Peeps in a Jar

I saw this as I was searching for some gift ideas for cooking with kids.

Ingredients in the Jar:

Crush 1 sleeve of graham crackers to crumbs( or you can use the box of crumbs) and layer 2/3 of the crumbs in a 1 qt. canning jar. I have a canning funnel so that really helped when pouring the crumbs and M&Ms into the jar.

Place 8 marshmallow bunny peeps standing up, facing out around the inside of the jar pressing them against the glass -- this is the tricky part so I used a wooden spoon to gently squish and press those bunnies into a circle.

Carefully, spoon the remaining crumbs in the center of the jar to support the bunnies, pressing down to keep it snug.

On top of this pour 1 ½ c. Easter M&Ms.

Spoon 1/3 c. Brown Sugar into center of M&Ms gently pressing with a spoon. You have to shake it a little to get the ingredients to settle so they fit -- if they don't all fit in, just eat those extra M&Ms!

Decorate the lid of the jar however you please and tie ribbons around the neck of the jar with a tag attached that has the baking directions.

And here are those directions to put on the recipe card
Directions:

Empty the jar contents into a bowl.

Melt ½ c. butter, add 1 teaspoon vanilla. Pour this over the dry ingredients, mixing well. Pat into a greased 8x8 baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Cool and cut into bars. leave Place the bunnies on top; then bake as directed.

Creative versions of these "peeps in a jar" for other holidays now that there are ghost Peeps and Christmas tree Peeps... don't you just LOVE Peeps -- and marshmallows are fat free!

Natural dyes for Easter Eggs

Sometimes take on a bit of the flavor of what they died with... cherry and onion flavored eggs are a bit icky.

Directions:
Put eggs in as large a pan as possible. The process works better if the eggs aren't stacked on top of each other. This may mean you can only do 3 or 4 at a time (but that will give you the chance to try more than one kind of natural dye)
Fill the pan with water so that it's about 1/2 inch over the eggs
Add the natural dye material it takes a fair amount of the dye... for example, 1 cup of cherries

Bring water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes.
With a strainer, remove the eggs onto a bowl covered with paper towel.
If the eggs aren't as dark as you'd like, remove the paper towel from the bowl and add the cooled strained liquid you originally used to dye the eggs.
Let sit overnight.


Natural Dyes you might try:
Red/Pink: Fresh beets, canned cherries or frozen, crushed cranberries (not cranberry sauce or jelly)
Orange: yellow onion skins
Light Yellow: lemon peels, orange peels or ground cumin
Golden yellow: Ground Tumeric (a kind of spice)
Light Spinach
Blue: Red cabbage leaves or blueberries (crushed)
- Pre-boil red cabbage leaves for 30 minutes.
Purple: Grape juice (Welches)