Good for You Treats - from the Easter Bunny

Bunnies like Carrots, and so should you, they are loaded with Vitamin C and made a delicious dessert to satisfy any sweet tooth. Our Carrot Cake (recipe below) includes carrots (of course), applesauce, eggs and walnuts, the perfect combination of protein, carbs, and healthy fats like Omega-3. It’ll get you hopping with health, like the Bunny.

Coloring Easter Eggs is also an Easter Bunny tradition. This year give it a new twist: Instead of using extra expensive real eggs, make colorful paper ones. They’re fun to make, will help your budget and are easy to use for either decorating or an Easter Egg Hunt!

All you need is a glue stick, a pair of scissors, squares of colorful paper and a bit of time.

  • Gather 10 squares of colored paper. (You can use heavy wrapping paper scraps or your kids’ construction paper. Use lots of different colors. The paper should all be the same kind)

  • Cut out 10 egg shapes of the same size.

  • Fold each one in half, length wise.

  • Put glue on one half of the folded egg. Add another cut out folded egg.

  • Repeat until all the halves are attached.  Glue the first egg half to the last one.

  • Open out and you get a beautiful egg.

You can also make flat eggs for kids to decorate or fancy honeycomb eggs. Start a new tradition and help your budget.

If you do color real eggs and plan to eat them, please remember to put hard boiled eggs in the refrigerator within 2 hours of cooking and eggs will last for up to a week.

The Best Part: Top off your Easter dinner with a moist, delicious carrot cake decorated with a nest of coconut and jellybeans. Just Perfect.   

Have a Happy (and Healthy) Easter, from all of us at Harvest

The Easter Carrot Recipe

RECIPE: Carrot Cake - A sweet treat

INGREDIENTS:

  • 3 cups of finely chopped carrots (about 6 large ones)

  • 1 cup chopped walnuts

  • 2 cups flour

  • 1 tsp salt

  • 1 tsp cinnamon

  • 2 tsp baking soda

  • ¾ cup of apple sauce

  • ¾ cup of salad oil

  • 2 cups sugar

  • 4 eggs

  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

TO MAKE

  • Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. 

  • Chop the carrots and walnuts and combine in a bowl. Use a food processor if you have one. Carrots should be finely chopped or shredded

  • Combine flour, salt, cinnamon and baking soda in a separate bowl.

  • Mix apple sauce, salad oil, sugar and eggs until smooth.  Add the mixture to the carrots and walnuts.

  • Blend in flour mixture.

  • Pour into a lightly greased baking pan and place in the oven

  • If you are using a 9" x 13” pan, bake the cake for 1 hour. If you are using a tube pan, bake the cake for 1 ½ hours.

Let the cake cool before decorating. For a healthier cake, skip the frosting and make a nest of coconut flakes with jellybeans.

TIPS and tricks - a Healthier Easter

COOKING

  • Apple Sauce: Peel and slice 6 cooking apples, like Macoun or Pink Lady, in a pan. Add about a ½ inch of water and cook stirring occasionally until apples are soft and mash easily.  Ready to use in your favorite recipes.

  • Apple sauce goes great with Easter dinner. Natural sugars make it an excellent snack.  If serving as a side dish, add a dash of cinnamon

  • Hard boil eggs before coloring them. Refrigerate them within 2 hours of cooking.

  • Easy way to peel eggs: Run eggs under cold water. Then roll them on a hard surface to crack the shells.

HEALTHIER EATING

  • Buy dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate. It's healthier for you. 

  • Nest decoration for Easter Cake.  Make a nest out of shredded coconut.  Add the jellybeans in the middle.  Coconut is deliciously sweet, full of vitamins C, E and B-complex and can help balance cholesterol.


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