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

Salmon and Spinach "Jellyfish" Lunch

My husband got in on the animal food creations when he made lunch for the kids on Saturday. Trying to think of a way to get them to willingly eat spinach, he came up with these little jellyfish, and yes, they gobbled them all up - tentacles included!


Here's what he used:

Body - boneless, skinless canned Alaskan salmon (wild caught) mixed with Trader Joe's mayonnaise
Eyes - wild blueberries
Tentacles - rolled up spinach leaves

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

Egg bunnies

We used another idea from Little Nummies today for our lunch. These simple hard-boiled egg bunnies made for a happy meal!



Here are the ingredients we used:

Body and ears - Hard-boiled egg (slice the bottom off so that the egg sits more evenly, then cut the bottom in half and use for the ears - attach ears with small pieces of spaghetti)
Eyes - pieces of oats from homemade granola
Nose - small piece of carrot
Mouth - apple peel
Whiskers - brown rice spaghetti noodles
Feet - baby carrots (attach to body with spaghetti noodles)

Easter Bunny Lunch Idea

I've been enjoying the adorable food ideas from Little Nummies, a blog that presents simple but creative recipes using stuff you'd normally have on hand (without having to run to the store for special ingredients!).

When I saw the post about Easter Bunny faces for lunch, I had to try it for my boys. Here's how ours turned out! So cute!


These are the ingredients I used:

Face - slice of brown rice bread
Ears - hard-boiled egg cut in half, yolks removed (I also dyed them with beet juice so they had a pinkish hue to them)
Eyes - cream cheese for the whites, and grain-sweetened chocolate chips for the pupils
Nose - hard-boiled egg yolk
Mouth - raw beet slice
Teeth -Tillamook pepperjack cheese
Whiskers - Tillamook cheddar cheese