Food Creations Archives - Page 6 of 11

{What is a Golden Birthday?} Today is JDaniel’s

March 5, 2013 By Deirdre

What is a golden birthday? It is a when you turn the same age as your birthday. Today is the 5th of March and it is JDaniel’s 5th birthday! I had never heard of a golden birthday until my next door neighbor commented that this year was JDaniel’s. I am so glad he said something about it. Each person gets only one golden birthday in their lifetime and I would have hated to miss his.JDaniel has swimming lessons until after six tonight so, we decided to take him to the restaurant of his choice for dinner tonight near the place he has swimming lessons. He is saying it will be McDonald’s. I am still hoping for Schlotzsky’s Deli. It is JDaniel’s second favorite place to eat. If only he hadn’t seen that McDonald’s is putting Hexbug toys in their Happy Meals. He loves Hexbugs. I guess going to the Golden Arches for your golden birthday is a perfect choice.

I really wanted to give him a golden meal at home that my husband would be able to share too. Breakfast seemed to be the only meal we would all be home for.

It was a lot of fun trying to come up with golden foods to serve my birthday boy on his golden birthday. I had a list of several different options. While the choir was singing at the beginning of our church service on Sunday, I came up with the final meal.

Golden Birthday Breakfast

JDaniel loves doughnut holes. I decided to cut some in half and form them into a number five on a platter. He would have loved for me to keep them whole, but I didn’t want them to roll out of their number formation.

What is a Golden Birthday? – Robot Party and Cake

JDaniel also loves yogurt parfaits. He loved the St. Patrick’s Day parfait I made a few weeks ago for him and he loved the leftover strawberry and muffin parfait I made to take to the mom’s group at church last week. I decided he would love a golden birthday parfait.

What is in a golden birthday parfait?

Golden Graham cereal, apple pie filling and vanilla yogurt layered in a plastic cup and chilled over night in the refrigerator.

Apple juice was also served in pretty cups. Even apple juice looks special in a special cup.The table was decorated with golden balloons were placed on the table to make it look more like a birthday celebration. I kept the balloons in the guest bedroom closet right across from his room. He looks to peek in closets so, I was worried he would find them. Once he went to sleep, I could finally bring them downstairs.

JDaniel was thrilled to start his first day of being five with golden sunshine highlighting a golden birthday meal. My golden boy will probably be remembering this breakfast for a long time.

Did you know what is a golden birthday was?

St. Patrick’s Day Recipes for a Mother and Son Lunch

March 4, 2013 By Deirdre

When JDaniel wandered into the kitchen to see what I was making for lunch, he said, “Yuck!” He really doesn’t like peppers. When he saw me cutting them up for a green pepper and tuna salad platter, he just couldn’t hold back his feeling about it.”This isn’t a lunch for you,” I told him, “This is a lunch for me!” I was glad I had planned for two St. Patrick’s Day recipes for lunch. This recipe wouldn’t have gone over well with him.

He seemed satisfied and relieved to know that he wasn’t going to have to eat it and headed back into the living room to look at library books while I got his lunch ready.

I personally thought it end up looking delicious. The tuna salad had a little sweet pickle and mayonnaise in it. The pepper mixed with the salad was yummy. I love a little crunch in my tuna salad. The orange cheese shamrocks cut up into small pieces and mixed with the pepper and tuna were wonderful.

What was the second of the two St. Patrick’s Day recipes for lunch?

JDaniel got a cold pizza made of butternut squash spaghetti sauce, mozzarella cheese, pepperoni and fresh spinach. JDaniel loves fresh spinach. He eats it by the handful.

He also got a serving of a lime and mandarin orange jello salad with marshmallows. We made it together. I love that it has all the colors of the Irish flag in it. He just loves its taste. He will ask for it for dessert until the jello bowl is empty. I knew he would be thrilled to get it in his lunch.

Applesauce with green sugar sprinkles was also added to the lunch. Foods just seem to become special when you add sprinkles to them. JDaniel just loves to find them in his lunch.

Well, when he saw the lunch he was so happy! He loved every bit of it. Not only was it filled with favorite foods. I didn’t have any peppers in it.

Here are some more St. Patrick’s Day recipes:

Spinach Hummus with a Pepper Rainbow

Fruit and Yogurt St. Patrick’s Day Parfait

Irish Symbols in a Muffin Tin Lunch

What would be in your children’s St. Patrick’s Day Recipes for a delicious lunch?

Green Eggs and Ham- Read.Explore.Learn

February 28, 2013 By Deirdre

This year I decided to focus on the book Green Eggs and Ham for Dr. Seuss’ Birthday. I love the rhymes and the message of this book. No matter what Sam says about trying new foods he ends up eating this new food combination. He not only tries it but he likes it.

Thankfully JDaniel loves to try new things! Well, most of the time he likes to try new things.

