Cheesy Ghosts and Pumpkins … aaand I’m Back!

Posted in food & flavor & recipes, holidays by Rosemary Lynn

So I took a look at when I last published a post on this blog and … *gasp* it’s been HOW long?

Well, my attempt at balancing work and kids and going back to school for my masters and planning a wedding all at the same time did not work out as planned. And things got even more complicated this past spring when we all went into lock down and I was both working from home and home schooling my girls.

I still access this blog all the time, especially for recipes. And heaven knows I’ve never stopped taking pictures of what my girls and I get up to.

But with the craziness that’s surrounding us all right now, I’ve decided to start writing again. There aren’t suddenly more hours in the day, but I miss doing this. Plus, it calms my anxiety (extra important in these stressful times!) and, hey, I love sharing food with you guys.

Halloween is practically around the corner – it IS August after all. So I’m going to start by sharing Halloween recipes and ideas.

This recipe here is for an age-old favorite of mine: open faced cheese sandwiches.

These are so much fun. And in the fall especially, my girls wind up getting some variation of these for lunch quite a bit.

Cheese and bread make a great base for a lunch since they go with so many different sides. I can throw these on a plate with pretty much whatever fruit is on hand and it works.

For the pumpkins and ghosts pictured above, I used yellow American cheese and white Provolone. You could also substitute another white cheese like Swiss, Mozzarella, white Cheddar or Monterey Jack, depending on your family’s favorites.

I placed the cheese slices on the bread and microwaved it for about 8 or 10 seconds, just until the cheese started to melt. This makes sure it doesn’t fall apart in their lunchboxes. You could also try warming it in a toaster oven instead – just keep an eye on them so they don’t burn.

I personally like mine with crispy half-burnt cheese, but well, these aren’t for me…

Once the cheese is melted to the bread, simply use cookie cutters to cut out the shapes. I can’t remember the brand of cutters I have, but they are similar to these and these.

I was able to get two pumpkins out of one slice with the size cookie cutters I have. And, really, I often just save the scraps to eat as part of my own lunches. Or, you know, midnight snack. If they make it till midnight.

You could also use them as cheesy croutons in tomato soup. If yours last longer than mine…

Here is a similar way I like to change it up: Jack O Lantern Cheesy Bread

Follow my Halloween Pinterest Board for more ideas!

Happy Early Halloween :)

23Mar2016

Vampire /Monster Teeth Doughnuts for Halloween

Posted in food & flavor & recipes, holidays by Rosemary Lynn

These Vampire Donuts were the biggest hit of our last Halloween season.

I always do a lot of crafts and recipes with my girls during Halloween, as it’s my second fave holiday (following quite closely on the heels of Christmas). But these right here? Totally made it to the top of the list of awesomeness.

And how incredibly ridiculously EASY???

Seriously. I went and picked up a dollar bag full of vampire teeth and stuck them in some glazed donuts from Publix.

I had to push open the holes a little to make the teeth fit, but that was no big deal.

You could mix it up with some chocolate or autumn-flavored (apple or pumpkin spice anybody??) donuts instead, and you could dress it up by adding a little red gel icing to look like blood dripping from the fangs too.

But I’m a big fan of sweet and simple. :)

Share some pics if you try it!

7Dec2015

Eggosaurus Dinosaur Shaped Eggs

Posted in food & flavor & recipes, toys & games & gifts by Rosemary Lynn

When I first saw this dinosaur shaped egg mold I very nearly squealed with excitement.

How cool is a breakfast that’s shaped like a brontosaurus??

If your answer is DUDE THAT ROCKS then we’re probably on the same page about this.

The pictures below show my journey of eventual success. It wasn’t overly successful the first time I did it, but it only took a couple of tries. And, you know, I could still eat the mistakes. So no biggie.

Anyway, here are my tips:

Grease the pan AND the mold with nonstick spray.
Separate the eggs whites and yolks ahead of time in separate little bowls.
Try to hold down the mold with a spatula or something while you pour in the egg, so that it doesn’t leak out from underneath.
Make sure the pan is hot when you pour in the egg and cover it as it cooks (like with a pan lid) so that the top of the eggs cook as well.
Move the entire mold with the cooked eggs to the plate and remove the mold from the eggs on the plate instead of in the pan.
Practice it a couple of times before you attempt to serve it to children.
Enjoy!

