For some reason, when I make his lunches a smorgasbord of ‘stuff’ he seems to eat a better variety and he seems to sit and eat rather than screwing around. We attempted the Leaning Tower of Peanut Butter by making little peanut butter cracker sandwiches and then precariously stacking them just a bit out from each other. Cheddar, blueberries, dried berries, carrots and peppercorn ranch rounded out this one.
I’m looking for more creative lunch ideas. What have you got?
What a beautiful idea!
ReplyDeleteI have a friend that does something similar. She actually got some of those mini cupcake or muffin pans and she puts her kids stuff into the sections. They think it is GREAT fun and they always eat better from it. They like having the little "compartments."
ReplyDeleteI got an idea from another nanny to make Banana Dogs. The boys I nanny for loved them and they are healthy (depending on ur condiments) and fun. Take a whole wheat hot dog bun and spread peanut butter inside (the "ketchup" or as I used to say "chechup") then for kicks we used a little chocolate syrup ("mustard") and then put a banana in the bun and you can add dried berries or raisins as "relish." You can get creative and set out a little condiment area and Finn can "build" his lunch. It is really fun especially for a play date and it covers most of the food groups except veggies. P.S. I totally added whip cream to mine.
ReplyDeleteAlso, we have died mac'n'cheese green and added ham and called it "Green cheese'n'ham." And I'm sure you have done this before but take an english muffin(whole wheat or regular)and add some pizza sauce then add ur toppings you would like (the benefit of doing it on an english muffin is you can make as many little mini pizzas you want with a variety of toppings on each or make them all the same) then top them with cheese. Set ur oven to broil and watch them until the cheese melts and ta-da you have mini pizzas!!!! Mini cheeseburgers are also a big hit!! I know a couple over fun things so let me know if you want some more!! Oh and the personal english muffin pizzas can also be used as a breakfast pizza by changing the pizza sauce to a little bit of butter then adding veggies or turkey sausage bits or bacon then topping it with a little scrambled egg and adding some cheddar cheese!!! Welcome, love ya!
ReplyDeleteHave you done the muffin tin lunches? They are really fun, and Adam seems to eat better that way, too.
ReplyDeleteQuesadillas are big at our house. They're cheap, fast, easy, customizable, filling, and universally-accepted as "food" by my family members. :) Heat a skillet to medium/med-low and fold tortillas in half to make a crease. Inside, on one half of the crease, sprinkle a little shredded cheese for "glue", then dollop salsa all around and top with as much additional cheese as desired. You can also add thin slices of avocado, leftover cooked meat (shredded or ground) or rice, leftover cooked veggies, etc. after the salsa — just add cheese "glue" as needed between layers. Fold closed and lay in heated skillet two at a time, pressing down to flatten. Flip after a couple minutes and press again. Keep flipping until the outsides look nice and toasty. Let cool a few minutes before cutting with a rotary/pizza cutter. Serve with sour cream or more salsa. We cut our 4 yr-old's into 3-4 wedges and our 18 mo-old's into 4-5 strips, which are then halved. Husband eats two, or one plus chips. We like whole wheat tortillas and "fiesta" blend cheese. I'm an avocado junkie, so that's always in mine, plus whatever leftovers sound appropriate or need using up. :)
ReplyDeleteGrilled cheese, pb&j (cut with cookie cutters sometimes), and 99-cent kid's meal day at Fazoli's round out our weekly lunch rotation.