Candy Corn Pancakes

Candy Corn for breakfast!

Candy Corn.  It's one of the strangest inventions of candy to me. I cannot stand the taste, flavor or texture. Not to mention it isn't the easiest candy to find peanut free, without any cross contamination issues-- and wonderfully (hear my sarcasm) they are now packaging candy corn with peanuts... Yes I have found peanut free/nut free candy corn but I will never buy it. yuck.  But even though I can't stand the taste, and I won't buy any, I do find candy corn to be one of the most prettiest candies ever. I love the colors and I love making foods that look like it. 

Last week we had pancakes for breakfast and ended up with some batter leftover. I wasn't going to let that batter go to waste so I decided to have some fun with it!  I separated my batter into three different squirt bottles, added some food coloring and made some fun candy corn shaped pancakes!

To make these candy corn pancakes:
First mix up your pancake mix (homemade or boxed.) Mix it well so there are no bumps. Then separate your batter into three bowls for each color. One for yellow, one for orange and one for white, which you will leave uncolored.  Add a drop or two of food coloring to make your orange and yellow batter.  Once your batter is fully mixed, pour into individual squeeze bottles and you are ready to go!

On a skillet (on low heat) draw with your uncolored batter.  Draw the outline of the candy corn first.  Then make your lines for the separate colors.  I did one line by the top with the uncolored batter.  Then I drew the second line with the orange colored batter.  Let your outline cook until it gets all nice and bubbly.  Then fill in each section of the candy corn with the appropriate color and again let it cook.  Once it is almost fully cooked (^like above picture) gently flip your candy corn pancake so it can cook on the other side.

Because Eliana loves breakfast foods I packed her some of the pancakes for her school lunch:

In her EasyLunchboxes she had three candy corn pancakes.  Her syrup was in the mini dipper next to it.  I decided to draw a jack-o-lantern on the lid for fun.  In the upper compartments she had sliced plum and vanilla yogurt (in another mini dipper).  She also had Enjoy Life Foods Very Berry granola to add to her yogurt (in the small yellow container) and I included a spoon for eating.

In order to do this lunch for school I had to prep it differently. I always pack the night before, because there is no way I'm waking up earlier to put a lunch together because I am not a morning person.  So I got everything ready the night before. Eliana wouldn't like her pancakes cold, so I knew I couldn't use an ice pack in her lunch.  In order to keep her yogurt at a safe temperature I stuck the mini dipper in the freezer the night before.  In the morning I took the mini dipper out of the freezer and packed in her lunch. It was perfect for her by lunchtime.  I also warmed up the pancakes slightly before packing up her lunch into her lunch bag so that they would be warm temperature (instead of cold from being in the fridge overnight .  Everything else was done beforehand. It worked out great!

Eliana loved it.  She loved her lunch so much she now wants shaped pancakes for lunch every single day! ha!  While I won't be doing pancakes for lunch everyday, I will certainly pack breakfast more often for her. Plus it will be a nice option to have in our rotation of lunches! :)

And ironically today is National Pancake Day! (well one of the days. I know IHOP has a separate pancake day) So celebrate with some Candy Corn Pancakes!! :)

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How to Use Angry Birds Lip Pops

How to Use Angry Birds Lip Pops

Lip Pops! Do you remember those suckers? I used to LOVE them. Funny tho, I don't actually let Eliana have them. They are just pure sugar. junk. And my child has more than enough energy without sugar alone. Try putting her to bed at night and you'll see why we are strict on unneeded sugar ;) 

But sometimes lip pops come with the cutest designs ever and you just want to buy them! Why not repurpose them into healthier snacks and meals?! When I found these Angry Bird Lip Pops at my grocery store for $1 each, I knew I had to do just that.

I let my lip pops sit in hot water so the candy dissolved first.  (I did let Eliana take a few licks but there was no way I was going to let her finish the whole thing! lol) When the candy is completely dissolved I am free to use the lip pop like any bento decoration I have! First I made some simple Angry Birds snacks for Eliana that worked perfectly for an after school snack:

These Angry Birds Snacks are seriously so cute and so easy to make! Eliana loved them both! You could use any fruits and vegetables-- I used what I had in my fridge at the moment :)

To make the Angry Birds Pig Fruit snack I started off with a small bowl.  I placed green grapes on the bottom, and then sliced grapes on top for the face.  His eyes are sliced apples with mini chocolate chips.  I stuck the lip pop ring in the middle and voila! Its a fruity pig! Eliana LOVED him! To make the ears stick up I used toothpicks to hold the grapes and had them rest on the side of the bowl.

To make this Red Angry Birds Snack I used a red bell pepper.  I put some sliced bell pepper in the bowl and then took about half of a bell pepper and stuck the lip pop ring into it.  I again used sliced apple and mini chocolate chips for the eyes.  For his eyebrows I used sliced plum.  Super easy and fun to make! Next time I might use a red apple instead, but I didn't have any this time around.

