A Frightening Lunch

I feel like I should apologize about the picture. I realize it is a little hard to see all of the food clearly and I am sorry. It was one of those mornings at our house and we were in a bit of a rush to get out the door.

This lunch took a little work but it turned out great. First I made her some bread stick bones. I was unable to find any bread stick dough at the store so I picked up the french bread dough instead. I just cut it into strips small enough to fit in her lunch box. Before I cooked the bread sticks I stuffed them some pepperoni and mozzarella cheese. Then I added a container of pizza sauce for her to dip them in.

Next I made her boiled egg eyeball. I took a boiled egg and cut a small section out of the cent and then wedged in a piece of olive. Then I cut some veins coming out from the center and colored them in with red food coloring. They look more pink than red so next time I am going to try beet juice instead.

Then I made her some apple monster teeth. I had to improvise again because the original recipe calls for almond slices and my daughters school is nut free due to allergies. I actually made her an entire apple with almonds before I remembers. So I looked around to see what else I had that might work and I went with some round sprinkles. The almonds were cuter but the sprinkles are good enough.

For dessert I colored her some more monster marshmallows. She loved them yesterday and requested that I make her some more. You can't see him very well but I made her a Frankenstein one that turned out really cute.

I think her lunch turned out pretty frightening. Hopefully it tastes as good as it looks!

Mummy Lunch

Today I made my daughter another fun Halloween lunch featuring hot dog mummies! They were easy to make. All you need is a can of croissant roll dough and some hot dogs. I cut her hot dogs in half so they would fit in her bento box better. Unroll one of the croissant rolls and cut it into strips. Then wrap up your hot dog like a mummy. You can't tell from the pictures but I used a food coloring marker to draw red eyes on the mummies. I also added some ketchup (under the first mummy) for her to dip them in. I added some baked lays, grapes, and monster marshmallows to her lunch as well. The monster marshmallows were fun to make. I used a food coloring marker to draw on their faces. I think the mummy turned out the best! I realize they would look better with in black but my choices were red, blue, green and yellow. I may have to look online and get a better set of food coloring markers.

So far my daughter is loving her Halloween lunches and always wants to know what I am making her tomorrow. They have been fun to make and I am glad the lunches have been a hit so far!

Ghostly Cupcakes

I know I normally blog about my daughters lunches but today was her "free" day and I didn't pack her a lunch. But I did make these cuties yesterday. I got the idea for them from a great Betty Crocker recipe for Spooky Brownies. I am not a big fan of brownies but I LOVE chocolate cupcakes so I modified the recipe a bit. I did have to cut the top off the cupcake so the marshmallows wouldn't fall over. I was also unable to find black decorating gel, it was the only color that was sold out! I ended up picking all the orange and yellow sprinkles out my jar of "Easter" sprinkles and using those for the eyes. They turned out great, were very yummy and best of all super easy to make. My ghosts turned out so cue I want to try out the other fun versions now.
The recipe for the brownies is below - now you can make some cute ghosts of your own!

Betty Crocker's Spooky Brownies

1box Betty Crocker® brownie mix
Water, vegetable oil and eggs called for in brownie mix directions
Decorations
1 container Betty Crocker® Rich & Creamy creamy white frosting
Neon green, pink and blue food colors
24 large marshmallows
Miniature candy-coated chocolate baking bits
Betty Crocker® black decorating gel (from 0.68-oz tube)
1 roll Betty Crocker® Fruit Roll-Ups® chewy fruit snack (any red variety)
Gummy worms candies

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Make and bake brownies in 13x9-inch pan as directed on box, using water, oil and eggs. Cool completely, about 2 hours. Cut into 6 rows by 4 rows, making 24 brownies.

2. Divide frosting among 3 small microwavable bowls. Heat frosting as needed: microwave 1 bowl uncovered on High about 10 to 15 seconds until frosting can be stirred smooth. If frosting becomes too firm while decorating, microwave on High an additional 5 seconds; stir.

3. Decorate as directed below, using 8 brownies for each bowl of frosting.

Franken-Brownies Add 5 drops green food color to frosting in 1 bowl; mix well. Top each of 8 brownies with 1 large marshmallow. Spoon 1 tablespoon green frosting over each marshmallow to coat. Decorate with green baking bits for eyes and ears. Use black gel for mouths and centers of eyes. Cut fruit snack to use for hair.

Boo-Brownies Top each of 8 brownies with 1 large marshmallow. Spoon 1 tablespoon white frosting over each marshmallow to coat. Use black gel for eyes and mouths.

Spider Brownies Add 5 drops pink food color and 3 drops blue food color to frosting in 1 bowl; mix well. Top each of 8 brownies with 1 large marshmallow. Tuck gummy worms candies under each marshmallow for legs. Spoon 1 tablespoon purple frosting over each marshmallow to coat. Use orange baking bits for eyes. Use black gel for mouths, centers of eyes and eyebrows.

Jack-o-lantern Lunch

I took a break from making lunches for her all together the past couple of weeks. She decided she would rather buy school lunches so I let her. It didn't last long before she was asking me to make her lunch again! We compromised and she now gets to buy her lunch one day a week and I will make them for her the rest. I have come up with some fun Halloween lunches to make for her!

This lunch was easy and super fun. I was able to find a great pack of Fall cookie cutters at the store for $2. I used the pumpkin one to make her this Jack-o-lantern sandwich. I used some of my other small shapes to makes the face. I love how it looks with the cheese right underneath! Then I added some eyeball carrots. I got the recipe from Family Fun. It consists of carrots, olives and cream cheese. I added some baked lays and topped it off with some chocolate pudding with a ghost marshmallow. I found a small pack of food coloring markers at the store. I wish I had black but the ghost still turned out cute.

Sea Dragon

The sea dragon is a tuna, cheese and lettuce sandwich on a mini bagel. I cut the bagel in half. I used the first half for the middle bump adding cheese and lettuce for embellishment. I then cut the second piece of bagel in half again to make the head and the tail. I drew the face on with food coloring markers. The sea dragon is swimming a a sea of Wheat Thin. I added some grape kabobs, celery and carrot stores as well.

This is one of favorite lunches I have ever made. It was so much fun and it turned out so cute! My daughter was thrilled when she caught a glimpse of it before school.

Caterpiller Lunch

For lunch today I made my daughter a Caterpillar tuna sandwich. For the body I used a round cookie cutter to make 4 tiny circle sandwiches. Then I took a wooden skewer (that I had cut in half) and ran it through the middle to hold them together. I used a small cherry tomato for the head and a couple of tooth picks for antenna. I made some flower carrots and cucumbers and put ranch in side the kitty container. I added some pretzels and topped it all off with some yummy flower apples.

*I just found out that one of the kids in my daughers class this year has a nut allergy so anything with nuts is out for lunch. UGH! PB&J was always our back up lunch!*

Tiny Sandwiches

Today I decided to make my daughter several tiny sandwiches rather than on big one. I have lots of small cookie cutters so I made her a few different shapes - stars, a flower and a heart. The tiny one on the right hand side is a heart, it is so small you can't really tell! Then I added some broccoli and celery with ranch The ranch container isn't pictured since I almost forgot to put it in. I also added some strawberries and cheese on a stick - because everything tastes better on a stick!

So far my daughter has eaten everything I have sent with her for lunch. It is so nice to find all of her food gone at the end of the day. I think it helps that her lunch time is a little later this year so she is actually hungry when it is time to eat.