So, I wanted to share a little obsession I have been having since last spring. I am just a lee-tle obsessed with itsy, bitsy, teeny, tiny, mini you might say, cookie cutters. I love them!! Maybe it’s cause I love all things tiny-sized (mini oreos, cupcakes and Halloween candy anyone?) Here are the latest ones I bought:
Little mini Fall cookie cutters!
Look at all these cute fun Fall shapes!
Here are just a few more itty-bitties in my ever-growing collection…
Aren’t they fun? You wanna know what I do with them?
Well, as part of the Cheerios Blogger Circle, Cheerios asked some of us mommas how we use quality time with our kids to ensure the best nourishment for their bodies and minds. So, I thought I’d share with all of you how I make lunchtime at our house nutritious yet fun so we can talk and laugh but also eat and enjoy a meal together.
I use these little cutters to cut their foods into fun shapes and then I serve their lunch (…or dinner…or snack) in these fun cafeteria-style trays with little compartments.
These trays have the perfect sized compartments for just the right amount of food and enough food choices for my kids.
I like to fill the smaller areas of the tray with nutritious foods like cheese pieces, fruit, raisins, dry cereal, carrots, broccoli, salsa, hummus or other assorted dressings and sauces for dipping. The bigger compartment is for their main meal component…grilled cheese, peanut butter crackers, pasta, roll-ups, kabobs and the like!
Here’s a look at the lunch we had the other day:
I used my fun new cutters and cut up some cheddar cheese into little mini pumpkins…
Another compartment was full of Cheerios. I like to have something crunchy with each meal…it might be dry cereal, crackers, carrots, or maybe even some of those ‘healthier’ veggie chips!
This compartment has a slice of homemade pumpkin bread…see a theme here? 🙂 This was also my ‘fruit’ section for this lunch 😉
And in the bigger section we had turkey roll-ups for this lunch. These are very simple to make, just take a tortilla, swipe on some chive and onion cream cheese then put a few pieces of turkey lunch meat on top and roll up. Cut into little pieces and there you have it…cute lunch finger food!
My kids love to eat meals like this and I have to admit, I really enjoy making them. Noah and Penny are excited to gobble up all their little portions (which by the way makes trying new foods a lot easier!) and we can also learn shapes, animals, and numbers with the little food cut outs.
Then we can spend out lunchtime with a little girl talk…
Or laughing at some of Noah’s silly jokes….
And then we can actually sit and eat our lunch…
Fun
and
Yummy in the Tummy!
How do you make meals fun for your kids?
Please share, I’d love to hear what you do!!
http://nicoleiskeepingitsimple.blogspot.com/2010/07/crazy-kids-cuisine.html
Love it!
I’m glad you mentioned the onion and chive cream cheese. I was wondering how they stayed rolled up without tooth picks.
I love your daughter’s dress, and your son looks just like you! 🙂
I want to eat that lunch it’s so cute.
Yes! I want to try these for my children!! Everything looks so good. And what about those children? They’re so adorable and they look so happy with their cute little meals. ♥
Love the smiles while eating a fun and nutritious meal! Kerri
Your kids are ADORABLE! I love “shaped” food 🙂 I make faces out of our food…cut up hot dog makes the smile with grapes (or cucumbers, etc) as eyes and noses…and a little ketchup for the cheeks. The kids love it and makes it so much more fun (and easier) to eat!
I’m a newbie so we don’t do a whole lot past shaped food and food colouring for eggs/rice/homemade bread etc, but I’m going to start with the cute wee notes in the box too. I’ve got a young toddler so it might have to be cute wee pictures for a while. We also use plastic Japanese bento sticks to make wee kebabs on too (see my blog to get what I’m on about), they are a hit at the moment.
What a fun post! Great ideas for healthy lunches they actually want to eat–and your blog is gorgeous!