Tuesday, 21 July 2015

It was(n't) a really really windy day

The other week, my loving husband purchased a kite. And for a couple of hours, Miss2 was very excited about flying the kite. They went outside, and by the time I joined them 10 minutes later, she was playing in the trees, picking the grass, talking to Mr11m in the pram. Not interested in the kite. Ever since, she has been talking about flying the kite.

I don't think there would be any problem getting the kite into the air today - when I took the pretty plate outside to photograph it (the usual spot is on the front footpath), some of the trees blew away (and I didn't notice until I presented it to Miss2)... I had to photograph inside, so it isn't the best photograph, but here we go...

Sun - cheese
Kite body - ham and bread
String & tail - tomato sauce (dip-dip sauce) and cheese
Trees - carrot and celery
Birds - tomato
Person - strawberry

Saturday, 11 July 2015

Doing a Penguin Dance

My sister and brother-in-law came up to see us today, and while we were waiting for lunch ingredients to be gathered, Miss2 was, well, showing off. Today's episode of dramatic arts by Miss2 featured lots of singing, dancing, and walking like a penguin. If only penguins waddled, shook their bottoms and jumped. Sigh.

This little penguin jumped off the chopping board and into my belly earlier this week:
Body: kiwi fruit
Wing, feet, head: strawberry
A completely efficient, easily little delight to create! Thanks for the suggestion, Esther!

Wednesday, 24 June 2015

In the (ham) Belly of a Whale

Miss2's face lit up earlier today when I asked if she would like a pretty plate for lunch. Good thing I had been brainstorming over the last few days, because I get less of an opportunity to play around with the design now that she thinks "pretty plate" means drag over her little blue chair and climb up to watch mummy. At the point of the body and the water spout being in position, she yelled with great excitement (which is pretty big, considering she isn't really a yeller) that it was a helicopter!! Sorry squirt, its a whale.

Body: ham
Eye: cherry tomato
Water spout: cheese
Waves: carrot strips
Fish: bread (cut out with cookie cutters from Daiso)
Seaweed: celery
 There is only one stem of seaweed because Miss2 declared as I was cutting it "I don't eat sserewee (celery)". Nor does Mr10months either, not through lack of trying on Miss2's part.

See you next time!

Tuesday, 9 June 2015

Stop and smell the... flowers?

Miss2 was wanting to "help" me today... And then she "shared" her pretty plate with her brother (Mr-near10months) (read: gave him the celery that she had already chewed).

Flowers: red and yellow grape tomatoes (sliced), strawberry (sliced), carrot (sliced)
Stems: celery
Flower pot: bread with cheese stripes
Grass: lettuce
(very large) Worms: ham
See you next time!!

Wednesday, 27 May 2015

Up In The Air We Fly...

This week's pretty-plate did require an explanation to Miss2 as to what it was... She did get balloon, which was pretty impressive! And as she is sitting next to me as I blog, I am hearing "is that my hot-air-b'loon, Mum?" Cute!

Basket: bread
Ballon: ham
Ropes: carrot
Heat source: tomato
Clouds: cheese
Person: meatball and tomato sauce
Sorry for the few weeks off - my pretty-plate day has been Monday, and there has been an out of town funeral to attend and the lurgy going through our house... Hopefully back to normal frequency again!

Tuesday, 5 May 2015

A Scarecrow Princess

A bit of a "oh dear... what is edible in the fridge" moment for pretty plate time this week (which was yesterday)... And the answer of not a whole lot meant that my plan for a scarecrow is what Miss2 identified as being a princess... Not really what I call a princess, but we can run with that... ish...

Cheese face and hair, ham steak torso, wrap skirt, cheese legs and arms, strawberry shoes, facial features and hair pretty.

Monday, 27 April 2015

Kid-na the Echidna

Miss2 had a lesson in Australian animals for lunch today. Her first response when I asked her what was on her plate was "Hmm... Rat? Carrot now?" Once I told her it was an echidna, she ran around saying "Kid-na picnic!" on repeat. 

Kid-na picnic:

Ham body, cheese feet, sausage nose, strawberry eye, carrot stick spikes. 

See you next week!

Monday, 20 April 2015

Slithering Snails!

I asked Miss2 what should would like for lunch today... "Hmm... Owls. And sandwich. And ham. And carrot. And lettuce..." You get the picture. When offered a wrap, she threw out the idea of a sandwich. And when offered a snail, well, same response really!

