Yumm-o
More of an obento than a monkey platter, but it’s all the same here.
Chocolate squares* & Peanut butter thingy
Roasted (unsalted) almonds*
Apple slices*, Blueberry spears* & Baby corn
Edamame* w/soy sauce* & Various crackers from the cracker jar*
Italian roll w/ vegan mayo* & vegan deli slices
*organic
Your platters are always so beautiful! Although, experience suggests that if I made things like this for River, he would eat the chocolate, and maybe some of the crackers if he was feeling crazy.
yeah, we didn’t really get into doing these elaborate things until he was maybe 4 years old. he’s always been a grazer, but it was usually one thing at a time and not a mini buffet. the good thing is that you CAN try it with VERY small portions (like 1 cracker, 1 slice of apple, 1 Jelly Belly, etc.) of things so that waste is limited or uneaten things can easily be used again or eaten by you. there are times when I know certain things on a tray aren’t things that E is particularly fond of, but he’ll eat them, because everything else is on his “good list”…it’s amazing the things he’ll try from a tray that he wouldn’t consider if it they were presented by themselves. thanks for the compliment…it’s nice to know that other people appreciate the trays….
I love your monkey platters too…. so appealing …. like it’s fun to pull blueberries off the toothpick ….. nibble at everything. All my kids are grazers… snack monsters. Since I first saw your blog, I’ve been trying to do “monkey platter-like” presentations for my kid cuisine. We do all organic – though not vegan (my oldest and I were vegan until she was 3 or 4), but… I have yet to match your pretty / nutritious plates. I’ll probably look at your photo and try to duplicate
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Sherri~ feel free to copy away! honestly, I don’t spend much time on these. the one in the picture here though I did spend maybe ten minutes on…but usually E eats the same things throughout the day so, in the morning I get a large portion of stuff around in the fridge and then just fill up the tray when necessary or when asked for more of something. in reality, I probably spend 5 to 10 minutes tops per tray, but it’s second nature for us now. in the beginning I think it might have taken longer, more like 15 maybe 20 minutes, but that’s until I really got the hang of it.