Recipes

Crunchy Critters

This very hungry caterpillar is one of our Bitty Baker cooking class favorites!

For each caterpillar you will need:

• 1/4 cup diced avocado
• 1/4 cup shredded rotisserie chicken
• 1 1/2 teaspoons packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon light coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons diced mango
• 1/4 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1(6-inch) piece of rice paper (available at Asian food stores)
•  Pretzel sticks
• 1 plum tomato
• 2 dried currants
• 2 thin carrot slices

Have your little chef combine the avocado, chicken, brown sugar, coconut milk, mango, and soy sauce in a mixing bowl. Let your mixture sit for 5 minutes -- it will soon go inside your caterpillar. Yum!

While you wait, fill another bowl with warm water and place the rice paper into the bowl. Let the rice paper soak until it is soft, about 5-6 minutes. You can ask each other some of the Table Talk questions during this time!

When the rice paper is done soaking, it will magically become almost invisible (and sticky). Carefully place it on a clean, flat surface, and get ready to get those hands a little messy.

Use your fingers to dig into the chicken mixture and place it in the lower portion of the rice paper. Then fold the outer two sides in and roll up the paper as if you’re making a burrito or a log.

Use a table knife to carefully slice the log into four equal pieces. This is the caterpillar's body. Place pretzel sticks around the body for legs.

Have an adult carefully create the caterpillar's head, by slicing off 1/3 of the tomato. This piece will be the bottom part of his head. Balance the other side of the tomato on top to make a goofy grin.

Use a toothpick to poke eye holes in the tomato head and press in the currant eyes. Poke two more holes on top of the head and push in the carrot sticks for the antennae. 

Your caterpillar looks good enough to eat. But do it quickly, before he crawls away!

Fun food fact!

In some countries, it’s considered a special treat when you get to eat dried, fried, or boiled caterpillars! 

Use these questions to spark family kitchen conversations!

If you had a pet caterpillar, where would you let it sleep?

If you were a caterpillar about to turn into a butterfly, what would you be most excited about? What would you be the most scared of?

What other foods in your kitchen could you use to shape into animals? What foods could you use to create an octopus? What about a turtle?

If you were the hungry caterpillar, what is the last food you would eat before building your cocoon?