Cheese Worms with Grasshopper Dip

Name: Cheese Worms with Grasshopper Dip
Prep time: 30 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 12 cheese worms and 2 grasshopper bowls.
Ingredients: Sweetened shredded coconut; Green liquid food coloring; 24 whole cloves; 6 string cheese; 6 twirled mozzarella cheese sticks; DIP BOWLS:; 1 medium green pepper; 12 green onions; 2 pitted ripe olives; Dip of your choice

Turning string cheese snacks into wiggly warms was simply a matter of poking in whole cloves for the eyes. We remind the kids to be sure to remove these before eating the worms. For serving the dip, I halved and seeded a green pepper, then added olives for eyes and green onion "legs".—Lenore Walters, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Ingredients

Sweetened shredded coconut
Green liquid food coloring
24 whole cloves
6 string cheese
6 twirled mozzarella cheese sticks
DIP BOWLS:
1 medium green pepper
12 green onions
2 pitted ripe olives
Dip of your choice

Directions

Place coconut in a resealable plastic bag; add food coloring and shake to coat until color is evenly distributed. Sprinkle coconut onto a serving plate. Press two cloves into one end of each cheese stick for worm eyes. As cheese sticks reach room temperature, they can be positioned to appear more worm-like.
Cut green pepper in half lengthwise. Remove and discard stem and seeds. Cut the white portion from green onions; save for another use. Bend the green portion of onions in half for grasshopper legs. Attach six legs to each pepper half with toothpicks. For eyes, cut olives widthwise in half; attach to grasshoppers with toothpicks. Fill pepper halves with dip. Remove cloves from worms before eating.

Editor's Note: This recipe was tested with Sargento Twirls. Look for them in the dairy aisle of your grocery store.