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!

Leftover Oatmeal Muffins

Hope you all don't mind all these food posts!! Our schedule is picking up around here and I am feeling a little frazzled. Cooking is something that calms me. So is eating actually, so it is no surprise that I don't do so well in the weight department. Anyway, thought I would share this recipe that used the leftover oatmeal from the Peaches N Cream Oatmeal I posted yesterday. I am trying to do a better job of not being so wasteful and while we could eat the leftover oatmeal, it doesn't always actually happen. So I started looking for some recipes that included leftover oatmeal and found this one for muffins. I thought the peaches and cream would add an extra special touch and it did. The bonus was I also got to use my new Kitchen Aid that my in-laws gave me for my birthday. Let me just say I have a new love!! And it gave me the opportunity to spend some time in the kitchen with my two older boys. They like to help whenever I bake and did a great job helping make this muffins. I am excited to try this recipe with some of the other variations of oatmeal I am planning to make.

Ingredients:
* 1 cup leftover, cooked oatmeal
* 3/4 cup milk
* 2 Tbsp melted butter
* 2 Tbsp syrup or honey
* 1 1/2 cups flour (I used white, the original recipe called for wheat pastry flour)
* 1 1/2 Tbsp baking powder
* 1/2 tsp salt

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a small bowl, combine leftover oatmeal and milk; using a wire whisk if needed to get lumps out of oatmeal. Add egg and mix well. Add melted butter and syrup or honey, mix well.
3. In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add milk/oatmeal mixture and mix until combined, making sure not to over mix. Dived batter in muffin pan sprayed with non-stick spray. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool on cooling rack.

**In using my mixer I just did all of step two and then mixed dry ingredients in separate bowl. I then added dry ingredients into the wet ones already in the mixing bowl and finished mixing.

Don't they just look delicious? They are, trust me. They smelled and tasted like cake! I am so excited to not only found a recipe that will help me use up that extra oatmeal but also one that tastes so delicious. Planning to make a couple dozen tomorrow with the remaining oatmeal and then freezing them to have later for snacks/lunches/sides.


*EDITED TO ADD*
Okay, I wrote this right after eating them warm out of the oven. Once they cooled they weren't as good. Not horrible, but not good. The kids still liked eating them but Jeremy and I weren't too impressed. I think they need something more than honey or syrup...like 1/2 cup of brown sugar. Also I think I would add in more of what was in the oatmeal, like peaches. Just to give it some more flavor. I am going to mess with this recipe and if I find something better I will repost. Let me know if you try something that works.