My eight year old daughter is a picky eater. A very picky eater. We deal with a lot of sensory issues in this house since we are all neurodivergent.

I’m lucky if I can get anything that isn’t beige into her before the day is up. It’s PBJs, chicky nuggies, and french fries aaallllllll the way down.

My younger daughter on the other hand, who is an adventurous eater, was begging for some ants on a log she saw on a video, and the older one was jealous. She wanted some but said her mouth can’t stand the texture of the celery sticks. The strings do her in.

So she had an idea..

Ants on a log is a classic snack that’s made from celery sticks. They’re filled with something creamy (usually peanut butter or cream cheese) and topped with dried fruit, chocolate, nuts, or something else that makes the “ants”. So the celery is the log, and the toppings are the ants – stuck to the log by whatever creamy ingredient you desire.

Because the celery sticks used to make ants on a log have long strings in them that make her gag – what if we cut them? But we couldn’t just slice them across because her brain remembers all the times I tried to sneak celery into her food. And that’s exactly how I cut it before.

Instead, we cut it in a herringbone type pattern.

This way, her mouth didn’t get sick from the strings and her brain didn’t feel betrayed by the half-moon celery slices from days past.

We chopped the log up into mulch, topped it, and it worked! The picky eater celery dish was a success!

• Creamy: for our creamy to stick everything to the top of the mulch, we used peanut butter, cookie butter, and sugar-free dark chocolate. You could use any safe nut or seed butter, or your favorite safe cream cheese.
• Dirt: my daughter said that we can’t have mulch and ants without having dirt. So we crumbled up some Biscoff cookies to sprinkle on top before placing the ants. You could use graham crackers, Oreos, or whatever cookies your family safely enjoys!
• Seeds: ants eat seeds, so we enlisted the help of some roasted sunflower seeds. You could use chopped nuts or seeds of whatever your choosing.
• Ants: for our ants, we used dried cranberries because it’s what we had on hand. You could use raisins, dried blueberries, or any dried fruit you want! If they’re large pieces, you may want to chop them up smaller to play the part.

1. Wash your celery well (or buy ready-to-eat) and chop “the icky ends” off.
2. Chop your celery in a herringbone pattern mulch to ensure the best chance of the brain not realising what it is. Place the mulch in a serving bowl. We like to use tongs for serving.

3. Crush your cookies or crackers and place the crumbs in a bowl with a small spoon for serving. We did it while they were still in their single serving package for less mess.

4. Put your seeds/nuts in another bowl and your dried fruit into another. We use a small spoon to serve the nuts/seeds, but go in with our fingers for the berries.
5. Melt your creamy addition choice in the microwave using a zap-safe bowl for 30 seconds. Stir it well to make sure it’s nice and melty. We love using my Wilton candy melt/chocolate drizzler spoon for serving this! We love melting and drizzling so there’s no chance of getting it on us.

One of the best parts about eating this iteration of “ants on a log” is that you can eat it with a spoon! So if you have sensory issues (raises hand) and don’t like to get your fingers/hands dirty – this is for you too!!

You can also use a fork to stab all your pieces of mulch, but they might jump out of your plate. 😉

That’s pretty much it for this recipe! It’s simple, it’s beautiful, it’s genius, and it’s delicious. And I’m really proud of my kid for figuring a way around her own sensory issues and enjoying something not beige! Well, not all of it anyway. Lol

And I guess I didn’t get her to love celery at all. She did it all on her own. <3

Please do let me know if you make this! I would love for you to share your version of it with me on either Instagram or Facebook where my handle is @cookingoncaffeine

May you and your coffee both be strong,

Meggan