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Muffin Turkeys dress up table
Make it, create it and eat it! That's what "food art" is all about. Adding imaginative touches to meals and snacks is a festive and fun way for kids to get involved in holiday food preparations. For this Thanksgiving season, set out the following ingredients on the counter or your kitchen table so that it's easy for each person to get involved in making his or her own "muffin turkey." When family and friends stop by, get them in on the act, too, using these healthy "toppers" for a favorite breakfast or midmorning snack.
First, purchase or bake a batch of pumpkin or whole-grain muffins from a commercial quick-bread/muffin mix or a favorite family recipe. Cool the muffins completely before creating a family of turkey gobblers.
Spread each muffin with a heaping tablespoon or two of flavored or plain cream cheese to form the base of the food art. To make a basic turkey, place the following on top of the cream cheese: For the head and neck, peel a banana, and then cut a 1-to-2-inch piece from one of the ends. Dip it in lemon juice to prevent it from browning, and place the cut end in the center of the cream cheese. Press two miniature chocolate chips into the pointed end of the banana for eyes. One or two shelled sunflower seeds make a cute beak.
Dip two thin wedges of apple with the peel left on in some lemon juice. Arrange them pointing outward near both sides of the banana for flapping turkey wings. For a colorful tail, cut a circular orange slice in half to create a halfmoon shape. Place the shape upright behind the banana so it resembles a fan. Press it into the cream cheese to keep it in place. Every turkey needs a wattle! A small piece cut from red apple peel works perfectly. Poke it into the banana under the turkey's mouth.
Arrange several wacky muffin turkeys on a platter or serve immediately on individual snack plates. Gobble them up with a warm cup of cider or a cold glass of milk.
(c) 2007 Donna Erickson Distributed by King Features Synd.
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