By Peggy Walker, R.D.

Happy Easter everyone! I’ve been assembling Easter happies for our five grandchildren coming this weekend. They’ll each get a huge Easter egg filled with goodies…but not all candy… and they’ll each get a same-sized bucket for their egg hunting finds.

I like to keep things as even as possible. Mothers and grandmothers will understand. But, I’ve been thinking…

Earth Day was Monday, April 15, and was established to honor and celebrate our planet. Easter honors and celebrates the good Lord, the creator of this beautiful place and who entrusted us with it’s safe keeping.

Since springtime and Easter Sunday are considered a time of resurrection and renewal, I have a few different ideas for Easter happies…thinking outside the Easter basket if you will.  Maybe amidst all the Easter fun we can help children unselfishly think past themselves, appreciating their blessings and becoming good stewards of God’s green earth…. beyond candy eggs and marshmallow chickens for a moment.

First flowers. Slip a package of zinnia flower seeds in your little one’s Easter basket and your child will have presents all summer!  Zinnias are colorful, easy to grow flowers that are happy in the sun, and will grow in pots or in the ground. Time spent with children in the garden or flower bed will grow adults that are in tune to the earth and want to protect it.  And what a good lesson to patiently plant, water, and wait.

Children can measure the time from planting to germination to blooming; measure the flower heights and bloom sizes; even make a graph to record the number of blooms from each color.  And, they’ll have fun taking pictures of each stage of growth and bloom.

Bees and butterflies will come and enjoy the flowers and as will others you share bouquets of pretty cut zinnias with. Later there’ll be seeds to harvest. So many good life lessons are to be found in the flower bed and garden.   

Or, maybe a package of cherry tomato seeds for the same reasons and more! Tomato plants love sun and heat and produce prolifically. Tasty little tomatoes come in red, gold, orange, even purple so you can teach colors and how to count to hundred and beyond with all the little tomatoes you’ll harvest!

And, even better, youngsters who learn about growing food are usually more willing to try different fruits and vegetables and learn to be especially grateful.  See, there’s a method to my madness!

If the Easter bunny brings seeds, he could also bring child-sized garden tools for digging, scooping, and weeding in the garden and a little pair of garden gloves. Busy children are happy children. And a garden bucket can do double duty as an Easter basket too.  Handy for candy and Easter eggs this weekend, then flowers and veggies later on!

Books are always great Easter happies too. Keep the garden theme going with books, even coloring books, about trees, animals, bees, or butterflies…the Lord God made them all!

Journals for older children and little notebooks with colorful pens and pencils can encourage youngsters to become good writers and to write down their thoughts and blessings. It’s so much fun to take little ones outside and show them what’s going on right outside the door…from sunrise to sunset to bed time.

Mack asked me just this week how I knew so much about birds after I had pointed out the red ring around a hummingbird’s neck.  I told him to look, listen, and read!  There’s so much to learn about planet earth and it’s never too early to start.

So maybe consider a small bird feeder and an after Easter trip to town for a sack of sunflower seeds for an Earth Day Easter basket stuffer.   God, himself, set the example of caring for the birds.

But, sometimes it is about candy eggs and chocolate bunnies (balance, remember), so I have toothbrushes that light up like fireflies for the little egg hunters coming this weekend.  God gave us responsibilities with our blessings, like our bodies, to take care of too.

God really wants us (expects us) to show our love and gratitude for his love in sending his son to live, die and be raised for us all the time, in our worship to him and in how we live, daily.  Neither can we fully honor and celebrate Earth just one day a year. It’s daily too. This world is our home for now, but it is ours to enjoy and protect. Be thankful, be respectful, and be happy.

Recipe of the Week

Buttermilk Breakfast Cake

Sweet but not too sweet, just right for your Easter brunch!

1 white cake mix

1 cup buttermilk

½ cup melted butter

5 large eggs

3 tablespoons light brown sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Beat first 3 ingredients with electric mixer 1 ½ minutes or until thoroughly blended; add eggs, 1 at a time beating well after each addition. Stir together brown sugar and cinnamon.  Grease a 12-cup Bundt pan with pan spray, then sprinkle inside of pan with 1 tablespoon granulated sugar. Spoon ⅓ of the batter into prepared pan; sprinkle brown sugar mixture over batter. Top with remaining batter. Bake 45 minutes in 350-degree oven, or until cake tests done. Cool cake in pan for 15 minutes then move to wire rack and cool 20 minutes.  Make glaze: stir together 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon melted butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1 – 2 tablespoons buttermilk to desired consistency.  Drizzle over warm cake.