Do you remember my Fruit of the Spirit series? Well, it was such a big (and loooong) ordeal that I still think about it all the time. Maybe it’s just been popping into my head this summer as fruit has been more readily available. Anyway, the other day we had a mini playdate (oh, it was to try out our s’mores!) and I had this great idea to make some roll up sandwiches for the kids. But my time got short and sweeping the floor got attention over cute food.

Then I had a stroke of brilliance! FRUIT KABOBS. How cute are these?

But it gets even better! All I did was throw all the ingredients in a bowl and gave all the kids a skewer (yes, even my 1 year old) and let them pick out what food they wanted all by themselves! It was so fun to load up our skewers, then tear them right apart by popping the fruit into our mouths. I also added some deli meat and blocks of cheese to up the protein factor.

But back to the Fruit of the Spirit. I was thinking how fun this would be to do a Fruit of the Spirit activity with these kabobs. You could label the bowls joy, peace and patience instead of bananas, peach and kiwi. Then you could give examples of each Fruit of the Spirit as you slide them on the skewer. Or put them in order and have the kids use their skewer as a memory tool to say the fruit by heart. I’m totally doing this after my next trip to the Farmer’s Market.

See more fun ways to use FOOD to impress your kids!

Linked to We are THAT Family’s Works For Me Wednesday

When Leigh and I were discussing doing a Summer Camp theme I told her I wanted to make ice cream in the ground. I knew I had heard of this and was going to try it. I looked it up online and could not find it anywhere! That’s when I remembered…it wasn’t ICE CREAM in the ground…it was jell-o in the ground. Jell-o, ice cream—whatever! (I still can’t find the jell-o in the ground recipe, but I KNOW my mom did it at camp one year!)

However, I know of another fun way to make ice cream. Not in the ground. Not with an ice cream maker. Just a few basic ingredients:

4 quart sized plastic zip bags
4 gallon sized plastic zip bags
2 cups half & half
2 cups heavy cream
2 tsp vanilla
4 cups salt (rock salt is suggested but if you use regular salt, just use a little less)
1/2 c sugar
ice
gloves (for your sensitive kiddos!)

Instructions:

1. Whisk sugar, cream, half & half and vanilla together.

2. Pour 1 cup of liquid into each quart sized bag.

3. Put sealed quart sized bag inside gallon bag. Add ice–enough to fill gallon bag about halfway. Add salt.

4. Shake the bags for about 5-10 minutes. Asa was our muscle man and did 2 at a time. Lydia used gloves to keep her hands warm!

5. Grab a spoon and eat out of the bag!

This was so fun! I love making food in unconventional ways. This would be so fun to make on a hot day…bring the bags outside, shake ‘em up and eat it all on the porch!

Thanks so much for coming to our 2 Weeks of Summer Camp! Hope you had a great time! Don’t forget to write!

I get so bored with lunches. I always want to do something fun and yummy. Alas, when 12:00 rolls around I find myself staring at the pantry wondering what to cook. I just have a hard time wanting to dig out all sorts of cooking utensils knowing that I will be pulling them all out again in a couple hours to make dinner!

A while ago I heard about muffin tin lunches! It’s the most fun lunch idea ever. You grab a muffin tin and fill it with food creating a super creative lunch for your kids. Michelle from the Muffin Tin Mom.com hosts Muffin Tin Monday every week and you can add your own creative Muffin Tin to the linky.

Sometimes there are amazing themes like this week’s Seeds Plants & Flowers theme…

photo by Muffin Tin Mom

Or educational like this ABC & 123 theme…

(see it? Apples, Bananas, Carrots…the number 1, 2 oranges, 3 sided triangle tortillas…)

And I love this interactive one that Vanessa did…

Usually my muffin tin meals end up being leftovers. I fill it with last night’s spaghetti, coupled with a few pretzels and the remains of our cut up cantaloupe. Sometimes I try to find matching colors at least—the top row of red taco meat, strawberries and leftover spaghetti and the bottom row of pineapple, hummus and tortillas…it’s red and yellow, get it? Ah well, it doesn’t matter. The kids love it for the sheer novelty!

Today we had a last minute picnic outside and I grabbed whatever I could to make a decent meal. It ended up being homemade spelt biscuits, pretzels, leftover tuna pasta salad, bananas and homemade granola. I had planned to just eat out of the containers. Lydia, however, wanted to make her own version of a muffin tin meal and spread her napkin out all the way–then placed each different food in their own little squares! And yes, she ate it all up!

So, next time you’re struggling for a lunch idea, pull out that muffin tin! And tell me, how do YOU make lunch fun?