As some of you may know, The Sunshine School paid homage to Dr. Seuss, dedicating a whole week to him and his fantastic stories. Just because I'm back in the kitchen doesn't mean I don't want to get in on all the fun, so I got to work with trying to align lunch time with some of the stories the kids would be reading. Some of the snacks included "one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish" jello cups, "yink's pink ink" fruit smoothies, and even though they weren't green, eggs that I'm quite sure Dr. Seuss would eat.
And now for my confession: those eggs are cute, right? Fry an egg inside a pepper ring and it's not only delicious, but pleasing to the eye. Yea, I didn't cut my peppers so straight, and trying to replicate 50 plus of those didn't work in my time frame, so they ended up scrambled. I was bummed to simply serve scrambled eggs, but the kids were unfazed. They downed those eggs like nobody's business. Plus it helped that the jello cups followed shortly after, aesthetically redeeming my egg mishap. The gasps of pure delight might have made my day more than the jello cups made theirs. It was a good reminder to me that even if everything doesn't go perfectly as planned, it's okay... the eggs were still eggs and even better, still eaten.
Another dent in the plan almost held me back from delivering a "Cat in the Hat" sandwich when the cat cookie cutter didn't shop up in the mail. With the hat already planned out made of strawberries and bananas, I paced about the kitchen trying to figure out how I was going to make a cat sandwich. There was no way I was going to deliver "the bread in the hat," so I rummaged through the cookie cutter box. Lo and behold, the alphabet! Spelling out "cat" not only made for a fun sandwich, but turned lunch into a literacy lesson. I felt proud as I heard the kids sound it out and yell "c-a-t, cat!"
Looks like the lunch lady might give the librarian a run for her money. Do we have a librarian?
Here are some more fun foods and ideas that you could try at home, or relax at home and rest well knowing the kids are trying them at school!
Ham and Egg Cupcakes: just put a piece of ham in the bottom of muffin tins, pour an egg mixture on top and bake at 350 for round about 20 minutes and BOOM!
Chicken fingers. Okay, so I know this isn't the biggest deal and any lunch lady around could tell you she makes chicken fingers, but I include this picture purely for the sake of story. After working all morning, dunking the chicken fingers in batter, breading them, baking them, making sure they were at the right temperature, I plated them all and awaited the kids reactions. In strutted the preschoolers and I here someone yell, "YESSSS! GUYS, WE'RE HAVING KETCHUP!"
In that moment, I knew exactly how my parents felt the year they got me a bike for Christmas and I played with the box... all day.
More fun ideas to share are simply using cookie cutters to make fun sandwiches. We had bunny sandwiches the week of Easter and bear sandwiches for the Teddy Bear picnic.
Another fun one was kid sushi. Flatten bread, spread it with cream cheese, fill it with whatever you prefer, roll and slice it and BOOM! You don't even have to like sushi to enjoy this sushi. I wish I could take credit for the creativity behind it, but I can only claim the assembly and delivery, which was an awesome role to have, especially when you get to hear some of the younger kids say "SHISH-SHE!" I avoided sushi for years simply because of my own negative assumptions about it, but it is now one of my favorite dishes (parent date night tip: check out Bamboo Sushi on SE 28th, near Stark, get the Green Machine). I was excited with this meal because it allowed the kids to associate a different food and culture with a positive experience, hopefully encouraging them to try grown up sushi one day.
During Easter week we had all sorts of fun treats. One of the kids' and my favorites was Sunbutter rice crispy nests filled with craisins and apricots. Who ever said the Easter bunny only brought candy? I blame Cadbury. Believe it or not, these rice crispy treats only had 5 ingredients: Sunbutter, honey, vanilla extract, salt and rice crispies. Fill them with a bit of nature's candy and BOOM! before you know it, you're snacking like a vegan! The ingredients can be swapped out using peanut butter or any type of nut butter instead of Sunbutter and brown rice syrup or maple syrup instead of honey (for it to be completely vegan). I pressed them into muffin tins to get the nest effect, but you could roll them into balls or press them into a baking dish and cut out bars. The sky is the limit! The kids absolutely loved these! And who am I kidding, so did the lunch lady.
While some of the teachers may have found this fun food friday meal a bit creepy, the kids quite enjoyed them... Banana Hot Dogs! A healthy sized banana dressed in sun butter and jam, this hot dog was one that brought much harmony between the carnivores and vegetarians. Upon presentation the kids yelled, "NANA DOGS!" And they have since been coined, "Nana Dogs." I make them at home with peanut butter, God's second greatest gift to mankind (the first being Jesus), gluten free rolls (yep, I'm intolerant, which is why I try to make sure the kids with allergies are still a part of all the fun, I know how it is to feel a little excluded at meal time), and I dress them up with shredded coconut, a little honey and some dried fruit or nuts to make it look and taste even more fun.
Well, that was a quick review of April. We had lots of other fun stuff like carrot soup, pita pockets, pulled pork sliders... don't worry, I may be vegan prone, but I cater to all and I don't discriminate. Speaking of, I almost forgot, one of the biggest hits of April was the last week with Spaghetti Pie!
This lovely layered dish is a Browning family favorite, so thank Joan, Jen's mom, for the recipe. After six family sized dishes were made, literally only one bite was left, and I think that was because it fell on the floor. There was none to spare. One of the kids took one look at the meal as it was being dished out and exclaimed, "OOH, I'm gonna eat that like a pig!" Though they were well mannered about it, most of them did eat it quite rapidly. Should Joan give me the okay, I have the recipe safely in my possession and would love to share it with you should you be in need of a tasty and easy family night meal.
Well, on to May, hopefully with more flowers than showers and even more fun with food than last month.
As always, I'll be in the kitchen!
-The lunch lady.
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