Play with your food!

Ever heard the saying "you eat with your eyes first"? I love coming up with fun ways to make food look more enticing. But having kids puts a whole new spin on playing with your food.

Will's at the age where dunking food into some form of sauce or dip makes it more appealing. He's also been a little lacking in meat and protein foods on occasion. But I'm not a fan of putting ketchup and ranch on everything. So I decided to try out my favorite bean dip with him - white beans, garlic, parsley, lemon juice, olive oil, salt & pepper. All into a mini food chopper and give it a whirl. Will liked getting to press the button to puree the whole thing. Then I bake pita chips with oregano and slice up a bunch of bell peppers and cucumbers. He's never struggled with eating his fruits and veggies... actually, this was an effort to use the veggies to help him get more protein... from the beans! Often times his lunch plate is a smorgasbord of many different foods - a colorful variety.


With Thanksgiving coming up, I'm turning everything into turkeys!

A fruit plate with a Bosc pear, clementine and apple slices, raisin eyes, cheese and red pepper for beak and snood, and dried apricots for the feet. I kind of think the raisins look like shades. :) Will ate the whole plate.


Or how about a "pizza panini" with sliced tomato, marinara and mozzarella. Tuck in a few pepper slices and use peas for eyes. Presto!


And tomorrow Will & Sophie are taking a Thanksgiving treat to the sitters for the kids and her family. Rice krispy treat bodies balled onto Oreos with candy corn tail and head. Yum!

We also love the sandwich press from Casey that turns Will's grilled cheese into dinosaurs. Remember this one?


Here's a few other favorites from the past. These were all treats we've taken to the sitters.
Not a very good picture - peanut butter cracker "spiders" for Halloween using pretzel legs.

Peanut butter "Rudolph" cookies for Christmas.

Mini Easter "basket" cookies with licorice handles.

It certainly shouldn't all be treats. Those just happen to be what I took pictures of in the past. I have lots more ideas to try out now that Will can appreciate what I'm doing. Any sort of cookie cutter can make food more fun!


It runs in the family. These were my mom's Christmas day brunch plates last year.

And mom always had cool sandwich presses for our lunch box that said "I love you" or for our breakfast toast that said "Good Morning".
I love food! And I love making it fun.