What did we do to explore this Green Eggs and Ham?

Green Eggs and a Fancy Pancake

Dr. Seuss Activity- Green Eggs and Ham Tic Tac Toe File Folder Game and Snack

I made JDaniel a special hat shaped pancake and placed bacon and whipped cream on top of it. He loved it. The pancake tasted like a birthday cake I was told. I think it was the vanilla flavoring that I added to the pancake batter that made it taste that way. It also may have been the dash of sugar that I added to the pancake mix.

I also made him a small cup of green scrambled eggs. He turned his nose up to them and won’t even try them. That really surprised me. He is usually into scrambled eggs. I made a similar lunch for my husband. (He was home dealing with a heating issue on the day I made them.) He ate everything and went back for more eggs.

Tic Tac Toe Game

Dr. Seuss Activity- Green Eggs and Ham Tic Tac Toe File Folder Game

JDaniel loves to play tic tac toe on the iPad so, I made him a Green Eggs and Ham versions of the game. I guess it should be called Green Eggs and Bacon. Bacon strips made a better “x” than ham slices would so, I decided to make bacon.

He has gotten really good at the game by playing it on the game iPag application Bugs and Buttons. I was the green eggs when we played and I don’t think I won once. Maybe it was because I left JDaniel to go first. Maybe it is because he went to the center space every time.

Here is some other Doctor Seuss Learning Activities Beyond These Green Eggs and Ham We Have Done:

Fox in Sox Retelling Puppet (Free Craft Template is Available)

The Tooth Book Sensory Bin

Doctor Seuss Thing One and Thing Two Shape Craft (Free Craft Template is Available)

Cat in the Hat Math Mat (Free Printable)

Below you will find some wonderful food-related books you will want to read to your kids.

The links below are affiliate links.

If you do try any of the above Dr. Seuss character activities, please leave me a comment below telling me about it or share a picture of it on my Facebook page. You may also want to check out my Dr. Seuss board on Pinterest. It is filled with wonderful activities that feature Dr. Seuss Characters.

How have you explored books this week?

Family Fun- Over the Veggie Rainbow

February 18, 2013 By Deirdre

If you happen to look through the March issue of Family Fun magazine, you will see that their Treat of the Month looks a lot like this snack that I created for a guest post on the Kid’s Activities Blog. It doesn’t look just like this snack. The food stylist made a few changes to it, but it is really based on mine. The addition of carrot coins was genius. I really like that idea. They went with guacamole rather than spinach hummus. Their snack has beautifully arrange peppers that are uniform in height too.

How do I know? Well, they contacted me and asked it they could use my idea. I was over the rainbow or maybe over the moon. If you look very carefully along the inside edge of the page, you will see my name and the name of this blog. You might need a magnifying glass, but it is there. My husband said it was very had to see. To me it looks small, but very clear. Maybe that is because it is my name that I am reading.

I have never had my name in a magazine before and I am just a little thrilled. (Can you tell?) Even JDaniel got excited about it. He helped make the hummus in the original snack so, I think he feels like he had a big part in its success. I loving cooking and baking with him. It is wonderful that the snack they like best was one that he worked on too.

I receive my copies of the Family Fun magazine via Federal Express on Valentine’s Day. It was so cool. I am not sure when the issue will get to your mailbox if you get this wonderful magazine. When it does, I hope you will turn to page 26 of your Family Fun magazine and check out the Over the Veggie Rainbow.

Valentine’s Day Ideas for a Kid’s Lunch

February 11, 2013 By Deirdre

On Monday JDaniel came home from school and asked if I had made him a muffin tin lunch. For a long time he had a special muffin tin lunch with a theme a couple times a week. I have moved on to bento style lunches this past fall and I guess he has been missing them. I told him that I hadn’t made him a muffin tin lunch, but I would dig around in the refrigerator for some foods we could have to create one. You want to try come up with Valentine’s Day ideas for kids lunch they will enjoy.

Valentine’s Day Ideas for a Kid’s Lunch

Once I assembled a wide variety of foods, we used some heart shaped cookie cutters to transform a few of them into hearts. Others were red in color and were just placed into a heart shaped muffin tin that we have.

JDaniel ended up with cornbread hearts. (I tried to get rid of all the breadcrumbs, but as soon as I got rid of some others fell of the bread.) Red grapes also ended up in the top row. The second row contains a pumpkin bar cookie cut into a heart shape and strawberry yogurt with sprinkles. The bottom row has leftover chili and a slice of American cheese cut into a heart.

As I mentioned, I have started to make themed bento lunches for JDaniel to have when he stays for Lunch Bunch at school one day a week. Below is the lunch he took to school last week. It too has a heart theme.The bento lunch contains a slice of ham, a corn tortilla, and a chunk of Laughing Cow cheese all cut into heart shapes in the main compartment. The top compartments contain dried cranberries and a heart shaped apple along with a heart shaped tomato.

