Tomato Hornworm Wipeouts
Submitted by dlhill
Creepy-crawly edible hornworms made from cucumber strips, cream cheese, and string cheese, served in hollowed-out tomatoes. A no-cook Halloween snack kids can help make.
YIELD
2 servingsPREP
25 minCOOK
0 minREADY
30 minWant to get your kids excited about eating vegetables? Tell them they’re making bugs.
These edible “hornworms” are cucumber strips coiled around string cheese with cream cheese as the glue, nestled inside hollowed-out tomatoes carved like little jack-o-lanterns.
They’re wiggly, they’re silly, and kids absolutely lose their minds over them.
No cooking required, just peeling, scooping, spreading, and wrapping. It’s more craft project than cooking, which makes it the ideal kitchen activity for little hands.
Kitchen Tips
- Use a vegetable peeler to get long, thin cucumber ribbons. They wrap around the cheese much easier than sliced rounds.
- Let the cream cheese come to room temperature so it spreads smoothly and acts as a better “glue."
- An adult should handle the paring knife for carving the tomato tops. Let the kids do the scooping and assembling.
- Mix the leftover cream cheese with ranch or Italian dressing for a dip to go alongside.
Ingredients
Directions
Tools: Carrot peeler, Paring knife, Cutting board, Bowl, Spoon, Butter knife, Plate.
With an adult’s help, use a carrot peeler to remove the cucumber skin.
Discard the skin and continue peeling long thin strips the entire length of the cucumber until you reach the seedy core.
Set these strips aside.
Dice the seedy core into tiny pieces.
You now need to remove the top of the tomato, much as you would the top of a pumpkin to make a jack-o-lantern.
Ask an adult to do the following: Take a paring knife and carefully poke it into the tomato, about 1 inch from the stem, pointing the knife.
Using a spoon, scoop out the tomato’s center, leaving a large, bowl shaped space inside the tomato.
Chop these tomato insides into tiny pieces, drain off excess juice and add them to the cucumber.
Pull apart the pieces of string cheese into strips that are about the width of a pencil.
Cut each strip into thirds and set aside.
To make hornworms, use a butter knife to spread thin layers of cream cheese onto each side of a cucumber strip.
Then, using the cream cheese as a gluewrap the cucumber in a coiling fashion around a piece of string cheese, from one end of the cheese to the other.
Blend the remaining cream cheese with one or two tablespoons of your favorite salad dressing.
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