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Ideas For Green Halloween Treats

green halloween treats pumpkin basketA few posts back we talked about greening up your halloween costume and today,  we’re talkin’ Halloween treats!

If you’re giving out treats at your house this year you might want to think about alternatives to the customary chocolate bars and hard candies.  Many of the well known brands of candy aren’t  always the best for those of us who eat it or the rest of the planet.

But, there are other ways to bestow a treat on all the dear Halloween tricksters who come to visit.  If you’re looking for something different to give your visitors this Halloween, here are a few ideas to get you started.

Natural Candy

If you’d like to still give candy but want to avoid the colors, preservatives, ethical issues etc often found with the big brand treats, try natural and organic candy.  Companies like Yummy Earth and Newman’s Own have made it their goal to offer candy that’s tasty but doesn’t contain all the extras you don’t want.

Art and School Supplies

Some cool pencils and erasers, a pack of crayons,stickers,  a small note pad with a pen; All of these options can make a great Halloween treats for trick or treaters of any age.  Plus, you get to encourage their creativity instead of your visitor’s sweet tooth. 

Used Book Basket

I recently read about a woman who collected used children’s books and then, each Halloween, would put them all into a big basket and let each trick or treater choose his or her own book.  She said at first she wasn’t sure how it would all go over but the neighborhood children look forward to her Halloween used book basket now each year with great excitement and love carefully selecting the book of their choice for their “treat”.

This is my favorite idea personally – because it’s green and affordable!  After all, used books are just a dollar at Goodwill – often you can get them for $.50!  Even boxes of used children’s books at yard sales and library book sales are usually quite cheap.  Stash them away through the year or even go stock up now and give the gift or reading to your Halloween friends this year too.

Handmade Trinkets And Gifts

For any occasion, including Halloween, handmade gifts can be a fun and often quite green option.  Homemade Halloween bracelets or pins, a special key chain, or other unique hand made gift could make any little ghoul or goblin’s evening and these treats don’t have to be candy oriented either.

I know if you think about it you can come up with the right way for you to give out your Halloween treats this year.  Sometimes it’s just gotta be the standard Twix or Blow Pop but, if you can swing it, Greening up your Halloween treats can be fun for you, your trick or treaters, and the earth!

What are you giving out this year?  Let us know below and share your ideas for Green Halloween Treats!

 

Winning the War on Fleas Naturally-Is it impossible?

History is full of great battles and natural events of historical proportions, but it has come to my recent attention that the battle of man against flea is a long hard fight that challenges many of the great ones.  Understanding that the flea has the collective intelligence of 160 million years of survival and the ability to live on pure instinct alone for that long; you quickly see why it takes some moral, physical and emotional sacrifice to become victorious in the fight against the flea and why keeping your flea battle natural, may just not be in the cards.

I don’t know if it was a widespread epidemic this year or just here in our neck of the woods, but a crazy strain of fleas moved in that was next to impossible to control.  This was so widespread that people all over town were talking about their pets and not being able to get rid of the fleas.  We recently had a flea infestation at our home that was torture and if the fleas weren’t bad enough, making the tough decisions between going natural and breaking out the chemical warfare had out house in a tizzy.

I was never a big user of Frontline and other applicator style flea treatments for my first dog who survived 13 years with minimal flea troubles.  I remember making her garlic collars as a tiny puppy and how she always smelled like pizza.  My life partner however plays by the rule books with all the household pets and the pets we have now are “family” pets and decisions regarding their care are family decisions.  Mind you, our pets were on regular Frontline treatments until one month; a cat treatment was missed and the fleas were waiting for that exact moment to make their move.

Ugh! It’s only so bad when you see the cat being taken over.  We dipped her first (a completely unpleasant task I might add-cats really don’t like water) in a natural soapy water pool (it doesn’t take long to drown a flea) and we treated her immediately, but it was all too late.  The cycle had begun and within no time, the children and I were totally eaten alive by nasty little fleas.  Sides note here, the fleas we had never bit my husband; only the ladies of the house suffered.  This I cannot explain.  Anyway, it has been almost 2 months of non-stop battles against the fleas and I am confident that we (humans, feline and dog) are finally on the winning team.

