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Archive for October, 2013

Halloween Menu

Thursday, October 31st, 2013

The big days is finally here, Halloween! Make sure you celebrate right, each meal is an opportunity to make spook-tacular creations for your little ghouls.Remember that if you are on a healthy dietary lifestyle or most important if you are using best diet pills you should take care of what you cook for Halloween, make sure it is health food like fruits, vegetable, etc so that it wont interrupt your die, to see better results of your pills you need to eat healthy and also make some exercise..

Click here to see the menu on the Puerto del Carmen.

Lunch

Spider Sandwiches

Put a nut butter between two circles of bread. Carrot slivers or pretzel sticks make great legs!

Ater School Snack

Apple Teeth

These apple teeth make fruit cool. For apricot spiders click here. For more fun fruit check out this other Green Halloween recipe page.

Dinner

Ghost Pizza

Use your favorite pizza recipe to make a big ghost, or little ghost pizzas. A good way to fill up before a long night of trick-or-treating. It will also prevent a candy-binge later on in the night.

Dessert

Black Cat Dippers

A sweet finish to a spooky day. It will put a little spring in their step for going door-to-door, Get the recipe for these sweet cookies and dip here. You can also make ghost shapes

For more healthy snack ideas this Halloween follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/greenhalloween or Twitter @greenhalloween

Wild Child

Tuesday, October 29th, 2013

Halloween is coming up FAST! Need a last minute costume? Here are a few animal makeup ideas for your little critter. These are not only really creative, but  foster an appreciation of wildlife! They are also easily paired with some solid neutral colored shirts or sweaters. Make sure to use a brand of lead-free face paint, or make your own with our recipe.

Baboon

From Crafthours

 

Giraffe

Super easy! And the little hair buns double as an accessory. Tutorial from Daily Candy

 

Lion

Design from HGTV

Fox

This face paint is great with a red fluffy outfit or a suit and tie à la Fantastic Mr. Fox? Here is the video from Marvelous Masks.

For more makeup follow us at facebook.com/greenhalloween or Twitter @greenhalloween

Homemade Twix Bars

Monday, October 28th, 2013

We at Green Halloween are dedicated to helping you have a healthy Halloween. That means candy free of GMOs and high-fructose corn syrup? But we still want you to be able to indulge with your own homemade Twix bars!

 

Shortbread Layer

3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 9-inch pan and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt until the mixture looks like a coarse sand.

Mix in the flour until the dough comes together.

Press the dough evenly into the prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes, or until the surface of the shortbread looks completely dry. Cool in pan for 15 minutes.

To Assemble

10 ounces soft caramels
6 ounces semi-sweet or milk chocolate, chopped

First, bake off your shortbread and let them cool.

In a microwave-safe bowl, microwave the caramel candies until completely melted and smooth, about 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Using an offset spatula, spread the caramel evenly over the shortbread layer. Allow to cool for 15 minutes to set.

Transfer shortbread to a cutting board and cut into nine, 1-inch wide pieces. Then, cut each piece in half, creating eighteen 1-inch wide and 4 1/2-inch long candy bars.

In another microwave-safe bowl, melt the chopped chocolate for 15 seconds at a time, stirring between each interval, until smooth. Dip each candy bar into the chocolate, remove any excess chocolate, and set on wax paper to set completely, about 1 hour.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature. The candy bars keep for several days.

This FabulousPasta recipe is from  Kristin Rosenau of Pastry Affair via Food 52

For more tasty recipes follow us at facebook.com/greenhalloween or Twitter @greenhalloween

Votive Tutorial

Sunday, October 27th, 2013

Need something to add a creepy atmosphere to you home or front stoop on a starless night? Try making a DIY votive!

Grab a scary stamp and some black ink. I chose a stamp of “The Screm,” but you could use spiders, bats, or whatever you have on hand. Stamp with the black ink several times onto tissue paper. I used white so that the color of the jar would change the appearance of my stamped images. Set these aside.

Step2


Step 2:

Choose a nice used jar. Mine is a jelly jar. Those are usually decorative, and small. Swirl a dab of yellow paint around the inside along the bottom.

Step2


Step 3:

Swirl some orange around the top, blending the two colors as you go. Experiment with different color combinations. Let dry. I used tempera paint. Acrylic would work too.

