This is a compensated review by BlogHer and Pop-Tarts.
As a general rule I try to keep a close eye on the amount of sugar our little boy consumes over the course of a day. I’m not opposed to the occasional sweet treat, of course, but I definitely don’t think that dessert should be an all-day-long event. As a result of that, we have an ask-before-you-eat candy policy in our house. In addition, we don’t typically have lots of cakes and pies and cookies on hand – mainly because if they’re here, I AM POWERLESS TO RESIST THEM.
So maybe the sugar regulations in our house aren’t really about the young’un at all. Maybe they’re about his mama, who is BUT A WEAK VESSEL.
However, where mama and child both are concerned, there is one day – ONE DAY – every single year when I don’t monitor the sugar intake at all. I don’t even try.
Any clue as to what day that is?
Yep. You’re right (because you’re brilliant). It’s Halloween. Because whether you trick or treat in the neighborhood, go to Trunk or Treat at your church or celebrate at your school’s Fall Festival, one thing is for sure: there will be an abundance of sugar in all manner of forms. And every once in awhile, it’s fun to turn off the moderation button and surrender to the sweetness.
The other day I was trying to think of something fun I could make to hand out when the neighborhood kids come by on Halloween night, and I since I had a surplus of Choc-o-Lantern Chocolate Fudge flavored Pop-Tarts on hand, I asked our little guy if he thought there was a neat dessert we could make with them. He LOVES the Choc-o-Lantern Pop-Tarts, so he was all about incorporating them into a Halloween treat.
They’re pretty much my seven year-old’s love language.
After we bounced a few ideas back and forth, we came up with a plan: Choc-o-Lantern Crispies.
I know. It sounds crazy. But the end result will absolutely delight the kids in your life.
Oh, who am I kidding? Adults will love them, too.
Here’s how you make them:
8 Choc-o-Lantern Chocolate Flavored Pop-Tarts
3 tablespoons butter
1 10 oz. package marshmallows
6 cups crispy rice cereal
Place 4 Choc-o-Lantern Pop-Tarts in the bottom of a 13×9 casserole dish. Melt butter in a large saucepan, then add marshmallows and stir until mixture is completely melted. Remove from heat, then add cereal and combine. Use a spatula to gently spread cereal mixture on top of the Pop-Tarts, making sure to spread it evenly. Top with four more Pop-Tarts, pressing down firmly to make them stick. Cool for 5-10 minutes, then cut and serve – or wrap in plastic wrap and tie with ribbon for festive individual treats.
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And finally, here are the official rules.
Happy Sweet Treat, everybody!
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My children and I not big breakfast eaters. Brown sugar cinnamon pop tarts with a little butter on them popped in the microwave are great.
I allow my munchkins to eat ALMOST anything they please on Halloween, Christmas and Easter. I do still insist they eat a healthy breakfast and dinner before digging into garbage…but after that all rules are out the window!!
I found that the more I restricted sugar, the more it was craved when my daughter was little. So I opted not to make it a battle, and it turned out great. A bowl of candy could sit on our coffee table for quite a while before it would disappear – seems like the “forbidden” became less desirable when it was the “permitted.”
And we both LOVE Pop Tarts – we are probably two of the very small minority who love ours just like they originally came – without frosting! We can only find strawberry and sometimes blueberry unfrosted Pop Tarts now, but that’s fine with us because they’re our faves!
You’re right – anything goes on Halloween, to some extent Easter, and Christmas… and unlimited cake on the child’s birthday :)
Holidays for sure! I don’t want to watch my sugar so I don’t make the kids either. :)
all holidays, even President’s Day!!
Thanksgiving and Christmas. When I was a child, I got Reese’s miniatures in my Christmas stocking so that was always my breakfast appetizer!
Halloween of course!! And birthdays!
Thanksgiving is definitely a day when we eat and eat and eat without mention of dieting.
Easter morning (candy in baskets!), Halloween, and almost all of December!!! :) These are a great idea, Boomama!
When we go camping! For some reason, when we go camping…..