Grass: lettuce
Flowers: cheese and carrot
Snail: wrap and grape tomato shell, ham slug/body (cephalopodium), cheese antennae and strawberry eyes




Monday, 13 April 2015

Rocket Ship - Blast Off!!!

This week we have travelled a long long way into outer space...

Rocket ship: Carrot stick flames, Bread fin, Cheese body, Blueberry buttons, Mushroom ladder,  Grape Tomato locking wheels, Strawberry fins, Ham window frame, Blueberry astronaut helmet, Bread aerodynamic pointy/cone section (ham for texture and definition), Ham aerial.
Twinkle stars: Carrot slices.

I think it was enjoyed... Now there is only mushroom and some carrot twinkle stars left... 

See you next week!!

Wednesday, 8 April 2015

Hoot hoot!

A few days late this week... We had a well enjoyed few days with my family at Wagga. I took some munchtooprettytoeat prep gear, but I didn't use it. Sorry! Back home now, and right back into the swing of things... Keeping things simple and simply yummy for Miss2:



Owl: Cheese body and wings, carrot feet and beak, and tomato eyes.

See you next week!

Tuesday, 31 March 2015

Tutorial on Tuesday: Easter Chick

Another Easter tutorial for you today, but really, it can be made all year round. I know Miss2 would appreciate it at any time!



Firstly, grab yourself a slice of cheese (I used tasty cheese) and a glass. Use the glass as a cutter to cut a circle from your cheese. Put it on your plate.



Next, take a strawberry and cut off about 2-3mm or 1/8 inch from the very bottom (the non-green leafy end). With the piece that you cut off, cut that in half as shown. Place on your cheese as the two eyes.




Cut 2
Cut 1
Take a carrot and cut two thinner rounds (2-3mm or 1/8 inch) and one thicker round (12-14mm or 1/2 inch). Set the thicker slice aside for now.








Taking one of the thinner slices, use a knife to cut the base off, just below the centre "core" of the carrot (the inner ring). Next, use your knife to cut two upside down "v" shapes from the carrot along the edge that you just cut. Do not discard/eat all of these "v" shapes - you will need one.



















Repeat again for the second thinner slice of carrot, and put them in place on your cheese as the feet.



Pop the "v" shape of carrot just below the strawberry eyes - this has just become the chick's beak.




Now take your thicker slice of carrot. Place it on your chopping board so that it stands up on the flat edge. Cut two slices as shown.





With the middle slice (the one that is flat both sides, not curved on side which the first slice would be), cut three lengths as shown. Place at the top of your slice of cheese for the tufts of feathers that chicks seem to have (in cartoon versions).





Finished:


Another suggestion:

This one uses a cornthin for the body and sultanas for the eyes. The carrot instructions are the same as for the cheese chick.










How did you go? What did you use to make a chick with?

Monday, 30 March 2015

Big Ship and Oshtapush

We had reason to clean the house top to bottom this weekend, and what a weekend it was!! I have to admit though, it was rather nice to cook up a meatloaf in a nice clean kitchen.

Ship: meatloaf hull, roast potato bridge, carrot mast, roast pumpkin sails, broccoli portholes.
Sea: tomato "dip-dip" sauce.
Octopus (Oshtapush if you are Miss2): squash body, purple carrot eyes, orange carrot tenticles.

Next week's "pretty plate" is already in the thought stage, and there should be another Easter tutorial sometime tomorrow for Tutorial on Tuesday.


Monday, 23 March 2015

A Squashy Submarine

Firstly, I apologise for the photography. I left the white plates in the car (which my husband took to work this afternoon), and we had our "pretty plate" for dinner rather than lunch today, so a few shadows! I will learn my lesson the hard way!

Anyway.

Yesterday Miss2 and I had the pleasure of running into Spring Creek Organics at Yendon Gourmet Tomatoes pick-your-own strawberry day (they had run out of strawberries by the time we got there - next time!!). Spring Creek Organics were very excited to see the Carrot Tulips that we did a few weeks back, and were most intrigued with what was going to happen this week.

What else do you do with yellow squash and a request for a submarine or ship?


