Lunch Round Up #1

School is in full force and I thought it would be nice to share what I have been serving my kids for lunch. I know I can use all the help I can get with fresh ideas so I am hoping to not only inspire you, but also keep myself accountable so that I don't get into a school lunch rut.

This edition of lunch round up is going to be sandwich free. Not because sandwiches are bad, but because they are already in the arsenal. Easy, go to, overdone in our house for sure. So I wanted to share some kid friendly lunch box fillers that don't go between two pieces of bread. We are on day 8 of school and have yet to pack a sandwich! Yes, yes, we get excited about strange things around here.

Here are the lunches Nathan has been taking to school so far:

meat and cheese stackers, carrots, car shaped granola bar, apple slices topped with peanut butter, honey and granola

carrots, greek yogurt with apples and granola and honey, cheese slices, amish bread, black rice and hummus patty (Nathan swore that it was meat!)

Leftover cheese spaghetti, orange slices, carrots, trail mix with granola, sunflower seeds, cashews, hazelnuts and honey

Peanut Butter balls, banana, carrots, celery, mix of black and white rice

Orange slices, Angry Bird crackers, homemade granola bar, hot dog slices

Celery with peanut butter, carrot sticks, trail mix with granola, pepitas, sunflower seeds, coconut, cashews and honey drizzle, rice balls, banana

This is what the boys took when they had lunch at daddy's work recently:

variations depending on each kid but you see peanut butter bread, carrots, turkey, cheez balls (daddy's splurge!), kiwi, banana, cherry tomatoes, cashews and hazelnuts, and Ritz

Anything mini-sized is a hit with my kids. They can pick them up with their fingers and they feel like they get more Win-Win! So it was no surprise that these mini corn dog bites were devoured. I sliced up hot dogs and placed them in the bottom of an already sprayed mini-muffin pan. I then mixed up some cornbread batter (following the recipe on the back of the cornmeal bag) and put an overflowing Tbsp of the batter over each hot dog slice. Popped in the oven for 10-13 minutes and they were done. Extras froze up nicely and were available for future lunches.

There you have it! Hoping to do this every week or two throughout the year. Make sure to return the favor and share what is showing up in your kids school lunches, I need all the ideas I can get!