It was a tough road fraught with tough “staying natural” decisions, so I am going to share the sequence of events that took place here in hopes that you will have equal success in winning the battle of the fleas:

1:  Give your animal a bath/dip.  Fleas are easy to drown, if you can get them underwater.
2:  Treat the animal with a spot flea treatment (this is a chemical treatment, but I tried all the natural options and nothing worked).
3:  Strip everything and bomb your house (again, this is chemical, but it HAS to be done-just once).
4:  Wash everything that can go into the wash.  Blankets, towels, wash it all!!!
5:  Boraxo your carpets.  Leave on for at least 2 hours then vacuum up (always dispose of vac bag immediate and outside of the house).
6:  Construct flea traps for multiple areas of your home.   You can make your own by taking a nightlight and placing it above a bowl of water with a drop or two of dish liquid.  Empty and fill as needed.
7:  Spray cedar oil and lemon oil anywhere you can and especially on pet bedding.
8:  Retreat animals after 10 days with another dip and spot flea treatment.
9:  Vacuum daily; Boraxo at least once a week if not every other day (always dispose of vac bag immediate and outside of the house).
10:  Reapply cedar oil and lemon oil as soon as your eyes stop watering and you think some of your nostril hairs have grown back.
11:  Be diligent with the washing.  If it was on the floor, wash it.  If it was on your bed, wash it.
12:  Repeat until the battle is won.

It is so hard to see your babies all full of itchy bites and even more frustrating on those days when you think they couldn’t possibly still be in the house only to wake and find more bites or have a flea appear directly on your person, but be confident.  Don’t be afraid to go a bit chemie on those tiny pricks and make sure your vacuum cleaner and washing machine are in working order cause they are about to get a workout.

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Veggie Enchilada Bake – A Vegetarian Recipe That’s Unique And Easy

vegetarian recipe photo of enchilada bakeThis is a really yummy recipe for a vegetarian version of enchiladas that is layered together with ricotta and mozzarella cheeses for a unique Italian style twist!

This casserole is easy to make too!  But, don’t take our word for it,  try it tonight and see for yourself.

Vegetarian Enchilada Bake Recipe
Recipe Type: Main Dish
Prep time: 30 mins
Cook time: 40 mins
Total time: 1 hour 10 mins
Ingredients
  • 1T olive oil
  • 2-4 cloves of garlic minced
  • 1 med onion chopped
  • 1 med bell pepper chopped
  • 1 C corn (fresh or frozen)
  • 3 C black and/or pinto beans
  • 1 can stewed tomatoes
  • 1/4 C cooking wine
  • salt to taste
  • pepper to taste
  • chili powder to taste
  • 6 tortillas
  • 1 C ricotta cheese
  • 1 C mozzarella cheese
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350
  2. Saute garlic, onion and bell pepper in olive oil.
  3. Add corn, tomatoes and beans.
  4. Then pour cooking wine over veggie mixture.
  5. Now add salt, pepper and chili powder to taste (you can totally omit chili powder if you like too)
  6. Simmer until mixture is thickened, about 25 min
  7. Oil casserole dish
  8. Place a tortilla on the bottom.
  9. Put 2T ricotta on the tortilla and spread around to coat
  10. Spoon veggie mixture onto ricotta to make the next layer
  11. Then, top with mozzarella
  12. Keep going until you’ve used up all of the veggie mixture
  13. End with the mozzarella
  14. Bake until golden and bubbly – about 35-40 min

Don’t let all these steps fool you, this dish is easy to prepare; you can even assemble it early in the day then bake later in preparation for dinner if needed.  Try something new and different for dinner tonight and enjoy this yummy vegetarian recipe!