I veganized a dish from Superfoods: For Babies and Children. The cannelloni are stuffed with a tofu spinach ricotta (I halved the recipe and had the perfect amount to stuff 5 noodles), topped with jarred marinara sauce, then a thin slice of FYH cheddar cheese (to represent turned-down sheets).  Chow mein noodles are used for the hair, sauteed mushrooms for the heads, bits of olives for the eyes and red pepper pieces for the smiles.  Whole olives are the “feet” sticking out of the bottom of the blanket.

For such a cute idea, I’d love to report that this went over better than it did.  Emma is very wary of trying new things and, after a big tantrum, she was sent to bed without any dinner.  *sigh*  This is the first time we’ve ever had to resort to that, but she needs to learn to eat what’s served in a reasonable amount of time.  Anyway, Matt and I really enjoyed this and I’ll definitely be making it again.  After she’d calmed down, Emma told me that she wanted to eat the “faces,” but by then she was in bed and it was way too late.  I think she may be more receptive to it next time.

Constructing all of the heads and stuff really did take a lot of time.  If you were planning to make this meal on a weeknight (totally doable– everything else came together very quickly), I’d suggest having everything already cut out and ready to be assembled.

I boiled my cannelloni about a minute shy and baked everything for about 20 minutes at 425 degrees.  Then I stuck it under the broiler to help melt the cheese.  The hair, heads and feet all get added after the dish is done baking.