Well hello! It's my first non-gift post in a while, don't let it throw you. I thought it might be time to get back into
So tonight's post is a super easy, yummy, Halloween-related, lunch idea for the kiddos.
I packed these in bug's lunch last year around Halloween time and they were a huge success! I should probably add that this kid is NOT easy to make a sack lunch for.
There will be none of this for Halloween:
Or this:
Or this:
Or this:
Because he won't eat sandwich meat of any kind. Or pretzels. And he'd likely think the sprinkles were bugs.
And definitely not this:
And this:
I mean seriously, parents. Are your kids EATING these meals at school without you standing over their shoulders harping on them to eat or they'll shrivel up into a walking skeleton? Really?? Because if so, do you realize how lucky YOU ARE???
All of those ideas and more, by the way, can be found in the Halloween gallery on Wendolonia.
After my son bringing home parts of his lunch repeatedly and me trying new things for lunch REPEATEDLY we finally sat down together and made a list of things he would actually eat and not just toss. I forced him to choose some veggies, though he wasn't happy and our list is pretty limited. It looks something like this:
Sandwiches or Tortilla: Peanut butter and jelly, peanut butter and banana, peanut butter and honey, cheese and mayo. NOTHING ELSE.
Fruit: kiwi, banana but only if it isn't brown at all or mushy in any way (and you can guess how well THAT usually works out) apples (but only if they're cut up because it's "too hard" to eat them the other way" - what? You mean like normal people eat them?), peaches (but only the kind in the little cup, not fresh), strawberries (but only if they are ripe and sweet and not at all tart), grapes (only purple and NOT mushy), cantaloupe and watermelon.
Veggies: sugar snap peas if they are fresh and have no brown spots, broccoli if it is cooked and warm, cooked and mashed butternut squash, green beans from my sister IL's garden NOT from the store, avocados if they have no brown spots and aren't too ripe. Definitely no carrots - for the love of all that is holy NO CARROTS.
Other: crackers but only Townhouse or Cheese Its. Not Ritz, not saltines, not Cheese Nips and yes he can tell the difference between nips and its, thank you very much. Cheese sticks, but only the orange kind because the white kind is gross. Yogurt, but he prefers only strawberry if it's go-gurt NOT that gross berry kind that no one wants to eat which comes in the pack WITH the strawberry. Absolutely no pretzels UNLESS they are the special kind you can buy at Costco that are small and stubby and filled with peanut butter.
From time to time I fill his thermos with macaroni and cheese or spaghettio's and that's a serious treat. He comes home elated.
So you can see he's pretty particular. And oh, the pains I take to make sure his lunch is up to his standards! I WANT a nice, healthy lunch that will give him energy that he still loves and thinks "my mom is totally thinking about me right now" when he looks at it.
You know, the unattainable.
Anyway, all that to say that in my quest to make sure I gave him fun, holiday themed lunches last year I came up with this one which meets his requirements. If your child is also a... um... discerning eater, you might want to try it too! It's easy.
You'll need peanut butter, bananas, flour tortillas, and those candy eyes you can find in the fancy baking section. You will cut the banana in half and use 1 tortilla per banana half, so you could spread peanut butter just on one half of the tortilla and leave the other half plain if you're just making two mummies. I made 4.
1. Spread peanut butter on a tortilla.
2. Cut the tortilla into skinny strips.
3. Cut a plain tortilla into skinny strips.
4. Peel a banana.
5. Cut it in half.
6. Wrap a peanut butter strip around the top.
7. Wrap another around the bottom, overlapping strips a bit.
8. Take a plain strip and wrap it around all the peanut butter that's oozing out. Use as many plain strips as you need to cover up the oozy bits and stick the ends down with just a bit of peanut butter. Overlap the strips at different angles.
9. Add the eyes. Just gently press them into the banana. If it seems that they are loose, just use a dab of peanut butter on the back to get them to stick.
Ta da!
Mummies! Bug thought they were pretty spectacular, so that was cool. Good luck to you other picky eater mamas out there!
*Be sure to check below for all the fun parties I link to!*
