Trick or Treat for Healthy Halloween Treats

Submitted by Active Member Powers Strickland

It's hard to believe Halloween is this Thursday! As many people prepare for trick or treaters with bags of candy, we thought we would bring you some healthy Halloween treats for your ghosts and goblins. Did you know that 20 pieces of candy corn equals 33 grams of sugar? That's a whole lot of sugar! What better way to steer clear of all the sugar than with some fun, tasty treats you can make with your kids?

Here are a few quick and easy treats I tackled in my kitchen! 
(Disclaimer: Yours will be a lot cuter than mine!)

Mummy Dogs

Package of hotdogs or cocktail sausages
Refrigerated crescent roll dough
Yellow mustard

Wrap the hotdogs or sausages in thin strips of the crescent roll dough, creating a "mummy" effect. Bake in oven as directed on the crescent roll dough container. Once golden brown, remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes. Squeeze two dots of yellow mustard for the mummy dog eyes. Serve with mustard or ketchup and enjoy!


Banana Ghosts

One banana
Peanut butter
Chocolate Chips

Cut the banana in half. Attach two chocolate chip eyes and a mouth to the top of the banana using peanut butter. Enjoy!

For those with peanut allergies, I think a frozen whipped cream or some sort of icing would work just as well.



Spider Crackers

Round crackers (I chose whole wheat for an added healthy kick!)
Peanut butter (or icing or frozen whipped cream, for those with peanut allergies)
Thin stick pretzels
Chocolate chips

Put a table spoon of peanut butter on one side of a cracker. Place eight pretzels in the peanut butter sticking out of the sides for the spider's legs. Place a second cracker on top. Attach the chocolate chips using peanut butter as the spider's eyes. Enjoy!

JLC Launches a Book Club

Submitted by Elizabeth Crouch, Transfer Member and JLC Book Club Chair

“In the future, there will no be female leaders.  There will just be leaders.”
– Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead.

The JLC has also already given me a chance to “lean in” and “sit at the table.” As a transfer to the Columbia league, I wanted to immediately get involved with the league and my community.  My enthusiasm has only been encouraged, never dampened. After proposing the idea of a JLC book club to league members, I was immediately supported and encouraged.  The fact that the idea of a JLC book club came from a transfer member that took root with other members encouraging and supporting is truly phenomenal to me. The JLC embodies “women supporting women”!

Thus, it is fitting that the focus of the first-ever JLC book club was leadership.  More than 25 JLC members gathered to discuss the club’s first selection, Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. While her book does contain advice about how to handle work/life balance, the JLC Book Club focused on how to be a leader in the community regardless of whether you work inside or outside of the home.  The book club divided into groups of five or more individuals in order to allow for small group discussion guided by a list of suggested discussion questions.

As a “leader” of the book club, along with Monnie Murray and Mary Frances Jowers, I traversed from group to group to hear what was being discussed. The conversations were riveting and would have continued if we had not stopped the discussion due to time.  Everyone had their own story of what a leader meant to them and what challenges they had overcome in becoming a leader themselves. 

  

The book club ended by asking: “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?”  This was a question Sheryl Sandberg asked all readers to consider at the end of the book. If there were no societal or personal constraints put on women, what we would we want to do? Some of the women at book club shared their personal dreams such as that they would run for office, open a business, go skydiving, not wear make-up to work….The list is endless!!  The exercise was so invigorating that we left a stack of forms at JLC headquarters for any member to stop by and fill out. 

Since the first ever JLC Book Club was such a hit, I encourage you to join us for the next book club on February 4^th. Book club attendees were presented with a short list of possible selections for our next pick, and then ranked their preference. The final book selection will be announced through E-blast in the coming weeks so stay tuned. We encourage even those who don’t have time to read the book to come and join the conversation.  I am looking forward to another engaging discussion!

Mark Your Calendars for the 17th Annual Clean Sweep Sale

Submitted by Active Sara Beth Rush

Saturday, February 1, 2014

8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
(Clean Sweep will be closed from 12 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. to prepare for the Bag Sale.)

The women of the Junior League of Columbia are hard at work making sure this year’s Clean Sweep Sale is the best yet! If you love hunting for a bargain, mark your calendars for the Clean Sweep Sale on February 1, 2014.

If you’ve never been to Clean Sweep, you’re in for a treat. The JLC is hosting a massive one-day rummage sale; this is better than your average garage sale. You can find all sorts of incredibly affordable items - from appliances to maternity clothing, housewares to sporting goods. There’s always a great selection of unique furniture, children’s toys, holiday décor, linens and books just waiting for you to peruse.

The Clean Sweep Sale is a wonderful community event open to all. Bring your family and friends for a memorable morning. Please join us at the SC State Fairgrounds the first Saturday of February. Check out some of the great items that will be available!

Are you looking for a shabby chic headboard? We've got it!

Keep your New Year's Resolution going with this NordicTrack!

This ping pong table is the perfect addition to the man cave or playroom in your house! 

Parking is $2 per car and the gates open at 7am (enter through Gate 6).  Admission to the sale is $3 per person, although children 12 and under are free. Doors to the Capital City’s best rummage sale open at 8 a.m. sharp.  Remember it’s a rummage sale—cash sales only. The sale will close at noon for a half hour for the grand finale: the Bag Sale. Savvy shoppers can fill a bag for just $5 from 12:30 p.m. to 1p.m.

Proceeds from the sale cycle right back into our local economy through the Junior League’s partnership with charitable organizations throughout the Midlands. Clean Sweep 2013 raised over $30,000, and the goal for 2014 is $35,000 It’s a great day of treasure hunting with the goal of ultimately improving our community!

