School Lunch Ideas - Mid-year successes

I started off this school year seeking to find interesting school lunches for my first grader.  It's a double challenge as it has to meet the school parameters of being nut-free, healthy, filling and litter-free (or close to as possible).  I have a stash of small plastic containers and aluminum water bottles to assist with the litter-free part.  Our school is known as a green school and is famous for it's 'boomerang lunches' weeks where everything that goes to school comes back.  My son is also not a big fan of traditional sandwiches (he loves peanut butter and banana, but you can't send peanut butter to school).

Here are some lunches that my son loves

Mains
hummus and pita
bagel with cream cheese
pizza pinwheels (recipe here)
cracker sandwiches (Ritz with cheese whiz or cream cheese)
meat roll ups, cheese and crackers (rolled up lunch meat slices, usually turkey)
meatloaf sandwich (slice of leftover meatloaf in two slices of bread)
leftover cold pizza
pizza sticks (recipe below)
English Muffins with cream cheese and jam
English Muffins with pizza sauce, pepperoni and cheese
ham and cheese muffin
tomato soup in a thermos
spaghetti in a thermos
macaroni and cheese in a thermos


Sides
yogurt
apple slices
banana
clementine
other seasonal fruit
applesauce
veggies and dip
goldfish crackers
dried fruit snacks (eg: fruit to go)
raisins and cheerios mix
popcorn
muffin
granola bars (watch for nut content)
banana bread
zucchini loaf


Drink
orange juice
apple juice
fruit plus veggies juice
water

I make a point to stay away from chips, cookies and candy for school lunches.  I like to pick a good mix that represents each area of Canada's Food Guide so that my son gets fueled up for the rest of the day.

What ideas have worked for you this year?

Pizza Sticks

2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp dried basil
1 tbsp instant yeast
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup hot water
1/2 cup flour (approx.)
2/3 cup chopped pepperoni

2 tbsp margarine (melted)
1/4 tsp garlic powder

Place oven rack in centre position.  Spray baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray.  Stir the first 5 ingredients together in the bowl.  Pour in the olive oil and hot water.  Stir until the flour is combined.  Work the second amount of flour until the dough is no longer sticky.  Turn out onto a lightly floured surface.  Knead for about 5 minutes, adding more flour as needed and a bit of the chopped pepperoni, until all the pepperoni is mixed into the dough.  Invert the bowl over the dough.  Let the dough rest 10 minutes.  Roll the dough out to about 1/2 inch thick.  Cut rows about 1 inch wide with the knife on the cutting board.  Cut crosswise into 5 inch long sticks.  Lay each stick on the baking sheet, about 2 inches apart.  Cover with the tea towel.  Let rise in the oven, with the door closed and the oven light on, for 30 minutes.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven.  Turn the oven on to 375*.  Combine the melted margarine and garlic powder in a small bowl.  Brush the sticks with the margarine mixture.  Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.  Makes 18-20 sticks.

 Recipe from Company's Coming - Kids Cook!  3 in 1 cookbook collection (After-school Snacks section)

School Lunch Ideas - Pizza Pinwheels

The search for a great lunch for my first grader is officially on.  I answered the challenge with help from Jean Pare.  Jean Pare is the founder of the Canadian company Company's Coming.  I happened upon one of their book collections called Kids Cook.  It is a 3 in 1 collection (Bag Lunches, After School Snacks and Weekend Treats).  These cookbooks were designed with kids in mind.  It is geared to teach kids to cook (ages 8 - 15), but my 6 year old can do a lot of it with a little help from me.  We sat down together and looked through each recipe with him ticking off the ones that appealed most to him.  We decided that the pizza pinwheels would be the first recipe that we would try.  They were quick and easy and tasty.  He's had them in his lunch as the main part each day this week with no complaints.  This will be a repeat recipe for us.

2 1/4 cups Biscuit mix
1/2 cup water
7 1/2 oz can pizza sauce
2 sliced green onions
1/2 cup finely chopped green pepper
1/2 cup finely chopped pepperoni
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1/4 tsp dried oregano

Preheat oven to 400*.  Stir the biscuit mix and water in a medium bowl until the dough forms a ball.  Turn dough onto a counter that has been dusted with flour or biscuit mix.  Kneed the dough 20 times.  Roll out to a 12 x 12 inch square.

In a separate bowl, mix the remaining 6 ingredients.  Spread over the dough leaving an inch space all around the edges.  Roll up the dough from one side to the other (like a jelly roll).  Pinch the edges to seal.  Cut into 12 1 inch slices.  Place the slices on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with non-stick spray.  Back for 12 minutes.

School Lunch Ideas - Week 1 in review

Here's what was in the lunchbox this week:

Monday - no school

Tuesday -hummus and pita bread
              -sliced strawberries
              -vanilla yogurt
              -dried fruit snacks
              -orange juice

Wednesday - sliced beef hot dog wieners with ketchup dip
                   - watermelon
                   - raspberry yogurt
                   - goldfish crackers
                   - dried fruit snacks
                   - orange juice

Thursday - macaroni and cheese (in thermos)
                - apple/berry sauce
                - strawberry yogurt
                -goldfish crackers
                - dried fruit snacks
                - orange juice

Friday -spaghetti (in thermos)
            - apple slices
            -vanilla yogurt
            - zucchini bread
            - dried fruit snacks
           - orange juice

How was your first week back at school for lunches?

School Lunch Ideas - Day 1

My oldest child starts back at school tomorrow.  He's beginning grade 1, which means full day school.  This also means the start of 187 (give or take) lunches that I will be packing up and sending off to school.  Lunch at home is no problem.  Lunch for a family picnic is not an issue either.  Lunch for school, that's a little trickier.  I know that the lunch I pack has to meet the following guidelines:
-no peanut butter
-nut free
-able to eat in a short period of time
-stay fresh for a few hours out of the fridge
-be interesting enough for my son to eat
-something that doesn't need heating up
-be healthy
The problem with the school lunches for me is the main course part of the lunch.  I'm not a fan of the everything comes in a package kind of lunch.  I know how much salt and preservatives are in those. The only kind of sandwich my son really loves is peanut butter and banana.  Great for home, banned from school.  He doesn't really like lunch meats (though he will eat one of those sandwiches once in a while) so the traditional sandwich takes a backseat.  At home we eat a lot of hot lunches, grilled cheese, tomato soup, chicken noodle soup, macaroni, mini pizzas, etc.  Some of those I know I can make and heat and send in a thermos (provided the thermos doesn't leak everywhere).
I know I'm not the only mom struggling for good solutions here.  I'd love to hear what other moms have come up with.  As we find winning lunches, I'll post them on this blog, hoping to help inspire some of the rest of you.  I'd love to hear what winning lunches you have in the comments section too!

Day 1 Lunch
-hummus and pita bread
-sliced strawberries
-vanilla yogurt
-dried fruit snacks
-orange juice