I have to confess that JDaniel did a much better job on the muffin tin lunch then the bento lunch. The bento lunch returned home with the cranberries, tomato, and ham still in the box. JDaniel likes tomatoes, dried fruit, and ham usually. I guess they just weren’t foods in loved on that day.What are some of your Valentine’s Day Ideas for kids meals?

This post is linked to Muffin Tin Monday!

16 Valentine’s Day Activities For Kids

February 4, 2013 By Deirdre

I have shared quite a variety of Valentine’s Day crafts, activities, and snacks over the past few years. There are many others coming up soon. Before I share them I thought I would share with you 15 Valentine’s Day ideas I really like and have shared with you and one new one. That gives your 16 Valentine’s Day activities that you can look over and try before Valentine’s Day.

Valentine’s Day Activities

Crafts

Hand Print Paper Card Pouch

JDaniel and I made this pouch for Valentine’s Day last year. It held his Valentine’s Day cards. I don’t think I shared this on the blog last year. I found it when I was sorting through some crafts we did. I love that his little hand print is the stem for the flowers that he made with stickers.

Hearts on Ribbon Bookmark

We made a bunch of these to give to JDaniel’s teachers at school. I cut slits in felt hearts and we threaded them onto some pretty Valentine’s Day ribbon. I folded the ends of the ribbon behind the hearts at the top and bottom and stitched them to the back.In the past we have also made the following crafts:An R2D2 Valentine’s Day Card Holder

Valentine’s Day Cards

Heart Shape Doile PrintsSalad Spinner Valentine’s Day CardsActivities

I hid plastic hearts all around the yard for JDaniel to find I called it looking for love. Each contained a small piece of candy. He was thrilled to find that out.

We have also done the following Valentine’s Day activities and food creations:

Montessori Style Valentine’s Day ActivitiesTransformed His Play McDonald’s into a Post OfficeFished for Alphabet Letter on HeartsCreated Heart Shaped Flowers and a VaseTangram Heart ActivityValentine’s Day Sensory BowlLEGO Heart PuzzleFood Creations JDaniel had this for breakfast last year. We made the granola together and then I used it to make him a special heart-shaped treat.Here are some special lunches I have made for JDaniel with a Valentine’s Day theme:Pink Food Filled Muffin Tin

Heart Shaped Empanada Lunch

Chocolate Dump Cake with RaspberriesI hope you enjoyed checking out our Valentine’s Day ideas. There will several new ones shared later this week and next.

Super Bowl Food- Two Football Lunches

February 3, 2013 By Deirdre

My four year old is not really big into the traditional Super Bowl food. We read the book Buffalo Wings last week and he wasn’t interested in my trying to make buffalo chicken wings or jalapeno poppers. He was interested in having a grilled cheese sandwich.

Creating Super Bowl Food for Lunches

Once he has shared his food ideas with me I set off to create a Super Bowl food meal for him featuring grilled cheese sandwiches and some of his other favorite foods. He has been big into grape tomatoes and grapes lately. He can go through a container of them in just a few days so, I included them in his lunch. (I think my husband has been inhaling them too.) JDaniel also loves chips and snack foods. I don’t usually give him them often, but since this is part of a Super Bowl foods lunch and chips are popular Super Bowl snacks I put them in. Finally, he got a muffin cup of dip to dip the chips and tomatoes into. The dip is just a mixture of Vidalia onion salad dressing and sour cream.

Once I had put his lunch together, I remembered that I had saved a football shaped container from last year in a storage cabinet. It has once held a trail mix and I had put it aside to use for a Super Bowl food related meal this year.

I didn’t want to not use it so, I reassembled JDaniel’s lunch in the football shaped container. The container was much smaller than the Easy Lunch Box bento I started with. Some of the foods ended up squished together. The silicone muffin cup was smooshed a little too.

The squished muffin cup looked a little like a heart when I went to take a picture of the lunch. I guess it makes this version of the lunch an I Love Football themed lunch as much as a Super Bowl Food lunch.

JDaniel didn’t seem to care if this Super Bowl food lunch was squished. He did seem to think it was delicious. As his mom that is all the matters to me.

Here are some more super bowl and bento lunches:

Apple Chicken Salad Lunch

Red, White and Blue Lunch

What are you serving your children during the Super Bowl?

Lunch Recipes for Kids- Simple Creative Ideas

January 28, 2013 By Deirdre

Many of you have commented that you don’t have the time or the creativity to put together a lunch for you children the way I do. Putting to together lunch recipes for kids lunches doesn’t have to be hard. It can be as simple as using a food marker to write a message on a sandwich.

