Candy is a large part of any holiday celebration these days and Easter is no exception. However, filling plastic eggs with sugary processed treats seems to counteract most parents’ desire to feed their children natural and healthy snacks. Traina Foods offers ideas for filling the kids’ basket with delicious treats parents can feel good about and other suggestions for incorporating healthy and yummy dried fruits into Easter feasts throughout the day.

Traina Home Grown® fruitons® are the perfect bite-sized snack to stuff into plastic eggs just exactly as they are or as part of a homemade granola with oats, nuts, seeds and dark chocolate or a fun “bunny trail mix” with fruitons, pretzels, mini animal crackers or other bite-sized snack foods. With flavors such as Sun Dried Cherry and Summer Blend featuring plums, peaches and nectarine, these sweet bites are sure to please. For a simple and colorful dessert to adorn any Easter buffet table, Traina Home Grown® fruitons® can brighten up a simple white or dark chocolate bark. The bark can also be broken into pieces, bagged and put into Easter baskets or into Easter eggs.

Lemon and dried blueberry scones make for a decidedly “springtime” nosh for an easy Easter breakfast served with coffee or tea. These are also just as delightful served after a hearty Easter dinner. Traina Foods Sun Dried Blueberries can be reconstituted using water or juice, and used in place of fresh blueberries in any scone recipe. 

Dried fruits appear in many cultural Easter celebratory foods throughout the world such as Dutch Easter Bread, Russian and Eastern European Easter Paskha (cheese molds or crustless cheesecake), so the options are endless when it comes to incorporating dried fruit into any Easter feast. For a delicious savory side dish to accompany traditional Easter ham, Traina Foods Sun Dried Tomatoes can be served with roasted asparagus or sprinkled into a fresh green salad with crunchy sugar-snap peas, salty parmesan cheese and toasted pine nuts. Another easy way to brighten up an Easter side dish is by adding Traina Foods julienned apricots and golden raisins along with a variety of fresh herbs to couscous, which can be served warm, cold or room temperature. 

The Traina Foods family encourages Easter Bunnies to fill their eggs with healthy treats this year! For more ideas on ways to use dried fruits in any recipe, visit www.trainafoods.com.