The gentle spring sun becomes more and more favorable to us every day. It is during this period of the awakening of nature that our soul also awakens, on the eve of Easter - the brightest and most long-awaited Christian holiday that follows Great Lent, aimed at cleansing the spirit and body of a believer.

Easter or the Resurrection of Christ is one of the oldest Christian solemn dates when the resurrection of Jesus Christ is celebrated.

Easter period

Christians celebrate Easter for 40 days - as long as Christ himself appeared after the Resurrection to his disciples. Until this period, believers fast, refusing to eat animal products (meat, fish, dairy products, etc.) and alcohol. Only a few times during Great Lent it is allowed to take a meal of fish and drink wine (Annunciation and Palm Sunday). In 2013, Easter falls on May 5th.

Easter traditions and rituals

In Russia, Easter has been celebrated since the end of the 10th century. The Resurrection of Christ is a nationwide and beloved holiday, so it is not surprising that it is accompanied by many traditions, rituals and rituals that are passed down from generation to generation.

Traditionally, on the eve of Easter, people not only fasted, but also put their houses in order, made symbolic gifts and souvenirs with their own hands, dyed eggs, cooked Easter and baked Easter cakes.

On Easter, a solemn night service is performed, since this day is the most important holiday of the church calendar. The priests conduct services among their flock, and everyone who wishes to observe Great Lent can confess and take communion on this day.

With the onset of Easter night and the next forty days, it is customary to greet each other with the phrase “Christ is Risen!”, To which you need to answer “Truly Risen!”. After the greeting, it is necessary to kiss three times (to christen). On Easter days, you need to visit neighbors and exchange Easter cakes, colored eggs, souvenirs with the appropriate symbols.

Easter fire is one of the most important attributes of the holiday. It plays an important role in worship and festivities. This is a symbol of the Light of God, bringing enlightenment to all the peoples of the Earth after the Resurrection of Christ. On a bright Easter, Christians with bated breath await the ascension of the blessed fire in Jerusalem, which is then solemnly delivered to the countries of the world through the temples of different cities. Believers seek to light their candles from him. After the festive service, Christians take home lamps with fire, maintaining which for a year protects the family from misfortunes and bestows God's blessing.

After the festive service, the churches illuminate the Easter meal with holy water: Easter, Easter cakes, colored eggs, wine and those products that believers want to put on the festive table for breaking the fast after fasting. Eggs are dyed in different shades, but red remains the traditional color, as a symbol of eternal life. On Easter holidays, it is customary to put large letters “ХВ” with a lamb from cottage cheese. They try to cook dishes for the Easter table on Maundy Thursday in order to devote themselves to prayer on Good Friday.

In the last week on the eve of Easter (Holy Week), the bells in Orthodox churches are silent, and on Easter itself, the blagovest begins to ring joyfully and solemnly. All the following week after the Resurrection of Christ, anyone who wishes has the opportunity to climb the bell tower of the temple and ring in honor of the holiday.

Recipes for the main culinary attributes of the Resurrection of Christ

Kulich is one of the dishes that must be on the festive table on the day of Christ's Resurrection. To make the celebration a success, it would be useful to use the traditional Easter cake recipe presented below.

Easter cake traditional

Ingredients:

For test:

Live yeast - 25 grams;
- milk - 200 ml;
- sugar - 1 glass;
- three eggs;
- flour - 800 grams;
- vegetable oil - 120 ml;
- butter - 100 grams;
- a mixture of raisins and dried apricots - 100 grams.

For glaze:

- egg whites - 2 pieces;
- powdered sugar - 50 grams.

Cooking fragrant holiday baking begins with the fact that the yeast is thoroughly kneaded in a bowl. Then 100 ml of milk, two tablespoons of flour and two tablespoons of sugar are added to them. The mixture of ingredients is placed for half an hour in a warm place.

Meanwhile, in a separate container, mix three eggs, butter and sunflower oil, a glass of sugar and 100 ml of milk. The yeast mixture is added to the same container, which should rise slightly. Everything is mixed well, covered with a towel and left at room temperature for an hour.

After an hour, small pieces of raisins and dried apricots are added to the mixture, which should be well mixed with the dough. After that, the dough should come up. As soon as it rises a little, you need to slightly crush it, repeating the procedure 3 times. Next, the dough mass must be kneaded for 30 minutes, adding a little flour. The dough is divided into parts and distributed in baking molds, which must first be greased with butter. Easter cakes are baked for 40 minutes in an oven (temperature 200 degrees).

Ready Easter cakes are removed from the oven, covered with a clean towel and thus cooled.

Glaze is made by whipping powdered sugar with egg whites with a mixer until a homogeneous white mass is obtained. The tops of each cooled cake are smeared with finished glaze, after which they are sprinkled with multi-colored confectionery powder.

