Fun Halloween cooking with a healthy twist!
Halloween, the perfect time to try new food, including beetroot, beans and FISH OIL!
“What a brilliant way of getting children to try new food!”
“My child is so fussy, I can’t believe he put a kidney bean in his mouth.”
“This has been the best day ever, next year I want to do this for my birthday.”
These were some of the comments given by parents and children after attending our Healthy Halloween Cooking Course. 65 families took part in one of the four courses we ran during the half term holiday and we had such positive feedback - we want to do it again!
“Healthy Halloween Cooking” is one of our family learning courses funded by Somerset Skills and Learning. The aim of the course was to inspire families to cook healthy food together. The course consisted of two sessions, one session at the Canalside Centre followed by an online session where they could cook healthy Halloween themed food at home.
During the session at the Canalside Centre, families learnt more about the benefits of healthy food, for both physical and mental health. They then got busy, cooking with fresh seasonal ingredients. They made pumpkin muffins and a Halloween themed pizza topped with lots of different vegetables - many of which the children wouldn’t usually eat at home. The highlight of the day was the “Trick and Eat Challenge'' where the children could knock on four different doors where our “witches” offered them lots of healthy Halloween food to try - including a vegetable skeleton or “Halloween fruit”. The children were given a sticker for each food they tried and if they tasted 10 different foods they would get a prize but if they tasted all the food on offer, they would get two prizes!
During the course we discussed a little about the importance and benefits of Omega 3 and both parents and I were positively encouraged that 99% of the children wanted to try the fish oil. And they were even more surprised to learn that fresh fish oil does not taste “fishy” at all.
Omega 3 and 6, also known as ESSENTIAL FATTY ACIDS, because they are essential for both the body and the brian. The body is unable to make these essential fatty acids so they need to be provided through our diet. Essential fatty acids are found in natural foods like green vegetables, nuts, seeds, eggs and fish. As many people do not eat enough green vegetables and fish, they can often get symptoms that reveal their body is lacking in essential fatty acids - symptoms include dry skin, difficulties remembering and concentrating, mood swings or difficulties falling asleep. A balanced diet is the best solution but if your body is already low in essential fatty acids, then supplements can be needed for a period of time. When fish oil is fresh the capsules don’t taste of much at all but when oil is stored for a long time it can go rancid and the taste is not pleasant - you may even get “fishy burps” which is a reflux of the body rejecting the oil. We therefore recommend ordering straight from the supplier, to make sure the oil is very fresh.
The following session involved the learners continuing their baking in their home environments. They made fresh spelt bread and formed the rolls into fun Halloween themed shapes like spiders, goats or pumpkins. The families could take home the ingredients needed for the bread making when they attended the session at the Canalside Centre. Homemade bread is so delicious and making it into halloween treats creates a much healthier alternative to processed halloween “food” which often contains more additives and sugar than any real nutrients advertised.
Thank you to Somerset Skills and Learning for funding
The Healthy Halloween Cooking Course!
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