Food Idea for the Kids: Tons of Great Links!

I am always looking for new ways to reinvent food for the kids and my family. I think we all get into meal time ruts, whether it be with our main dishes or snacks. I have been in LOVE with the meals I am making from our Freezer Meal Workshops and it has totally made me feel like a gourmet cook and has allowed me to bring a ton of variety to our dinner table! We have one once a month so email us for more info!! jennieandkim@gmail.com

Now that I have taken care of dinner, I needed some ideas for snacks and lunch. I have been collecting these over time and wanted to share :)

• Fruit/ Veggies cut up with dip (can use yogurt, cream cheese or dressings as  as healthy dips). I am addicted to the Wildtree blends as well because I can get a block of cream cheese and mix it with some of  these: Jalapeno Pepper Blend  or Garlic and Herb Blend and it makes Cody think he is getting a treat with his veggies :)
• Fruit salad: I feel like this just jazzes up plain old fruit. Sprinkle a little Strawberry Cheesecake Blend over top! YUMO!
• Fruit/ Veggie skewers: I am not a big fan of skewers, but it makes food look pretty and gives the kids something to do (just make sure they are old enough to use them!
• Cut sandwiches out with a cookie cutter. Cody LOVES this!
• Tuna or egg salad with crackers. Cody gets a kick out of anything he can put on crackers…. for whatever reason!
• Make your own healthy “lunchable” so they can assemble themselves
• Soup in thermos
• Homemade healthy treats (every once in a while you could put in a candy splurge or something they like as a treat to surprise them)
• Muffins: these are great for anything. I throw lots of healthy extras in muffins and then you can freeze them as a quick snack! Kim makes corn bread muffins with nitrate free hot dogs cut up inside and freezes them for an easy lunch for Luke!
• If you want to moderate what they are eating so you brown bag most of the time you could let them buy at hot lunch for a change if you are o.k. with what the school is serving that day
• Salad with dressing on the side: I find letting kids dip their food into anything is fun for them!
• Get the flat out wraps and put anything in there- meat, veggies etc.- cut up like a pinwheel
• Crackers and cheese
• Hb eggs: we eat these every day. Good for breakfast, snack or any other time :) Alton Brown suggests baking your eggs in muffin tins (whole) at 350 for 35 min. Voila! You have hard-boiled eggs. I have been doing this for months now and it saves me from boiling the eggs. They turn out great. You get a little brown mark on the side that was laying against the muffin tin, but it doesn’t taste funny or anything.
• Cheese sticks
• Yogurt popsicles (not sure how else to word it). I would get the organic kind because the others have a lot of JUNK in them. You can also freeze these for hot days or put frozen in the kids lunch boxes and they will be ready by lunch time
• Popcorn: there has been a lot of stuff coming out about bagged popcorn. You can buy the kernels and make it yourself and then use some yummy Wildtree popcorn seasonings and oil to flavor it up the ALL NATURAL way!!
• Bagel sandwiches- I am loving the bagel thins at the moment
• Regular sandwiches- add lettuce, cucumbers, or hummus to make it healthy. You can pack the different condiments and slices of “stuff” separately in your silicone baking cup so they don’t get soggy
• Dried fruit
• Yogurt & granola: make yogurt yourself. Cheap and easy peasy!
• If you make taco meat (for taco salad with chips etc.),  spaghetti & meatballs, etc. warm it in the am and put it in their thermos it will stay warm until lunch
• salsa and crackers or chips
• Homemade pizza
• Leftovers from the night before
• Granola bars
• Bagels with pizza sauce and cheese melted on them
• Apple/banana with PB, tahini, or almond butter wrapped in a wrap
• Quesadillas with fruit & pb, chicken and veggies etc.
• Freeze juice pouches (natural kind) and then use them as ice packs and they are thawed by lunch
• Fruit and cheese kabobs
• Celery with pb and raisins- an old classic

We had french toast for breakfast this morning so I used a cookie cutter and put some powdered sugar in it to make for a fun twist on breakfast.

Other links I found with great resources and ideas!