Holidays and birthdays! When we were kids we always got to choose our birthday meals and they could be unhealthy more processed foods that Mom didn’t normally cook.
When we have had a really big night before! When she is totally exhausted and has worked very hard in school or extra-curriculars I am VERY lax and will feed her whatever. Her snack of choic when she comes home late from play practice happens to be unfrosted Strawberry Poptarts, toasted with no butter and a glass of milk! Yummy!
I’ve always loved the day after my birthday because I got to have cake and ice cream for breakfast!
I let go on the Holidays. Not that I am such a stickler on any other day, but I just try not to keep too much sugar in the house. If it is there my little girl and her mama both will eat it all. My little boy is not so much of a sweet eater, but he LOVES Pop-tarts. Any flavor.
On family birthdays! Birthdays in our house are all about whatever the birthday person would like to feast on!
I would have to say Christmas. We do finger foods and snacks for both of our family get togethers so the kids have free eating on those days.
I break the rules on my birthday without guilt. You should be able to eat anything you want on your birthday!
Birthdays!
All rules fly out the window on holidays and birthdays. Those days are a free for all at our house.
As everyone knows, there are two days where calories don’t count – Thanksgiving and Christmas!
Halloween and Easter. Candy for breakfast?! Sure!!!
Any kind of celebration…you know the kind, celebrating that your kids’s card didn’t get pulled at school, your son’s baptism, new job, good grades, Tuesday or anything else that remotely resembles a celebration. HA!
This may be the first year I deal with this with my kid–she will JUST be 2 on Halloween. I think her birthday, Halloween, and Christmas are all days where she is allowed to eat what she wants. As opposed to other days … where she just refuses to eat anything she doesn’t want.
Birthdays and holidays for sure!
On the day my fam and I run in a race (traditionally half marathons) the rule is: don’t worry about it, eat it, you deserve it. After putting my body through torture, I will eat whatever I want because I burned 1800 calories in 2 hours.
And our university Homecoming has the same rules. But different reasons. It’s hard to enjoy a fun tailgate if you’re counting the little smokie calories or the pop tart you consumed before you got there.
We have a few days where all the food “rules” go out the door – Birthdays, Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas!
Thanksgiving morning is a free for all in our home, with Pop-Tarts being way up there on the menu! Love the raspberry ones all toasted and yummy!
Their birthdays are a sugar day and most holidays. Other than that they are very limited.
Birthdays are a must. Thanksgiving and Christmas for sure, can’t forget Easter either.
I would have to say, on his birthday. There is usually so much going on that I can’t watch his every move. Other then that I do ration the sweets. And of course when he’s with Grandma :)
Birthdays and Christmas are our two biggies. I also don’t worry about my kids eating super healthy at birthday parties they’re invited to.
We throw out rules when we travel – dessert for breakfast, candy as motion sickness medicine – whatever works. We indulge in anything that looks good as we pass by, because we may not get there again! Rules are also lax on birthdays – all about letting each person set the menu to their favorites for a day.
Holidays are always rule-breaking days in our family. Basically anything goes.
Holidays. Our long standing family tradition is breakfast for supper on Christmas Eve after church. WHen I was little it was because we couldn’t open presents until we had eaten and the kitchen had been cleaned and breakfast was quick. Now even though my sister and Iare grown, it is still tradition–we’ve added a little to it over the years, but it will always be breakfast.
PS I am addicted to brown sugar cinnamon PopTarts. Anytime anywhere. I always take them to Africa with me–they travel well.
Once a year, on Christmas morning, we get to have… are you ready?… sugar bacon. Lucious bacon dredged in brown sugar and cinnamon and baked until chewy and wonderful.
There are way too many days when we break the food rules. Holidays, birthdays, any family gatherings. It just seems that there is always somehting to celebrate…and celebrations require junk food!
We don’t have too many food rules around here. Mostly, the rules are what you are required to eat, rather than what you can’t eat. For example, my kids are required to eat their fruit and veggies at every single meal, but I don’t disallow candy. I will say that soda is a treat given on very rare occasions. However, the no soda rule is broken when we go visit family members for like a barbeque or Thanksgiving, or Christmas.
