Lunchtime Cut-Ups

Making lunch for the kids can be a bit of a tedious chore day in and day out. Our simpleminded recipe for some sandwich fun is meant to persuade your children to make their own and save you a little of the daily grind. Try it and see.

What you'll need:
Bread
Sandwich fillings of your choice -- soft ones, such as peanut butter and jelly, cream cheese and jelly, and hummus work best
Fun-shaped cookie cutters, both large and small
Food coloring
A few toothpicks

What you'll do:
Teach your kids (if they don't know already) the basics for making the sandwich of their dreams. Every family has their sandwich quirks -- does your family smear the cream cheese and jelly on the same side of the bread, or on opposite pieces and then slap them together? Do you always layer butter on your peanut butter sandwich? (Don't knock it until you've tried it!) Have you tried mixing mayo and ketchup together for your turkey sandwiches? With your kids at the helm, it's a great time to branch out a little bit and make them feel like masters of their sandwiches!

Take each freshly made sandwich and position the cookie cutters so you get the most out of the bread. A large teddy bear or heart shape may leave enough room for a few small cutters to be used on the scraps as well.

Put a few squeezes of food coloring in your child's favorite color in a teacup, and using a toothpick, let them write their name on their sandwich. If they're not old enough to do it, you can help them. Or just let them decorate the sandwich with dots and swirls and whatever other silly designs they come up with. Voila! Ordinary sandwich turned into edible art. And lunch making wasn't such a chore, now was it?