Halloween Pasta Salad with Mozzarella Eyeballs

 

 

Quick Halloween post today!  A few mozzarella and olive eyeballs are an easy and fast way to spookify your pasta salad.  I took a few marinated mozzarella balls, topped them with olives, and secured them with toothpicks.  Hope you like it!

 

 

 

 

 

Black Bean Chili Cheese Dogs for Halloween

Would anyone care for some worms with their chili?  Here’s a quick and easy way to make fun Halloween food.  Take a hotdog and slice it lengthwise into 8 equal strips.  Drop the hotdog strips into boiling water which will curl up as it cooks. To serve, I put a scoop of rice on the bottom, then the hotdog worms, chili, cheddar cheese, green onions, and finally another hotdog worm to top it all off.  Enjoy!

Split Pea Soup with Cat Croutons for Halloween

We love split pea soup even though it has a ghastly green color to it.  Top it off with a few cat croutons and it is the perfect food for Halloween!

To make the croutons, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut 2 large slices of bread with small cookie cutters and then cut up the scraps into small chunks. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter and drizzle over cut bread. Toss well and spread evenly on a sheet tray. Bake for 10 minutes and then toss the croutons around so that they will brown evenly. Bake for another 5-10 minutes until croutons are golden.

To make garlic butter croutons, check out this recipe at the bottom of this old post.

Garlicky Owl Croissants and Chili

I saw this owl recipe from Pillsbury and thought it would be fun to make for the kids!  With store-bought croissant (or crescent) dough, the owls were very easy to make.  I changed up the recipe a little to make the owl croissants savory, instead of sweet, by omitting the cinnamon and sugar.  Instead I lightly brushed the tops with melted butter mixed with a little bit of garlic powder.  Finally, after they were completely cooled, I topped the owls with cheese and olives for the eyes and beaks.

The garlicky owl croissants made a great side for the chili along with a sweet Clementine.  Since the chili was loaded with veggies, I didn’t feel the need to put a side like I usually do.

Many thanks to Parent Map who has featured a few of my bentos for their back-to-school and Halloween articles!  Check them out!

By Request: How to Make Agent P

Hi everyone!  Since I have been getting a lot of email requests on how to make some of the Phineas and Ferb characters, I will be doing a few “how to” posts.  The most requested has been Perry the Platypus as Agent P (today’s post) and Isabella, which I will be posting soon.  Thank you for your patience!  :)

To make Perry- you’ll need a picture of Perry sized to fit your sandwich, parchment paper (or waxed paper), a scissors, and a Sharpie.

With the Sharpie, trace Perry’s beak on the parchment paper as shown and cut it out.

Use a very sharp and pointed knife, cut carefully around the stencil. I used a slice of cheddar here, but any kind of cheese will work.

*If using American singles see this post on how to cut it with a toothpick.

Cut the bottom of the beak off the parchment stencil, place the top part of the beak on the cheddar slice and cut out.

Place the top part of the beak on to the first cut out and you have Perry’s beak!

For the eyes, use a small oval cutter to cut out two eyes.

Cut a little off the tops of the eyes to give it a slanted look.

 Next, use a rolling pin to flatten out a piece of dark bread.

Cut out two circles for the eyes and cut a little off the top of each circle.  Cut out two small, thin strips to place over the top of Perry’s eyes.

Assemble your sandwich and arrange Perry’s features on the bread.  I trimmed the crusts off of the right and left sides of the sandwich.  Attach all of the pieces with a tiny dab of peanut butter or honey.

Place in your lunch box and Agent P is ready to go!

 If you are worried about your child’s lunch being tossed around, carefully wrap Perry with plastic wrap so that his face doesn’t shift around.  Also make sure that the sandwich box holds your sandwich securely so that it doesn’t bounce around during transport.  I love these Fuel sandwich boxes because they are sturdy, secure, and easy to open.

 

Childproof Agent P!

DIY Hello Kitty Sandwich

This post is in answer to Maria, who asked for a Hello Kitty sandwich idea.  If you don’t have a Hello Kitty cutter handy, you can make your own reusable stencil with a picture printed out from the net, a plastic sheet, and a few household items.

For the plastic sheet, I used an inexpensive, thin and flexible plastic cutting board that I picked up from the grocery store.  To make the stencil, secure the picture to the plastic using a clip to prevent the picture from moving, then cut with a scissors.

Place stencil on the bread and use a sharp and pointed knife to cut around it.  Use a slice of whole wheat and a slice white bread  for contrast and finish with cheese eyes, nose, whiskers, and flower.  Hope you like it Maria!

For a simpler Hello Kitty sandwich, use the stencil to cut out HK from a flour tortilla like I did in this DIY Ferb post.

A Few Bento Ideas

Last week a reader, Amanda, asked if I had any suggestions for lunches other than sandwiches and ones packed with rice.  Here are a few things that have worked for me since my 4 year-old son is not a big fan of rice, unless it has stew or some kind of gravy over it.

I do “Lunchables” style bentos with turkey, fruit, veggies, crackers, and cheese cut out with small cookie cutters.  BTW, I put the wrong yogurt in the picture!  It was supposed to be the strawberry Brown Cow yogurt instead of the plain.  My kids won’t eat the plain.

Pasta or noodles goes a long way with my kids.

Macadamia Nut Pesto Pasta

Heart Shaped Ravioli Pasta

Heart Shaped Gyoza

Butterflies with Lemon Grass Chicken and Soba

Roasted Chicken Farfalle and Caesar Salad

DIY tacos are a favorite of my daughters.  Just cut out tortillas in fun shapes to fit the bento box.

Hello Kitty Soft Taco Bento

Pizzette or tartlets also make for fun bentos.

Pizzette Bento

Savory Tartlets