I also used the Angry Birds Lip Pops to make some EASY fun and creative lunches:

These lunches were seriously so easy and simple to make. Eliana loved them both!  And I loved how sticking a lip pop into a simple circle instantly transformed my plain lunches into Angry Birds!

To make this Angry Birds Pig Bento I made Eliana a WOWBUTTER, honey and cinnamon sandwich, cut with my circle cutter.  For the eyes I cut two pieces of cheese and used chocolate chips.  I "glued" the cheese down with a dab of WOWBUTTER.  I cut two little circles for ears ("glued" down as well) and then I stuck the lip pop right into the sandwich!  She also had grapes and "pig noses" (cucumber slices).

For her snack she had some Angry Birds Cheddar Crackers.

I think I am partial to the Angry Bird Pigs. For some reason I think they are just so cute!

I also made Eliana a Red Angry Bird Lunch.  To make this lunch I again made a sandwich, cut it with a circle cutter.  The eyes are cheese slices with chocolate chips.  The eyebrows  and tail feathers are sliced plum.  She had sliced plum and cucumber and red pepper "sticks". And while I later attached the eyebrows to the sandwich using spaghetti noodles they probably fell off in transit (I'll have to ask) ... but Eliana loved him! And honestly that matters more to me! :)

For her snack she has some Angry Birds Honey Grahams crackers.

For MORE awesome ideas on how to use Angry Bird Lip Pops in lunches please visit Nina at Mamabelly's Lunches With Love!

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Simple LunchBots School Lunches

Simple School Lunches (but still fun and creative!) :)

Although I may not considered a "newbie" lunch packer I certainly feel like it.  I've been making bentos and packed lunches for Eliana for a while now even though she has been at home with me.  I have never had to make her packed lunches consistently, or plan ahead really.  I usually made them right on the spot and she would help me by asking what she wanted to make, eating the scraps, and by cutting out her sandwiches.  

Now that she is in kindergarten I make her lunch the night before and I'm coming to realize my brain is usually fried at that point.  When I was making her lunch at home I could make more elaborate lunches and spend more time on them, but now that I am packing and doing this every night- simple is best for me. I still make the lunches fun, but not every one is super detailed. These are examples of what some of her lunches have looked like the past two weeks:

Simple Ladybug School Lunch in a LunchBots Trio:

In this lunch Eliana had a ham and cheese circle sandwich with a cheddar cheese decoration on top; a ladybug container filled with sliced pineapple (with a bento pick inside), and sliced green pepper and some baby carrots all packed in her LunchBots Trio.

So I thought this lunch was a WIN. So simple, so cute-- it took maybe five minutes to put it all together. Except it wasn't. It was a complete fail (according to Eliana.) When I picked her up from school she told me immediately how she did not like her lunch.  She did not like carrots, she did not "feel" like eating the green peppers and that the sandwich tasted "weird". sigh. She basically only at the pineapple (and her whole snack, which is packed separately, during snack time). You win some, you lose some.  I shouldn't have been so surprised considering Eliana is a picky eater but for some reason I was.  She loves bell pepper so I wasn't expecting her to come home with a full lunch! But heyyy It will still a very simple lunch and I did recreate it with different ingredients for other lunches that week and they were not considered fails!

Cheese and Crackers Sandwiches in a LunchBots Quad:

Eliana loves to make cheese and cracker sandwiches.  So in her LunchBots Quad I packed sliced green grapes, raspberries, crackers and cheddar cheese slices.  I put the crackers and cheese in silicone cups to keep them from getting any moisture from the fruits.  I also cut the cheese into pretty flowers for fun.  

All the scraps from the flowers go into my packed lunch or snack for the next day OR I just eat it then. I pack Eliana and my lunches at the same time and take all her scraps.  Then I pack hubby's lunch separately.  He can't get by on scraps and needs a heartier meal ;)

Eliana loved her cheese and cracker sandwiches so much she asked that I make it a few more times, which of course I did :) I switched out the fruits and added some veggies and changed up the design of the cheese.  It may not be enough for some kiddos with bigger appetites but this is the perfect size meal for my talker. She also always has a separately packed snack for their snacktime. They get about 30 minutes for lunch and 10 minutes for snack but she talks a lot and is a slow eater.  So I make her meals according to her appetite.  Any food she doesn't finish during lunchtime and/or snacktime becomes her after school snack.


Simple Snack Sampler in a LunchBots Quad:

This is another simple school lunch that I have been sending with Eliana for lunches.  I forget to take pictures of all the lunches I make, but this snack sampler lunch is a winner with her! I've made similar ones over and over for her. I made this specific snack box while we had to eat lunch on the go (before school started). You can read more details about this lunch HERE.

How it all fits in her lunch bag:

I've also been finding that I am loving my LunchBots for small compact lunches.  They work so perfectly and I love how they fit inside her smaller lunch bags (Skip Hop Hippo Zoo Lunchies Lunch Bag shown above) with her thermos and ice pack altogether (ice pack is underneath.) Eliana has been liking it too! She has been forgetting her water bottle if it isn't in her lunchbox. But as she gets used to the transition and adjusts to school I can't wait to use other lunchboxes!

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