Happy Birthday Eric Carle!

Today is Eric Carle's birthday!

We love Eric Carle's books! His books are timeless and even thought we've had some of them since Eliana was born we still read them five years later! And of course his artwork is absolutely gorgeous and one of a kind.

I was going to make a new Eric Carle themed lunch for Eliana today but I had a doctor's appointment this morning that ran over. It was supposed to be a 10:40 am but I guess they were running late and we didn't end up being done until 12pm! Needless to say when we got home we were starving! I had no creativity in me because I was hangry ;) (and those who know me.. .you don't mess with me what I am that hungry!)

So I'm sharing the two Eric Carle themed lunches we've made in the past AND I thought it would be awesome to share other works of food art too! At the bottom of this post you'll find a linky where you can link up your favorite Eric Carle inspired lunches and fun food! :) You don't need a blog, you could link up your instagram, or any other place, as long as you have a  URL that you can link up! :)

Last year I made Eliana this Very Hungry Caterpillar bento:

For this lunch Eliana had a sandwich topped with the Very Hungry Caterpillar! And for a cute easy detail I used a straw and made a hole through the strawberries-- because on Thursday the Very Hungry Caterpillar ate through four strawberries! For more details about this lunch (and a quick and easy snack!) see here.

I also made her this Very Busy Spider bento last year:

In her Easylunchbox she had a SunButter and honey sandwich, topped with the Very Busy Spider and raisin fly ontop of a yummy web! For more details on this lunch see here.

I'm sure we'll be making more Eric Carle inspired fun food soon to come! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIC CARLE!

Sprinkles Will Fly Cupcake Couture Blog Party

4th of July Tie Dye Swirl Cupcakes!

With the 4th of July right around the corner, what is better than these easy to make gorgeous tie dye swirl cupcakes?! :)

First off a big thank you to Carrie from Bella Cupcake Couture and Betsy from JavaCupcake & Cupcake Takes the Cake who invited me to participate again in another cupcake blog party! I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I LOVE cupcakes! This time our blog party is going to celebrate the upcoming holiday! And of course for a giveaway too! (enter below for a chance to win!)

I love to make things from scratch: cookies, cakes, cupcakes-- any baked good. But this time we went with simple and fast. I was able to whip these cupcakes up quickly and they were a big hit! They would the perfect dessert for a 4th of July party/cookout :)

To make these awesome and creative 4th of July Tie Dye Swirl Cupcakes all you need is a box of white cake (plus all the ingredients needed) and some food coloring (all natural food coloring could be used as well)!

I mixed up the batter with the ingredients (I did add a splash of vanilla as well) and separated the batter into three bowls. One bowl was "white" and I left uncolored. The other two bowls I added blue and red food coloring. To make a tie dye swirl I spooned a little bit of each color into the wrappers. Since one spoonful of each color wasn't enough to fill the cupcake wrappers, I kept alternating colors while I filled the wrappers. With a toothpick (this is where Eliana loved to help!) I swirled some of the colors together. The tops looked like this when they came out:

They came out so pretty!! And it was SO simple to make. Some of the wrappers got a bit bent up because my little helper in the kitchen took them out and put them in the cupcake pan herself! :) It really didn't matter though because we had these gorgeous cupcake wrappers to use!

 Carrie supplied these cupcake wrappers from Bella Cupcake Couture! They are absolutely gorgeous and I love how elegant they made my cupcakes :)

Using a Wilton 2D tip I topped the cupcakes with vanilla frosting, and some red, white and blue star sprinkles! This was another place where Eliana enjoyed helping :) These cupcakes were super easy to make and they look gorgeous! :)

Here is how the cupcakes looked on the inside! Every single cupcake looked slightly different, which made them even more special! :)

So Please take a look at every one of these blogs to see all the amazing cupcake wrappers for the 4th of July! Be sure to hop around to each blog and check them all out! :)

An American Cupcake in LondonA Pumpkin and A Princess
Bella Cupcake Couture
Chronicles of a Foodie
Creative Food
Cupcake Project
Cupcakes Take the Cake
Diary of a Mad Hausfrau
Haniela's
Hoosier Homemade
Hungry Happenings
In Katrina's Kitchen
Inside BruCrew Life
Java Cupcake
Kitchen Fun with My 3 Sons
Love From the Oven
Make Bake Celebrate
Not Just a Mommy
Not Your Mommas Cookie
Pint Sized Baker
Sugar Swings! Serve Some
The Baking Cup
The Decorated Cookie
And also Enter below to try to win this awesome prize pack!! :)

Thanks to our amazing Prize Pack sponsors for their generous donations! Please, visit their websites to see more of their fabulous products!
Bella Cupcake Couture
The Smart Baker
India Tree
Lucks Food Decorating Company
Pretty Party Details
To enter to WIN this Prize Pack, simply fill out the entry form below. Contest opens June 25, 2013 at 7:00am PST and closes July 1, 2013 at 11:59pm PST. One winner will be chosen and announced within 48 hours of the contest ending. Winner will be contacted via email by betsy@javacupcake.com and will have 48 hours to claim their prize. If they do not respond within 48 hours, another winner will be chosen. This contest is open to residents worldwide.
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Monsters University Lunch

Mike Wazowski!

In honor of Monsters University coming out tomorrow I made this lunch for Eliana today! :)

Mike Wazowski is one of our favorite Monsters! To make him I made Eliana a ham and cheese sandwich on spinach tortilla cut with my circle cookie cutter. I simplified his arms and legs and just cut simple strips from the tortilla. For his eye I cut three different circles of cheese with two of my circle cutters and a large straw for the smallest circle. I used edible food markers to add details for the eyes.  For his mouth I used nori (seaweed) and cheese for the teeth. I added cheese horns on top.  He is so cute and easy to make!

I put Mike in an EasyLunchbox because we are going to eat on the go today:

In the upper left Eliana has sliced cucumber with a "MU" for Monsters University. In the upper right she has yogurt in her mini dipper with a blue sprinkle Sulley.. or at least sort of maybe? haha I tried! I put Mike in the main compartment and let him hug some Monsters University Cheezits! (Yes his horns are missing..Eliana ate them before they made it to the lunchbox..)

Eliana loved it! She did tell me that Sulley has purple on him and where is his mouth etc etc... but I tried to make him quick and simple. Maybe I'll make her a Sulley lunch another day! :)

Creative Food Supplies:

 

 
Linking up here :)

Toy Story Alien Snack

ooooOOOoohh! The clawwwwww!

Being that Eliana and I were sick for two weeks we spent a lot of time indoors and watching movies. One of the movies we watched was Toy Story, one of our old favorites.  I had honestly forgotten about these cute little aliens and decided that we should make them into a fun snack! p.s. we are feeling much better now! :)

To make the Toy Story Alien I used my circle circle cookie cutter on a spinach tortilla and a piece of cheese. If I was going to make this a meal I would have added a few layers of ham and cheese in between, but this was just a snack. His eyes are cheese decorated with an edible food marker. His ears and antenna were also cut from the spinach tortilla. For his body I used my CuteZCute cutter on a piece of cheese and flipped it upside down. I decorated with purple and blue edible food markers... They didn't come out as bright being that the markers are drying out but it still worked out!

The claw I just cut a tomato basil tortilla with kitchen shears, using my circle cookie cutter as a guide for the outer part.

I put some blackberries and raspberries "candies" so that the claw could grab some candies too! :)

Eliana loved it, ate it all up, and she said that he looked exactly like the Toy Story alien! I'll take that as a huge compliment! :)

Creative Food Supplies:

Linking up here :)