Chocolate Bunnies and Hot Cross Buns

Do miracles happen? You bet! The children are asleep, the kitchen's tidy and my brain can - for a change! - plan more than one day in advance. So what am I planning? Why, the Easter weekend, of course, which is why this is the second blog in a row about Easter. 

I remember the time when Easter would creep up on me unannounced. I would be looking forward to a 4-day weekend without remembering the occasion until the HR department placed a chocolate egg on my desk... but that was Before Children.

Nowadays Easter means school holidays, treasure hunts and sugar highs.  This year, I'm seriously considering making my own chocolate bunnies and eggs, but with sugar-free chocolate. Ditto for Hot Cross Buns.

The chocolate bunny recipe, incidentally, is so easy even the kids can make it. I love kid-friendly recipes! But I'm stuck on ideas for a good egg hunt. Anybody?

Let's talk Birthday Cakes

Birthday Cakes - not, not the "healthy alternative" as described in the previous post about the Snack Swapper - but the real scrumptious chocolaty sugary gooey Birthday Cake deal.

With my debut kiddy birthday party, I took the easy road: plain brown birthday cake with Happy Birthday written on it, plus one plain birthday candle. I figured, what the heck, she won't know the difference. Ok, perhaps she didn't, but since then I got caught up in making sure the kids' birthday cakes are artistic masterpieces. 

I'm not into the whole craze of candles that look like pirate ships, cakes that look like pirate ships (WARNING: mums, do not attempt it at home!) and party rooms that look like pirate ships.

Some easy recipes to try:

• pirate face birthday cake
  
• spaceship birthday cake
• ice cream cake cones

A home-made sausage roll, anyone?

Snacks and Healthy Alternatives for Kids

Let's talk about snacks and meals for children. Or, rather, healthy alternatives for commonplace kids' snacks and healthy alternatives for kid-friendly dinners.

Hands up in whose freezer / fridge I can find:

• chicken nuggets
• fish fingers
• chocolate milk (or pink milk for "Charlie and Lola" fans)
• frozen potato chips?

Hands down (mine included, which is a relief, because I had to type with my toes).

Fear not, though, help is at hand. I found this amazing tool, called a Snack Swapper. Check it out for healthy alternatives to pizza, lollies, ice cream, potato crisps and yes, chicken nuggets and pink milk too.

Most of the alternatives you can even cook with your children (double the Brownie points for being Super Mum). And here is a recipe for home-made chicken nuggets just for fun.

Breakfast woes

“Oh no! Not oatmeal AGAIN! That’s what I had yesterday. No way am I eating it.”

Does that sound familiar? For your information, in our household, that’s actually me talking. Me, a responsible mother of two youngsters, one of whom is like his Dad, happy to eat the same cereal every day of his life, while the other is like her Mum.

(I’ll never forget that line from City Slickers: “Every day, for the rest of your life, the same cereal”... except they were talking about marriage. It stuck. But I digress.)

I like oatmeal. Just not two mornings in the row. The same is true of any other food. As a teenager, I spent two weeks in a holiday resort with my parents, and towards the end I refused to come down for breakfast where I would be offered a choice of boiled, fried or scrambled. Eggs every morning for 14 consecutive days would make a perfect diet for me: a weight-loss diet, you understand.

My daughter shares her mother’s little quirk, and it drives her father crazy. You see, he cannot understand the point of asking: “What would you like for breakfast today, honey?” His own heartfelt answer is: “Whatever I had yesterday.” 

Because he is the one making the kids’ breakfast every morning, the topic of breakfast menus is fraught with danger in our family. Meanwhile, I’m running out of breakfast foods, fast. So far, we had a week of Gorilla Munch, scrambled eggs with tomato sauce, buttered toast, lemon meringue yoghurt, cornflakes. Tomorrow, she’s having cottage cheese with honey. But unless you leave a few ideas in the comments, it will be an empty plate for her the day after.

Ok, things are looking up. My trusted friend, Dr Google, has given me a link to Fussy Eaters, as well as to Breakfast Basics, where I found this lovely tip: “Go the savoury route. Anything can be breakfast - last night's leftover pasta, a toasted bagel with baked beans, toast with roast chicken on top. Don't get locked into offering only cereal, eggs or toast.” Woo-hoo! Sushi for breakfast, anybody?

The latter article has fine ideas for kids’ breakfasts on the run, too - perfect for those of us who are too busy choosing a school outfit and brushing our hair to have a breakfast stop.

I’ve also found a super-easy omelette recipe - yes, I know omelette is just egg by another name, but it does smell sweeter, particularly a fruit-based omelette. There are also corn fritters (I never realised you could make those for breakfast) and purple pancakes (yes, with blueberries). All of those are kid-friendly and older children can have a go at cooking their own.

So that’s the children’s breakfast sorted then. I wonder what I’ll be having tomorrow, though, because there is only enough cheesecake available for one.

“Oh no! Not oatmeal AGAIN....”