Easter is coming up, and for many of us that means a big family brunch followed by a massive helping of candy — think Cadbury Eggs, Peeps, and lots of jelly beans. While a few Easter treats are not “TERRIBLE” for you, weighing a basket down with chocolate, caramel eggs, and jelly beans can be the gateway to mindlessly snacking on candy for the rest of the week which, as you know, leads to you & your children feeling awful and groggy. Whether you're making a basket for a friend, little one, or someone special in your life, there are definitely some more fun and healthy ideas to sneak in amongst (or instead of) the candy. Porter, my 7-year-old son, told me his favorite things (other than candy) that we place inside his eggs in previous years were special coupons! Some examples:
-Stay up 10 minutes late on a school night
-Date with Mommy or Daddy
-Pick what we have for dinner or the out to dinner spot
-Trip to Aerofit, Active Climb, Pump It Up, or Barnes & Nobles
My hope for you this Easter will be to enjoy your family and celebrate Christ’s resurrection! Honor the amazing body that God has given you and fuel yourself with nutritious treats this Easter!
Alternative Egg Stuffers
- Money
- Spring clothes
- Bathing suits
- Play dough eggs
- Spring flowers like tulips, dahlias, or lilies.
- Puzzles
- Small toys
- Stuffed bunnies
- Stickers/Tattoos
- Magnets
- Disposable cameras
- Packets of seeds and gardening tools
- Silly Putty (it even comes in its own egg)
- Pastel-colored socks
Easter-themed snacks
- Hard boiled Eggs
- Organic or fair trade dark chocolate
- CARROTS
- Need a healthier alternative to jelly beans? Try Earthfare fruit juice flavored jelly beans
- Fresh Berries
- Annie’s Cheddar Bunnies: They’re basically Goldfish only made with REAL CHEESE and, hello, they’re bunnies
- Cashew clusters
- FroYo: Easter Style—simply make up a fruit and yogurt smoothie in the blender and pour into an egg-shaped silicone cake pan and freeze for a couple of hours.
Carrots--bunny--Easter!
Pumpkin-Carrot Bars With Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup Earth Balance butter (or butter)
2 eggs
2 large egg whites
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin pie filling
2/3 cup finely shredded carrot
Cream cheese topping: 4 ounces light cream cheese, softened 1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon skim milk
Directions
1.Pre-heat oven to 350° F. Spray a 15 x 10 pan with cooking spray.
2.In small bowl, whisk flour, pumpkin spice, baking powder, and baking soda.
3.In larger bowl, use electric mixer to beat sugar, Earth Balance, and brown sugar until crumbly. Add eggs, egg whites, pumpkin pie filling, and carrots. Beat until well blended.
4.Add flour mixture and mix until well blended. Spread onto greased pan.
5.To prepare cream cheese topping: mix together cream cheese, sugar, and milk until thoroughly blended.
6.Drop teaspoon-fulls of topping over pumpkin batter and swirl and cut mixture into batter with a butter knife.
7.Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
8.Cool in pan completely on wire rack before cutting into squares.
Makes 48 squares.
Fast forward to next Monday. Now remember last week’s post about lunch ideas? I have an Easter-themed one for you! I received an email with this idea in it and I just could not stop myself from sharing it with you! Say hello to the Easter egg lunch box:
One cutest ideas for school lunch that I have seen! You know those plastic Easter eggs you've got that are probably stored in your house somewhere just waiting to be used once a year? Here's a new way to use them for school lunch. Just fill each egg with a variety of different foods, pack them up, and come lunchtime your kids can open them up for edible surprise after edible surprise.
Here are a few favorite things to stuff them with:
* cheese cubes * olives * berries * almonds, pistachios, walnuts, roast sunflower seeds or cashews * whole grain crackers * raisins, dried cherries, cranberries or other dried fruit * turkey or ham cubes * edamame * cooked pasta!
Happy Easter! HE IS RISEN! Blessings, Caroline