Playing With Your Food

Submitted by Active Member Lisa Hockenberry

Do you remember the scene in Mermaids where Cher’s character would make the craziest concoctions for her family to eat? She adorned foods with marshmallows and sprinkles in hopes of being a “good mom”.

Recently my girlfriend informed me that she made Puppy Chow for her upcoming Tennis Holiday Party. “What is that?” I inquired. She said her mom made it growing up! I may be the only person out there that has not heard of puppy chow, but I have a sneaking suspicion it is not for puppies…

However, it got me thinking about all the fun food ideas my mom would whip up for me so that I would eat my food. I don’t think I was a picky eater, but it is a lot less hassle for kids to eat healthy when they think it actually a fun snack! I am not talking laborious make your own baby food, just easy, creative kid-friendly snacks.

Banana Hot Dog Sandwich

1 hot dog bun

2 tablespoons peanut butter

1/2 banana

1. Toast the bun.

2. Take the peanut butter and spread onto bread.

3. Top with banana.

Bugs on a Log

1 stalk celery

2 tablespoons peanut butter

Raisins or chocolate chips

1. Cut the celery into thirds.

2. Fill with peanut butter.

3. Top with raisins or chips to resemble bugs

Dirt Cups

1 package Instant Pudding Mix

2 cups milk

16 oz Oreos

3 1/3 cup Cool Whip

8 gummy worms

1. Pour milk and pudding mix into a mixing bowl. Whisk for about 2 minutes. Let set about 5 minutes.

2. Crush the Oreos. Mix the cool whip and about 1/2 the Oreos into the pudding.

3. To make the cup: Place a spoonful of Oreos into a small clear plastic cup. Top with pudding mixture until about 2/3 full. Top with remaining Oreos to create the top “dirt” layer. Push a Worm into each cup.

English Muffin Pizza

6 oz tomato sauce, I like to buy the small can just for this…no waste

6 English Muffins split, I like the whole wheat kind

Garlic powder, oregano, basil

Mozzarella cheese, shredded

Turkey Pepperoni

Black olives, diced green peppers, etc., if your kids like them

1. Toast the English Muffins to get a firm base.

2. In a small bowl, mix together the sauce and a few spices to your liking.

3. Spread a thin layer of sauce on each 1/2 of muffin. Top with a layer of cheese. Add whatever toppings to your liking.

4. Put back into toaster oven and toast one final time to melt the cheese.

Bunny Salad

1 chilled pear, half

1 lettuce leaf

2 raisins

1 red cinnamon candy

2 blanched almonds

cottage cheese ball

1. Place the lettuce leaf on a plate. Place the pear upside down on top of it.

2. Use the top of the pear for the bunny’s face. Take the raisins for eyes, the candy for the nose and the almonds for the ears.

3. A small scoop of cottage cheese makes the tail.

A Provisional's View

Submitted by Christy Snow, a Provisional Member, as a part of her series documenting her Provisional Year in the Junior League of Columbia

We are one month into the Provisional year with little time wasted. This month, I attended my first JLC meetings. The General Membership Meeting came first. Taking some wise advice from a member of our provisional committee, I decided not to enter my first meeting alone and opted to meet some girls for happy hour at Gervais and Vine beforehand. I met two other girls who I wouldn’t have known if JLC had not been in my life. As a side note, I knew the League would provide plenty of opportunities for community service and planned socials, but this little impromptu happy hour was an unexpected perk and I hope there will be many more to come!

Image courtesy of www.leanin.org

After a quick caravan over to Seawell’s, it was meeting time. As a professional meeting and event planner, I get overly excited about a well run meeting, and I could tell from the get-go that this was not JLC’s first rodeo. The food, drink tickets and strategically-placed volunteers made what could have been a very overwhelming meeting enjoyable. I was also overly excited about the opportunity for impulse purchases at the meeting, and now I am the proud owner of one discounted Holiday Market Preview Party ticket and one hardback copy of Sheryl Sandberg’s bestseller, Lean In, which is the first selection of JLC’s new Book Club that will meet later this month. I I enjoyed seeing an overview of everything that the League is focused on at this point and I am relieved that the meeting agenda is strictly followed at the meetings!

Fast forward two weeks and it was time for our first Provisional meeting. After a long workday, the Provisional Committee planned my all-time favorite meal – pizza and wine!, At the meeting, we learned a little more in detail of what was in store for this next year. The first is Holiday Market’s Preview Party. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited about my boyfriend dressed up in a tux walking around Christmas shopping with me all while sipping cocktails and listening to a fabulous band.

The second is our Provisional Project. This year, there are eight different projects that our group could be placed in:

·         Tree Decorating for Palmetto Children’s Hospital Festival of Trees and Junior League of Columbia’s Holiday Market

·         Sustainers Wrapping Project at Holiday Market

·         Sistercare: Valentine’s Day Party for Mothers and their Children

·         JLC’s Healthy Kids Fun Fair

·         Touch-A-Truck Project

·         Epworth Children’s Home Project

·         Salvation Army’s Christmas at the Fairgrounds

For all Sustainers reading this, I’m a skilled gift wrapper and bow tier so if I’m placed in the Sustainer gift wrapping project, you are in good hands!

The third is upcoming social events. The Provisional committee has really made it a focus to have our class of 117 women meet each other as much as possible all while serving the community in true JLC style. In fact, there is a social committee made up of Provisionals that is being organized to offer more casual opportunities to meet outside of League events. Shout out to Susan Wheeler who is heading  up this effort!

Meetings are a big time commitment your first year as I was told this time and time again before joining. While meetings are a time commitment, the information shared, friendships made and fun conversation had are so worthwhile.month, This fall is shaping up to be busy one personally and professionally, and  I’m thankful for my decision to join the League!