Open-Faced Black Bean and Cream Cheese Sandwich

Sometimes things don't turn out the way I imagined. Originally with this lunch I tried to make panda faces, but as they came together I knew they would never pass for pandas. Since my plan had failed, I tried to work with what I already had to make something recognizable.


I couldn't decide if it was a raccoon or a husky sled dog (one of my boys picked raccoon, and the other boy picked sled dog).

Here's what I used:

Face, ears, nose and whiskers - brown rice bread, cut into desired shapes (there is a small piece cut for the nose and placed on top of the face piece to give the face more dimension; the ear pieces are also cut separately and set on top of the face piece.)
White fur - Spread cream cheese all over the face bread piece.
Brown fur - Spread black beans (or beans of your choice) in the desired pattern on and around the face and on the nose bread piece.
Eyes - grain-sweetened chocolate chips

Variations on a Lion Lunch

My husband came up with this "lion in the jungle" lunch for the kids over the weekend. After they ate their lions, he added a "river" (not pictured) which was made out of homemade sweet mustard dressing so they could dip the jungle leaves into the river.



Here's what he used:

Face - wild caught Alaskan salmon mixed with Trader Joe's mayo
Eyes - grain sweetened chocolate chips
Snout - carrots
Ears - carrots
Whiskers - shredded Tillamook cheddar cheese
Jungle - organic spinach leaves
River - sweet mustard dressing

Today I served my own variation of the lion lunch for the boys. I like my husbands version better because it's a more balanced meal. Mine is way too carb heavy for my liking, but they enjoyed it (of course)! I used my husband's river tactic to help them eat their jungle leaves.


Here's what I used:

Face - brown rice bread
Mane - organic round tortilla chips (Trader Joe's) and shredded Tillamook pepperjack and cheddar
Eyebrows or Ears - Tillamook cheddar cheese
Snout - Tillamook cheddar cheese
Whiskers - shredded Tillamook cheddar cheese
Mouth - carrot
Eyes - whipped cream cheese
Pupils - grain sweetened chocolate chips
Jungle - organic spinach leaves
River - sweet mustard dressing

Tiger Cheese "Sandwich"

A cheese sandwich is even more delicious when it looks like a tiger! It wasn't long after our elephant tuna sandwiches that my boys asked if they could have tigers for lunch.


Here's what I used:

Face, ears and snout - brown rice bread, cut into desired shapes
Stripes - Tillamook cheddar cheese
Eyes - cream cheese
Pupils - grain-sweetened chocolate chips
Whiskers - cucumbers
Tongue - spaghetti sauce

Elephant Tuna "Sandwich"

My kids love animals, so they are bound to eat any food that resembles an animal (as I so happily discovered during the Easter season when they ate bunny faces and egg bunnies). My 3-year-old asked me to make him an elephant. Tuna was on the menu for lunch that day, and I decided to use the tuna in my elephant creation. Would they eat it, I wondered? Sure enough, they devoured their Elephant Tuna Sandwiches. I even replaced the "eyes" a couple of times so they'd eat more veggies.


Here's what I used:

Face and trunk - brown rice bread
Ears - tongol tuna mixed with natural mayo
Eyes - cucumbers
Pupils - grain-sweetened chocolate chips
Mouth - apple slice