Buzzing Home for a Bumble Bee® Snack

 Here are the ingredients we are going to use to make a delicious tuna pasta salad into a fun bumble bee dip:

Bumble Bee® Premium Albacore Tuna in Water Pouch 5oz (you can also use Bumble Bee® light tuna), rotini pasta, Goddess dressing, diced red onion, diced black olives, salt/pepper and rice crackers.

 Start by cooking your pasta.  While the pasta is cooking, arrange your rice crackers on a platter for the bumble bee wings.

 Add your Bumble Bee tuna to the cold rinsed pasta.  I prefer using the pouches because you don't have to drain any water or oil from the packaging, but Bumble Bee tuna also comes in cans.

 Add 3-4 tablespoons of Goddess dressing to the pasta and combine:

 Add your 1/4 cup diced red onion, 2 T capers, salt & pepper to taste.  Stir to combine.

 Begin to assemble the body of the bumble bee by alternating the pasta with the diced black olives.

 Finish the bee with caper eyes and it's ready to serve!

The kids were more than happy to dig into the pasta- mostly because it was served as a bumble bee dip.  Food art is great way to sneak in an extra protein source or extra veggies they normally wouldn't eat on their own.  

After school snacking should be fun and nutritious!  Try this bumble bee tuna pasta salad food art for your hungry after-school kiddos.  Do you have any favorite tuna recipes your kids love?  Share in the comments!  Bumble Bee® has custom recipes you can find here.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Back-to-School Bus Dip

To make this fun school bus layered dip, start by prepping your fresh ingredients:

 She brushed up on her math facts as I diced the California Ripe Black Olives, tomatoes and red onion.

On a flat platter, smear the refried beans in the shape of a school bus, using a spatula:

 Next, layer your guacamole on top of the refried beans.  Our guac recipe is 2 smashed avocados, juice of one small lime, 3 shakes of Tabasco, a generous sprinkle of season salt and garlic powder.

 Then, layer the guacamole with sour cream:

 Now, add your diced California Ripe Olives for the bus windows and windshield:

 Next, start adding your shredded mild cheddar cheese around the windows and fill in the bus.  I used a small black cup to outline the wheels and filled the wheels with black beans and red onion for the chrome part of the bus (rims, bumpers & lights)

Add the diced tomatoes for the school bus stop sign and brake lights.  The platter was finished with some blue sour cream (add a few drops of blue food coloring) for the backdrop and a California Ripe Olive road.

Here are four school children who started 2nd, 6th, 5th & 1st grades this week.  The school bus layered dip was a huge hit!  Serve with tortilla chips or more fresh cut veggies.

Have you tried making any food art?  The black olives really make the yellow cheese on school bus pop with color.  It only takes a little extra effort to create a really fun snack.  With Halloween approaching, start thinking about a baby carrot and/or orange pepper jack-o-lantern with black olive face:

We served this a couple of years ago at our Halloween Party.  You can check out our bunny head fruit platter for a fresh fruit idea.  Keep a can of black olives in your pantry for your next food art project!  This is such a good-for-them, kid-friendly snack to prepare with your kids.  Now, dig in!

Join the California Ripe Olives Back-to-School Sweepstakes:

• Follow California Ripe Olives on Facebook, visit the custom tab, and enter once per day for the chance to win an Amazon Kindle Fire HDX
• Sweepstakes runs August 18 - September 12, 2014
• Link to sweepstakes: http://clvr.li/VzSkGl

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.