Tag Archives: cute lunches

Cute Lunches: Taco Monster

Posted on October 31, 2013 by TheGingerbreadMum

Happy Halloween everyone! While I made this snack for Halloween, monster-loving little ones would love it at any time of the year.

I carefully drew eyes and a nose on a taco shell (I definitely need to work on drawing scary features!) then filled it with ham, cheese and baby leaf spinach. I cut teeth from a slice of cheddar and tucked some of them under the filling and stuck the others, using dots of mayonnaise, to the top of the taco shell (serve before they have a chance to fall off!). As a treat, Nicholas also had some ghost crisps.

How are you and your family celebrating Halloween?

Cute Lunches: Halloween Lunchbox

Posted on October 25, 2013 by TheGingerbreadMum

Nicholas had a Halloween party at preschool so I thought I should make him a spooky lunch to take. I still struggle making his packed lunches cute in the mornings (we’re a family who get up at the last possible minute!), but this one was quick.

I made a ham and cheese sandwich, cutting out a ghost shape with a cookie cutter and adding some simple features with an edible ink pen. The jack o’lantern is cut from a slice of cheese and the bat is a savoury squash muffin baked in a Halloween themed silicon mould. To finish, there are some cherry tomatoes with bat picks.

I’m linking up with the lovely Eats Amazing’s Fun Food Friday! a weekly celebration of creative food. Check out the other linked up posts for fun inspiration.

2 Comments

Posted in cute lunches, lunch, snack, toddler and tagged bento, cute lunches, Eats Amazing, Fun Food Friday, Halloween. Bookmark the permalink.

Cute Lunches: Pizza Minions

Posted on September 17, 2013 by TheGingerbreadMum

‘Despicable Me’ is one of Nicholas’ favourite films (especially the ‘Banana’ short film), and one or more of his beloved toy minions are regular guests at his tea parties. We have yet to see the sequel, but in the meantime I made some pizza minions.

These are really just a variation on my recent pizza bears, using my Super Quick Cheat’s Pizza recipe.

I cut out oval shapes from tortilla wraps (using kitchen scissors is much easier than cookie cutters), drizzled them with olive oil, added homemade tomato pasta sauce with some hidden veg, and a sprinkle of grated cheddar. I cut the minions’ features from a small piece of courgette/zucchini: thin strips, small circles and various mouth shapes. I added small pieces of grated cheddar for the eyes.

While the pizzas were cooking, I used an edible ink pen to draw another couple of minions on to yellow cherry tomatoes (difficult and messy!).

4 Comments

Posted in cute lunches, lunch, snack, toddler and tagged cheat's pizza, cute lunches, Despicable Me, lunch, minion, minion pizza, pizza, snack. Bookmark the permalink.

Cute Lunches: pizza bears

Posted on August 19, 2013 by TheGingerbreadMum

I haven’t posted a cute lunch in many months. I try to pack Nicholas a cute lunch when he goes to nursery twice a week, but usually only manage to take a quick photo of them (if I remember!) with my phone.

I’m sure it will get easier, but it stills takes me lots of time (and thought) to come up with a cute meal idea, although investing in some cute cutters and edible ink pens make even the most boring sandwich instantly better. I’m constantly in awe of the cute lunch makers whose blogs I follow.

My inspiration for these pizza bears came from a photo Bento, Monsters posted on Instagram. Finally something I could attempt! Unfortunately when I got our jar of black olives out of the fridge they had to be thrown away so I had to come up with another idea instead of having Bento, Monsters’ lovely shiny black noses, but I think they turned out quite well.

I used my Super Quick Cheat’s Pizza recipe as a starting point, cutting out bear shaped-heads from a tortilla wrap (much easier to use kitchen scissors rather than a knife). I then added homemade spinach pesto (recipe coming soon), some cooked ham and grated cheddar and popped them into the oven for a few minutes until the cheese was melting and the bases starting to turn golden.

