Creative Lunch ideas for school

School is in session and for most kids they usually either bring lunch to school or purchase food at the cafeteria. I personally do a combo of both. I wanted to focus on making 
creative lunch ideas for your little one.

Corn Dog Mini Muffin

Ingredients:

 1 package mini hot dogs (I used lean turkey with natural casing) or regular hot dogs cut into 1 inch pieces. (Be sure to buy fully cooked hot dogs. They’ll be in the oven for a very short amount of time)

For the cornbread mix:

·                     1 cup all purpose flour

·                     1 cup cornmeal

·                     1 tablespoon baking powder

·                     2 eggs

·                     1 cup milk

·                     1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce (vegetable oil or butter as a substitution are fine)

·                     1/4 cup sugar

·                     1/4 teaspoon salt

 Directions:

·  Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees F

·    In a large mixing bowl stir together flour, cornmeal, salt, and baking powder

·    In a separate bowl whisk together eggs, milk, applesauce and sugar

·    Gently mix together wet and dry ingredients, stirring only to coat. Be careful not to over mix here or you will have tough, dry muffins. Just like with biscuits/scones the key is to be gentle with the batter. There will be small lumps in your batter, and that is perfectly fine.

· Prepare your muffin tin by spraying liberally with cooking spray. If your pan has the tendency to stick, consider using mini muffin liners.

· Using a tablespoon, fill each muffin cup 3/4 full. Be sure not to fill all the way to the top.

·   Insert 1 hot dog piece into each muffin

·    Bake at 400 F in the center of your oven for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean

·   Remove from pan while still very warm to avoid over-cooking

*For a shortcut I would purchase corn muffin mix rather than making it from scratch and if you don't feel like purchasing mini hot dogs you can always slice up a regular hot dog.
All Info on: http://happygoodtime.com/2012/02/01/corn-dog-mini-muffins/

Peanut Butter Roll-Ups


I love how you can make the meal looking appealing to your toddler. The peanut butter roll-ups are also great to get your toddler to help you prep their lunch. I know most schools no longer allow peanut butter on the premises so I would substitute it with just jam or cream cheese. This mom filled the lunch box with fresh fruit and veggie kabobs. Pretty neat!
Visit: http://www.ishouldbemoppingthefloor.com/2014/03/non-sandwich-lunchbox-ideas.html

The Mater Sandwich

Printable template: http://www.funkylunch.com/templates/pdf/mater.pdf

Ingredients:
3 slices of wholemeal bread
1 crust of wholemeal bread
sandwich filling
cheese
cucumber

How to make it:

1.  This sandwich is made of different layers so the first thing to do is to make your sandwich using your favorite filling and then cut out the outline shape of Mater excluding the wing mirrors and wheels.

2.    Next, get a single slice of bread and cut out the front which includes the mouth and headlight areas. Remove an area of this bread for the mouth and press down a couple of circles with your finger for the headlights. Fill only one of these headlight areas with a small circle of cucumber flesh.

3.   Before fixing this third slice on top of your sandwich, remove some thin slices of dark green cucumber skin and put it on top of the sandwich where the mouth hole will be so it shows through. Finish the mouth with a couple of rectangles of cheese for Mater’s big goofy teeth!

4.     To make the face area, take the crust of bread and using the template, cut out the edge around the windscreen/eyes area. Put this in place and finish off by cutting a big rectangle of cheese for the windscreen and two small eyes from cucumber flesh and skin.

5.      Using the leftover bits of bread and crust you should be able to make the wing mirrors, engine, bumper and wheels.

 Info via: http://www.funkylunchbunch.com/2011/07/a-little-snack-for-the-cars-2-release/

Bento Box Lunch

Copley’s best lunch-packing tips:

·                       Send foods that are lots of different colors: I try to have at least three different colors in each lunch I send but 4 or 5 is better. It’s appealing to the eye, but it also is a good way to ensure that your child is getting fruits and veggies.

·                       Get creative with shapes: One of the fastest ways to make foods appealing to kids is to cut them into shapes. You probably already have some cookie cutters in your cabinets, or you can invest in some basic shapes like circles, stars or flowers. You can also use a regular knife to cut sandwiches into strips or triangles or cheese into matchsticks or cubes.

·                       Vary the textures of the foods you send: Soft, crunchy, chewy, creamy. It makes lunch more interesting.

·                       Give foods some kind of order. Stack crackers or line carrot sticks up into neat piles — it makes the food look prettier and more appetizing.

·                       Find out what foods your kids’ like: Take a few minutes to write up a list of foods that your kids like to eat and post it on your refrigerator (or you can just print Wendy’s list: click here). On days when you just can’t think of anything to put in your child’s lunch, this list will get your brain going and save you a ton of time.

Pack the bento box completely: If you don’t pack the food snugly and right up to the top rim of the box, everything will mix together in transit and the little bit of extra time you spent to make the lunch attractive will have been wasted

Info Via: http://blog.sfgate.com/sfmoms/2010/08/30/bento-box-lunches-for-kids/

For Healthy toddler recipes please visit: http://www.acedarspoon.com/44-toddler-friendly-recipes/

There are endless possibilities to make the lunch fun and yummy. If your child has a favorite fruit or meal that they like don't be afraid to search that item for a new recipe. You'll be surprised be the amount of amazing recipes out there. I would recommend you make a lunch menu for the week and have your child select what he or she would like. This will help with prepping ahead of time and have everything in order for the week. Use that creativity and you'll see how your child will enjoy their lunch.