Grilled or toasted cheese sandwiches are one of Z's very favorites, so I couldn't let National Grilled Cheese Day pass by unobserved!
Grilled Cheese On A Stick - The Perfect Pair!
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| Grilled sandwich w/GF bread and vegan soy cheese, organic sugar snap peas, organic strawberries |
Z didn't want her sandwich cut up and skewered, so I just did it for Baby. I used some bride and groom stir sticks (with the bottoms snipped off to make them short enough to fit in the EasyLunchboxes) since the flexible plastic is safer for her, and I couldn't find any of my other skewers fast enough. This gluten-free bread was from a local bakery, and is always weird and deformed-looking, so these sandwich "squares" aren't very neat looking!
Z's Grilled Cheese "Cut Regalur!"
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| Sandwich w/GF bread, 3-cheese blend plus vegan soy cheese shreds, organic sugar snap peas and strawberries |
Since I don't have a grilly thing, and can't be trusted with the oven when I'm in a rush, I cooked these real quick in a frying pan. But the bread started charring before the cheese had even melted! Doh! So I microwaved them for 30-seconds to make the cheese melty, so Z wouldn't notice the vegan mozzarella shreds mixed in hers. Mission accomplished.
Since her lunch was kind of quick and plain, I let her choose a bento pick from my collection. She also decided she needed a spork (Target exclusive - spork and spoon set $3) to "scoop up the extra cheese." Oookay.
Tools of the Trade
Hi this may be a silly question, but why do you need to add a pick at all? I understand it makes eating easier and probably fun. However doesn't anyone see this as a HUGE hazard for young kids?? 1 choking on a piece that may break off, 2 kids playing and poking each other with them? I'm not judging the use of them, I'm just concerned about safety!
ReplyDeleteGreat question! There was a big discussion on this very subject a while ago on my Facebook Page. I think you'll find the comments really interesting... def a few ways to look at this.. http://on.fb.me/Yz7A63
DeleteThat's a great question. It totally depends on the situation and the child. I was trying this one out on my 15-month-old, and was sitting next to her the whole time. As for choking on a piece that came off, this is a flexible plastic. You would have to bend it repeatedly back and forth to get a piece broken off. I ended up having to get scissors to trim the end to make it fit in the box!
DeleteI did the same thing with my 4-year-old, when she was 2 and I started her on picks. I'd only let her have them while with me, while supervised 100%, so I could ensure safe uses only, and remove them if she wasn't acting safely. She did not like having them confiscated, and being "punished" with no cute lunch the next day, and no picks for a week.
Now I can send them with her to preschool with no worries. She knows not to play with them or wave them around, she knows not to poke anyone with them intentionally, and I know she's too selfish to let her friends hold one, so I don't have to worry about OTHER kids being unsafe with them. And she looooves her food, and is too focused on eating in the too-short time they give her to be playing with them. I also made sure to ask both preschools first, to avoid any problems.
And no way are they poking each other yet. Baby can't reach Big Sis from where she sits to eat. And Z knows if she so much as points a pick at her sister, she's done with them for a week. It has never happened yet.
A fork is a hazard, as is a butter knife. The opening in a soda can can slice an unwary finger. The pointy juice-box straw can injure a friend as well. So yes. Picks and skewers are a potential hazard. But only one of many. It all depends on the kid.
I love this lunch! You took something so basic as a grilled cheese sandwich and turned it into something lovely and fun! Thank you for linking to 15 Minute Fridays!
ReplyDeleteThis is adorable! Your sandwich is getting married hehe! Thanks for linking up to Meatless Monday!
ReplyDeleteWao great post
ReplyDelete