The calorie content of the dish is 360 kilocalories per 100 grams: 6.9 grams of protein, 14.7 grams of fat, 50.1 grams of carbohydrates.

How to reduce the calorie content of the main Easter dishes

Experienced housewives, trying to keep fit, replace high-calorie wheat flour in Easter cake with rye flour. Instead of chicken eggs, it is better to use quail eggs, which contain fewer calories. For krashenok, it is also better to take quail eggs. To reduce the amount of carbohydrates in the cake, it is advisable to replace granulated sugar with honey or fructose.

Meat dishes on the Easter table should be presented from veal or rabbit meat, as these products are considered lighter and more dietary, fish is also welcome.

Recipe for a dietary cake on kefir

Ingredients:

Kefir - 500 ml;
- honey - 500 grams;
- quail eggs - 9 pieces;
- vinegar;
- soda;
- rye flour - 800 grams;
- a mixture of dried fruits, nuts and candied fruits - 100 grams.

Kefir, soda quenched with vinegar, and eggs are mixed, then flour is slowly added to them. The consistency of the mixture should become elastic, and not liquid, as in pancakes. The dough must be well kneaded, excluding the possibility of lumps. Dried fruits, candied fruits and nuts are recommended to be chopped with a blender and only then added to the dough. Next, the mass is distributed over baking molds and sent to the oven for 45 minutes (200 degrees). To decorate the top of the cake, you can make whipped proteins or melt chocolate with vegetable oil.

The calorie content of the dish is 167.0 kilocalories per 100 grams: 4.2 grams of protein, 1.1 grams of fat, 35.2 grams of carbohydrates.

Home decorations for Easter

Decorating your home with Easter items and original decorations is an exciting and fun activity that all family members can take part in. So, what kind of decorative themed elements can you make on your own?

"Miracle basket". In an ordinary small wicker basket with a high handle, put woolen threads of different green shades, they will play the role of spring grass. On top of the impromptu "greenery" put multi-colored dyes, artificial flowers, fabric butterflies. Wrap the handle of the basket with a green ribbon and a beautiful bow. Such an unusual Easter basket can become a festive table decoration, a gift for a loved one or a creative decor for the kitchen.

"Easter Ball" In any store for decor, we buy an inexpensive ball of threads and wire, wrap it around with multi-colored ribbons, artificial flowers, sequins, plastic dyes, decorative cherries, bows, feathers and everything that comes to mind and will be at hand. Such Easter balls are hung under the ceilings of the hallway, nursery, living room.

"Easter Tree" To create this composition, you will need a dry volumetric branch of any tree. A sprig of suitable size is placed in a vase and decorated like a Christmas tree. But this time, not New Year's toys are used, but plastic paints of different colors, fabric birds, decorative butterflies, ribbons. Willow twigs can be used instead of the usual bare branches.

Goodness and joy to you on the bright holiday of Easter!

04.05.17

Easter cake with raisins is a traditional Easter product that has a centuries-old history. Now you can either cook it at home on your own, or buy it during the Easter period in almost any store. Easter cake is an integral part of the traditional holiday table. By and large, it is easy to bake it yourself - many families even have a traditional recipe that has been passed down from generation to generation.

For those who want to try cooking this Easter product on their own for the first time, there are many recipes of varying complexity. However, the ingredients in most of them are similar and fairly standard.

Traditional raisin cake recipe

The traditional Easter cake recipe, according to most sources, includes the following ingredients:

For glaze: 100 g of powdered sugar, 2 proteins.

Confectionery sprinkles for decoration - at the discretion of the cook.

If you add cottage cheese and halve the amount of butter and eggs, then the cake will be more juicy. This option is called cottage cheese cake and it is now the most popular. Many consider it tastier than the traditional homemade Easter cake.

Calorie Easter cake with raisins

Everyone who tries to adhere to the concept of a healthy diet, during the Easter period, asks the question: what is the energy value of Easter cake?

About the store, we can say quite accurately that being saturated with proteins, fats and carbohydrates, it contains approximately 330 Kcal. In addition, it contains a large number of various microelements and some of them will probably not be useful for the body. Like, for example, a food supplement that keeps store-bought cakes fresh for so long.

The nutritional value of homemade cake with raisins and its benefits will be higher, because when cooking, you know exactly the composition of the product and can adjust the calorie content at your own discretion. The energy value of homemade cake with raisins can be calculated by knowing the approximate calorie content of each product.

A traditional homemade cake, according to one of the most popular recipes, has a calorie content of about 300-320 Kcal, for cottage cheese it can be slightly higher, depending on the properties of the cottage cheese used - primarily its fat content.

