It’s summer time, and with that comes the necessity to be a bit more creative with your cooking for the kids. Just because the kids are home all day doesn’t mean you can’t have some fun by tweaking typical recipes and making them fun kid foods.
We decided to be creative today with our lunch and I thought I would share our inspiration.
My daughter was so proud of herself as I let her have full reign with her hotdog creation. By the second plate, we added in a few goldfish to swim in the “sea.”
I have some Pampered Chef Bread pans that are in the shape of hearts, stars, circles etc. When I make homemade french bread, I use these to shape some fun loaves. You can also use the store bought dough to put in the pans. It’s a really fun option for sandwiches, as well as using cookie cutters to cut your bread, cheese and sandwich meats into unique shapes.
Our favorite Smiley Face Pancakes always makes the kids smile. Again, it only takes 30 extra seconds to make their meal memorable.
I’m trying to have fresh veggies easily accessible. When I have vegetables already washed, peeled and cut in containers, it’s so easy to have healthy snacks on hand without a hassle. Fresh cut broccoli and ranch get gobbled immediately. In fact, any raw veggies with ranch are a hit.
Remember “Ants on a log?” Again, a fun way to incorporate fun kid foods without bringing out the junk. I love fresh cut apples, but have you had them with peanut butter lately? Yum!
As I was reading this little man was practically in my lap asking what everything was. He wanted to make the Octopus for daddy and wanted the pancakes for breakfast today. LOL So definitely appealing to my 4 year old. He also got excited about the raisins on the ants on a log.
More of a Christmas-break food idea, I gave my boys flour tortillas and had them fold and cut them like you would paper snowflakes. Then we used these to top our quesadillas. Fun lunch!
I like to make a “caramel” dip for apples. I just mix reduced fat cream cheese, yogurt, a little sugar and caramel flavoring. Whip it till it’s light and fluffy. Serve with sliced apples. To make the peanut butter more “dipable” I just mix equal parts peanut butter & yogurt, whip till it’s fluffy. Kids seem to love anything they can DIP. lol
When I make pancakes, I put some into a squirt bottle (a clear plastic bottle I got for doing chocolates but you can get them at the dollar store for ketchup, etc.). Then I make either their names, numbers or other designs. It allows you to create lots of designs much easier than trying to pour them! I also add food coloring to the batter to make it more interesting as well.
You can also make homemade donuts by cutting a hole in the middle of a canned biscuit then frying it. Once done, shake in a paper bag with powdered sugar or a cinnamon sugar mix. Easy, fun and cheap!
My mom created a dish we call curly wieners and rice. Slice hot dogs lengthwise into four pieces; cook in a saucepan with a can of tomato soup. The acid in the tomato causes the hot dogs to curl. Serve over rice. Simple, surprisingly tasty, and how often do you get to curl your food? Also, it’s a pretty inexpensive and quick meal.