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It is well-known in grade school land that October is the month of teacher conferences and half-day dismissals which is means that carefully laid routine of September is basically thrown out the window for a couple of weeks. It is an incredible pain in the a** for busy parents and the best way to deal with the food aspect of it, at least in my opinion, is with the slow-cooker. Prep food early in the day, let it cook while you scurry around to early pick-ups and coordinate playdates, and then serve dinner once everyone is finally able to wind down.

Halloween is quickly approaching and the excitement in our house is palpable. Costumes have been selected, trick-or-treating strategies mapped out, pumpkins carved. I’ve even purchased a few bags of candy and stuck them in the basement in preparation for the busy night on our street!

I am all about letting the kids embrace the holiday, they only tricky part for me is making sure they balance the sweet with the healthy. Candy is a fact of the holiday and I don’t want to fight it, but I do want to keep our children somewhat in check with the sugar intake. Here are a few things I do to maintain a balance in our household throughout the month while still enjoying the holiday.

Healthy First: My children always have to eat their chicken and vegetables before they get dessert and that stands true for Halloween candy. Yes, I let them have a little candy after lunch, but not before they’ve eaten their sandwiches and fruit. Even though there are often whines for candy around 4pm, I stay strict on the healthy-dinner-first rule. Negotiations can be difficult – even I crave candy at 4pm – but I stay strong and it all ends well.

Focus on the Fun: There is a lot of talk about candy during the month of October but I also try to focus on the other fun parts of the holiday. We are big fans of decorating mini-pumpkins for our table, carving pumpkins for the doorstep, crafting chains of witches and goblins, and so much more. There is no end to the Halloween fun you can have at home that doesn’t involve candy or sweets at all.

Cool fall days call for warm, chewy cookies. As the temperatures dip I find it easier to turn on the oven and let the kitchen warm up with it. These chewy cranberry oatmeal almond cookies are a new recipe I found in a terrific new cookbook, Scandinavian Gatherings: From Afternoon Fika to Midsummer Feast: 70 Simple Recipes & Crafts for Everyday Celebrations. I am going to showcase the book next week but this recipe simply can’t wait.

We are back in the weeknight swing and I’m working on some new dinner recipes to add to my current repertoire. Over the summer we got into two dishes: zoodles, and shakshuka. Both are simple to make and taste delicious. Up until now I’ve been serving them separately, but this week I decided to combine them into one easy dish. My plan was to bake the eggs in the tomatoes and serve them over zoodles for an easy, healthy dinner.

This post is sponsored by Whole Foods Market. The opinions and photographs are entirely my own. Thank you for supporting the sponsors that support The Naptime Chef.

This week I am participating in 5 Affordable Weeknight Dinners from Whole Foods Market with my friends at Whole Foods Market. We were asked to come up with five delicious family meals that we can make with one bag of groceries using Whole Foods’ super fresh ingredients .

This is the perfect challenge for me since I love Whole Foods Market and have long admired their commitment to high quality food and food education. Before I visited the store I also downloaded their new app and looked up my local sales flyer. They are great ways to find everyday deals and coupons at the store. I love it when I find a way to save a little bit on groceries.

Thinking of five easy weeknight dinners was not hard since I have a whole roster of delicious meals on my blog and in my books. To use a wide variety of food from their store I decided to make some of our true favorites, it was fun to make them all again!

My kids are fruit fanatics. They love having fruit in their lunch boxes and for snack time. Of course I am happy to oblige but I do run into snafus now and then. Sometimes the fruit they want is out of season. Other times I have to pack fruit creatively so it doesn’t bruise or wither. It isn’t always easy to keep fruit safely contained in a lunchbox! Here are five of my favorite tips for packing fruit for school this season. Please share yours!

1) Mix it up! – There is nothing worse than finding uneaten fruit that has made the return trip to your kitchen. My daughter used to do this when she said I packed “too many” of the same berry. My solution – making a berry “salad” and using a few of each variety to mix it up. Since I often use frozen fruit for this I am never worried about buying too many or too few of one thing. I also like to add coconut chips, toasted oats, and even whole grain cereals. It is a nice way to eat fruit and keep it healthy.

I am so thrilled to announce that this year I’ll be working with Cascadian Farm to produce exciting content on The Naptime Chef and for their website featuring their amazing selection of frozen fruit and vegetables. I’ve been a longtime fan of their frozen produce and frequently use it in my cooking working together is a natural fit. There is so much wonderful family-friendly fare that can be made with frozen produce, let’s dive in together!

