Crafty Carnival Treats for the Kiddos

It's easy to get swept up in the Mardi Gras fun with lots of sugary king cake or fatty fried chicken.

Here are some healthful, Carnival-themed treats that are also fun to create!

Pineapple Crowns

Ingredients:

• Large Pineapple Slices
• Green Seedless Grapes
• Blueberries

How to make:

Using a small kitchen knife, cut two small triangles along one side of the pineapple slice. Place pineapple slice on a plate with points facing away from you.

Slice green grapes in half and line them along the straight edge of the pineapple slice. Place one blueberry at the top of each point of the crown.

Enjoy!

Please supervise children if allowing them to slice.

Frozen Yogurt Dublouns

Ingredients:

• 1-2 individual-sized cups of Greek Yogurt in purple, green and gold (I used Chobani Key Lime, Oikos Blueberry, and Yoplait Lemon)
• Quart-sized Plastic Bags

How to make it:

Spoon each flavor of yogurt into a separate quart-sized bag. Snip one corner of the bag and pipe onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper (about 1-inch in diameter.)

Place in freezer for 1 hour or until completely hard and frozen. Pop doubloons off the parchment paper using your hands or a spatula.

Store in an airtight container in the freezer until ready to serve.

Purple, Green & Gold Confetti Popcorn

Ingredients:

• Popcorn (I used Angie's Boom Chicka Pop with Sea Salt pre-popped popcorn)
• Coconut Oil
• Honey or Maple Syrup
• Food Coloring

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Place 1 cup of popped popcorn into a sealed plastic bag.

Repeat two more times. (One bag for each color: Purple, Green, Gold.)

In three separate bowls, mix together ¼ cup of honey and ¼ cup of coconut oil.

Add food coloring to each bowl to create one purple, one green, and one gold mixture.

Pour each mixture into a separate bag of popcorn. Seal the bag and shake to disperse the mixture covering all the popcorn.

Pour the popcorn onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Spread the popcorn into an even layer.

Place tray into the oven and allow to dry out. This can take between 15-30 minutes.

Be sure to keep an eye on it though to avoid burning. Allow to cool completely in the oven before breaking it up and placing it into a serving bowl.

Peanut Butter Celery Floats

Ingredients:

• Celery
• Peanut Butter (could also use spreadable cheese)
• Banana Chips
• Dried Cranberries

How to make it:

Cut celery stalks into about 3-inch pieces. Fill the inside with peanut butter.

Add a few dried cranberries to the peanut butter sticking up vertically. (There are your riders.)

Stick a banana chip in the peanut butter on one side of the celery stick. (This is your decoration.)

Add 4 dried cranberries to the sides of the celery stick using the peanut butter. (These are the wheels.)

Create as many floats as you want in your parade!