Mountain Air and Easter Eggs.

We have driven up to Jackson Hole for a dose of good friends, clear mountain air, and even a few turns on the white stuff! The 11 hour drive from Vegas was a little brutal, complete with dog and toddler, but I did what every food-loving mother and wife does: stock the car with Gogi berries, nuts, fruit, deliciously decadent KIND snack bars and some healthy alternatives to coffee, to keep our eyes open. Hilariously, we only made it through two tanks of gas before my husband decided that a bag full of Twizzlers and a huge packet of Pringles were the order of the day. As I turned from the driver's seat to see both my boys grinning widely at the taste-sensation of these 'fake' foods, the Gogi berries unopened at their feet, I had to smile. Good intentions and all that...!!

Which brings me to my next point. Easter. Eggs. Chocolate. A dieter's nightmare, and a mother's quandary! This year, I decided it was time to pick up a family tradition we had when I was a child; my mother would fill beautifully decorated cardboard eggs, with tiny surprises. The eggs, popular in Europe and a great substitute for their chocolate counterparts, are part of my childhood, and memories of Easter morning yielding lip gloss or earrings are as 'normal' for me as chocolate eggs are for others! Much to my delight, I managed to find some of these cardboard eggs in Williams Sonoma and have duly filled them with fun surprises for the boys (think a bike-riding spiderman for one and a plethora of tiny treats for the other!).

It's not that I'm anti-chocolate. In fact, I love it more than I admit to. It's just that I know there will, without doubt, be a huge amount of it this Easter, and this is my way of reducing my own personal chocolate mountain. I must add that my son has rather a similar view of chocolate to his mother - pure love - and due to the terrible two's being even more terrible after too much, unlimited supply is definitely not advisable! In addition, my husband is one of those annoying humans who can have one bite of chocolate, and then not want anymore for 4 months. Seriously. So we all really know why he's not getting a chocolate egg. It's not really about him, it's more about me saving myself from the impending battle with my conscience for the next 4 months if I have an uneaten egg sitting in my kitchen. After all, I couldn't throw away HIS egg?!!

For those of you who are looking forward to a chocolate-filled Easter. Enjoy it! It's only once a year, and there are some great quality chocolates out there (I have written about the health benefits of this delicious food in a former blog)! For others who might be filled with dread at having such an attack on the willpower, and for whom cardboard eggs just aren't going to cut it, remember that chocolate is very good at being frozen! When the day/celebration is over, simply crush down all your left over eggs and put them in an airtight bag in the freezer. When the time comes to make that chocolate cake or delicious desert, melt your egg-leftovers as you would regular chocolate bars and bingo - no waste, no absurd levels of over-indulgence, no impossible-to-resist challenges to the New Years Resolutions ... and no need for cardboard eggs!

Happy Easter!