Of course, even at a rate of 2000-2500 kcal per day, which is standard for a person over eighteen years old, living a fairly active life, this is quite a lot, especially after long-term nutritional regulation, which is essentially fasting. That is why breaking the fast, which means breaking the fast, is recommended carefully in most sources.

I must say that for all the calorie content, an ordinary Easter cake with raisins cooked at home contains a large amount of proteins, fats and carbohydrates, as well as other useful nutrients necessary for the body. Kulich has great nutritional value and is useful both for the body coming out of fasting and for the body of a person adhering to a healthy diet.

It should also be noted that the rate of calorie intake per day varies quite a lot for people of different sex, age and lifestyle, so for some, such a calorie content as even the simplest Easter cake may be excessive due to individual characteristics.

Each person can and should decide for himself whether this Easter product is useful for his nutrition system.

Easter is approaching, which means that boiled chicken eggs, traditionally painted in bright colors, will appear on every table.


On Easter Sunday, according to custom, families will compete to see whose egg is stronger and, of course, after eating them. And later, for a few more days, adults and children will have to eat up Easter Easter eggs, some will take them with them to work and study. In this regard, the question arises, how many eggs can you eat without harm to health?


Calorie bomb?


It is well known that 50 grams of hard-boiled eggs account for about 75 kilocalories. Its nutritional value is 0.5 g of carbohydrates, 6.5 g of protein and 5 g of monosaturated fat, which are found in the yolk.


It would seem that there are few calories, but hard-boiled eggs are digested by the stomach for a very long time - at least 3 hours. They definitely shouldn't be eaten at night. On the contrary, soft-boiled eggs are easy to digest, and nutritionists do not prohibit including them in dinner. By the way, the opinion that raw eggs are healthier is wrong. Raw egg white is poorly digested and burdens the stomach. In addition, in raw form, the risk of infection with salmonellosis increases. Remember to wash your eggs thoroughly before eating.


But the difference between homemade and factory eggs is very obvious. Laying hens, in the conditions of industrial poultry farming, practically do not move, which leads to a shift in the balance of fatty acids and other changes in composition. Many consider factory-made eggs to be dietary, but this is not entirely true. Eggs of domestic chickens are much more useful due to the amount of trace elements and vitamins, and even under conditions of high calorie content, they are more useful than factory ones.


There is also an opinion that this product raises cholesterol levels. And indeed, there is a lot of cholesterol in eggs: the average egg is 213 mg. According to nutritionists, a person is not recommended to take more than 300 mg of cholesterol per day, and according to these calculations, one egg covers its limit by more than two-thirds. An increase in total cholesterol in the blood is dangerous for humans, but it has practically nothing to do with chicken eggs. In addition, studies have shown that this product does not increase bad cholesterol, on the one hand, it increases the amount of cholesterol in the blood, on the other hand, it reduces its concentration with the help of phospholipids.


How many in pieces?


Breaking down eggs into trace elements can scare anyone. And it is harmful, and it is not useful. But nutritionists do not advise completely abandoning this very useful product in reasonable quantities. After all, eggs allow the body to get healthy fats and proteins for humans. On Easter days, it is worth controlling the number of eggs consumed so that these few days do not damage the figure and health. For a healthy diet, it is not recommended to eat more than three eggs a day.

Easter cake rich in vitamins and minerals such as: vitamin A - 22.2%, vitamin B1 - 53.3%, vitamin B2 - 55.6%, choline - 17.6%, vitamin B5 - 14%, vitamin B9 - 11, 9%, vitamin H - 15%, vitamin PP - 11.6%, phosphorus - 14.9%, chlorine - 17.3%, cobalt - 25%, manganese - 24.8%, molybdenum - 11.3%

