Easter

Yep, Easter was a really long time ago.  Yep, I was really ill on the day.  But I managed to snap a few photos, mostly while laying on the ground and nibbling dry toast!  I had grand ambitions involving an elaborate egg hunt, lots of beautiful tiny gifts, toys and little books about bunnies hidden around the house and garden, but it didn't happen.  Nonetheless, The Daddy did a great job of scattering some small eggs and chocolate bunnies etc. around the garden, and I bought some gardening tools (watering can and shovel/rake/fork set) for Tabitha, which seemed appropriate for Easter, being about new growth and all that (whether you follow the Pagan or Christian traditions).

A dark chocolate mother hen sitting on eggs from Koko Black for myself (felt quite appropriate, really!) which is still mostly uneaten in the pantry, and a mixture of white chocolate, Lindt bunnies and 'junk chocolate' for Tabitha to find and The Daddy to eat.  I figured that this year, with Tabitha approaching 2, I'd let her get stuck into a few mini Lindt bunnies if she wanted to...

Tabby wasn't convinced that getting out of bed in the cold morning, in her PJs and silly ears, was a fantastic idea.

But she got into the spirit of things once she found her new gardening tools, and set about collecting all the pretty eggs into her watering can:

We helped her open a Lindt bunny, and she had no idea what it was, or that it was edible!  Eventually she took a nibble of the ears, thought about it for a while, and put it down to go play with her watering can.  So the first chocolate Easter experience was a bit of an anti-climax!  It's funny, even now that she's 2, she isn't really into chocolate - she'll nibble the head off a Fredo Frog if someone gives one to her, but looses interest after that.  She loves muffins, cakes, cookies etc. but isn't really into the straight-up chocolate.

My little sister decorated a pretty Easter tree.  When I was small, my mother used to do all sorts of Easter activities with me - dyeing and decorating eggs, decorating a tree, cotton-ball bunnies etc.  I look forward to introducing Tabitha to all of this in a couple of years.

Just as Santa likes his milk and cookies, so the Easter bunny likes his carrot muffins.  These were a nice breakfast treat:

Carrot Muffins

These muffins offer up a winning trilogy – delicious, healthy and easy to make.

Using oil in place of butter, and yoghurt in place of milk, and featuring a full cup of grated carrot, these are a nice healthy snack, and they freeze well too.

Ingredients:

3 eggs

½ cup sugar

½ cup canola oil

1 cup plain whole yoghurt

1 cup grated carrot

½ cup chopped walnuts

Optional – a few tablespoons of sultanas

3 cups self-raising flour

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Method:

Beat together the eggs, sugar, oil and yoghurt.  Stir in the carrot and walnuts (and sultanas if desired).

Combine the flour, bicarb soda and cinnamon, then fold into the wet mixture – gently, until just combined.  Don’t overmix.

Place into a 12-cup muffin tin, lightly greased.

Bake at 200 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Variations – you can use raw zucchini instead of carrot.   Just add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract to the mixture.

If you prefer to use honey instead of sugar, replace the sugar with ½ cup of honey, and increase the cinnamon to 2 teaspoons.