I Spy: A Mac and Cheese Adventure

I am so tickled with myself.  This may be one of the cleverest things I have ever done with Mac and Cheese.  So, Chew and Chew Dad has been out of town a lot these past couple of weeks with work.  We seem to have this tradition that when Dad is gone, we have Mac and Cheese.  Mac and Cheese is the all time favorite of the Chew and Chew kids, but I have questioned the nutritional value.  So this time around I decided to sneak in some mixed veggies.  I knew I would be met with anger, so I found a way to make it exciting and this is what I came up with...

I SPY: A MACARONI AND CHEESE ADVENTURE!

We love the "I Spy" books at our house, so I knew that this would especially appeal to my kids.

When the kids came to the dinner table (read counter), This is what was waiting for them.  A bowl of mac 'n cheese with a game card and pencil per child.

 Secretly, before I filled the bowls of mac 'n cheese, I taped a piece of gum to the bottom of each bowl.  This is the "Bar of Silver" on the game card.

mmmm... just look at those gorgeous mixed vegetables.  Our mac 'n cheese had carrots, peas, green beans, and corn.

I had looked up "treasures" on the Internet and copied pictures of jewels that closely matched their vegetable counterpart.  When the kids found and ate the jewel/ vegetable, they could cross it off their list.

 This is Sweetheart holding up a Peridot (aka. pea) that she found in her mac 'n cheese.  Notice the big grin!

Okay, and the best part was, they could NOT figure out where the "Bar of Silver" was!  I have never seen T-Man shovel mac 'n cheese into his mouth so fast.  He was determined to be the first to find all of the items.  It wasn't until he finished the whole bowl until he thought to look underneath.  And when the other two found out there was gum, then everyone kicked it into hyper-eating drive to get to the gum.  Gum is a hot commodity at our house!  It gave me a big laugh.  It was quite an adventure.

To make your own: I Spy: A Macaroni and Cheese Adventure:

Prepare your favorite brand of macaroni and cheese according to package directions.

Prepare a cup of mixed vegetables also according to package directions and mix together with the macaroni and cheese.  To use my game card below, your mixed vegetables should include peas, green beans, corn, and carrots.  I also used one stick of gum taped to the bottom of each bowl.

Click on my game card below to enlarge the image.  Next, right click on the image and select "Copy", then open Microsoft Word, or another any program of your choice.  Right-click on the blank document and select "Paste".  This should give you a printable game card.  You can also just right-click on my image and save it, then print it in whatever program works for you.  You will need one game card per person.