My "Healthier" Easter Basket

I'm not the type of person who would like to receive an Easter Basket since too much candy or goodies at once literally makes me sick to my stomach - and I just don't feel that I need that in my life.  On the other hand, it's absolutely a blast to make one for someone else. So I'm going to show you the "lighter" Easter Basket I made for my boyfriend. (I put that word in quotes because this is not exactly 100% healthy.)

Since I'm a college student not making any money, I had to use the resources at hand and I converted this Victoria's Secret gift box into an Easter basket.  He's doesn't know I made him this "basket," but he does know I have a "surprise" for him.  He's definitely going to get the wrong impression when he sees this:

But then once he opens it, he'll probably be more excited once he sees this:

 And a closer look:

Mmmmm....

I know what you're thinking: "That can't possibly be heathly!?!" - But, I did warn you... It's only slightly lower in calories.

First up: Tuesday when I got home from class, there was a box from FedEx waiting for me on the couch.  To my surprise I opened it to find FREE SAMPLES of Skinny Cow's new chocolate candies!!  (I won these for being a fan of Skinny Cow on Facebook.)

The Heavenly Crisp chocolate wafer bars are 110 calories each (3 PointsPlus), and the Dreamy Clusters come in pouches of 6 clusters for 120 calories (4 PointsPlus.)

Admittedly, the stats are a little high for how small they were, but they were absolutely delicious.  I put half of each box in the basket.

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Next we have: Cinnamon Toast Crunch Milk 'n Cereal Bar, Honey Nut Cheerios Milk 'n Cereal Bar, and Golden Grahams Chocolate Marshmallow Treats.  I only got these because my boyfriend is one of those people who never has time to eat breakfast before work, and I figured even if they're not terribly good for him, at least he'll eat something before he runs out of the house.

The Cinnamon Toast Crunch bar is 180 calories (5 PointsPlus), the Honey Nut Cheerios bar is 160 calories (4 PointsPlus), and the Golden Grahams bar is 130 calories (3 PointsPlus).

I had one of each and put the rest in the basket.  Again, the nutritional info is a little off-putting, but these bars were HUGE!  I don't think I'd go out of my way to buy them again because they do have A LOT of sugar, but they were pretty satisfying for a one-time treat.

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Now the fun stuff: The home-made treats!!! 

Let's get the least calorie-friendly out of the way first:

I saw this recipe in Food Network Magazine for Adam Gertler's Kid's Candy Cookies about a week ago, and I just HAD to try it.  I figured this was the perfect opportunity to make them, have a few for myself, and give the rest away.  I did use Splenda and Splenda's Brown Sugar Blend in place of the real stuff, but other than that there is really nothing redeeming about these.

I made some substitutions based on preference and taste: I left out the toffee pieces, used Reese's Pieces instead of peanut butter chips, and since I couldn't find Pretzel M & M's I just used Milk Chocolate M & M's.

They turned out HUGE!

Nice colors for springtime =)

All of these went in a Tupperware in the basket.

They're delicious!

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Ok, so I promise you, now we are finally at the healthy part.

I wanted to stay on the breakfast theme, so I made some of Hungry Girl's Big Fat Blueberry Muffins.

The recipe makes 6: one for me, one for my brother, one for my father, one for my mother, and two for my boyfriend in the Tupperware in the basket.

I put the apple there to show a size comparison... They were a good size.

One muffin is roughly 140 calories and 4 PointsPlus. They were nothing spectacular, but they were tasty and healthy.

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Lastly, I couldn't resist making Hungry Girl's Banana Split Bread from her new 300 Under 300 cookbook.

Nice THICK slices!

Melt-in-your-mouth chocolate chips and strawberry filling.

I was so excited to eat it, I couldn't even wait for it to cool off - it was still steaming on my plate!

One serving is 1/8 of a 9x5 loaf for about 170 calories and 4 PointsPlus.

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To be honest, I'm not sure if my boyfriend even likes blueberry muffins or banana bread, but I had such a good time baking them that I don't care!  The best part for me is that FOR ONCE - I KEPT SOMETHING A SECRET!!  I'm not good at surprises because I have kind of a big mouth, but this should be a good one.  I can't wait to see his face when he sees a Victoria's Secret box though.

Come back after Easter to see how my Easter dinner and dessert turn out.

Until then... Happy Eating,

Steph =)

P.S. Did anyone else try a slimmed-down Easter basket, did you just decide to indulge for a day, or did you skip it copletely?