Food and Eating,  Parenting

An Easy (Slightly Lethal) Lunch

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I’m home this summer with the kids, and one of the things that stumps me during the weekdays are lunches.  During the school year, the kids eat lunch at school and I don’t have to worry with it.  But now that I am home, I find myself standing in front of my fridge at 11:30 every day wondering what in the world I’m going to feed my kids that isn’t between two slices of bread.  I mean, I don’t mind them having PB&J every now and then, and a good grilled cheese always hits the spot.  But surely there is something more filling and wholesome than just a sandwich every day, right?  On Friday, I actually came up with something out of the ordinary and the kids loved it.

(Just a heads up that these involve bamboo skewers (which I find in the grilling section of Target), so if you have real little wee ones, you might want to find an alternative to using those.  Even Gracie was borderline okay with them, but I had to really keep an eye on her.)

We happened to have some leftover BBQ chicken off the grill that I had cubed up and saved in the fridge.

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We also had tub of fresh pineapple that I had just cut up that morning. My kids are pineapple fiends. They devour anything with pineapple in it, so I knew whatever I did needed to involve pineapple.

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A little side note, if you are buying canned pineapple, you don’t know what you are missing! Whole pineapples in my grocery store are about $2.50 and they provide enough fruit for us to eat almost a week. It’s cheap, and it is so much healthier than the canned stuff. Plus, I love the smell! I always grind the core up in my dish disposal and my whole kitchen smells citrusy for the afternoon!

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I also had some strawberries which were about to turn bad. So, I halved those up, too. Everything looks yummier with red foods, don’t you think? Strawberries, tomatoes, red peppers… they just make everything look delicious!

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Next, I armed my kids with weapons. I stood them up at the kitchen counter and gave them each a skewer. Again, be careful with those, especially if your kids are standing on chairs like mine. I made sure to stand right there next to them while they had them in their hands.

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Once they were ready to go, I lined up my food in little bowls and showed the kids how to build their own skewers. I let them choose what they wanted to put on their shish kabobs (which the kids pronounced, “Sister-Bobs”), knowing that even if they left something off, they were still getting a pretty healthy lunch. They wanted it all on their “Sister-Bobs,” though. My kids never pass up a chance to play with their food…

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By the time they finished, they had a big, healthy lunch that they had helped make. They loved it! I added a side of yogurt, and lunch was a success!

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What about you? What are your go-to lunches for little ones? What is it that ALWAYS gets eaten at your table? Share, share, share! Please, please, please!

16 Comments

  • Nate's Mom @ Nate is Great

    Nate’s favorite food is an apple, so we have a big basket of those out all the time. For fruit sides, we’ve been doing blueberry applesauce (regular applesauce won’t do for Nater Tater) and mandarin oranges. (If they’re fresh, Nate just juices them with his teeth and spits out the rest and makes a mess.) We do homemade uncrustables (there was a Wonder Bread device on an end cap one day for $3 and I got it – best purchase ever), hummus with veggie straw chips, raisins, steamed broccoli, Purdue’s bourbon chicken (frozen, pre cooked, and so tasty!), sticks of fresh mozzarella, quesadillas cut in strips (can you tell Nate likes strip-shaped foods?) with refried beans as a side. If Nate’s not interested in eating, then I sprinkle his plate with popcorn (one of his favorite snacks) or put a little bit of dessert on his plate. It’s enough excitement to get him to sit at his table and, after he’s finished his treat, he’s focused enough to start eating the rest, too. Cannot wait to see what other post — can always use more inspiration for Nate’s plate!!!

  • Holly

    Well, I don’t have kids, so nothing to share, but I love your posts on what you feed the kids! It’s so funny how simple their meals are, it makes me rethink how much spices/seasoning/sauces adults use!

  • Casey @ The Baker Bee

    Despite our best efforts, we’ve got one of those picky eater kids. He gets PB&J on either whole wheat bread or a whole wheat pita just about every day. He also loves melty cheese pitas. So, our lunches are usually sandwiches, fruit, cheese and milk.

  • denny144

    My kids loved what I called a “cold plate”. It was usually turkey bologna cut into wedges, cheese cubes, crackers ( Ritz or graham), fruit such as apple slices or watermelon cubes, and a cookie. And although I never said they had to save the cookie for last, they always did.

  • Rhea

    This is a great idea! I need to start writing down the ideas I still from you to pull out when my boy is older. I must be a kid at heart because that sounds like a fun lunch I want to have myself. (And thanks for the tip about the pineapple core. I live in a small apartment with cats so anything to make rooms smell nice is instantly marked down.)

  • Vera

    There’s this blog called Life Rearranged. It’s run by a cool mom of four. She does this cupcake-tin luches for her kids that everybody loves. You might want to check it out, i think this idea might work for you too. (Sorry, i can’t provide a link, but the blog and the lunch idea should be easily googlable..)

  • Michelle

    My little guy is still on formula, but I remember when I was a kid, my dad would have us help assemble our own english muffin pizzas- they were a favorite! My mom would sometimes make us top ramen with scrambled egg and hot dog mixed in. My brother and I became adept at microwaving cheese sandwiches, pepperoni, hot dogs, or quesadillas. And of course macaroni and cheese was always a staple along with pb sandwiches (neither my brother or I really liked jelly for some reason). The “sister-bobs” were a cute idea!

  • Ann @ Such a Mama

    Unfortunately my little guy has discovered the difference between making dinner and eating dinner. “I just wanted you to make peas Mama, I didn’t want to eat them!” I might poke him with a stick….

  • Erin B

    My sons is 2 1/2. His favorite lunch is deli ham sliced into triangles, then u put a little sweet potato, and roll it up. Also, cucumbers, carrots and hummus are a hit. We do a lot of color or shape themes lunches. For example, orange lunch( oranges, sweet potato, carrots, cheese, goldfish crackers) or triangle lunch( any thing I can cut into triangles).

  • sarah @makingitmyhome.blogspot.com

    Cute idea I found (somewhere)…make a chicken pot pie filling (not nearly as difficult as it sounds)-2 cans of cream of whatever, some cooked chicken shredded or cubed, some vegetables of your choice -frozen veggeis work great, mix it all up.
    In a muffin pan, press down some biscuit dough so it covers the bottom and some of the sides. spoon in some of the chicken mixture, then bake till done! Can top with shredded cheese if that floats your boat.
    They freeze incredible well and heat up easily. Easy to make a bunch at a time and pull out however many you may want for lunch/dinner, etc. I refer to them as chicken cupcakes which makes them sound so child-friendly!

  • Kattrina

    My son is only 9 mos so not sure if his lunch ideas would work for older kids, but he likes Amy’s Low Sodium tomato soup poured over rice with cheddar cheese on top or today he had scramble egg with peas. When I was a kid I like mini calzones or tacos or peanut butter/marshmallow/banana sandwiches. Yum!

  • Alyssa

    My kids love boats…cucumber boats, pepper boats, banana boats. Pretty much I have a base, cover it with something sticky like cream cheese, hummus, peanut butter and then add a toothpick with a sail made out of anything I can cut into a triangle; cheese, watermelon, ham, pepper, bread. It’s always a hit.

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