As I was making lunch for myself and my kiddos today, I realize that I have a cycle of several lunches that enter our mouths every week. And lately, that cycle is feeling sorta old., like we are in a food rut. Even for breakfast, too. I think I have about three breakfasts that I alternate serving on a given week. That being the case, a lightbulb went off, and I thought to myself, "Self, why don't you pose this question on your blog?" So here I am, asking all my wonderful blog friends (those who are moms and those who aren't) for some good food advice.
What kinds of things do you feed your kids for breakfast and lunch?
To ensure that I don't get a lot of comments (if any) saying some of the things that I already dish up for my kids, I'll list some of the 'regulars' that come around our table.
Breakfast:
-Cereal, of all shapes and sizes
-Whole wheat bagels with turkey bacon on the side
-Scrambled eggs
-Ham and cheese (and sometimes onion or pepper) omelets. (Okay, okay, Dave is the only omelet maker in our house. I can't take credit for that one.
Lunch:
-The usual sandwich suspects: PB & J, PB & Honey, Ham and Cheese, et. al.
- Pasta salad with tuna and broccoli
- Grilled Cheese with Ham and Tomato Soup
- Black bean and tomato Quesadillas
- Lnuchables, the homemade kind
-Canned Italian Wedding Soup (Have you ever tried these? They have it canned at Aldi and the noddles are little tiny balls. My kids love them. They also have meatballs, which is also great).
- Frozen Chicken Nuggets
I do give them a fruit or vegetable at every meal as well. There are also the sides; fruit, cheese, crackers, yougurt, apples and peanut butter, carrots and ranch, etc.
So blogosphere, can you help a girl out? I do like to keep things sorta healthy, and veer on the whole-wheat-fresh-fruit-turkey-hot-dog spectrum of food eating, but am not a super health nut feeding my kids alpha sprouts sprinkled with protein powder and flax seed, just to bear in mind.
What cool and fantastic things do you feed your kids?
7 comments:
How about pancakes or french toast /w/ turkey bacon on a certain day of the week? We like to have "breakfast" dinners at our house.
Scrambled Eggs or Egg on a raft (egg cooked inside a hole cut out in the middle of a piece of bread).
Do you have a panini maker? Or use your toaster oven to toast turkey/ham sand. at lunchtime (like at panera...but cheaper!)
Home-made chicken fingers
Sometimes at lunch I'll make myself a veggie try with dip and have chz and crackers with it. YUM!
Oooo! You know what is really good for lunch? Homemade ham and cheese, turkey and cheese, or pizza pockets. Take canned croissants and roll out the dough. Fill it with your favorite and healthy fillings. Fold the dough piece in half. Seal the edges by crimping with a fork. Put on baking sheet and bake :) April.
Yeah, I will not be any help to you as your lunch and breakfast options put mine to shame. My kids eat cold cereal 95% of the time for breakfast. And I am lazy at lunch time too. So, yeah, I bow to you and your awesome meal options. My kids should be so lucky.
I really like the boring, tortillas and cheese. And you can do them with wheat tortillas which is just as good. And sometimes if you like beans too, do bean and cheese burritos:-)
Breakfasts...
- waffles
- pancakes
- egg sandwiches (bread or english muffin)
- breakfast burritos
- homemade muffins (healthy type)
- yogurt/fruit/granola
- smoothies with some protein powder
- leftovers.
My boys (eventhough they are 10 and 12 yrs old) love it when I make sausage, toast and fruit (bananas, strawberries, grapes, etc.) and cut it up and arrange it like a face on their plate or in a special design... makes them want to eat it!
Lunches...
- leftovers (sometimes I make a little more of dinner so that we will have leftovers for lunch)
- chili
- baked potatoes with chili
- sandwiches on a wrap or in a pita
- egg salad
- ham salad
- little pizzas (use english muffins with some pizza sauce and cheese on them and top them with whatever you like - cook them at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes or until done to your liking)
- pigs in a blanket (hotdogs wrapped in cresent rolls & baked)
- burritos
- beans & rice (can add hot dogs too)
- pasta salad (cook pasta and let everyone chose their toppings: chicken, peppers, onion, cheese, pepperoni, broccoli or other fresh veggies, then top with your favorite dressing)
- meatball sandwiches with spaghetti sauce
- open face sandwich (we used to take a piece of bread, put some mustard on it, a slice of bologna, a slice of cheese and then put it under the broiler for a few minutes until the cheese melts and it gets a little brown around the edges)
Hope that helps!
Wow! I'm with Corie -- it sounds like you're doing great in the meal department! We were much simpler lunch eaters around here, and rarely veered from the pbj or meat and cheese stand-bys, except for an occasional cheesey tortilla or grilled cheese. Good on you!
One of my favorite snacks is veggies dipped in hummus. It's easy to make, I can give you a recipe if you want. Let's see, what else....
You could dress up your scrambled eggs with whatever veggies seem good at the time, like tomatoes, bell peppers, green onions...basically whatever you'd put in an omelette but scrambled style.
Is there a farmer's market near you? I bet the kids would love going and seeing all the different kinds of fruits and veggies and would have a lot of fun picking out ones to try. The farmers always have great recipes to share. That might help solve your dilemma too! :)
Happy eating!
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