Creative School Lunches: A Spooktacular Halloween School Lunch

Disclosure:  This post is part of a 2 part series sponsored by Farm Rich in partnership with Sverve.  As always, all thoughts and opinions expressed in this post are my own.  #SmokehouseBBQ

Can you feel it in the air?  Halloween is almost here!  I’ve always loved Halloween, but I love it even more that I have little kids.  Costumes, trick or treating, Halloween parties, it’s all so much fun.  Since the weekend before Halloween is always so busy for us, I figured it was best for me to put up my creative school lunch for October now…so it isn’t forgotten in the Halloween hoopla.  Because this month’s Spooktacular Halloween School Lunch is one not to be missed. This month I wanted to do something a little different.  You see, it’s October, so my daughter has been eating sandwiches in her school lunches for just about 2 months now.  She is over them.  Completely done with sandwiches.  So I figured this was the perfect opportunity to incorporate something a little different – like a Mummy Dog! These guys are easy to whip together using crescent rolls, hot dogs, and a little bit of yellow mustard (although you could always substitute ketchup, if you prefer).  Simply open your crescent roll container and break the dough into the 4 rectangles.  It will naturally separate into these rectangles, you just need to tear them apart.  Each rectangle is made up of 2 triangles, but press the dough together so that these perforated lines dividing it into triangles disappear (you want it to be one solid rectangle).  Then, using a pizza cutter or knife, slice the rectangle of crescent dough into 7-8 strips.  Wrap the strips around the hot dog and bake for 11-13 minutes.  Allow Mummy Dogs to cool a bit and then dab on some mustard for the eyes.  Luckily, there are microwaves at my older daughter’s school so she can warm them up at lunch time! For fruit, this tangerine pumpkin couldn’t be any easier.  All you need is a tangerine and a small piece of celery and voilà!  Instant Pumpkin!

And while I ordinarily try to keep these lunches on the healthier side, I just couldn’t resist this spooky pudding graveyard.  To make your own, spoon a little bit of pudding in the bottom of the container, top with Oreo crumbles (cookie only, no cream filling), and top with a cracker or cookie as the tombstone.  I used some black icing to spell out RIP, but that’s completely optional if you’re worried about the sugar content.

So there it is, October’s Spooktacular School Lunch!  What do you think?  Spooky enough for little ones?  It would also make a great light dinner before heading out to trick or treat, just keep the pudding in the cup and top it with crumbles and the cookie/cracker tombstone.

If your kids prefer sandwiches, try making a pulled pork jack-o-lantern out of a hamburger bun and Farm Rich Smokehouse Pulled Pork BBQ by cutting a pumpkin face out of the top of the hamburger bun exposing a little of the pulled pork below.  This simple method will produce a great illuminated jack-o-lantern face look.  And if you have a picky eater on your hands, that’s okay because there are 4 varieties of Farm Rich Smokehouse carried at Walmart:

• Pulled Beef Brisket in a Sweet & Smoky BBQ Sauce
• Pulled Pork BBQ
• Double Rubbed Dry Smoked Pork
• Double Rubbed Dry Smoked Chicken

Priced just right at $6.97 (and be sure to use this coupon for additional savings), you’ll want to try them all!

And stay tuned for November’s school lunch…it will no doubt be gobble-licious!