Creative Lunches for Kids: A Patriotic Red, White & Blue Lunch

I had grandiose plans of making a patriotic themed lunch for the girls earlier this week, but with the kids just back from Camp Grandma and dance camp underway, it just didn’t happen.  I figured I’d scrap the idea and keep it in mind for later, but then I ended up short on ideas for dinner…suddenly that patriotic lunch seemed like a great idea.  Because, why couldn’t it be a dinner?  And since it’s almost impossible to get the girls to eat dinner on Friday nights, it seemed perfect.  About 20 minutes later I had this:Red, white & blue and sort-of healthy, too!  It actually would have taken less time to prepare, but I was making the meal with 3 kids underfoot, so there was a bit of dodging that had to be done as I hurried around the kitchen gathering the ingredients. I made the Fruit-full flag first, expecting it to give me the most trouble, but it was extremely easy.  I started by toasting bread, cutting off the crust, and then spreading low fat cream cheese on top.  From there, I arranged the blueberry “stars” and sliced a strawberry in half and then sliced thin strips width-wise. This part was by far my girls’ favorite.  Greenleigh inhaled hers and I ended up having to make her another one!So nothing would go to waste, I put the pieces of strawberry not used for the flag into the bottom of the fruit salad compartment and layered blueberries, diced red apple pieces, and watermelon stars on top.   Although they may look small, those watermelon stars are actually 1 1/2 inch in size.  I made them with this mini cookie cutter set that I bought on Amazon a while back.  They definitely spruced up my fruit salad and were a hit with the girls!Then I wrapped it up with a salty and sweet treat – patriotic pretzels!  Honestly, I think this would be so much better if you added a few M&Ms to Chex Mix, but my kids don’t like Chex Mix, so I figured pretzels were the next best thing.  And if those not-so-healthy M&Ms make you nervous, but you still wanted to stick with the red, white, and blue theme, you could always substitute Craisins, dried blueberries, and/or yogurt covered raisins.  Yum! This red, white and blue meal won’t replace BBQ on the big day, but it sure adds a little bit of fun in the days before a red, white, and blue holiday.  It would also make a great breakfast or snack!  Have a happy and safe 4th of July!