Bryce Dallas Howard on her favorite childhood food tradition: 'We're definitely a big brunch family'

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Actress Bryce Dallas Howard may have grown up in a show business family, but even with their busy schedules, priority was always given to a beloved weekly family tradition.

"Every single weekend my mom would make waffles," Howard tells Yahoo Life. "I know that seems like a simple thing, but she would make them from scratch with her own recipe. We're definitely a big brunch family."

And waffles aren't Howard's only favorite brunch food: Her mother, actress and novelist Cheryl Howard is German and would often make German pancakes, a thinner crepe-like pancake, when Howard was growing up.

Now, the mom of two tries to continue her family's brunch tradition with her own children, who are 10 and 15. "What kills me with my children is that neither one of them are big breakfast eaters," she admits.

The 41-year-old actress, whose father is actor and filmmaker Ron Howard, recently finished filming an action film and will be reprising her role of Claire Dearing in the upcoming film Jurassic World Dominion, releasing to theaters this June. She keeps up with the physical demands of her work through her diet, which she describes as a "very sort of set routine."

"Breakfast is blueberry pancakes, hash browns and bacon," she says, "I like to start my day big." The rest of her day typically includes a chicken salad or quinoa pasta for lunch and a light dinner of bone broth. Howard also integrates nutrient-dense smoothies, juices and lemonades into her daily routine.

"I was a vegan raw foodist for years in my former life, but a lot of those smoothies that I got into during that time, I'm still obsessed with," says Howard, adding that while she is no longer vegan, she does not eat gluten or eggs.

Howard chatted with Yahoo Life from a gorgeous garden erected in the heart of New York City while promoting her partnership with Lindt Chocolatiers and their iconic gold foil-wrapped bunny ahead of Easter: A natural fit, she says, since her love of chocolate is a family affair. "My mom eats chocolate for breakfast," Howard shares. "She said to me: 'Chocolate is my passion.' So, this is a dream come true. It's now my job to eat chocolate. I don't know how I managed this but I'm going to try to hold on tightly until someone kicks me out."

Like chocolate, holidays have always been important to the Howard family. "Growing up, Easter was a very, very, very big holiday for our family," she recalls. "In part, because my mom loves chocolate so much, but also the magic of it. The Easter bunny would always leave — every single year — one single big chocolate bunny, but there would also be chocolate everywhere."

For the annual event, the family would welcome neighbors, cousins and friends for not only an Easter egg hunt, but a treasure hunt as well. "It was very over-the-top and wonderful," she says. "It was such a big holiday for our family and the memories that I have for those traditions, it's such a constant."

Now that she's a parent, Howard says her focus has turned to making the same magic for her own children.

"Getting to pass that onto my kids — and now the Easter egg hunt is multi-generational and there are now grandchildren there — it's the stuff of life," she says. "It's wonderful getting to relive all of those memories. This is what these holidays are about."

Howard has been married to her husband, actor Seth Gabel, since 2006 after meeting at their alma mater, New York University. "My husband is Jewish," she says, "so it always ends up being a Passover-Easter where we're eating a lot of latkes around the clock."

This year, Passover and Easter are coinciding, but that doesn't cause any issues for the family as they embrace a "the more the merrier" attitude. "Mostly for us these traditions are about being together with family," Howard says. "We'll go through all the prayers and that kind of stuff. It's something that we just lean into — all of it."

The family's Easter and Passover plans this year? A get-together at Josh Gad's house.

"Josh Gad has been my husband's best friend since kindergarten and they grew up together in Florida," Howard shares. "Passover is always a time when we go over to the Gads' house. They do all the cooking and we do all the eating. It's always a wonderful time to be together."

So what would be in Howard's dream Easter basket?

"I was one of those kids that if there was candy with fruit in it I would say 'blah,'" shares Howard. "I just wanted a chocolate extravaganza, and that's still my attitude around it. I'm just all about chocolate."

In addition to all things chocolate, Howard says she plans to eat plenty of "latkes, sour cream and applesauce" during the celebration.

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