Wise Owl Fall Lunch

Year 2, Week 13: Wise Owl Fall Lunch.  This is one of those lunches that came together at the last minute because of what I had in the fridge.  My family came home late from a party and I had no real motivation to make lunch.  However, I couldn't let me daughter starve so I rummaged through what we had and came up with this.  It is Fall so I thought I'd do a Fall themed lunch.  I tried to keep the idea of Fall throughout, especially with the colors and the leaves falling off the tree.  Other than that, this is just a fun lunch.  

I also included some hummus for my daughter to dip the vegetables in.  I have never had her try it before so it is an experiment.  The cool thing is that she has discovered some foods that she really likes through experiments like this.  I really recommend parents encourage their kids to try new foods.  Sometimes the kids will love the food, sometimes they will hate it, but it is worth trying.  You never know what will happen!  This was made in an Easy Lunch Boxes container, they are great.

Ingredients:

--1 slice of meat

--2 slices of cheese, 1 white and 1 orange

--2 slices of whole wheat bread

--1 serving of dried cranberries

--A few carrots and grape tomatoes

--A few slices dried apples and dried mango

--2 yogurt covered raisins

--Black food coloring or food coloring marker

Directions:

1.  Slice piece of bread into the shape of a tree as shown.  It doesn't have to be perfect, trees are all shapes and sizes just do your best.  Use the first tree to make a second tree out of the other slice.
2.  Cut cheese slices into leaf shapes.  I used a vegetable cutter.  You can use a cookie cutter or just make a simple leaf free hand.
3.  Put meat down as background and bread on top of that.  Arrange cheese and dried cranberries on top of bread as shown.
4.  In side dish put a few small pieces of dried mango.  On top of those put two slices of dried apple to look like an owl face.  Cut a triangle out of dried mango and put it on top of the apples.  Use black food coloring or food coloring marker to make circles on yogurt covered raisins.  Place raisins inside the apple slices for the owl's eyes.
5.  In a second side dish put tomatoes and carrots.  You can also use another type of vegetable that your child enjoys.  If they have a hard time eating vegetable, try putting a healthy dip such as hummus along with them to see if they will eat it.

Thanks for following me, I hope you had fun on Halloween and have some great Thanksgiving plans!  Make some fun memories with your kids this week and maybe write them a special note in their lunch.  They will love it.  Unless they're teenagers, then they will pretend they hate it but secretly feel great about it.  Remember to check out Lunchbox Dad on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest for a ton more fun ideas!

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