Blog Posts by The Editors of EatingWell Magazine

Burnt Sugar LollipopsCandy corn, sugary snacks and chocolate bars galore. These are staples of Halloween trick-or-treating, but not the kinds of foods you want your kids to feast on. (Ok, this applies to us adults, too-we all eat the leftovers from the trick-or-treating bowl and the kids' candy stash.)

So in order to have a healthier Halloween this year, I'm going to think about the words "trick" and "treat" a little differently and make my own goodies for family and friends.

TRICK
I looked up "trick" in the dictionary-it's "a crafty procedure or practice meant to deceive or defraud." Your healthy Halloween trick? Sneak in more veggies. How? Fuel up for trick-or-treating fun with our Pepperoni Pizza recipe that hides both tomato and pumpkin puree in a yummy sauce. Your kids (or your boyfriend, girlfriend or, heck, even you!) will get a healthy dose of veggies, extra beta carotene and fiber. And no one will be the wiser because it's so delicious.

TREAT
Enough tricking-bring on the

Wheat Berry Salad with Red FruitI get asked all the time what counts as a whole grain serving. It's an occupational hazard of being a registered dietician and working for a food and health magazine, I suppose.

This past summer, EatingWell and the USA Rice Federation joined forces and surveyed more than 1,000 people on their awareness of whole grains. Turns out, the majority of survey respondents didn't know what a whole grain is.

Do you? Test your whole grains I.Q. right now:

Which of the following are whole grains?

A. Oatmeal
B. Bran cereal
C. Brown rice
D. 100% wheat bread
E. Corn

Drum roll, please!

The answer is: A, C and E.

Although 100% wheat bread and bran cereal are healthy choices, they don't count toward your whole-grain quota because the grains within them are no longer in their "whole" form, they're refined. Don't confuse 100% whole wheat bread with 100% wheat bread: the former does count as a whole grains serving. (It's recommended that you eat three

Pineapple-Teriyaki ChickenIf you're anything like me, you've been looking for inexpensive, but filling, ingredients to build your dinner around. If you're turning to chicken, take it one, cheaper, step further and choose chicken thighs over breasts. You'll save money since thighs don't command breasts' premium prices. And as a bonus, you'll be treated to more flavor, a little more iron and almost twice the zinc-not bad for a small increase in calories (177 calories for 3 ounces of thigh versus 138 calories for breast).

Without skin, thigh meat moves into "lean meat" territory. And the slightly higher fat content of thighs (6 grams fat for 3 ounces) versus breasts (3 grams) makes thigh meat more forgiving of overcooking. Try thighs in any of these cheap dinner recipes and you'll be glad you crossed over to the dark side.

Pineapple-Teriyaki Chicken (pictured above): Grilled teriyaki chicken with pineapple can be made with just a few pantry staples. Although it's delicious when made with canned

Mini Rice-Cake StackTeaching kids to eat healthfully is complicated! I can't speak from personal experience-at the moment, my "kid" is furry, four-legged and barks. But I watch my friends work relentlessly to teach their kids healthy eating habits. And I've seen the (sobering) statistics: as the percentage of overweight kids in the U.S. has sharply increased, it is more important than ever to help kids develop healthy eating habits early on.

If you're looking to shape up your kid's diet, here are 9 simple tips and some of EatingWell's healthy recipes for kids to do it the easy way:

1. Get the family involved. Allow your kids to participate in the grocery shopping and encourage them to choose healthy snacks. This will increase the likelihood that they will eat these snacks instead of less-healthy ones.

2. Stock up. What you stock your kitchen with will influence your children's food choices. Leave high-fat, salty and sugary snacks off your grocery list. Instead, fill your cart with fruits

Pulled Pork SandwichesSince I'm totally obsessed with election coverage and food, I've been wondering about the candidates' favorite foods. I know McCain and Obama are busy campaigning, so I don't expect their campaigns to return my calls and emails, but in the meantime, I did a little digging and found in no particular order the candidates' favorite eats (and suggestions for healthier versions of their faves).

It turns out that Barack Obama is a comfort food guy. (Maybe not a big surprise for a Midwestern dweller?) His wife, Michelle told Paula Deen that her husband's favorite grub is a steaming bowl of chili, I discovered when reading an Associated Press article. If we were going to cook for Obama, we'd put a low-calorie, high-fiber spin on this classic dish and make him a rib-sticking bowl of our Beef & Bean Chile Verde served with all the fixin's-reduced-fat sour cream, grated Cheddar cheese, chopped scallions and chopped fresh tomatoes.

John McCain likes his meat. His favorite food is baby

Healthy Hamburger BuddyOne of my favorite things to do is take classic comfort foods and make healthier EatingWell versions of them. It's a passion I share with my sister Katie, who also works for EatingWell. So, she suggested, why don't we try to make a simple one-skillet spin on Hamburger Helper? Katie developed this recipe for Hamburger Buddy with picky eaters in mind.

Her goal was to make a family-friendly recipe that incorporated plenty of vegetables, and one that tasted enough like the original that even picky kids would be excited to eat it. And, with inexpensive ingredients like pasta and beef, this dish is still a good cheap dinner option.

Here's what Katie did to give Hamburger Helper a healthy makeover:

• As with many of our healthy ground-beef recipes, she chose 90%-lean ground beef for this dish. She decided on 90%-lean, after testing the recipe with beef of different degrees of leanness, because it offered the best balance between flavor and health. The 90%-lean beef is considered

Loaded Twice-Baked PotatoesPotatoes, and most carbs, got a bad rap during the meaty, fatty Atkins Diet craze. Spuds also get dissed because they are a high-glycemic food. Luckily I haven't been swayed by all the hype-I know that potatoes are rich in vitamin C, potassium and offer some fiber, especially when eaten with the skin on.

That's good news to me because potatoes are one of my favorite foods. I love them prepared in every way-roasted, steamed and mashed. But give me one stuffed, twice-baked potato loaded with broccoli and ground beef, and topped with melted Cheddar, and I swoon.

These Loaded Twice-Baked Potatoes make it to your plate in just 40 minutes and, when served with a salad, are a filling quick dinner. Think of baked potatoes as nature's mini casseroles: an edible dish that can hold up to a hearty stuffing. Russets have just the right balance to make a perfect twice-baked potato: enough starch to keep their structure, enough moisture to endure the double cooking.

Loaded

Sichuan-Style Chicken with PeanutsBefore I moved to Vermont, I had a weakness for Chinese food. I lived in San Francisco and when I headed for home from working late, I was exhausted. I'd order Chinese takeout from one of dozens of delicious local Chinese restaurants and chow down.

Now, since I don't live near any good Chinese restaurants, I turned to making some of my favorites like Sichuan-Style Chicken with Peanuts at home (see recipe below). The silver lining is that I can make healthier versions of Chinese-restaurant classics, with perfect fresh produce, and I get to eat them when they're hot and sizzling straight out of my wok. (Scallop & Shrimp Dumplings and Kung Pao Tofu turn out really well too.)

I'm not the only one who would benefit from making healthier Chinese food at home. EatingWell's recipe for Sweet & Sour Chicken was developed for a family who needed a little help eating healthier and avoiding the Chinese-takeout trap. Their story, and more than 175 of our favorite comfort-food recipes,