Kids and adults love this cute lion vegetable tray so much, they will stuff themselves on veggies without even realizing it!
LION VEGGIE TRAY FOR NATIONAL HUMMUS DAY
Did you know that May 13th is National Hummus Day? That’s a day worth celebrating in our family! So when our partners at Sabra asked us to create a healthy vegan snack, we had the perfect party veggie tray in mind.
Our family goes through a tub of Sabra hummus every week. Yes, even before they became one of our partners! It’s one of our favorite protein sources, especially when our toddlers start getting picky about the texture of meat.
Not only is hummus a fantastic source of vegan protein, it’s also a great way to get kids (and adults!) to eat more vegetables.
FAMILY PARTY DINNER
A few months ago, I was tired from a long work day, and didn’t have any ideas for dinner. So I grabbed a tub of hummus and some carrot sticks, sliced up a bell pepper, and put it out on the kids play table for us to sit around and munch on.
It was one of those moments that could have felt like a mommy fail. In fact, if my postpartum depression had been in full swing, I would have been beating myself up for sure.
Then my son looked at my with a HUGE grin and said, “Mama, we’re having a family party!”
In that moment I was reminded that what really matters is having fun together. My family was eating healthy food, talking, and laughing. It was one of the best family dinners we’d ever had.
Now we try to have a family party dinner on a weekly basis. Sometimes it’s just simply sliced veggies with our hummus. Other times the kids help me make something cute like this lion vegetable tray.
The most important thing is, family party dinner has simply become a part of our week, and I know it’s something our kids will remember forever.
HOW TO MAKE A LION VEGETABLE TRAY
While you can make this lion vegetable tray without any special tools, I love using a tiny heart cookie cutter to make his red bell pepper nose.
The jicama eyeballs can be cut out of a thin slice of jicama using a circle cookie cutter, but I actually just used the opening of an empty spice jar.
For the lion’s mane, we used carrots, yellow bell peppers, and jicama. I found that it looked most like a lion mane if I cut each veggie stick with pointy end.
But the awesome things about this, is you can totally use whatever you have or know your kids will eat. Don’t have time to chop your veggies? Just use a bunch of baby carrots. They’ll get the idea!
As for the tray, I used this awesome bar tender’s tray because it’s so big. It’s also great for transporting the lion vegetable tray because it’s got a nice lip around the edge.
But you could use a big round white plate and just have the veggie stick mane hang off the edge a bit.
The rest of the lion’s face is made of three extra large olives (two for eyes and one for the mouth), and some fresh chives for his whiskers.
If you’re taking your lion vegetable tray to go, you may want to prep the pieces of his face, but wait to put them onto the hummus until you reach your destination.
WE WANT TO SEE YOUR LION VEGETABLE TRAY!
If you make a lion vegetable tray, we want to see it! Head over to our facebook page and share a photo in the comments of the slideshow video. We love seeing everyone play with their veggies!
LION VEGETABLE TRAY SUPPLIES
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Lion Vegetable Tray
Kids and adults love this cute lion vegetable tray so much, they will stuff themselves on veggies without even realizing it! Feel free to use just one kind of vegetable for the lion's mane if you don't have all three. You can use just the olives for the eyes if you aren't using jicama in the mane.
Ingredients
- 6 large carrots
- 2 yellow bell peppers
- 1 small jicama
- 1 10 ounce container Sabra classic hummus
- 1 red bell pepper
- 3 extra large black olives
- 8 fresh chives
Instructions
- Peel the carrots and slice into 2-3 inch sticks with one pointy end.
- Cut the ends off the yellow bell peppers, remove the seeds, and slice the rest of the pepper into sticks with one pointy end.
- Peel the jicama (I find this easier using a knife rather than a vegetable peeler) and slice it into 1/4 inch thick slabs. Put one large slab aside for the lion's eyes, and slice the rest into 2-3 inch sticks with one pointy end.
- Open the tub of hummus and place in the center of a large round tray. Arrange carrot, bell pepper, and jicama sticks around the hummus, pointy ends out. Put your longest pieces down first and shorter ones on top.
- Cut a wide piece off of the red bell pepper and use a small heart cookie cutter to cut out a nose. It's easiest to cut from the inside of the bell pepper slice, not the peel side.
- Use a circle cookie cutter, or the opening of an empty spice jar, to cut out two circles from the slab of jicama you set aside.
- Cut the end with the hole punched out off of two of your olives. Slice the third olive in half and cut a sliver off of each half, lengthwise, for the lion's mouth.
- Place your bell pepper heart in the center of the hummus.
- Put your two olive slices below the heart to make a mouth.
- Place the jicama circles on the hummus, above the nose.
- Put your olive circles onto the jicama circles to give your lion some eyes.
- Cut the chives to about three inches long and place four on each side of the nose.
- If not serving right away, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to devour.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
8 ServingsAmount Per Serving: Calories: 124Sodium: 193mgCarbohydrates: 19gFiber: 8gSugar: 4gProtein: 4g
This has got to be the cutest thing I have EVER seen! Almost too cute to eat…but, only almost 😉
So fun! My kids would absolutely love this.
This is such a cute idea! So fun!
This is an awesome idea! My child would love this too! Thanks for sharing.
Made this for a mammal-themed snack for my son’s first grade class. It was a big hit! Thank you so much for this adorable idea!