What child doesn’t grow up with Dr. Seuss books? We have quite a few of them lying around the house. The kids love the silly characters and the rhymes. The Dr. Seuss inspired recipes and activities that I’m about to share with you have been a great hit in our house. Of course the famous green eggs and ham are included, but there are also quite a few other snack and meal ideas. Create a fun Dr. Seuss inspired afternoon with some of these recipes and of course don’t forget to read a few of the books with your kids. (If you don’t own any, enjoy a trip to your local library.)

Green Eggs and Ham
This has to be the most famous Dr. Seuss inspired dish. Scramble a few eggs, add a couple of drops of blue food coloring to the mixture and cook as usual. You can serve a warmed up slice of ham with it, and if you want to go all out, brush the ham with a little green food coloring.
My kids love either biscuits, or mashed potatoes with this dish. Add a little food coloring (either green, or a complimentary color like red) to the biscuit dough or the finished mashed potatoes for even more fun.

Cat in The Hat Snack
Make the Cat’s Hat for a fun snack. All you need is a few Ritz crackers, gummy lifesavers (preferably in white/clear and red) and a little vanilla frosting. Put the Ritz cracker on a plate. Use a little bit of vanilla frosting to glue the first lifesaver on the cracker. “Glue” more lifesavers on top of the first one alternating between red and white.
These snacks are so cute; you may want to take a picture of your child’s creation before it is devoured.

Wiggly Fish
This snack was inspired by “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish”. Prepare several different colors of Jello according to package directions and pour each flavor into a shallow pan. Use a fish shaped cookie cutter to cut the Jello into fish shapes. (If you don’t have a fish shaped cookie cutter you could also just cut fish shapes with a knife.) You can also add small pieces of fruit to the Jello mixture before it cools. This is a great way to sneak an extra serving of fruit into your child’s diet.

Pink Ink for The Yink
The Yink in “One Fish, Two Fish” love to drink pink ink. Make your own version by combining a few strawberries (either fresh, or frozen and thawed) and some milk in a blender. Add a few drops of red food coloring if the “ink” isn’t pink enough.

A Fruity Hat For The Cat
How about this for a fun Sunday breakfast? Whip up a batch of silver dollar pancakes and cut up some fresh strawberries. Grab some whipped cream and let the kids assemble the Cat’s hat by stacking pancakes, and strawberries on top of each other using the whipped cream as “glue”.
Enjoy a few of these Dr. Seuss recipes and activities with your family, or invite a few neighbor kids over for a Dr. Seuss party. Either way they are a lot of fun and a great way to bring some of the Seuss stories to life.

Want more family friendly recipes and crafts ideas? Visit http://www.dinewithoutwhine.com/info for a sample weekly menu plan your entire family will love and www.kinderinfo.com for tons of craft and activity ideas that are sure to keep your little ones entertained.

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Meal planning is much more than just a fad that came across the internet.  It’s a true time, money and health saver anymore.  There isn’t one of us out there that has all day to cook some grand meal, EVERYDAY.  Yes, many of us would love to, but we work, we take care of the kids, and then we have to take the kids to their sports or extra-curricular activities.  Let alone our workouts and meetings we go to as volunteers.

1.  Planning and cooking ahead will save you the added expense of  eating out for how ever many meals you need to purchase or that dreaded last minute grocery store trip.  I know it used to be a $20 stop a few years ago, it’s not even close now for our family if we haven’t planned ahead.

2.  Some nights there just isn’t time to cook.  We get home from work or finish our appointments and it’s time to run the kids around.  Or we need to get to the gym and take care of our own health.  We are very important and need to workout as well, so we can take care of our families for many years.  The fact we need to get dinner on the table keeps a lot of people from making healthy choices.

3.  Eating healthy makes the entire family more productive.  Healthy foods keep everyone’s body in check.  If you aren’t planning ahead then it’s much easier said than done.  If you have the meal already cooked and just have to reheat, then you are so far ahead of the game it can’t even be counted.  Very few take-out meals have nutrients.  But menu planning makes sure that you are ready for all those busy days and everyone is getting the nutrients needed to push ahead.

Meal plans come in all shapes and sizes.  Your diet needs come in those same needs. For many, the general Once a Week Cooking menu plan is much better than they are eating already or it is what the majority of their family will eat. Join the newsletter for more info when specialized menu plans become available.

Val Selby is a certified personal trainer. She’s been married for over 15 years and has 2 kids that are teens. She does know about having to balance everyone’s chaotic schedule and get the food on the table. She also has to help create her clients meal plans to fit their goals and schedules. Frugal cooking, meal planning and freezer recipe tips can be found at Once a Week Cooking.