Smile! Blueberry Yogurt with Blueberries, Frozen Peaches & Meusli

Since it is back-to-school season and I am also in back-to-school mode with work I thought I’d start off with a simple, yet delicious, lunchbox treat my kids adore: Yogurt & Fruit “Sundaes”. Instead of making it a formal parfait with studied layers we prefer to take the sundae route. This means filling a jar or plastic container with our favorite flavor yogurt (this changes on a daily basis in our house, just use what flavor yogurt your children prefer), and topping it like a sundae with loads of fruit and some crunchy cereal or granola.

It’s time again for my annual birthday cake. In case you missed it, I am never one to shy away from birthdays. There is nothing about getting older that worries me or makes me want to run and bury my face in a pillow. Birthdays are for celebrating and having fun. In an attempt to pass this spirit onto my children, this year I got them involved in the baking of a brown sugar chocolate chip cake. They have not always been invited to participate, but this year I wanted them to join in. They both still enjoy cooking with mom and this flavor is super kid-friendly, so why not make it a family occasion.

Fall is super duper cookbook season and I have been doing a lot of pre-ordering lately. Here are few that I’ve paid for and can’t wait to arrive. I am curious, what books are on your list?

Mad Hungry: 120 Essential Recipes to Feed the Whole Crew by Lucinda Scala Quinn. I have loved the Mad Hungry series since the very first book. Even though I don’t have a crew of teenagers in my house (yet) her recipes still speak to me as a family cook. Lucinda always has the perfect answer when it comes to putting a fresh twist of roast chicken or making a new and exciting salad that the whole family will love.

Classic German Baking: The Very Best Recipes for Traditional Favorites, from Pfeffernüsee to Streuselfkuchen by Luisa Weiss. I am a longtime fan of Luisa’s writing and recipes. Her deep knowledge of the German kitchen is not to be missed. It is rare to find a German-American so in touch with traditional recipes on both sides of the pond. I think German baking is often eclipsed by its French neighbor so I am excited to learn more about traditional German recipes and there is no better teacher than Luisa.

French Country Cooking: Meals and Moments from a Village in the Vineyards by Mimi Thorisson. I discovered the magic of Mimi’s life in Medoc last spring was instantly sucked in. Her latest book promises to share a new collection of delicious, accessible French recipes from her home deep in the wine region of Bordeaux.

Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan. Dorie’s books never fail to amaze. Her exquisite baked goods are awe inspiring yet completely doable. Baking from her books is like hanging out in the kitchen with you best friend. I can’t wait to crack the spine of her latest tome and start baking.

Cooking for Jeffrey: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by Ina Garten. The magic of Ina Garten is ongoing for me. I’ve cooked from her books consistently ever since the first once was released. I can’t wait to see what this book holds and am thrilled that a new show is in the works.

Last weekend we were supposed to endure the rains of Hurricane Hermine and they never came. It has been a long, hot summer in Connecticut and our garden so desperately needed the rain and cooler temperatures so I was excited. I am glad we did not have to endure any crazy hurricane weather like our neighbors to the south, but I honestly didn’t mind the idea of part of our long weekend being rained in. Naturally we had some party plans and I was all for preparing food to take to friend’s homes, including this peach caprese salad which is just fine, rain or shine.

(Disclosure: This post is sponsored by General Mills Big G Cereals. The opinions are wholly my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that support The Naptime Chef.)

Let’s talk whole grain in honor of National Whole Grain Month. Last month I spent 48 hours in Winnipeg, Canada with General Mills Cereal learning all about oats. I learned about everything from how grain is grown and harvested, what makes it “whole”, and why it is so important for your diet. I was shocked (shocked!) to learn that 95% of Americans don’t get enough whole grain in their diet. How did I miss such a statistic? Consuming whole grains isn’t too hard, they are found in Big G cereals, breads, and more. Yet, it seems that we never get enough.

It’s the season of many, many fresh berries. While we endeavor to eat them all up before the get too soft, that doesn’t always happen. My solution? Bake. These one-bowl any berry muffins are the perfect treats to make with kids when you have that last handful of berries that you don’t want to freeze, but need to be eaten. You know they are so fresh that it would be a shame for them to go to waste!