!! HIGH FIVE!

2. Fancy Popcorn

- Air-pop popcorn.
- Cover in coconut oil, cinnamon & all spice. 

ED: This is my kids' favorite treat. We do this on weekends during movie night and they all go nuts. It tastes as good as 7897897 cookies but, once again, no sugar. BAM! 

3. Berry Awesome Sundae(s)

All you need is some frozen berries and a little bit of whipped cream on top (whipped cream has less than 1 gram of sugar per serving) and BAM! Treat o'clock. 

ED: You can do this with fresh fruit, too, of course, but frozen berries are year-round, cheaper and feel more dessert-y than actual fresh fruit. At least to my kids. 

4. Nut Butter Toasties*:

-  Toast a piece of bread (BE SURE TO CHECK THE LABEL! Many breads are loaded with sugar! Gross!)

- Spread a bit of Coconut oil on the toast.

- Use a cookie cutter to cut bread into cookie shapes. 

- Spread peanut butter, almond, OR, if you're nut free, I found this amazing seed butter (sunflower, sesame and flax) called superbutter at our local Fresh & Easy.

Unfortunately, the one I picked up has some added sugar (3 grams per 2 tbsp serving) but it's delicious and, for those with nut allergies, a GREAT alternative. 

5. Strawberry Soup 

(Bo made this one up after she pulled all of her cereal out of her bowl and just ate the strawberries and milk instead.)

- Cut up some strawberries

- Pour some soy/almond/coconut milk (cow milk is full of sugar) over the strawberries

- Eat with soup spoons in special, fancy bowls. (I find that presentation makes a HUGE difference. Buy a few "fancy" plates and "bowls" to dress up, what may appear to be... something that isn't very treat-y. Special glasses for water, special plates for healthy treats, special bowls for... fruit soup.)

6. Peanut Butter covered almonds 

This was Fable's idea and when I told her I was writing this post, she asked if I could include her "tricky treat" so I am including it now, and these, according to Fable, are the directions.

1. Take some almonds.

2. Dip them in peanut butter.

3. Eat them up. 

4. "Yum."

So, there you have it. Those are 6 "treats" that you can probably prepare with ingredients already in your pantry. And they're healthy. But also very treat-like. And I would LOVE to hear from you guys out there about what you feed your kids with sugar sensitivity to keep them sane and safe. I'd also love to hear how you navigate Halloween... ahem... we let the kids have ONE treat during the trick-or-treat process and then we have them trade in all their candy for a "toy" they get to pick at our favorite local toy store. 

And then Hal brings all the Halloween candy to work which I kind of feel guilty about because UGH. As for Halloween candy, we no longer buy it for trick-or-treaters. We buy pencils instead. And erasers. And stickers. Which, I think is way more fun, personally. I mean... can you imagine trick or treating for stickers instead of... snickers? WAY cooler. 

Anyway...  Sugar hacks! Cooking hacks! Kid-friendly eating hacks! I'm dying to hear from you guys on this because I'm sure your ideas are epic and amazing. Per usual. Thanks in advance!

* also a great band name 

GGC

Thanks again to Fresh & Easy for sponsoring this post! Be sure to check out Fresh & Easy's "Hacks of Life" Pinterest board.  It's filled with a TON of genius cooking hacks like this And while you're at it, you can enter their Holiday Sweepstakes to win $150 in groceries or $300 Cash.