I always think of Halloween as the true start of the holiday season. After the costumes come off and the jack-o-lanterns blown out, the next two months seem to disappear in a blur. With parties to prepare for and events to attend, healthy eating can sometimes fall by the wayside. But instead of simply resigning to the idea, why not begin a few new healthy holiday traditions this year?

This easy oatmeal recipe is as tasty as it is healthy. Vitamins A and C from the pumpkin can help boost your immune system, fiber from the whole grain oats will keep you feeling full longer, and if you choose to add walnuts you’ll also get a dose of those all-important Omega 3′s.

Happy eating!

Pumpkin Oatmeal

1/2 c old fashioned oats

1 c water

1/4 c pumpkin (organic canned pumpkin works great)

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp brown sugar

walnuts or raisins if desired

-Combine in bowl and microwave 2-3 minutes.

Julie Lane, Treeswing School Liaison Volunteer

No, Obama isn’t on board with us yet, but the CW Network (KSTW, channel 11 in Seattle) is conducting a poll on whether or not going green on Halloween deserves two thumbs up or down.

Tell ‘em what you think here.

Change IS underway…

This Halloween, children, tweens and teens will dress up in costumes and go door-to-door.

But their mission won’t be to collect candy – they’ll be trick-or-treating for good.

Check out these great initiatives:

Reverse-trick-or-treating

Trick-or-treating for cell phones

Trick-or-treat for Unicef (the tradition that began long before kids received piles of candy at each door)

Do you know of other trick-or-treat for good initiatives that we should know about? Did your family take part in something like this this year? Let us know. We’d love to hear your stories.

There is a new warning put out by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency that Sherwood brand Pirate’s Gold Milk Chocolate Coins are being recalled due to the fact that they’ve tested positive for melamine.

These coins may be sold at Costco, as well as many bulk and dollar stores, specifically in Canada.

MomsRising.org has a page outlining additional candy products found to be unsafe by the US Food and Drug Administration and give more information on melamine and candy produced in China.

PLEASE let your friends and loved ones know.

For a list of our suggestions for treasures and healthy treats, click here.

We’ve barely been able to keep up with the incredible press interest in our little ‘ol inititaive.

Although we’re updating more daily, check out our press page for stories in print, on TV and radio and online. We’ve also added a section for articles written by us!

Here are a few we think you’ll enjoy:

Seattle Times/ Pacific Northwest (cover story)

Access Hollywood

CW11 (Video on right hand side of page)

Mothering.com

marty-reimer-show-10-28-08-2

And oceans of gratitude go out to all of you who have posted articles about us in your blogs. In just one year the idea of going green during Halloween went from “huh?” to “of course!” because of your help spreading the word.

High five!