Creating Cute Animals From Vegetables

 I'm lucky I have a child who likes vegetables, but still to encourage her to eat healthy, and that vegetables are also a colourful and exciting food choice I often think up ways to present her vegetables in creative and interesting ways.  At the moment, she is 3 years old and I've found she gets very exciting when I present her with food made in animal shapes, and I like to do this using vegetables regularly.  It takes just a few minutes and you don't need any special tools.  With just a little creativity, and using whatever vegetables you have available you can create cute looking animal meals your children will also enjoy!

Picutred above, and to the right I have created a monster and a rooster using slices of uncooked carrot.  I simply cut small triangles out of one side of carrot slices and sliced a space in the boiled eggs for the carrot to be slid into.  They are just the cutest! And the rooster is perfect for easter!  For the rooster I cut an extra triangle for the beak and added BBQ Sauce for it's eyes.  For the little monster I stuck in some crispy noodles for his antenna's and added Fruit Loops for his eyes.  I also created a flower using left over carrot slices with a small tomato for the centre of the flower and boiled beans for the leaves!

My daughter eats raw vegetables too!  If you grab yourself a few toothpicks you can peice together almost any animal!  Here are two Collie Dogs.  Lets call then Collie flower and Brock Collie! They make the perfect addition to a dinner plate!  Just ensure with little ones you teach them to pull the pieces of vegetable from the creation as they eat, leaving the toothpicks behind (You'll have to supervise this one!).

For more creative healthy food options and presentation ideas for children please see my home page >>> My Daycare Lunch

Using Fruit To Create Fast Food Look-A-Likes!

Just for fun! You can easily create what appears to look like fast food from fresh fruit!  This is handy when your children are starting to prefer or ask for fast food but you'd prefer to serve them a healthy selection of fruit instead!  It just takes a little creativity to create a fruit pizza or burger which looks appealing and is sure to create some smiles!

 I have a daughter who loves fruit and loves McDonalds... I know which one I prefer her to have! 

Using just two apples and whatever other fruit you have you can create this cute looking burger and fries.

I just hollowed out one apple and cut off the top, I used the excess pieces to create fries and carved and "M" symbol on the apple.

The other apple I cut in half and inbetween placed slices of banana, strawberry and grapes to create the hamburger! 

My daughter is also a fan of melon and strawberries.  And this is a fruit pizza we love to create together.  It's perfect to prepare before visitors arrive, or to bring as a platter to a party!

To create the fruit pizza, simply cut through a watermellon to create a slice (For mini-pizza's you could use Rockmelon or Honeydew).  Slice up your fruit and berry topics.  And for cheeze you could use frozen grated cheeze or grated carrot! 

I love serving my daughter colourful healthy meals with lots of fruit and this is a great way to have fun with food and make the fruit look exciting!

See my homepage for more exciting healthy meal ideas for children, including toddler daycare lunch ideas >>> My Daycare Lunch