Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Edible Christmas Critters

Dear Tiffany,
Does this count as cooking?  I didn't have to heat anything up, but I wanted to share with you the Christmas critters you would've gotten to make/eat if you'd been able to make it tonight.  Although...we ended up too full from dinner to eat them, thanks to Joey's amazing Coctel de Camaron (Mexican Shrimp Cocktail) which I will have to make sometime.  It was soooo good.  


The reindeer (left) is made with a Nutter-Butter cookie, 2 stick pretzels, and mini m &m's, with peanut butter to glue it all together.  You'll have to separate the cookies just a bit (without breaking them as I did!) to put the "antlers" in place, and then fill around with peanut butter to hold them in place.  A small dot of peanut butter will hold the eyes and nose.  I can't take credit for this one; I found it here.

Christmas Critters!


The snowman (right) is made of banana, carrot, pretzel sticks, and mini chocolate chips.  You'll want to slice your banana kind of thick so that it doesn't break when you skewer it.  A little sliver of carrot makes the nose, and chocolate chips stand in as eyes and buttons (the chocolate goes really well with the banana!).  You can also put a triangle slice of apple on top as a hat if you so desire.  I suggest you eat it sooner rather than later, because eventually the banana will start to turn brown (After several hours) and the pretzels will absorb moisture from the banana so they won't be as crunchy.  I found this idea here.


The "Mr Grinch" in the center is a mean one!  The face is a jalapeno pepper (though another green pepper would work also, this was what had enough space to make a face), and the hat is a sweet mini red pepper.  I used Ricotta cheese for the eyes, frown, and the fluff for the santa hat, but any kind of cream cheese (or maybe even ranch dressing?) would work just as well.   I can proudly say that I thought this one up all by myself!  I haven't gotten brave enough to eat him yet though- I like jalapenos but usually in stuff, I've never eaten one straight up before haha.  If you could find baby cucumbers, they would create a not-so-mean version of the Grinch that would be more palatable to those who aren't really into straight-up spicy.  


I wouldn't recommend Mr Grinch for your first graders (though you can show them one!) as the jalapeno would be a bit much (just a bit?  Its probably a bit much for you but its cute and Sam might try one...), but it might be fun to try one of the others in your class sometime.  Beware, the skewers will become lightsabers and blasters and assorted other weapons with the boys!  But otherwise, the snowmen especially are a relatively healthy option for a fun, edible activity.


-Joy

3 comments:

  1. Cute, cute, cute!!! The snowman looks like a total free spirit! :)

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  2. the grinch looks grouchy, and the other too are cute =)

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