Fast, Fun Veggie Platter for the 4th

     I popped these out because my mom sent me a picture of them a month ago.  I couldn't think of a better time to make such a cute veggie platter.  I figured I'd write down how to make them so you could do the same, if you want.  This is almost guaranteed to get your kids to eat their vegetables because they'll be so taken by the cute ladybugs.
     Tomatoes have large amounts of Vitamin C and A while olives are a great source of Vitamin E.  Though this looks complicated, you'll be surprised how easy it is.  Here are what you'll need.  In rare form, I didn't price everything out, but all the ingredients were between $5 and $10 and the used amount was less than $5.
     If your family is vegetarian, you can eliminate the meat used in this recipe and put the tomatoes directly on top of the cream cheese.  If you're vegan, use hummus instead of cream cheese.   No matter how you make this, your kid's will pop one in their mouth before they realize they're eating veggies!

Skills	Prep	Cook
What do these meters mean?

Equipment you'll need:  Paring knife, Chef knife, cutting board, spoon

Ingredients:
1 package of cherry tomatoes (not grape, they're too small)
1 bunch parsley
1 can whole olives
1 box round crackers
1 package of ham or turkey or any lunch meat you want
1 small container of cream cheese (I chose onion and chives, but what you want is up to you)

Method:
1.  Lay out crackers on your serving plate so you know how many lady bugs you're going to be making.
2.  Take one whole cracker and lay it on top of several pieces of your lunch meat (I did 4 at a time).  Using the tip of your paring knife, cut the lunch meat into circles that are the size and shape of your crackers.  Move your cracker to touch the circle you just cut and repeat until you've cut all your meat into cracker templates.
3.  Using your spoon, spread a thin layer of cream cheese on each cracker.  Do this by putting some cheese on the cracker and using the back of the spoon to spread it.
4.  Put one of your cut pieces of lunch meat on top of the cheese on each cracker.  If you run out, cut some more.  If you cut too many, it still makes good sandwiches when it's in pieces.
5.  Break off the leaves of parsley and put one on top of each piece of ham.
6.  Cut each tomato in half and place one half on top of a cracker, making sure to place it partially on the parsley while still leaving the frilly part sticking out.  Make sure your tomato leaves enough room at the front of the cracker for the next step.  You can always adjust it later.
7.  Cut olives into quarters and place each quarter in the empty space in front of the tomato.  Put the flat side of the olive up against the tomato so that it looks like a head.
8.  Mince 3 to 4 olives into very small pieces.  Sprinkle a few pieces of olive on top of the tomato to make spots.