I usually fix very light meal on halloween nite like hotdogs or chicken fingers & then enjoy whatever they like on halloween thats why baking unusual treats are so much fun to enjoy, thanks
sewitupjulie at gmail dot com
we lighten up all the time lol halloween is definitely inevitable because of how much candy is laying around.
songyueyu at gmail
i tweeted:http://twitter.com/#!/syytta/status/27882780688
The last day of the school year is our anything goes day! All rules go out the window for at least 24 hours after the last bell rings.
I say all the major holidays are a free-for-all. Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, and Easter – who can resist all the sugar involved?
Normal food rules here is reduced sugar with fruit and other healthy items considered the best snacks. For Halloween and other holidays those rules are relaxed quite a bit.
I tweeted this
http://twitter.com/The_Sunshyn/status/27886520888
Our rules aren’t super strict. They don’t usually crave “bad” things at home because I don’t really buy them, but if it ends up here, then I always make sure they eat a healthy snack before diving into the other.
Pop Tarts are a staple, however, in our cupboards! Definitely going to give this recipe a go!
I eat whatever and however much I want on the food holidays…you know the ones…Christmas, Thanksgiving, and the 4th of July. Basically if there’s a family potluck, all bets are off. I wear my elastic-waist pants a la Joey on Friends.
Honestly? It doesn’t take much for us to bend our food rules! Of course there’s holidays, birthdays, Saturdays, Sundays…PMS days, grumpy days, celebrating days, mourning days, Mondays, party days, busy days…
I think you get the picture! :)
Christmas & birthdays.
I am ashamed to admit this but I take cereal or whatever to my 10 year old in bed each day. I have done this since she was a toddler when she would watch cartoons while I got ready. She is my only one so maybe a little spoiled!
On birthdays and fridays and sometimes saturdays I break the normal food rules for breakfast & dinner
tbarrettno1 at gmail dot com
tweet
http://twitter.com/ChelleB36/status/27895688997
tbarrettno1 at gmail dot com
Definitely the holidays or vacation time! Halloween for certain and Christmas as well :)
tweeted thanks so much! :) http://twitter.com/DeeGee13/status/27898505996
I suppose it would probably be the entire month of November, what with all of the Halloween candy just sitting there staring at us.
I used to make The Kids parcel out their Halloween candy, having maybe two or three pieces a day…then I realized that we still had Halloween candy after Thanksgiving and that went out the window. Now I want all of it gone in a week, so it’s kind of a free-for all!
Also, Thanksgiving and Christmas. And Easter. And Fourth of July. Oh, and Columbus day….
Around Christmas, all food rules tend to go out the window! :) There are WAY too many sweets at my house then!
Blessings!
Melanie
First of all, PUMPKIN PIE POP TARTS RULE MY WORLD!!!!
Then, Christmas Eve and Halloween We let em go hog wild ;)
Of course, the holidays but from time to time we just indulge!
All holidays get a “nutritional pass” – they don’t come along often and everyone likes to enjoy the homemade goodies the family brings!
I’m not a food nazi kind of mom. Most of my friends have been the NO mom’s that didn’t let their kids have anything.
The funny thing is…my kids do not crave junk stuff. I can leave candy, cookies or whatever in my pantry. My kids always choose REAL food.
Christmas and Easter are probably our biggest “anything goes”, junk food, pig out holidays!
Andrea
Pretty much any holiday means “food rules out the window.” And any time I get together with girlfriends. Then it is all manners of sugar, chocolate, and cheese.
YUMMY! My son would LOVE these!! Definitely will have to try them soon. We lighten up on most holidays – Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, etc…everything in moderation and if you’re usually pretty healthy, splurging a little on the holidays can’t hurt! And…we’re lightening up a bit now – I have a baby due next week and being on unpaid maternity leave with the hubby doing most of the cooking soon, I’m going to have to learn to be more flexible when it comes to meals!!
Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, a stressful day . . . Hmmm, maybe I don’t actually have any rules if I break them that often!