Mine might not be quite as pretty as the example picture from the manufacturer, but I was totally happy with the results.

Next up? Pancakes!

Rawr.

You can get the Eggosaurus on Amazon, but beware: the prices tend to fluctuate. You really shouldn’t pay more than ten bucks for this, but I haven’t really searched for it anywhere else. I actually bought mine from ModCloth, but they don’t carry it anymore. If you find it anywhere else, please let me know!

Happy Eating!

25Aug2015

Teddy Bear Toast

Posted in food & flavor & recipes by Rosemary Lynn

Do you know what is totally cute and totally easy to make??

Teddy Bear Toast!

It’s just a few ingredients and only takes a couple of minutes, so whether you serve it as a snack or part of a meal, you are sure to have some excited kiddos.

I toasted the bread instead of using un-toasted bread because it makes it easier to spread the peanut butter. Less chance of the bread falling apart.

But you don’t have to use peanut butter. You could use almond butter, nutella, cream cheese (polar bears), or whatever spreadable thing you thing vaguely represents a bear’s fur.

Then press on a banana slice for its ears and snout. Top that off with two chocolate chips for eyes and a chocolate chip for his nose and you’re done!

I made a tiny hole in the banana slice snout to make that chocolate chip fit a little more snugly, but other than that, you’re pretty much just piling on the goodness.

The other thing is that this is easy for kids to make. I usually just serve it up, but you could get your kids involved in the kitchen by letting them make their own bears.

Isn’t that cute??

Share pics with me of your creations on Facebook!

Check out a couple other posts I’ve done about cute foods here:

Happy Eating!

21Oct2014

Octopus Dinner Rolls

Posted in activities for kids, food & flavor & recipes by Rosemary Lynn

I saw these Octopus Dinner Rolls in a magazine (can’t remember which one) and thought they’d be fun to tackle with my girls.

They do take a few minutes to shape, but they’re pretty easy to make – and especially fun to eat!

I used crescent rolls that had a butter flavor in them already, but if yours don’t (or you’re making your own dough), you can always wrap up a small chunk of butter inside the “head.”

The process of turning these triangles into an octopus is surprisingly easy: cut the end opposite the point into 8 pieces. Then tuck the pointed end under and bunch it up into a ball. Voila!

I asked the girls to help me arrange the myriad legs, but they were really much more interested in adding the eyes.

My 4yo even used the tweezers from her bug collecting kit to place them on. (Don’t worry – we washed them first!)

Here they are, all ready to bake.

You should make sure the legs aren’t touching, but the dough doesn’t spread much during baking, so they can be pretty close.

Also, I baked one tray the full recommended baking time on the package (see above photo) and the other tray a few minutes less (see below).

Undercooking them slightly ensures that the tips don’t brown, but the head will be a bit underdone. Now, that didn’t bother me or my girls at all – but then, neither did the crunchy legs of the fully cooked ones.

The crispy tips didn’t present a problem for us in the least, so really, how long you decide to bake them is up to your personal preference.

And if you want to shape them ahead of time, you can put the octopus-filled, parchment-lined trays in the fridge until you’re ready to bake them. Such as on Halloween. :)

Click here to get the free printable PDF version of the recipe: Octopus Dinner Rolls

Plus, if your kids enjoyed this, they may also like my Octopus Hot Dogs:

Enjoy!

7Sep2013

Octopus Hot Dogs and Seaweed Zucchini

Posted in food & flavor & recipes by Rosemary Lynn

Everyone should want to have fun with food.

Personally, I think everyone should make an octopus-shaped hot dot at least once in their life. And if you have kids, they – more than likely – love hot dogs. So: problem solved. Go and make yourself some octopuses for dinner. Or octopi. Either way.

And to get extra creative, dab on some mustard eyes and throw them in a bed of zucchini seaweed:

octopus hot dogs with seaweed zucchini

Okay, I know: my “seaweed” looks a little mushy. That’s because I shredded the zucchini kinda small. Looked a little more like angel hair than linguine. Still, it gets the point across.

To make the hot dogs, I sliced through them before cooking them. You could them boil or microwave them.

To make the zucchini, I shredded it, and then threw it in a frying pan with some olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder for a few minutes.

Granted, my kids were far too excited about the hot dogs to pay much attention to the zucchini, but they did eat a little. If you’d prefer, you could always serve the dogs over some spaghetti that you cooked with a little green food coloring instead.