August is Cucumber Month at Veggie Buds Club and we are excited to bring you this yummy kid-approved recipe from Katie at Eat Pretty Darling! These cucumber butterflies work like a charm to help picky eaters food chain from pretzels and
hummus to cucumbers and hummus!

​Katie Blauser is the mama of two boys, wife of a picky eater, and food lover at Eat Pretty Darling. She believes in making food fun, healthy, & pretty! Katie’s not only outnumbered by boys in her little family, but also by picky eaters. She loves trying to find new ways to get both kids and adults to eat healthy while making food pretty yummy, pretty healthy, and pretty fun! Find Katie on Instagram (@eatprettydarling), where she shares colorful and cute food ideas for both picky and adventurous eaters.

My kids love sweet corn but sometimes they have a hard time eating it. They want to have the whole cob but their small hands make it tricky to eat. Try slicing the cobs into smaller rounds and transforming them into sunflowers! The cobs are smaller and they become a special treat.

Ingredients

• 1 corn cob, cooked
• Green toothpicks
• Black olives

Instructions

1. Slice the corn cob into one inch rounds. Stick a toothpick in one end and top with a black olive in the center.
2. They can pick it up by the toothpick or just hold it in their hands to nibble around the edges and eat the “petals” of the sunflower.​

​Katie Blauser is the mama of two boys, wife of a picky eater, and food lover at Eat Pretty Darling. She believes in making food fun, healthy, & pretty! Katie’s not only outnumbered by boys in her little family, but also by picky eaters. She loves trying to find new ways to get both kids and adults to eat healthy while making food pretty yummy, pretty healthy, and pretty fun! Find Katie on Instagram (@eatprettydarling), where she shares colorful and cute food ideas for both picky and adventurous eaters.

​Carrots are my oldest son’s favorite veggie! He loves how they crunch when he takes a bite. If your kiddos are still learning to like them, try making them into a fun flower shape! If you have a flower shaped mini cookie cutter, you could use that too. But all it takes is a few simple cuts and you will have a lovely bouquet.

We are excited to bring you this month's adorable post from Katie Blauser, the creator of Eat Pretty Darling!
You can join in on lots of onion fun with our "Onions are Fun & Compost is Cool!" Veggie Buds Club box. Your child(ren) are guaranteed to love (...or at least try!)onions after this fun box, learn more and purchase here.

​Onions are one food that I often forget about! No one else in my family of picky eaters like them so I often sub for onion powder. But real onions give such a better flavor and I’m so excited to share this onion food art with you!
Transforming an onion into a flower and adding a favorite dip make it a little more approachable for the picky eaters. Simply slicing and baking turns this veggie into a beautiful bloom! My kids loved seeing it transform in the oven.

We are excited to bring you this month's adorable post from Katie Blauser, the creator of Eat Pretty Darling!
You can join in on lots of pea fun with our "Give Peas a Chance!" Veggie Buds Club box. Your child(ren) are guaranteed to love (...or at least try!) peas after this fun box, learn more and purchase here.

Turning food into art can make a once feared food a little more approachable. It doesn’t mean that your kids will automatically eat it all and love it, but they might actually touch it or even try it. The more we can expose our kids to new foods, the more comfortable they can get with them.
My pickiest eater loves hummus and carrots but still doesn’t want to try peas. Having him help me transform the peas into boats made him giddy and he was begging to eat them before we were even done! He took a bite and said the peas were yummy with hummus, but decided he still was learning to like the boat. I’m glad that he can now picture the Sugar Snap Peas as boats and associate it with a fun experience every time they are on his plate again!

We are excited to bring you this month's post from Katie Blauser, the creator of Eat Pretty Darling: "Celery-brate Celery with Celery Bugs!". 
You can join in on lots of celery fun with our "Celery-brate Celery!" Veggie Buds Club box. This fun box is guaranteed to make celery fun for your kiddos! Learn more and purchase here.

Do you remember growing up with ants on a log? Why not get a little more creative and make a whole assortment of bugs instead! Celery is the perfect vessel to make some fun food art. Do you ever try food art at your house? It’s a great way to get kids exposure to new foods without the pressure. They can touch it and explore it and even make it into a little masterpiece.
We love getting crafty in the kitchen and these celery bugs are just as fun to make as they are to eat! The great thing about celery is it can go both sweet or savory. Venture out from the typical peanut butter and fill it with cream cheese or Greek yogurt ranch. Let your kids make their bugs and you might just be surprised by their creativity. From snakes to snails, ladybugs to butterflies, the possibilities are endless. My toddler was super obsessed with the grape snake!

Materials Needed

• Celery
• Filling (peanut butter, cream cheese, Greek yogurt ranch, etc.)
• Additional fruits and veggies for decorating

Instructions

1. Cut the celery stalks into different lengths. Spread your filling of choice to fill the middle of the celery.
2. Turn your celery into bugs by adding heads, wings, shells, antennae, or eyes. You can even create your own made up bugs!

Sometimes children are apprehensive about trying foods because they don’t know how it will taste. Other times they are uncertain of the texture or they worry that if they eat one bite then they will have to finish all that is in front of them. Enter FOOD ART! Being creative with foods allows for a child to have food exposures without the commitment of actually eating the food AND it allows them to touch it to learn more about the texture. Children love crafts and it has been my experience that my boys creativity far outweighs my own. When we do food art they have incredible suggestions to add to my initial vision. ​

This month in honour of Veggie Buds Club's “bean theme”, the boys helped me make a vegetable based flower garden using beans and peppers. I had a vision for what we would do but they took over and added pepper seeds as “bugs”, and more shapes in the sky as birds and butterflies. After we made it everyone asked to eat some of the food and of course I said YES!!! A total win-win for fun with food followed by a nourishing snack. 
Do your kids like food art? If so, what types of things would you enjoy making with veggies your children are apprehensive about?