What is useful Easter cake

• Vitamin A is responsible for normal development, reproductive function, skin and eye health, and maintaining immunity.
• Vitamin B1 is part of the most important enzymes of carbohydrate and energy metabolism, providing the body with energy and plastic substances, as well as the metabolism of branched-chain amino acids. The lack of this vitamin leads to serious disorders of the nervous, digestive and cardiovascular systems.
• Vitamin B2 participates in redox reactions, increases the susceptibility of color by the visual analyzer and dark adaptation. Inadequate intake of vitamin B2 is accompanied by a violation of the condition of the skin, mucous membranes, impaired light and twilight vision.
• Choline is part of lecithin, plays a role in the synthesis and metabolism of phospholipids in the liver, is a source of free methyl groups, acts as a lipotropic factor.
• Vitamin B5 participates in protein, fat, carbohydrate metabolism, cholesterol metabolism, the synthesis of a number of hormones, hemoglobin, promotes the absorption of amino acids and sugars in the intestine, supports the function of the adrenal cortex. A lack of pantothenic acid can lead to damage to the skin and mucous membranes.
• Vitamin B9 as a coenzyme involved in the metabolism of nucleic and amino acids. Folate deficiency leads to a disruption in the synthesis of nucleic acids and protein, resulting in inhibition of cell growth and division, especially in rapidly proliferating tissues: bone marrow, intestinal epithelium, etc. Insufficient folate intake during pregnancy is one of the causes of prematurity, malnutrition, and congenital deformities and developmental disorders of the child. A strong relationship was shown between the level of folate, homocysteine ​​and the risk of cardiovascular disease.
• Vitamin H participates in the synthesis of fats, glycogen, amino acid metabolism. Insufficient intake of this vitamin can lead to disruption of the normal condition of the skin.
• Vitamin PP participates in redox reactions of energy metabolism. Inadequate vitamin intake is accompanied by a violation of the normal state of the skin, gastrointestinal tract and nervous system.
• Phosphorus takes part in many physiological processes, including energy metabolism, regulates acid-base balance, is part of phospholipids, nucleotides and nucleic acids, is necessary for the mineralization of bones and teeth. Deficiency leads to anorexia, anemia, rickets.
• Chlorine necessary for the formation and secretion of hydrochloric acid in the body.
• Cobalt is part of vitamin B12. Activates the enzymes of fatty acid metabolism and folic acid metabolism.
• Manganese participates in the formation of bone and connective tissue, is part of the enzymes involved in the metabolism of amino acids, carbohydrates, catecholamines; necessary for the synthesis of cholesterol and nucleotides. Insufficient consumption is accompanied by growth retardation, disorders in the reproductive system, increased fragility of bone tissue, disorders of carbohydrate and lipid metabolism.
• Molybdenum is a cofactor of many enzymes that provide the metabolism of sulfur-containing amino acids, purines and pyrimidines.

A complete guide to the most useful products you can see in the application

The table sags from baked meat, cheesecakes, homemade sausages. You think to yourself: “The diet will wait 1-2 days, nothing terrible will happen, and then I will pull myself together again.” This is mistake! Your exhausted body at the pace of a sprinter will make huge reserves. What strategy is recommended to choose before the festive table?
Choose meals that contain the least amount of calories. In addition, remember that you need to put a small portion of food on the plate.

1 Eat enough to not feel hungry

Your treat should be : vegetable salads, salads with lean meat or cheese (try to choose salads that do not contain mayonnaise), i.e. salads dressed with olive or sunflower oil, as well as vegetables in their natural form. Why You Can't Eat? Enough Choose foods that are low in calories. This gives a feeling of satiety, especially if you eat often, but little by little, and it is best to drink a glass of water when you are very hungry. By the way, we also need to enrich the body with valuable vitamins, which are in short supply in spring. How many calories? 3 tablespoons of lettuce (lettuce, tomatoes and radishes sprinkled with a teaspoon of olive oil) is 100 kcal; a plate of vegetable salad with yogurt - 200 kcal.

2 Eat without remorse

You don't have to give up traditional Easter dishes : stuffed eggs, aspic of poultry meat and jellied meat. In the latter case, there is one condition: the jelly must be cooked on low-fat broth. Why are these recommendations ? because There are few fats and carbohydrates. In addition, the egg and jelly, as they say, are one of the most nutritious foods. Egg white is easier to digest than meat protein. The broth, however, is a balm for the stomach. How many calories? The egg itself is about 70 kcal, stuffed eggs - about 200 calories, jelly (glass) - 50 calories, broth - 250 kcal.

3 You can eat a small portion

This group includes various types of yeast dough, as well as traditional Easter cake (with the addition of dried fruits and nuts), shortbread dough with a small amount of vegetable or butter, homemade cookies, as well as ham and lean meat . Why is it better to eat it ? Because baking contains much less fat and generally less sweet. Thus, it does not cause digestive discomfort in the stomach. Baked goods and stews contain small amounts of animal fats and are rich in protein, which improves metabolism. How many calories? Easter cake (large piece) - 280 calories, 3 slices (100 g) of baked veal - 124 calories, 100 g of stewed turkey - about 90 kcal.

4 Avoid if you can

Most harmful to your body cakes with cream and whipped cream, including choux pastry, some cheesecakes and curds, meat pates, smoked barrel and fatty sausages . What's wrong with them? In smoked meats and sausages contains a lot of fat, and cakes contain a lot of sugar. Remember that nutritionists advise eating lean ham, puff pastry, which contains both fats and sugar. So if you can't resist any of this group, then try a piece of pie that has been made at home. So you will be sure that there is not a lot of fat in it. How many calories? 100 g of a pie (two slices 1 cm thick) is about 360 calories, 100 g of sausage is 270 kcal; a slice of cake (about 180 g) is 550 kcal, a serving (100 g) of Easter cake with nuts and dried fruits is 440 kcal, and a slice of cheesecake (120 g) is 305 calories.