Tasty Passengers

I spend a lot of my time thinking about food. What I’m going to feed my people, how to prepare it, when to prepare it, what weird things can I put together and be delicious. My son does not think quite this deeply about food but when he is hungry, he is ready to eat Right.That.Second!

When the boy hunger strikes and there is no meal plan (usually this happens for lunch and snack time), I'll just say the words he loves to hear, “How about some Tasty Passengers?”

I love this recipe because it is SO quick and easy to make and can be easily adapted to suit your tastes or preferences. Don’t like peanut butter? Use almond or sunflower butter. Not a raisin person? Try mini chocolate chips or any other small dried fruit to make your passengers ready to travel.

The best thing about this "recipe" is that these passengers are just fun and encourage fun with food. You (or your small helper)simply spread peanut butter on a piece of toast, add the cinnamon and nutmeg neck and pant line, cut them into four “Passengers” and then decorate them with raisins and other bits. What kid can resist food that you are supposed to play with?

And grown ups, if you are making these and cannot resist making one (or two) for yourself, go right ahead and join the fun!

Fun note-the photographs in this post are of my wonderful, loving and adorable son Sean:)

Tasty Passengers

Makes 4 passengers | Prep time: 5 minutes | Total time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 piece bread
• Peanut butter
• Cinnamon-to taste
• Nutmeg-to taste
• Raisins (enough to make a face and buttons for each passenger)

Directions

1. Toast the bread
2. Spread peanut butter on toast and add a line of cinnamon at the top of the bread and then top that line with a line of nutmeg (it should make a “neckline” for your passenger)
3. Repeat this line of cinnamon and nutmeg toward the bottom of the bread (making a “pant line” for your passenger)
4. Cut into four vertical slices (to make your individual “passengers”) and give them some personality by adding a face, shirt buttons, shoes or anything else you and the kids can think of!

Tips

• This is a great recipe to let kids big and small get in there (with supervision of course!) as the only real heat is from a toaster and the only utensil is a table knife (which can easily be replaced by a plastic knife or even fingers).
• If you go the finger route, put a few spoonfuls of peanut butter in a small bowl and let each child have his or her own peanut butter bowl. This cuts down on "peanut butter fingers" in the family jar of peanut butter. I love my son but I do not care to eat his drool mixed in with my PB&J!
• This recipe works well as an after school or mid-afternoon snack. Many times we simply double it up, add some friut and milk and call it lunch!