Clarissa Day by Day: June 2010

Time got away from us on this contest with the busy summer just starting up and we missed the deadline for this fun Twitter Moms and Hidden Valley Ranch contest. I was thinking it had a Tuesday ending date and when I went to write my post, I saw it had ended already. I participated anyways because we had so much fun using this recipe as an inspiration, I thought others might like to use this recipe sometime, too.

Instead of just making veggie critters, we made a lunch out of it. My children love bacon and cheese so I added that to the dip recipe so that they would eat it right up. Here is the recipe we did:

1 packet Hidden Valley® Dip
16 oz tub reduced fat cream cheese
1/2 shredded Cheddar cheese
1 packet bacon crumbles

Original recipe called for 1 packet Hidden Valley® The Original Ranch® Salad Dressing & Seasoning Mix
our local store was out so I substituted the dip variety)

Just mix everything together.

We made sandwiches first. We spread some of the dip onto whole wheat sandwich buns and then added ham and cheese. We used red leaf lettuce that poked up above the bun to look like hair.

My daughter added broccoli pigtails to hers!

Faces were made using red pepper smiles, carrot eyes and a bologna tongue (all secured with the dip mix).

Cucumber snakes were a perfect side.
Cucumber 1/2s were secured with dip to one another. A carrot sliver for a tongue and a pickle slice for an eye.

Since the children are quite fond of cucumbers we made a big cucumber flower for everyone to share as well.

To keep everything fun we made octopus bananas with mini chocolate chip eyes for a sweet treat too.

Everyone had a blast creating the meal as well as eating it. I highly recommend creating this recipe with your children.

This post is part of a blogging contest from the TwitterMoms community. There is a chance this post could be selected to win a $25 AmEx Gift Card, so wish me luck! For more details, you can view the contest page here (link to: http://www.twittermoms.com/forum/topics/share-your-veggie-critter)

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