Healthier chocolate for Easter

I love Easter! It is one of my favourite holidays of the year. You get just as many days off as around Christmas, but there are no long involved lunches or dinner or crazy amounts of presents to buy. One of the great aspects of this break is that whilst it usually does involve a celebratory meal, you do not have to lug the tree out of the attic, and dress the the table. It is far more low key, which is definitely our style. I know that these days some parents quiver at the prospect of the Easter Bunny hopping through their house and leaving chocolate eggs. To be honest, I don't worry about it. Yes, we have chocolate easter eggs in our house. Absolutely! Let's be honest parents, it is not the chocolate at Easter that is causing the obesity crisis or ever increasing incidence of diabetes. As a nutritionist I think it is an important lesson in moderation for our children. A lesson that is crucial for our children ( and us!) to grasp for our long term health.

What do we do in our house to take the emphasis off the chocolate?

We do easter egg hunts that do not involve chocolates. The re-usable and fillable plastic eggs are great for this. We have a collection of tiny non-edible treats to put inside the eggs. In fact my husband took it one step further and bought some tiny lights to put inside to do a glow in the dark hunt when we are camping! Now that is way more exciting than chocolate.

We also do simple crafts. Lots of cardboard cut out eggs and glitter carrots, decorated with stickers, and paints. If you can try and emphasize these things that last, and the kids tend to enjoy it far more than the chocolate.

Balance

In an effort to give a chocolate experience that is actually benefical to their health, I have created a recipe for you. This recipe is one of those "swaps". When we swap an item for something that has the capacity to nourish our bodies, and provide them with extra nutrients. As an added bonus this recipe will work for many of the different allergies, intolerances and food preferences as it is gluten free, dairy free, no refined sugar, egg free, plant based & vegan ( if you use maple syrup instead of honey). So it makes for easy entertaining with large groups. It can also be used as a frosting for a cake, or as a dip for a fruit platter.

Healthier chocolate mousse

Happy Easter! xo

#glutenfree #dairyfree #vegan #plantbased #eggfree #easterentertaining