Thanksgiving is the main day when I don’t give a thought to what or how much I eat. My mom’s dressing cannot be beat so that is a given. Plus sweet potato casserole, pecan pie, turkey and an assortment of other vegetables and salads. A close second is Fourth of July when you just have to partake of hot dogs, BBQ, and lots of desserts with fresh fruit. Yum!
Birthday are our big treat days. And we splurge on some holidays too – mostly around Christmas.
tweeted: http://twitter.com/KerryBishop/status/27971349644
Halloween of course!
Break the food rules… what rules? :) Especially when Mama is moody. I really try not to keep too much junk in my house because yeah, it’s not about the kid (he can’t get to it anyway), it’s about how much I will eat all at once… ay!
Halloween and Christmas for sure.
yes, who doesnt break the rules every now and then, we do it more often than not, I am a pushover when it comes to things like that, & my kids are picky at times but eventually they do eat what they need to and take vitamins regularly, I believe they are healthy,
thanks for the great giveaway
tweeted
http://twitter.com/#!/deb126/status/28019295139
All the way from Thanksgiving to Christmas there are special foods in our house. As a side note, my older children have very fond memories of poptarts…as do their friends, who came from more nutrition minded homes. They have always been a breakfast staple at our house and the kids’ friends have enjoyed that treat when they come to visit. I am older now and more concerned about their breakfast nutrition….the protein and all…but we are still known to house the poptarts!
Birthdays. Our girls are “Queen For The Day” on their special day. Many, many, many, times there have been fun rule breaking moments. Like the time we had ice cream before dinner, or (gasp) nary a veggie to be found in their carbo-sugar laden-pizza only eating-day ‘o fun! I love giving them a break from the everyday! It helps me to remember that I was a kid once too, and that I need to give my kids more memories where we are laughing and having a good time together!
valentine’s day is a good one – found a local place that sells chocolate covered strawberries which i cannot resist eating all in one sitting (actually the box insist they must be eaten all in one weekend)!
Every day….with working full time, whatever she wants to eat she usually gets to! Anything sweet is right up her ally!
All the major holidays–and birthdays of course
http://twitter.com/#!/fostertam/status/28061425930
Yes, every day! That’s why we are overweight… :-)
Thanks!
kmassman gmail
christmas eve we have dessert for dinner!
I relax the rules on halloween, christmas and easter.
Holidays and birthdays!
tweeted about this giveaway
http://twitter.com/bellows22/statuses/28370629640
On birthdays and sick days, pretty much anything goes.
susitravl(at)gmail(dot)com
When my son has company, I may bend the rules a bit.
Keonte’ @ Mommy 2K
luvdamall at aol dot com
Christmas, Birthdays and maybe somtimes when they are sick..
I am always light.Every day in my house is like Halloween just because I am happy when my kid will eat anything at all
jacksoncrisman@yahoo.com
All holidays qualify or if its just one of those days with you need a little extra comfort.
On holidays like Halloween, Christmas, Easter, etc., I don’t usually restrict their intake of sweets and goodies, but I do try to make sure they get some fruits, veggies and protein in their little bodies as well so they don’t go berserk!
On Holidays we pig out and forget normal meals and normal snacks
truthhole@gmail.com
We’re very lax on vacation days or when we wake up to really stormy weather. And, I guess that includes holidays too…particularly Christmas is usually both a vacation and a stormy day.
Holidays for sure
Pretty much any major holiday the one-treat-a-day-max rule gets broken. Treats are not a daily thing in our house and when they are allowed it’s one and that’s it. However, when the holidays roll around it’s inevitable that multiple kind relatives will give extra treats to my daughter so we just go with it for the few times a year it happens.
Halloween, friend is over, Thanksgiving, and Christmas…
leahforlove(at)aol(dot)com
Break the rules on Holidays!
Christmas is the one day we eat what we want because we are visiting relatives and they all serve food.
http://twitter.com/susan1215/status/28598840699
There is not any certain day of the year but halloween is certainly the time for lots of candy eating. Kids so excited!
gmissycat@yahoo.com
Yes on Christmas. It is my favorite holiday.
marybug2@yahoo.com