There are mornings that I don’t have time to pull out my cookie cutters or think of a fun theme for lunch. I barely get JDaniel’s Easy Lunch Box and thermos pulled out. The super simple turkey and cheese sandwich is throw together and I rummage through the fridge for some fruit and vegetables.

JDaniel is fine with a regular lunch especially if I add in some cheese crackers. (He loves them). I still want to do something special for him though so, I reach into my jar of muffin liners and grab one to dress up the compartment with the cheese crackers. Then I whip out a food marker and write a quick message on the bread of his sandwich.

Lunches Recipes for Kids Get Flair with Food Markers

The message on this lunch was Love U. It took only a couple of second to put on the bread, but JDaniel was thrilled to find it in his lunch when he sat down to eat it a Lunch Bunch.

I found the food markers at A.C. Moore, but I think you can find them at most hobby stores. The muffin liner I got at an after Christmas sale for 40 cents for the package.

Creating fun lunches doesn’t have to take a lot of time or require lots of special tools. I think it makes lunch fun for my son and that is why I do it.

Here are some lunch recipes for kids creative lunches:

-sandwiches cut into shapes with cookie cutters ( I save the scraps to make croutons.)

-toothpick kabobs of fruit or vegetables.

-muffin liners in bento boxes

-messages written on ziplock bags

– messages written on food (Bananas skins are great to write messages on.)

-napkins leftover from birthday parties

– a small bag of sprinkles to put on yogurt or apple sauce

– stickers added to a napkin

You will find more lunch ideas on my Food Creations board on Pinterest.

What are some lunch recipes for kids you have created?

Kids Lunch – Who was Martin Luther King ?

January 20, 2013 By Deirdre

JDaniel had no idea who Martin Luther King was until we checked out some books from the library. I loved getting to share that he was a man of peace that wanted all people to be known not by what they looked like, but by who they were. I think all kids should be able to answer the question “Who was Martin Luther King ?”

Kids Lunch - Who was Martin Luther King ?

It was too easy I told him after reading the books to look at someone and judge who they were by what they wore or the color of their skin or their bodily imperfections. Who was Martin Luther King? He was a man that wanted us to look deep inside people and get to know them for who they were.

During his time I told him, people were really mean to people they didn’t know just because they judge them base on color. JDaniel was surprised. He hasn’t been around people that say the horrible things that can be said about others yet. I hope that he will look back at who Martin Luther King was and try to be like him.

Making a Who was Martin Luther King? Lunch

I made a lunch and a snack with a peace theme to represent the peace that Martin Luther King talked about. The lunch above featured a slice of bread with a tan dove place in white bread. It also includes turkey and cheese doves that can be placed on the sandwich or eaten separately. Finally, I placed a rainbow fruit salad in the upper left-hand corners compartment to represent the fact that our world is made of a people that are a rainbow of colors.

The outside of the bread from the dove in the lunch and the inside of the bread from the outside of the dove lunch were placed together to create this snack plate. It has a fruit rainbow underneath the dove. JDaniel inhaled the fruit and the brown sandwich thin. The Italian bread dove he told me tasted like play dough. Ironically he ate the Italian bread and left the sandwich thin behind.

If you like this Who was Martin Luther King? bento, you may also like the following Bento lunches:

Cracker Sandwiches Bento

Preschool Graduation Bento

Butterfly Bento Snack

How are you teaching your children who Martin Luther King was?

Chili Recipe with Patriotic Colors

January 17, 2013 By Deirdre

I have been doing some searching online for Presdent Obama’s favorite foods. There seems to a wide variety of opinions on what he really likes. He like popcorn, but I think it is probably the slightly buttered kind. The red,white and blue popcorn I shared yesterday may not be something he would like to have. I also read that he likes chili. I didn’t find any descriptions of what kind of chili he likes so, I decided to make my own patriotic chili recipe.

We are on a ground turkey kick out my house. It is really the only type of ground meat that we have been having lately. The chili I made started out with base of ground turkey.

Chili Recipe

Ingredients:

2 pounds of cooked ground turkey

1 jar of tomato sauce

1 can of red kidney beans

2 Tablespoons of chili powder

1 Tablespoon of minced onion

1 teaspoon of cocoa

a dash of cinnamon<

Directions:

I literally placed everything in a stock pot and let it simmer.

When the chili was ready, I put it on a plate and placed a star shaped cookie cutter on top of the pile of chili. Then I spooned in sour cream until the cookie cutter’s center was filled. The chili was surrounded by blue corn chips just before I served it to my guys.

JDaniel loved the chili, chips, and sour cream. My husband asked what I added to the chili that made it sweet. I told him about the cinnamon and he asked that I go back to the old chili recipe. The cinnamon was a last minute addition. I don’t think I will try adding something sweet to it again. I love to experiment while cooking I will have to try something else next time.

How could I jazz up my patriotic chili recipe ?