If I were to slop a cucumber sandwich on a plate, even with the crusts cut off, I doubt any of my nephews would be all that excited about eating it. So today I tried making fingertip-sized mini round cucumber sandwiches to tempt them to nibble a bit.
I used my Williams-Sonoma round cutters on the smallest size possible. I chose a white potato bread (nice and soft), used softened butter spread thinly, and cut thin (but not too thin) round slices of cucumbers with the cutter. Next I pressed the same size cutter into the middle of each cucumber slice. I was relieved the cutter was sharp enough to cut through the vegetable flesh. This resulted in mostly the “seed” part of the cucumber being used for the mini sandwich.
I snacked on the discarded cucumber leavings, fed the rest of the bread pieces to my eager dogs, and successfully got little boys to eat a mayonnaise-free (though still high in fat) buttery vegetable sandwich. They gobbled them up! (For adults, I’d probably put a sprinkling of paprika or chili powder on top of each tiny sandwich, for color and flavor).
These round cutters from Fox Run are about half the price and are available via Amazon.
If I make food fun, small, unusual, or colorful, I have a lot better luck getting the kids to eat it instead of crying for pizza, mac and cheese or chicken nuggets! Cucumbers don’t really have all that much nutrition in them, but at least it’s a start.
