GF Pineapple Bacon Wraps

Here's the first of many posts of my new Gluten Free delicious foods. Many in thanks to online and book inspiration. This one comes from Practical Paleo.

Cut pineapple into long cubes. Wrap with half a slice of turkey bacon (tastes better than pork bacon), then stick a toothpick through it. Broil or bake in the oven at 400* for 20-30 minutes or until it's a crispy as you want. Turkey bacon stays rather soft, so just watch for those curled, brown edges. Or, you can try nuking them in the microwave. Haven't tried that yet.

Lunch in the Forest

Our children eat healthier and new options if I make it fun for them. Here is a lunch I came up with this fall.

TREE: My kids don't eat the hotdog in a bun, but they love it wrapped with croissants. That's the trunk of the pine tree! The evergreen is pickle spears cut in half. The ground is ketchup for dipping.
BUNNY: For fruit, I have bunny made of a canned pear half with a marshmallow tail, banana chip ears, and a mini carrot to eat.
LOGS: The logs are cut up carrots. The organic carrots are so flavorful, they don't need ranch dip.

For Dessert:

Dark Forest Brownies with bat sprinkles and candy eyes!

As a fun activity, we also made finger paints using a recipe of corn starch, confectioners sugar, water, food coloring, and fall seasonings. While it's safe to eat - don't, it's gross! If you want edible, just add to vanilla pudding. But it smelled so good. We used
RED=Cinnamon
ORANGE=Pumpkin Spice
YELLOW=Vanilla
GREEN=Apple Pie (frosting flavor)
PURPLE=??(can't recall)
BROWN=Hot Cocoa (cocoa)

 
 

Of course this is around All Hallows Eve, so you need to bake up the pumpkin seeds for a snack!

Check out all my autumn & kid themed food fun:
AUTUMN @ The Michalek Kitchen
KID FOOD @ The Michalek Kitchen

Cucumber Canoes

I came across this idea in a magazine about playing with your food. Of course my kids had so much fun playing and eating this lunch. Like everything, I take it up a notch and share my ideas with you!

Use a spoon to carve out a cucumber half. Fill with Tuna Salad. Add radishes and carrots on top as people with paddles.
Tuna Salad for us is:
Tuna, Mayonnaise, Chopped Onions and Celery, Seasoned Salt and Pepper




Adults will enjoy this too! It can also be made Mayonnaise free using the scraped out cucumber seeds and looks more like this:

Ricecake Snowmen

Our children had so much fun with this, they didn't realize it's a "healthy snack!"

Rice Cakes

Cream Cheese

Shredded Carrots, and carrot tips

Raisins

Mini Crackers

Radishes, circle slices and root ends

Optional: Shredded Cheese, Olive slices, Cereal squares, Broccoli, etc.

 

Spread Cream Cheese (snow) onto rice cake circle. Let the kids decorate with dried fruits and fresh veggies.