Bear with me...

Ok, any sandwich made to look like a bear calls for some obligatory bear puns.

So bear with me.... if it becomes unbearable, just grin and bear it...

I'm just bearly getting started here.

No really, just bear in mind that this beary cute sandwich was easy to make and turned out pretty well.

His crusty ears were pasted on with peanut butter.  A little heart sprinkle for a nose, candy eyes, and a food writer to add details and before you've lost your bearings... voila!... a little bear for my little man's lunch.

--Mandy--

VRooom! It's race weekend, baby!

Ladies and Gentlemen, START. YOUR. ENGINES!  If you live in the Indianapolis area, you know that the world stops on Memorial Day weekend for the biggest race of the year, the Indianapolis 500.  Adults turn into children again and even people who don't normally follow auto racing turn their radios on to listen to the blacked-out race.  Robbie is nuts about cars, so I made this cute little "sub sandwich car" and have the DVR set to record the race!

To make the car, I took a sub sandwich and carved out a little seat with a bread knife for my driver.  I took some grapes, mini baby carrots, and some toothpick pieces and constructed a little body.  I took my new Wilton's food safe markers and drew on a little face.  Next, I took a Clif Z-bar and cut out a few wheels and a steering wheel and skewered those on too.  I added some candy eyes and drew on a smile to complete my happy little car. Little man was THRILLED.  

Now, I think you have to know your kiddo here when you are using things like toothpicks to decorate your food.  Before I let little man eat the sandwich, I pointed out where all the toothpicks were and reminded them he needed to pull them out while he ate.  Then I sat down and ate lunch with him, keeping an eye out that he didn't forget.  He is three and he did just fine.

 If you are interested in making cute food, I suggest you buy some candy eyes and food writers.  They are a really easy way to make a big impact on what you are making.  Adding eyes and a smile to any food is enough to bring a big grin to my son's face... and that is what this is really about.

--Mandy--

Keep 'em Busy: Mad Scientist

This idea has been going around Pinterest for quite a while, but I can remember watching the magic of baking soda & vinegar reactions even when I was a little kid.  My three-year-old was entertained for a good half-hour not including set-up and clean-up.  He could have kept going, I think, but I ran out of vinegar!

All you need is a tray full of baking soda and several small container full of white vinegar that have been colored with food coloring.  Take a medicine dropper and squirt the vinegar onto the soda and watch the colorful little chemical reactions.  I played along too for a while, showing off my 'mad skills' of being able to put my thumb over the end of the straw to 'magically' move liquid from the container to the tray.  I would also suggest covering your surface with wax paper or newsprint to keep any drips from staining your countertops.  

--Mandy--

Silly Saturday - An Easy Face

Saturday is my favorite day of the week.

1.  I don't have to go to work. 

2.  I can spend the whole day with my son.

3.  My husband's work schedule is crazy, but regardless shift, I get to see him for a little while.

4.  I can wear pajamas all day if I want to...

Today's Silly Saturday Lunch is a super easy face.  I took a regular peanut butter and jelly sandwich and added a few of the Wilton's candy eyes, an almond nose, and a "Space adventures" goldfish cracker for a mouth.  A little string cheese made excellent hair and a little star cracker made a nice barrette.  This was really simple to do and only took a few minutes.

Little man's favorite part of this was pulling off the various parts and in a fake voice shouting what was happening.  "No, don't eat my eyes!  My hair - I'm bald! I'm bald! I need my nose to smell! Nooooo!"  It was a little disturbing and hysterical at the same time.  Happy lunching!

Holy Ham Sandwich, Batman!

 I saw a neat idea for making character sandwiches on the Hawaii Bento Box Cookbook blog and decided to give it a try.  Little man got a sneak peak as I was packing his lunch and is very excited for tomorrow.

As you know we are a little "superhero" crazy in this house.  If you read my family blog, you know that we redid little man's bedroom in a superhero theme for his 3rd birthday.  Although the Boy Wonder is his favorite character, I decided to give Batman a try:

To Make "Holy Ham Sandwich, Batman!":

Start by printing out a coloring book page or image from a Google search.

I took two pieces of white bread and cut off the crusts.  I sliced off the bottom right corner for Batman's jawline.  Next, I took the heel of the loaf of bread and used a rolling pin to flatten it down.  I trimmed the "cowl" off of the Batman page with a pair of scissors and placed my pattern over the flattened heel.  With a sharp kitchen knife, I trimmed around the pattern.

Next I made the ham and cheese sandwich and "pasted" on the cowl with a little bit of mayo.  As I was putting it in the lunch container, I decided to secure the cowl with a little toothpick and wrote a little note to the daycare folks that that needed to be pulled out before biting into Batman.  A couple of miniature chocolate chips for eyes and a little bit of fruit roll-up for a mouth and we have a caped crusader sandwich any tiny superhero would be thrilled to have for lunch.

"I do nothing that a man of unlimited funds, superb physical endurance, and maximum scientific knowledge could not do. —Batman."

--Mandy --

(c) copyright text and pictures by Amanda Leahy, 2012

Meet the Dubiens: Giveaway!

One of my favorite bloggers is having an AWESOME giveaway on her blog:  Meet the Dubiens.

If you have kids, you really need to go check out her site for fabulous ideas and instructions.  And while you're there, enter the giveaway!  Who knows!?! You might win!

http://www.meetthedubiens.com/2012/04/bento-giveaway.html?showComment=1334522348402#c3122681288542287915

--Mandy--

The Easter Bunny

I am not supermom.  My husband and I work full time jobs and our 3-year-old son spends more time in daycare than I would like.  Most days he has a boring, uninspired lunch.  Some days when I have a little extra time, I try to do something special with his lunch.  This blog is my attempt to share these ideas so maybe you can do this too!  Most of these take VERY little time and my son is absolutely thrilled when he discovers that mommy packed a "cute lunch" for him to enjoy.

The Easter Bunny

A bunny sandwich with favorite sides of crunchy carrots and sweet strawberries.

To make the bunny:
I made a peanut-butter & jelly sandwich and cut into an oval using my nut chopper (since I have no oval cookie-cutter).  I used the leftover sandwich and a pair of kitchen shears to cut "ears."  I took the heel of the piece of bread and the kitchen shears again to trim up his nose/mouth area and use a little peanut butter to "paste" it to the bunny's face.  A pair of Wilton's candy eyes were added the same way.  Finally, I used a fruit roll-up and my kitchen shears to cut out pieces for the ears, nose, and a little bit of a mouth.

 Easter Sweet-Treats

My son's daycare was having an Easter party, so I volunteered to make some sweet treats.  I saw this adorable rabbit & carrot cookie cutter set at Target and couldn't wait to make some sugar cookies.  Sugar cookies are a very simple recipe, but can be a disaster if you don't know what you are doing.  I will make a post soon about how to make perfect sugar cookies.  To decorate these, I use candy sprinkles and eyes for the bunnies and green m&m's for the carrots.  A little store-bought white icing (colored orange for the carrots) made the decorating fast and fun.

 I also made these hysterical little "Peeps in Nests" that were trending on Pinterest.

The nest is a marshmallow treats recipe using chow mein noodles instead of krispies.  My son helped decorate the nests with Reese's pieces peanut butter eyes and a mama Peep.  We snipped the Peeps apart using a set of kitchen shears.

I hope you will enjoy following this new blog!  I am looking forward to writing it!

--Mandy--

(c) text and photos copyright Amanda Leahy, 2012