Halloween Traditions + Veggie Jack-O’-Lanterns For Your Little Monsters
Halloween is a holiday of indulgence. When else do you get to dress up as your favorite characters, walk around with family and friends, and people give you all the candy you want FOR FREE? It’s one of our favorite holidays for these reasons and the root of many memorable moments.
Right now most of South Dakota’s soybean farmers are spending days and nights in the field combining more than 250 million bushels of soybeans. It’s an important job since most of the chocolate we eat during Halloween is made with soy lecithin, a key ingredient in chocolate that keeps the cocoa butter and cocoa from separating.
So instead of jumping in the combine, we visited with a few of our foodie friends to explore their favorite holiday traditions and scared up recipes for Halloween snacks to please your little monsters.
Morgan Kontz is a mother of two, and her South Dakota Farm Wife blog tells about her adventures on the farm in Colman, South Dakota.
“On Halloween, we tend to stick to the same routine every year. Since we live on a farm, we can’t just walk around our neighborhood. Instead, we get all dressed up in the late afternoon and spend a few hours visiting our landlords who are the people we rent farm acres from. They really enjoy spending extra time with us; talking with the kids, learning how harvest is going and hearing how we’re taking care of the land.
Then we head into our church where we participate in “Trunk-or-Treat.” Members of our church set up their cars in the parking lot and decorate them. We make our rounds to each car collecting candy and enjoying the unique themes people come up with. When our kids are older, we plan to decorate our own trunk. ”
Kaylee Koch named her blog Apple of My Ivy after her daughter. Now a mother of three, she shares tips for navigating motherhood in Sioux Falls.
“Halloween is always in competition for my favorite holiday. I just LOVE the spooky fun and dressing up. Having kids to share it with makes it even better. We start our tradition early in the season by heading to the pumpkin patch where each of us chooses our own pumpkin. Then we decorate our home with the pumpkins and some festive decor. Closer to Halloween, we love to get slimy and messy with the pumpkins and carve the spookiest faces we can. As we head out to trick or treat on Halloween, we dress up together as a family as some sort of theme. Last year, we were all “Frozen” characters, per our daughter Ivy’s request.”
Anna Heronimus is a registered dietitian at the Hy-Vee on Marion Road in Sioux Falls who hosts Kids in the Kitchen classes to connect children with food. She has a knack for creating Halloween treats with a healthy twist, starting with her favorite fall snack: roasted pumpkin seeds.
“One of my favorite memories as a kid was carving pumpkins ad eating the roasted seeds. We flavored them in different ways, from cinnamon and sugar to butter and salt. Pumpkin seeds have a wide variety of nutrients ranging from magnesium and manganese to copper, protein and zinc. They are also very high in fiber making them a great snack for kids to try during Halloween time.”
Below are links to Halloween-themed snacks from Hy-Vee you can make at home. Our featured favorite is the Veggie Jack-O’-Lantern, which makes eating your veggies fun!
Veggie Jack-O’-Lanterns
Ingredients
Instructions
- Cut the top of each bell pepper and scoop out the seeds and remove the membranes.
- Carve out eyes and mouth to resemble a jack-o’-lantern.
- Slice cucumbers and carrots into sticks. Place the broccoli florets on sticks to make them visible.
- Mix yogurt and dressing mix and place 2 to 3 tablespoons in each pepper.
- Divide the vegetables among the peppers and assemble.
