The Very Hungry Caterpillar Sandwiches

This is another addition to the Story Book Food series. The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We chose an all-time classic book, which was around even when I was a kid. I grew up with this story, so when I pitched this story book food series to the kids, I knew this story had to be on the list. For those who haven’t had the chance to read it yet, I’ll give u a little overview. The story is about a caterpillar who eats and eats until his tummy hurts. He eats through so many different foods and becomes huge! (as my little one says). Eventually he takes a nap in his cocoon and emerges a beautiful butterfly! A lovely story about transformation and change. I love how this story teaches children that there are so many food options, and you should be like the caterpillar and try them all.

I love the variety of colorful foods in the book and even contemplated making some decorated cookies. But instead, we have decided to go with some amazing Very Hungry Caterpillar Sandwiches. I saw this idea on Kid Spot Kitchen (https://www.kidspot.com.au/kitchen/recipes/very-hungry-caterpillar-sandwiches/tgohc2wl) I loved it. I adapted the recipe to suit the kid’s preferences and to be honest, what we had in the house. Seeing as we are in quarantine, I don’t expect everyone to have the exact same ingredients, so I’ll add some other filling options in the notes below.

Check out the video! The kids did a great job and had lots of fun!

Preparation time 30 minutes (with the little ones helping)

Serves 6

Ingredients

12 slices of bread

Butter- for buttering the bread

6 slices of turkey

3 tablespoons chicken mayonnaise sandwich mixture

3 slices of cheese

1 small tomato

1 spring onion stalk

Instructions

1. Gather all the ingredients for the kids.

2. Lay 2 pieces of bread on a board. Butter both pieces and put a slice of turkey on one slice of bread. Lay the other slice of buttered bread top and keep going until all the sandwiches are filled with your desired fillings. Keep them covered with a tea towel to stop them from drying out.

3. Use a cookie cutter to make 5 circles from each. Keep them covered with a tea towel until all the sandwiches are done. Give mum or dad the leftovers! 😉

4. Place the sandwiches on a plate in the shape of an ‘S’ like a caterpillar’s body. Have fun placing the sandwiches in a fun pattern. You will be able to see the awesome, colorful design when you serve the sandwich caterpillar.

5. Place the tomato at the beginning of the sandwich train. This will be the caterpillar’s head. Use small circle cutters (or straws as I did), to cut 2 eyes from cheese and add green onion pupils. Stick them to the tomato with a little butter.

6. Cut two thin feelers from the stalk of green onion and use a butter knife to scrape and curl them at the ends. Fix them to the tomato using tooth picks. (ask an adult to help with this).

7. Serve immediately or if you plan to serve this later, then cover carefully with cling film and place in the fridge until ready to serve.

Ideas for fillings!

1. Chicken, salami, roast beef, turkey, or cold cut meats. This recipe is great because you can fill it with all your favorite sliced meats, making for a quick kid’s recipe.

2. Chicken mayonnaise: boil and shred a chicken breast, mix with mayonnaise, salt and pepper.

3. Tuna and sweetcorn: drain a can of tuna, add ¼ cup canned sweetcorn. Mix with mayonnaise, salt and pepper.

4. Cheese and onion: grate ½ cup cheddar cheese, add half a stalk of chopped green onion. Mix with mayonnaise, salt and pepper.

5. Egg mayonnaise: boil and peel and egg. Mash the egg and mix in mayonnaise, salt, pepper and dash of paprika.

Note: mixing and mashing are the best parts of this recipe. So, let your kids do as much of it as possible. Let those little hands, lend a hand.

Share your hungry caterpillar sandwiches and let us know what sandwich fillings are a huge hit in you family!

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