Festive Individual Pats of Butter

Here's a last-minute trick for thanksgiving dinner.A lot of times people forget about butter for the delicious homemade rolls so they plop a stick of butter on a plate in the middle of table, unfortunately it's rock-hard an so no one is able to use it anyway.

So what you really need are those individual pats of butter like they have at hotel continental breakfasts.  Here's how to make your own--but cuter and way more festive than the little foil-wrapped things.

Take two sticks of butter and place them between two sheets of waxed paper.  Start rolling.

Roll between 1/2 and 1/4 inch thick.  Remove the top layer of wax paper. 

Cut into individual pats of butter with miniature cookie cutters. I used the fall leaves set.

You can do these a day or two in advance and keep them covered in the fridge. The good thing is if you forget to set them on the table until right before dinner they will still soften up enough to spread because they are so small.  Plus, they really are festive.

Chocolate Chip Ghost Pancakes

 Happy Halloween!

 We had chocolate chip ghosts for breakfast.

 Whole wheat flour doesn't lend for a very ghostly appearance--but we'll take it anyway. 

 Then we started our day with a flannel board telling of The Chocolate Chip Ghost.  It's a silly story about some ghosts who disobey their mother and end up in a lot of trouble. 

We get it out every year for family home evening around Halloween time.  Here is a free printable version if you're interested.

We'll just be spending the rest of the day having spooky fun and trying to stay out of trouble.

October Bento

Happy First of October!

Peanut butter Pumpkin sandwich.  A ghost egg with nori eyes.  Mozzarella moons.  Sweet pepper pumpkins atop black olive fence posts on a bed of spooky orange carrot sticks.

American Bento

I haven't actually been trying that hard on Owen's lunches.  I've been letting his new cute containers do most of the work for me thus far.     That was. . . until we had the following conversation:

Me:  Owen how do you want this carrot in your lunch?  Do you want me to cut it into carrot sticks or do you want me to leave it like this-- like a big carrot rocket?

Owen:  I don't want any carrots in my lunch.

Me:  Would you like me to put some dip in for your carrot sticks?

Owen:  I would like ketchup. . .
            with french fries. . .
            and some chicken nuggets. . .

That got no reply from me other than to turn and march myself right back into the kitchen to finish making his lunch.  This is exactly why I am making his lunches at home and sending them to school.

Kindergartners want to eat fun food.  And right now he's thinking that those french fries and chicken nuggets look fun.  That is one of the whole ideas behind bento.  People, especially children, eat with their eyes first, and if the food isn't visually appealing--they won't want to eat it.

Carrot sticks, sweet red pepper squares on toothpicks, cheese leaves, and ants on a log.  He also had a half a sandwich.  (Jeremy had made him a whole sandwich, but Jonas found it and ate one half for his breakfast.)

When I finished putting together Owen's Americanized bento box I took it over and showed him.    I got the wide-eyed expression of surprise and interest I was looking for.

"This is your lunch."  I told him.  (And no, you may not have fries with that.)

I think he enjoyed his lunch.  I definitely was excited to show it to him, and he ate most of it.  Now I just have to stop by the principle's office when I drop him off today and ask for his plastic toothpicks back.

Apparently they were confiscated for being "spaceships--flying through the hair galaxy." 

("Who's hair galaxy Owen?")

Seriously, they should be paying me to send my kid to school.  You know those teachers haven't had laughs this good in a long time.