Eat Your Veggies! Vehicles Vegetable Tray

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Kids and vegetables don’t always mix. My kids will eat some, but they tend to be picky on which ones and how they are prepared. In order to encourage them to eat their vegetables, and a larger variety of them, I like to do fun things like serve them with Kraft Dip, make them into shapes, or cook them into their favorite meals. 

Since my boys are in love with vehicles, I decided to combine dip with shapes to make a Vehicles Vegetable Tray!

We chose the French Onion Dip because it’s a family favorite.

I made a vegetable tray that everyone could share. They absolutely loved it. My oldest told me, “This is the coolest thing ever!!” When snack time came around, I was able to get them to eat vegetables they normally would pass up (broccoli, peas, and celery) because of the fun way they were served. The kids could “drive” the vehicles on the dip road and eat them after. My youngest, who is the pickiest when it comes to veggies, ate quite a bit (he will eat anything he can dip into sauce.)

Want to learn how I made these adorable veggie vehicles? You’ll find a tutorial below.

FIRST STEP FOR ALL: You will need to cut small bits of carrot, some short and some longer, to use to hold the vegetable pieces together. I recommend cutting the ends to a point. You could use toothpicks, but it will be too easy for the kids to accidentally bite into it and get injured, so carrot slivers are what I highly recommend. They are edible as well and your child will probably eat them without noticing, which is a bonus.

Cucumber Loader

Use: cucumber, carrot, celery, peas, and black olive rings.

1. The first step is cutting the cucumber. Cut one piece to the size you want for the body then cut a thick coin.

2. Cut off a small piece from the back (almost a half circle, but a little less than halfway down the cucumber) then cut a small amount from the bottom so the cucumber lies flat.

3. Place the coin on the top of the area you cut off and trim to line up with the end of the tractor.

4. Cut a piece of celery to the length of the cucumber diameter. This will be the scoop.

5. Attach the pieces using the slivered carrots. Two in the top back of the cucumber, two in the front where the scoop will go, two on the back, and two on either side for the wheels. I cut a star pattern for the soft part of the cucumber, and the carrot pieces inserted easily. The firmer areas (the part of the cucumber with skin and the celery) you will need to cut a hole to insert the carrot into.

6. Put the large piece of the cucumber coin on the top, the extra that was cut off on the back of the truck to make it rounded, the scoop on the front, and add the wheels onto the carrot posts.

7. If you want to add more detail, cut designs out of the sides using a sharp knife, then carefully peel off the dark green rind of the cucumber in those areas to expose the lighter green.

8. Decorate by filling the scoop with fresh peas.

Cucumber Car

Use: Cucumber, carrots, and black olive slices.

1. This one is the simplest. Cut a piece of cucumber to the size you want the car then cut small pieces off either end, flat on the bottom and angled from the top, to give the car it’s front of the car and back trunk. Cut a small amount off the bottom so the car sits flat.

2. Add carrot slivers, two on each side, for the wheels (the same as in the tractor instructions.)

3. Slide the sliced olives onto the carrots.

4. As with the tractor, you can add extra details by exposing the lighter green if you wish. I did not do this on the car, but I did for the others.

Cucumber Station Wagon

Use: Cucumber, carrots, and black olive slices.

My husband, for some reason, loves station wagons, so I made this one special just for him.

1. Cut the cucumber to the length you want then trim just like you did for the car, only, instead of giving it a back trunk, just cut a small angled piece off. Cut a small amount off the bottom so the vehicle sits flat.

2. Using a sharp knife, carefully cut out a thin strip on each side in the middle to make “wood paneling.” You can do the same to add windows, just peel to expose the light green part of the cucumber.

3. Add carrot slivers, two on each side, for the wheels (just like for the others.)

4. Slide the sliced olives onto the carrots.

Car Mat Veggie Tray

Use: Kraft French Onion Dip, dried dill, dried chives, yellow pepper, broccoli, mini sweet pepper, green beans.

1. Spread a thin layer of Kraft dip onto a tray. Keep in mind serving size (you don’t want to add the whole container for a few people)

2. Add yellow pepper cut into small, thin strips to one side of the tray to make a road leaving some dip on either side of the lines. Sprinkle dill so you can see a defined road. I added some chives to one area on the dill to make it look like foliage.

3. Make a little house out of a small pepper (both sides cut off so it sits flat) and green beans. I cut a small door and window for the house and held the door open with a tiny wedge of carrot. The green beans sit on the top as a roof.

4. Decorate with broccoli “trees.” In order to get them to stand, you will need to add a clump of dip to the base of the broccoli before placing. I went another step and scattered a few of the extra carrot slivers behind the trees and that gave them more stability. If any pieces fall off, you can prop them up next to the house to make bushes.

5. Place your veggie vehicles on the tray and enjoy!

Which Kraft Dip flavor will you buy? Share your favorite in the comments! You can check out more recipes at Kraft.com.

Know someone who could use this? Hit the “share” buttons below! Be sure to follow Arts & Crackers on social media (buttons at the top right of the page.)

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-How will you decorate your veggie tray? Share in the comments here, post a picture to my Facebook wall, or tag @ArtsCrackers in your photo on Instagram!!