Derailed by Peeps (and other Easter goodies)

Saturday started out so well.  You will recall from the previous post that I made it to Weight Watchers.  I even ate a healthy breakfast and made it to the gym.  And then I went home to do some baking for Sunday.  I may or may not have made three different things.  Those may or may not have included Rice Krispy treats.  And after forming the treats I may or may not have had to clean my fingers (by eating the sticky gooey-ness off my hands).  So the weakness of the weekend begins as I lose all count of how may Bites, Licks and Tastes I have as I finish those treats and make and frost a birthday cake before heading out to a wine tasting. 

I could also sum up that entire paragraph by saying, "I'll be eating a lot of salad this week."  Because I refuse to spend any energy focused on negative self talk about whether or not I behaved myself this wekend.  I'll just assume all of my 35 weekly allowance points are gone and move on.  And move more.  Hello gym, here I come 5 days this week.

Now to reward you for making it this far in my post I present you with the pictures I promised.  As I mentioned over the weekend, I wasn't making just your run-of-the-mill crispy rice bars, I was making Easter goodies!  The idea is simple (and probably as many ways of doing it as there are people who have tried it).  Here's what I did

• Fill the cups of regular muffin pay 3/4 of the way with your regular mix of cereal, butter and marshmellows
• Press and form the mixture into a bowl (or nest)
• Add "grass" (I used some candy grass I found in the easter goodies aisle, but coconut works well also)
• Add "eggs" (Again, you have options, I used peanut M&Ms)

Ahh, they already look so tasty and festive!

For an added element of fun, take another Easter staple candy (Marshmellow Peeps) and put him on top of the nest:

To quote the funny man of the day:  "Hurry and eat them before the eggs hatch.  I don't want another Peep outta ya!" -Merv

These are so cute when they're done and would be so easy to wrap up as individual treats for sending home.  I didn't plan on having leftovers, so none of mine are currently seeking new homes. 

I did however have leftover ingredients so I turned them into a tasty little indoor egg hunt :)

And now that we're all in the mood for Easter Goodies, I would like to present to you some viritual Easter baskets!  Hershey has partnered with the Children’s Miracle Network and is celebrating their legacy of making a difference.  This Easter season, Hershey’s will donate up to a total of $5,000 to the Children’s Miracle Network together with bloggers. Here are the rules for HERSHEY’S BETTER BASKET BLOG HOP:

• Copy and paste these rules to your blog post.
• Create a blog post giving a virtual Easter Basket to another blogger – you can give as many Virtual Baskets as you want.
• Link back to person who gave you an Easter Basket.
• Let each person you are giving a Virtual Easter Basket know you have given them a Basket.
• Leave your link at BetterBasket.info/BlogHop comment section. You can also find the official rules of this #betterbasket blog hop, and more information about Better Basket with Hershey’s there.
• Hershey’s is donating $10 per each blog participating to the Better Basket Blog Hop to Children’s Miracle Network (up to total of $5,000 by blog posts written by April 4th, 2010).
• Please note that only one blog post by each blog url will count towards the donation.

Now that we hae that out of the way, let's get to the fun part!  Angie, Rachel, Netters, Brittany (and anyone else who wants to help themselves!) here's a virtual basket for you:

If you're up to it, go and share and blog about it!