hippity, hoppity, Easter's on its way...

The tower of chocolate eggs is likely growing ever taller, and come Sunday, the chocolate-eating will be stopped only by a roast dinner. There’s no hope of escaping Easter Sunday without a belly-ache or the belly growing ever wider.

Wait, don't despair - I think there is a chance.

I’m happy to indulge in a bit of Easter chocolate fun, and it’s easier than ever to get higher-quality chocolate eggs, like Green & Blacks among others, but actually, I prefer to skip the packaging and go straight to the bar. You get more for your money anyway!

On to the dinner: the goal of Easter dinner in my opinion, is to serve an excellent main course along with veggies infused with lots of spring flavours. That may not be so easy this year, with Easter arriving so early (though it’s not expected to come this early again until 2160, so don’t worry).

Basically, there will be no asparagus or strawberries at the dinner table this year, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be a spring in your bite. Lemon, mint, parsley and dill will grace the flavours of my table. I'm doing a roast chicken this year (I actually fancied lamb, but it’s that bit too early for spring lamb; then I wanted ham, but it was a no-go from the husband; salmon would have been nice too), with roast sweet potatoes, creamy leeks, minted peas, dilled carrots (the Easter bunny’s favourite) and purple sprouting broccoli.

For dessert, if you’re not gorging on chocolate, my choice would be a carrot cake, though I don’t fancy making one myself, and the store-bought versions often can’t be trusted.

But if you fancy something a bit different, there are lots of “healthy” Easter recipes floating around, and I thought these sounded quite nice:

Herbed yogurt cheese
This would make a great snack if you're having many people to dinner. The recipe calls for 'yogurt cheese' but natural yogurt, allowed to drain, would work fine, as would Quark.

Ham, Gruyere and spinach bread pudding
This is a good alternative should you not want to have roast meat or fish as your main course. It depends on what time of day you're eating, but I like this for an Easter brunch. Plenty of healthy ingredients, and it makes use of egg whites and skim milk where possible.

Minted peas and rice with feta
I've never thought of serving rice of Easter, but why not? I think it would work well as a cold salad too. I've been thinking about making a warm rice salad for awhile now, so you may see something similar to this pop up here later this week.

Smoked salmon tartare
Love, love, love this. And radishes are coming into season as well. And - and! - smoked salmon is reduced in price at all major supermarkets lately, so there must be a glut of salmon coming in. This would work as a fabulous canape or pre-dinner munchie.

Walnut cake with a hint of rosemary
Call me crazy, but I think these cakes are far more preferable to endless handfuls of chocolate. Rosemary is such a wonderfully inspired idea! I imagine biting into the cake and receiving that amazing aroma in my nose.

Carrot cake
In honour of the Easter bunny itself. I adore carrot cake. (I say that now, but I never did as a child. Perhaps this is my mother's influence - she's not a dessert-lover, but has always been partial to a bit of carrot cake.) The recipe doesn't look that simple though, I'm afraid...

In any case, happy Easter to everyone - I look forward to hearing what delights you ate on the day!