One thing you may not know about me is I love bowling! Like really love it. Each year when the kids go back to school I take time to indulge in my bowling passion by joining a bowling league.
I love bowling, but that does not mean I am very good at it. In fact, last year my average game for the season was 113. I bowled 3 games over 150. I did bowl a 196 once, but not at league. My league team was okay, we did not come in last for the season, nor did we come in first. Solidly in the middle. My kids love that I bowl, and often want to go with me. So I thought a bowling themed food art would be just the thing to surprise them with as a back-to-school lunch!
And because I have 4 kids, I was able to make a few different scenes!
California Ripe Olives are perfect for food art. They can be used in so many ways, and provide a pop of color, a great texture, and of course amazing flavor! I had such a hard time deciding how to use them, I actually made the kid friendly version, and my more grown up version, using an egg-salad sandwich recipe I will share next week, and cutting the bread into pins! So fun! Don’t you think these would be perfect to take to the bowling league luncheon?
Anyway, let’s get to the recipe for the kid-friendly back to school food art!
Back-to-School Food Art with California Ripe Olives
Ingredients
- white bread
- California Black Ripe Olives
- carrots
- Cucumbers
- Cheese
- Other veggies: You can substitute out any of the veggies such as bell peppers, sweet potatoes, or something else to make the pins
- Cream cheese optional
Instructions
- Free hand cut a bowling pin out of cheese (the easiest medium to work with)
- Then use that pin as a stencil to cut out 9 more pins out of the veggies of your choice, I used a mandolin cutter to slice my veggies thin for this part.
- Put a thin layer of cream cheese over your bread (optional)
- Then create your scene by laying your pins, four on the top, then three, then two, then one.
- Further decorate your pins using thin slices of California Black Ripe Olives
- Create a "lane" with cheese, cucumbers, or your choice of veggies.
- Create a "bowling ball" with a California Black Ripe Olives
- Assemble your scene on a plate, and let your kids dig into their healthy lunch!
Our recipe card software calculates these nutrition facts based on averages for the above ingredients, different brands, and quality of produce/meats may have different nutritional information, always calculate your own based on the specific products you use in order to achieve accurate macros for this recipe.
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And, what is more, California Ripe Olives are grown on over 1,000 multigenerational family farms that crisscross the warm inland valleys of California and processed by two family-owned canneries. I love that these are not some huge conglomerate, but rather a family owned and operated business. And guess what? They are giving away an Amazon Kindle Fire HDX!
To enter, you can visit the Sweepstakes with this link, or head over to Facebook, and follow California Ripe Olives, then visit the custom tab that says “Sweepstakes” on their page. You can enter once per day from Aug 18 – September 12 for a chance to win the Kindle Fire HDX!
So head over and enter so you could win, and read, browse, and enjoy yourself while your kids are at school. I know I will certainly enjoy some bowling, as well as a little free time, which would be much improved with an Amazon Kindle Fire HDX! By the way, my sis was like, “Uh, what’s that?” to the thing with the carrot sticking out. It is the ball return peeps! I promise.
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
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