Meow!

Easy, simple, and delish!  Right up my alley. Here kitty, kitty!  This sandwich, or sammie, since it is pretty tiny and just an addition to the full dinner, is a peanut butter and honey Panini pressed sammie.  I like to press the sandwiches if I am going to do some cookie-cutting to them because they cut much cleaner, but that is just my opinion.  Maybe someone else has a hint to get it to cut cleaner.  I try to let the sandwich cool about 10 minutes before cutting so it does not just ooze out the sides…but if the boys are hungry, I’ll certainly cut quicker!

 

The eyes are raisins, the nose is my trusty chocolate yogurt covered raisin, and the whiskers are cucumber peels (using a trusty zester/stripper tool, similar to this one)

Augustus below, is loving checking it out, and even though he tends to freak out when food is “broken” – or cut in half, falls off, half eaten - this cat was too yummy to be upset about it not staying whole…whew!

Cookie Cutters are for More Than Just Cookies

Don’t get me wrong, using cookie cutters for cookies is a great way to use them!  This week, we’ve done sandwiches out of cookie cutters (see bat shaped sammies in the last post), but how using a cookie cutter as a rice mold, or an egg mold? 

Unfortunately, the boys did not like the rice dish – I know better than try a mayonnaise based dish, but heck, I'll keep trying.  However, they were impressed to have pumpkins on their plates at lunch time.  They just love Halloween. 

Tonight, Rals asked for “eggies” for dinner, so that is what we got. In the spirit of Halloween and making food fun, I figured I would try the mold idea again.  Scrambled eggs in the shape of a pumpkin and Frankenstein courtesy of our newest cookie cutters.  Then, I stuck a few veggies on as faces, and voila, dinner!  I put the eggs in the cookie cutter hot, and let them cool a bit, and they stayed together really well.  While putting together dinner, I made up some banana ghosts, or something sort of Halloweenie.  Heck, throw candy corn in it and just about anything looks Halloweenie. I wish the pictures were better…the boys were hungry and they were not about waiting for me to take pictures of their food!

Caterpillars!

Today’s creativity centered around caterpillars.  Feeding four, yes, count them four two and a half year olds every other Friday needs creativity, right?  So today, I sliced some cucumbers in rounds and then in half.  Stacked them up and put a toothpick through the stack. The toothpicks went through just enough to stick chocolate covered raisins and little broccoli spears between the first two slices of cucumber with a bit of hummus to help them adhere.  On the second set, I used black beans for the eyes…probably a better taste combo – but they kids all seemed to like both combos just fine.  Too cute!  Enjoy!

      

For lunch, we also enjoyed bat sandwiches, and owl snack “sammies.”  Best part was that ALL the food was gone!  Even the green bean rail road sticks.

Eat, Love, Play

I am no food expert, as a matter of fact, if you really know me, you know I don’t cook anything but a few easy meals.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE food.  Love it!  Just don't want to cook it!  Except, for the boys; I really try to make all their food.  We, my husband and I, have made almost all of their food from the beginning.  The boys just turned two and a half last month. I think our adventure into making all our own baby food has made the boys truly great eaters.  However, all kids present a challenge of some kind when it comes to mealtimes, right?  Please tell me you answered “right” – if no, then, buh-bye.  Not trying to be rude, I just don’t want to waste your time! 

Our latest food challenge is getting the boys to eat while we are at play dates.  How mean, I want to make them eat while they are in the middle of trying to have fun!  So why not make the food part fun, too?  I belong to an amazing moms group.  Thankfully, one of the moms shared this web site with us recently. http://www.anotherlunch.com/

The ideas sparked something in me and I have kind of been taken over by making food cute, fun, and easy for our toddlers to eat.  So much so, that I have decided to start yet another blog.  My first one is all about our boys.  I am mom to identical twin boys, a pathological photo taker, a ridiculously active mom, and a lifelong picky eater.  Not wanting the boys to eat like me, I strive to instill great eating habits.  My mission is to continue their healthy eating habits, so they will eat better than me and stay healthy.  It seems like everyone who hears that the boys are awesome eaters always come back with "yeah, mine started out that way, too, but now they won't eat anything" or "just wait, you too will suffer the picky eater syndrome!"  Hopefully, this journey into making food fun will help divert the dreaded picky eater habits!  Enjoy the blog and feel free to leave comments and suggestions if you too, are on this journey, or have been here before! 

Thanks,
Brooke

Fruit not included on this plate...they got it as a special treat after lunch!

BTW - the dinner above also included a banana as an appetizer while I was putting the face together:)