Playing With Food

     I consider myself to be a creative individual which is why I chose my career so wisely.  Teaching keeps me on my toes and thinking creatively each and every day.  Over the summer there is an excess amount of creativity that comes out at odd times... like when I am making lunch on a given weekday after swim lessons or before our next playdate.  Here are a few of my creations which may or may not have come out well on a cell phone camera.

     This is a sea-inspired meal complete with an octopus (?) and fishies.  I made the octopus with a few too many legs but he's got a body made of mozzerella cheese and noodles for tentacles.  The orange fish are carrots with cut out tails and a small hole for an eye.  The opened sugar snap peas were clams (can't really see in the photo).

 Campfire with logs made from fries and fish sticks!  Okay, this might look like a stretch, but I used the fish sticks as logs and the fries as kindling.

     Made the light sabres for Liam and Josh's Star Wars birthday party.  I dipped the pretzels into colored chocolates and then poked holes in this box to hold the sticks upright.  For more Star Wars food ideas check out my June post, http://worstbestmom.blogspot.com/2012/06/star-wars-spoiler-alert.html for ideas that are easy (like Wookie Cookies- Samoas look amazingly perfect for the part) and not-so-easy (like R2Brie 2).

     I made these centerpieces for a baby shower.  In the interest of not paying $50 for an arrangement, I decided to make my own with some grapes, blueberries, kiwi fruit, orange slices, raspberries and cut out pieces of canteloup in the shapes of rubber duckies and flowers.  You could also use watermelon if it's in season and/or strawberries too! 

     This was a dinosaur-inspired meal with dino chickens (a favorite in the house) and a mashed potato volcano with tomato sauce lava.  I made the dinos stand up using extra bits of mashed potatoes. 

     This was a scary squid monster for a Halloween party.  It rested on a bed of spinach, I used spirals to make a homemade mac and cheese, olives for eyes and a Ritz cracker for its mouth.  Unfortunately they weren't eaten because my mac and cheese was homemade (and not from a box).  Lesson learned!

     Okay, here's my most recent masterpiece!  This is my most recent, garden fresh platter for lunch.  Liam wanted seconds... and then for thirds he made his own flower with cut up cherry tomatoes.  For my original version, we had basil and chives grass, cucumber stems and three flowers made with a combination of cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, dip and an egg.  I used mozzerella cheese for clouds and an egg for the sunshine.

     Not so bad for a teacher on summer vacation!  But my kids are perfectly happy to eat fish sticks, french fries, cheese, veggies, noodles and pretty much anything (except homemade macaroni and cheese).  So it does make me wonder, if this isn't necessary to make the kids eat.  Why do I?  there's something peaceful about just knowing that I can sometimes.  I know my food creations aren't too great on a grand scale, but sometimes it's nice to just fritter away some time just because you have an extra momentand also to teach your kids a lesson; that sometimes it is okay to play with your food.