When I was young my Grandma would bring us a bag of candy every time she came to visit. One of my favorite things she brought was a mixture of nuts, candy, candy covered nuts, and candy covered licorice. I was so excited when these Panda Candy Coated Licorice candy came out. They remind me of my Grandma, and now my kids and I can enjoy this healthier version of the yummy treats I ate in my youth. Try them you'll love them!
Surf Sweets Gummy Worms is our Fun Find for today. These are great, you can not tell the difference between these and other gummy worms made with refined sugar and corn syrup.
Our Fun Food Find for today is Lets do Sprinkelz. They are the perfect topping for cupcakes, cakes, and ice cream. They taste wonderful! They are not as bright as the sprinkles you normally see at grocery stores. These ones don't have all of the extra food coloring in them. They are gluten free too. My kids love them! 
With summer coming that means it's time for Carnivals, and Fairs to go to. My kids always want the Cotton Candy when we go to those types of places. So when I found this Organic Cotton Candy by Spun City, I had to order some to see what it was like. It tasted just like any Cotton Candy you would by anywhere. The only ingredient is evaporated cane juice and flavoring.
I used to loved Jelly Belly's so much! Their pear flavor was my most favorite. So you can imagine my excitement when I found these, Jelly Belly's Naturals. They tastes just as good as the normal Jelly Belly's that have the high fructose corn syrup and all of the other not so good for you ingredients. These are made with evaporated cane juice, and tapioca syrup, with real flavors from fruit. They are delicious.
Our Fun Food Find for today are from the company Yummy Earth, their Organic Candy Drops. I really liked these. I loved eating the old root beer barrels growing up. These remind me of those but a more healthy option. My kids love these. When they come home with treats that they got from school I have these on hand to trade them for the refined sugar treats.
The Fun Food Find for today is from Yummy Earth, their Organic Gummy Bears. These have great flavor. I love that they come in little packages. So they are easy to take around with you. They can easily take the place of fruit snacks or other treats that your kids might be given in class.
Our Fun Food Find for today are the sprinkles I mentioned on Monday, Let's do Sprinkles. These are made with evaporated cane juice, they are gluten free, and they taste good too. I don't use them a lot, but when I have they have never disapointed me or my children. :]
Put them in the oven for six minutes, you'll need more time if they are not organic.
If you do slightly over bake them the candy cane will start to melt out to the side. You can take a tooth pick and along the edge push the melted part back.
When you are finished pinching them together place on wax paper and push slightly down so that they lay flat on your counter. You have to do this before they cool, or they will break. You'll notice in this picture that two of the Suckers have their sticks up in the center of the heart. 
That is so you can fill the heart with white chocolate, then top with organic sprinkles (I'll show you what kind I use this Friday). I got that idea from the February Family Fun magazine this year. If you are not going to fill them, leave the sucker sticks just at the bottom of the heart. 
When they are dry this is what they look like. So cute, so easy, and I was surprised at how delicious the white chocolate was with the peppermint. Oh so good!!
This is my favorite size of this suckers. I think they are cute this size. I broke off about an inch of the bottom to get it this small.
Last year, this is what my son gave to his teacher in school for Valentine's day. The mug I got from the dollar store. Then I put Styrofoam in the mug. Then stuck suckers in. The recipe for the other heart shaped aguave suckers is found here. After that put some confetti to cover the Styrofoam. When your all finished, wrap the whole thing with cellophane and tie with a bow. So fun, creative, unique, delicious, and the teacher loved it of course! Have fun making your Candy Cane Valentine's Suckers!
Candy Cane Valentine's Suckers
Back in December when I found the Organic Candy Canes, I also ordered these. Organic Mint Swirls Candy. As you can see they are a little off white in color because they are made with evaporated cane juice. The red ones taste just like candy canes and the green ones, spearmint, are so delicious! My kids were so excited to get something a little different from Santa. It was great fun.