Pasta ocean, carrot fish, strawberry coral, squash submarines (which didn't entirely survive the cooking process) cheese and snow pea boats and tomato birds. And a lot of shadows.
The tomatoes were from Yendon Gourmet Tomatoes, and the squash and carrots were from Spring Creek Organics. I'm looking forward to having another go at another submarine sometime soon, and using some more rainbow carrots to come up with something else. Any ideas?

Squash anyone?

Sunday, 22 March 2015

Rabbit Tutorial - Perfect for Easter!

With Easter drawing near, I thought I could share something that you might like to share with some children (or adults!) in your life, and my first Tutorial on Tuesday - a rabbit.




Cut a slice of apple from across the apple so you get the star in the middle from the core. I used the slice very close the base of the apple, so only have a dot instead of a star for the core. The whole slice is about 3-4mm thick (1/8th inch for all of my USA readers).


 Take two sultanas and place just above the centre of the core to form two eyes.

Take a grape. Lie it so it is an oval on the chopping board (rather than a circle when looking from above). Cut it in half and place it in the centre of the core to be a nose.


Take a carrot, and cut some really thin matchsticks (the ones you see here aren't thin enough - I cut them a lot thinner before I used them). Alternatively, you could use a vegetable peeler to peel a thin slice of carrot, and then use a knife to cut it into matchsticks. If you have a grater than makes matchsticks, that is a great option too. Take off the grape and arrange the carrot to be whiskers before replacing the grape on top.


Next, take a cucumber. I prefer the lebanese cucumbers (the smaller ones). A baby cucumber would work well too. Lie it on the chopping board so it looks like a surfboard. Cut it in half. Stand the cucumber up on its end (the cut end on the chopping board) and cut slices so that it looks like those shown. Then, cut the non-skin end (the raw-edge) on an angle so that it fits against the apple slice.


Ta-da!! Finished rabbit!


 Other ideas...

Bread circle face, grape tomato nose, cheese bow tie, blueberry eyes and sausage ears. Miss 2 loved eating leftovers that looked like a "wabbit"!

I haven't made this, but it has an apple face, carrot whiskers, raspberry nose, blueberry eyes and banana ears. Gorgeous!


 Looking forward to seeing/hearing all of your wonderful rabbits!!




Monday, 16 March 2015

Cheese Toot-Toot!!

A quick and basic one today - Miss2 was rather impatient and insisted on "helping" me!!

I grew up in a town that had was near the escarpment above Wollongong. There were numerous freight trains that hauled coal that frequently passed through our town. I remember counting the number of carriages on a particular train from the school bus as we were waiting at the level crossing - it seemed to never end!

Unfortunately Miss2 has never seen a coal hopper, and thought the ones I included on her lunch plate today were boats.

Cheese coal hopper (trucks/wagons), bread flat-truck/car (with cheese car and shipping container), tomato couplings, blueberry wheels, fairy-bread locomotive with strawberry chimney/stack and carrot steam.
The blueberries were being consumed faster than I could cut them. And now she is sitting beside me, pointing at the photo, saying "pretty lunch".

Keep the suggestions coming - I'm looking forward to trying a ship/sub very soon!

Monday, 9 March 2015

Lunchables Butterfly

Lunchables is what I call lunch-suitable foods: ham, wraps, tomatoes, carrot, blueberries, pineapple ("piie-abble!") strawberries, bread, shredded chicken, cheese etc. Its rare that Miss 2 has any thing else for lunch. Okay. Sometimes chocolate appears on that list too.

Wrap skeleton, ham body, carrot, blueberry, snow pea, mushroom, tomato, cheese and capsicum wings, celery antennae, tomato head
And because today is a public holiday, Matt made her a dessert... Do you want to build a snowman?

Ice-cream body, flake arms, oreo crumb eyes, jelly lolly nose, flake crumb hair
What do you want to see in the next few weeks? Leave a comment below with your suggestions, and if you want a tutorial on any of the "pretty-plates" that have already been featured, let me know below too.

Sunday, 1 March 2015

Life's a Treat with Brinner Sheep!

Some nights in our house, we have "Brinner" (breakfast for dinner) as our evening meal. Given that Miss 2 won't eat egg, she generally has bacon (mmm! bacon!!) and toast. Tonight, she had sheep.


Cheese, bread, bacon and hash brown sheep, carrot faces and legs, vegemite eyes, lettuce grass and tomato sun


Life's a treat with brinner sheep!!