Here are some tricks to overcome excessive treating, courtesy of Pirate’s Booty guilt-free snacks and THE NIBBLE:

• Set up rules. Explain beforehand that Halloween is for fun, costumes and treats—but not to over-indulge on candy, which should be enjoyed in moderation. If you haven’t already done so, this is the time to explain healthy food vs. less-healthy food. Your guidance now will set kids up for a lifetime of wise food choices.
• Fill ‘em up. Feed kids a full, nutritious meal before they head out to trick-or-treat. That way they’ll be less likely to devour a lot of candy before they return home.
• Trade agreement. Offer kids a cash honorarium or a coveted toy for giving up the candy. Explain the options before trick-or-treating begins.

Coppery plastic mini yo-yos are as low as
$1.99/dozen at OrientalTrading.com, which has many inexpensive Halloween toys.

• Treat others. Let kids pick out the 10 pieces of candy they want most. Call it “10 Days Of Halloween” and let them have one treat a day. Donate the rest of the sweets to a local food bank. Bring the kids with you to the food bank and teach a valuable lesson in the joy of sharing with the needy.
• Cavity cutback. Some dentists participate in the Candy Buy-Back program the day after Halloween. Kids receive a monetary reward, while the candy gets shipped to U.S. military forces abroad. If your dentist doesn’t participate, give him or her this URL so you’ll have a program next Halloween: HalloweenCandyBuyBack.com.
• Divide and conquer. When the candy arrives back at home, allow them to pick two pieces. Then, put it away and enable them to pick one piece a day, for dessert after dinner.
• Don’t be an enabler. Distribute non-sugared treats such healthy popcorn or whole-grain pretzels. Find single-serve bags at club stores. Or, look at inexpensive toys like plastic or gummy spiders and worms. 

It will make your coffee taste better. Photo
courtesy Heinz.

If your home-brewed coffee doesn’t taste as good as it should, it may be due to coffee oils and mineral deposits from the water that build up. Fortunately, it’s easy to remove them using a time-honored technique with distilled white vinegar.

1. Fill the glass carafe (or whatever receptacle your coffeemaker has) to the maximum cup level, using one part white vinegar to two parts water. If the carafe makes 12 cups, that’s 24 ounces of vinegar and 48 ounces of water, since coffeemaker “cups” are 6 ounces, not 8 ounces.

2. Pour the solution into the water reservoir of the coffeemaker. Turn on the appliance and let the solution run through (the basket that holds the ground coffee should be in place).

3. When the solution is completely back in the carafe, turn off the appliance. Allow the pot to cool for 20 minutes. Then pour the solution down the drain and rinse the carafe well with water.

4. Next fill the carafe with cold water, pour it into the reservoir and run it through the coffeemaker. Pour the cycled water out, rinse the carafe well, and repeat this step with a second pot of cold water.

If you use a single-serve coffee system with pods or cups, read the product manual to see how often (and how) it needs to be cleaned.

How To Make A Great Cup Of Coffee

BikeCaffè, a franchise opportunity, wants to make it easy for you. You get to work outdoors, bike for exercise, and please hundreds of people daily with a great cup of coffee or tea.

BikeCaffè is a uniquely-designed quad bike—a four-wheeler. It’s a full-service mobile “coffee shop” serving up the same high-quality, tasty beverages that fine coffee shops offer: Fair Trade organic coffee blends, cappuccino and latte, chai, hot chocolate, smoothies and the muffins and croissants to go with them.

Any good pedaler/peddler can operate a BikeCaffè as a full time, part-time or seasonal enterprise, anywhere in the country. The concept, which was created in London and launched outside Shakespeare’s house in Stratford-On-Avon, promises an affordable investment in an eco-friendly business.

Ready to roll? Learn more at BikeCaffe.com.

Your own coffee shop on wheels. Photo
courtesy BikeCaffè.

Halloween is just around the corner, and this week’s video features tips on how to carve a festive pumpkin. Design and lifestyle expert Bruce Littlefield shares step by step tips on the best way to carve the top, using stencils and more.

See more videos in our Cooking Videos Section.

The ALEX water bottle comes apart for easy
cleaning—or to fill with Halloween or Christmas
candy as a gift. Photo by River Soma | THE
NIBBLE.

With their small mouth openings, most reusable water bottles require special cleaning tablets; bottle brushes aren’t that effective. Bottles can build up unhealthy bacteria and odors.

Now there are no more worries about what lurks in that reusable bottle. You can wash ALEX in the sink or pop it into the dishwasher.

Since you can clean ALEX thoroughly, you also can use it to carry iced coffee, juice or other cold drinks and powdered drinks. (Hot drinks aren’t recommended because the bottle isn’t insulated.)

ALEX is made of premium grade stainless steel and is 100% BPA Free.

And here’s another benefit: For traveling, you can unscrew the center and nest the bottom half into the top half.

Help keep those 38 million annual unrecycled water bottles out of the landfill and waterways. ALEX is available in two sizes—20 ounces and 32 ounces—and three colors: black, white and stainless steel (silver). The black and white versions have a choice of contrasting-color silicone bands.

Get yours at AlexBottle.com.