Today our Fun Food Find is another wonderful bulk food item, Honey Taffy. In our home we love these taffy's. They have a few flavors. My favorite is the peppermint. When the kids got taffy from the parades over the 4th of July we were able to trade them with these taffy's. Just to see what the difference was in flavor I tried a peppermint taffy from the parade, I didn't swallow it just tasted it and spit it out. Then I tried a honey taffy. I was so amazed and the difference in taste! The honey taffy had ten times more flavor than the parade taffy. I love it when I find a healthier alternative that tastes so much better than the stuff that isn't good for you. Go try some for yourself and see. 
This week our fun food find is another bulk item, Jelly Beans. A few years ago at Easter time I was looking for some healthier candy for my children. I didn't want them missing out on the fun traditions, and I didn't want to have all of the refined sugar either. These jelly beans were perfect! They are made with evaporated cane juice and are very good. Again these are not as colorful as regualr jelly beans because they do not have all of the food coloring. But they are just as good. We also use these to put in the middle of our home made suckers.
Today I wanted to share with you these Gummy Bears. I talked about them last week in this post. We sometimes add them to our home made suckers. I fill Easter eggs with these and if we have a pinata I put them in baggies. If my children bring home candy from school or from a friends house I have some healthier treats at home they can trade the candy in for. I use these as one of the trades. They are made with evaporated cane juice. They are very yummy and like most organic candies they do not have a lot of food coloring in them. That is a good thing and as you can see they are not quite as colorful as normal gummy bears. The color doesn't bother me or my children. The taste is great.
Yummy Earth Organic Suckers is our fun food find today. If you don't have time to make your own homemade suckers like I told you about yesterday, you can buy these. The taste is very good. They are not too sweet like conventional suckers. They are made with evaporated cane juice. They color the suckers with beet and carrot juice, so no dyes! And no you can not taste the beet or carrot. :] I keep these all over, in the car, in my purse, in our 72 hour kits, and I've even taken lots of these to my children's school. The teachers have used them to give to all of their students and especially to my children when other treats are given.
We love homemade suckers in my home. I've been making suckers since...well to be honest I can't remember when I started making them. My mom always made them growing up and I'm not sure when she started teaching me how. I've been making these healthier suckers for about three years now. 
You can add jelly beans, gummy bears, and gum to them either in the middle or just sticking out. My mom was very creative with the suckers we grew up with. We always made them for our Valentine's to take to school. Now you can't do that because they're not wrapped but I still make them for my kids to take to neighbor friends. Depending on the molds you have, you really can make them for every holiday. 
Today our fun food find is Carob Chips. Carob is a chocolate substitute. There are a few differnt types of carob chips. Some better tasting than others that's for sure. Now that a WinnCo grocery store has opened up close to where I live I have now found the best carob chips I've ever tasted! They are located in their bulk section and the price isn't too expensive. The taste is sweet and for those who don't like the taste of carob, try these and it will change your mind I'm sure of it! 
The food find today are Clif kid organic Z Bars. I was amazed at the flavor of these bars! They are so incredible! Even the chocolate is organic so it's great to eat. The sweetener is evaporated cane juice, they are basically gluten free (may contain traces of wheat), and low fat so I can eat them too! The chocolate brownie really does taste like a brownie! These are great replacements for candy bars or brownies. I put them in my purse, 72 hour kits, and in our car kit. The only problem is trying to keep the kids away from them to get them to last longer. :]
First to make my list is Panda ALL NATURAL Licorice. If you like licorice and you haven't tried Panda you are missing out! The flavor is amazing. It is the best black licorice out there. I would know because I have always love love LOVED black licorice, and I've tried them all. They do have wheat in them, all licorices do. So if you have ciliactic's I'm sorry that you can't have these. I am gluten intolerant and I do just fine with eating a little bit, but it's hard to eat just a little. :]
You can buy Panda at the Health food stores, Good Earth and Sunflower Market, and most grocery stores. The grocery stores will either have it in their healthy section or over by their pharmacy where the protein bars are.
If you find some healthier treats, fill free to share them with me. I always like a good find!