As they cooked, I cut out circles of cheddar for the bears’ muzzles, and cut out noses and eyes from a slice of tomato. I added them to the pizzas and then cooked them a little more (only about a minute).

Now the only thing we’re missing is Goldilocks!

Any other ideas, apart from olives, as to what to use for the bear’s features?

4 Comments

Posted in cute lunches, lunch, snack, toddler and tagged bear pizza, cheat's pizza, cute lunches, lunch, pizza, snack, spinach pesto. Bookmark the permalink.

Cute lunches: Chewbacca crumble

Posted on May 4, 2013 by TheGingerbreadMum

After the success of our Gruffalo crumble, I realised what a fabulous blank canvas a crumble can be. Not quite as portable as a cupcake, but just as good for decorating in a myriad of ways! Who’s with me to make crumbles as cute as possible? 🙂

In honour of Star Wars Day (May the fourth – get it?) and inspired by Lunchbox Dad’s amazing creation, I created Chewbacca crumble.

Use your preferred crumble topping over your little one’s favourite fruit. I was in a rush so roughly mashed some fresh mango and pear before sprinkling the crumble topping over. Chewbacca’s hair is made with licorice laces and I used a slice of licorice for his nose. His fangs are banana and his eyes are fruit buttons (I drew the details on with an edible pen).

Nicholas promptly ate all the licorice then asked for “more whiskers, please mummy!”.

Cute lunches: Gruffalo crumble

Posted on April 26, 2013 by TheGingerbreadMum

Ok, so technically this wasn’t a lunch but after creating a toasted Gruffalo for Nicholas and getting such a great reaction from him, I thought I’d make him Gruffalo crumble. And it’s definitely cute.

Use your preferred crumble topping recipe (I like adding some rolled oats and desiccated coconut) over your munchkin’s favourite fruit (I roughly mashed some fresh mango), adding a spoonful of extra crumble topping to form the Gruffalo’s nose.

After the crumble was cooked, I added circles of mango and chocolate drops to make the Gruffalo’s terrible eyes, and a fruit button for the poisonous wart on the end of his nose. His terrible tusks, teeth and horns are cut from banana, and I fried two slices of banana in a little butter for his ears. His black tongue is made from licorice laces.

Nicholas has already asked to “eat more Gruffle crumble!” so I guess this was a success.

4 Comments

Posted in cute lunches, dessert, toddler and tagged cute lunches, fruit crumble, Gruffalo crumble, The Gruffalo. Bookmark the permalink.

Cute lunches: The Gruffalo

Posted on April 22, 2013 by TheGingerbreadMum

“A gruffalo? What’s a gruffalo?”“A gruffalo! Why, didn’t you know?”
“He has terrible tusks, and terrible claws, and terrible teeth in his terrible jaws…
He has knobbly knees, and turned-out toes, and a poisonous wart at the end of his nose…
His eyes are orange, his tongue is black; he has purple prickles all over his back.”

‘The Gruffalo’ by Julia Donaldson with Axel Scheffler’s glorious illustrations is one of Nicholas’ favourite books. When we finish reading it (usually for the third or fourth time in a row), Nicholas will often say he wants to eat the gruffalo. Today I thought I’d help him do just that!

The gruffalo is a toasted ham and cheese sandwich with extra bits of toast for his ears. His terrible tusks, teeth and horns are cut from cheddar cheese. His orange eyes are carrot disks with chocolate chip pupils (you could also use small pieces of raisin or licorice). The poisonous wart on the end of his nose (an extra bit of toast) is a fruit button (you could also use a piece of grape or even a cooked pea). His black tongue is a raisin.

And I couldn’t leave out the little brave mouse. I cut out a heart shape from another piece of toast then cut out cheese for his ears and eyes, and added small chocolate chips for his pupils. His nose is a flattened raisin cut into a triangle, and his whiskers are licorice laces cut into thinner strips.