Guiltless Get Togethers

Many of us will be celebrating Easter this weekend with our families. For a lot of us, that will include an Easter dinner, baskets, candy, appetizers, dessert, candy, maybe wine, and candy. And you might have access to a lot of candy.

I'm not going to sugar coat this..ha...as bad as that all sounds, and is, let's be real: we all look forward to this!

It's great getting together with everyone and snacking on yummy appetizers and over filling on homemade dishes, dinner rolls, and dessert. Not to mention the leftovers for the next few days!

But it doesn't all have to be that bad. There are so many tweaks that you can make that people may not even notice, and will help to cut back sugar, fat, and calories.

~Try the deviled eggs; use 100 Days' Of Real Food's mayo free recipe, or try it with greek yogurt or avocado instead.

~Make sure you're using cage free, organic eggs too, or some from your local supplier.

~Make whole wheat dinner rolls as an option, or in place of regular rolls all together.

~Make sure to have a large salad available for everyone.

~Try to include veggies as your side options instead of all starches. (Mashed cauliflower just so happens to be pretty amazing in place of mashed taters!)

~Have fresh veggies available as an appetizer option, along with a greek yogurt (plain greek yogurt with ranch dressing dry mix) or homemade dip

~Homemade salsas or guacamole also make a great appetizer since you can use all fresh, organic ingredients and make them fresh on the spot!

~Use nature's candy aka fruit! Baskets don't have to all be loaded with candy and chocolate bunnies. Try using bags of Annie's fruit snacks or make your own fruit leather or dehydrated snacks. You can also use fresh fruit in your baskets, or make super cute bunnies from Babybel cheese and carrot sticks! Fruit kabobs would be adorable as well!

~Desserts don't have to be huge and fancy and as sweet as possible. Make something a little lighter, like an angel food cake recipe or muffins or cupcakes they can take home if they're too full to eat right now.

~Most importantly, make sure you only use food grade dye if you plan to eat the eggs you are coloring! Many coloring kits are not food safe, and you do not want to eat those eggs! There are also quite a few natural coloring options as well.

Just remember to keep things simple, and healthy, and to enjoy the time with your family and loved ones, and most importantly, remember why we're celebrating.

Happy Easter!!

Katie