Step3


Step 4:

Carefully cut out your stamped images. Using Mod Podge, or your favorite gel medium, carefully glue them to the side of your jar. There are endless ways to line them up. After you are finished gluing your pieces down, use additional Mod Podge to cover the paper with a thin layer. Let dry.

Step4


Step 5:

Disguise the screw on edge of your jar with some decorative yarn, twine or ribbon.

Step5


Step 6:

Place a small candle inside and enjoy! Try using beeswax candle. They are more environmentally friendly.

(Please note that the type of paint you use on the inside will affect the care of the jar. A tea light candle with a metal holder will prevent wax from dripping on your jar and ruining the paint.)

Step6

This tutorial came from 99 Crafting

For more Halloween crafts follow us on Facebook facebook.com/greenhalloween or Twitter @greenhalloween

The Scariest Thing About Halloween Might Be In You Kids’ Makeup

Friday, October 25th, 2013

This post was previously published on HUFFPOST PARENTS

Lead is a known carcinogen and a powerful neurotoxin that can affect nearly every organ in the body. Scientists generally agree that there is NO safe level of lead in children. And yet lead, regardless of the level, is found in makeup around the country. Even in makeup intended for kids. Halloween can be an opportunity for toxic mayhem OR it can be an opportunity to learn, educate and buy carefully.

Lead poisoning, according to the CDC, is entirely preventable. Most people aren’t aware of the ways in which lead can make its way into our bodies. But, because of their rapid development, children age 1-6 are particularly vulnerable to lead exposure. While many parents may be aware of the primary sources of lead exposure (from household paint and dust) there are numerous other paths of exposure and makeup is a critical one. Since we absorb as much as 80 percent of what goes on our skin, the precautionary principal tells us it’s not smart to coat ourselves with things containing lead.

And yet… that is often exactly what’s happening. A recent study found that 66 percent of the top brands of lipstick sold in the U.S. contain lead, not to mention other toxic metals like cadmium, aluminum, and nickel as well. Because of the fact that the cosmetics industry is not regulated by the FDA, there are no laws based on levels that are safe for makeup. (Although I’d advocate that there is NO safe level of lead in any makeup.) Furthermore, you won’t find these ingredients listed on the package, as the FDA doesn’t mandate disclosure on heavy metals, which makes it even trickier to find something safe.

Lead in lipstick has been a known issue for years and the FDA continues to do periodic tests which only show more lead in lipstick (see FDA chart with names of brands listed) but still there’s no regulation.

Perhaps even more alarming is the fact that The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics has found that 10 out of 10 kids’ Halloween makeup tested positive for lead. That doesn’t mean that every single makeup on the market contains lead but many, even perhaps most, will. As a mom, it’s not a gamble I want to take.

According to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics: At least a million children in the U.S. exceed the currently accepted threshold for blood lead level exposure that affects behavior and cognition. Lead is banned from makeup in both Canada and Europe but it’s allowed AT ANY LEVEL in makeup in the U.S.

While the only way you’ll truly know if your makeup is free of toxins is to have it examined under the microscope, there are things you can do to be careful.

You can’t trust labels of “non-toxic,” “safe,” or “hypo-allergenic” — and in fairness some companies may not even know if they have heavy metals in their makeup because it would mean they would have had to specifically test their raw ingredients, according to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. But many types of “mineral” makeup can be contaminated with heavy metals, as are often other makeup that is mixed with cheap ingredients.

While perhaps the very safest way of making sure your child isn’t exposed to lead or other irritants and allergens this year is to avoid face paint altogether, you can also 1.) use make up that participates in the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, 2.) look for how makeup rates on the EWG score, and 3.) is made by a producer you can trust, who is very consciously deciding what ingredients to use and where to source them.

But lead dangers don’t stop at makeup. There are a lot of Halloween items that can be tainted with lead. Education is the best way to protect your kids from harm this Halloween and in the years to come.

By Amy Ziff

For more Halloween safety pieces follow us on Facebook facebook.com/greenhalloween or Twitter @greenhalloween

For more information on product ingredients visit Veritey.com, facebook.com/veritey, or Twitter @veritey