Healthy Lunches Week #3

This last week was a short week for us because of fall break and my kids didn't have school on Thursday and Friday. We decided to get out of town and went south to St. George for a warm weekend. It was nice to get away and let the kids swim, catch frogs, hike the red rocks and enjoy staying up late.

The kids have been having so much fun with lunches. My 7 year old still has to ask me everyday what is for school lunch...she just needs to make sure she isn't missing out on too much...and most days she is excited with her home lunch vs. what the school is offering. A few times she would rather have school lunch, but agrees to it anyway!

MONDAY

Monday was salads for both girls with red grapes and 100% whole wheat bread. Recipe was under last weeks post HERE. Their salads had chopped romaine, cucumber triangles, carrot slices and some natural turkey slices (they are now selling at Costco). I forgot to put dressing in their lunch, so they just used some light ranch they got from the teacher lounge at school. My girls thought they were so cool that the principal let them go in there to get dressing for their salad. Teachers were impressed that they would actually eat that!

Soo.... not gonna criticize about the ranch! 

 Lunches came back mostly empty. Both girls didn't eat a full slice of bread and left some lettuce and carrots at the bottom of their container.

TUESDAY

Tuesday was a breakfast burrito day. I make these often for breakfast before school, but they just had smoothies, so we decided to make breakfast wraps for lunch. Whole wheat flax tortilla (from Costco) with 1.5 scrambled eggs and a little cheese. We rolled it up and wrapped it in foil.

 This is what it looks like all wrapped up in their lunch with orange slices and their favorite.....Honeycrisp apple slices.

 Lunches came back mostly empty. Fruit was ALL gone from both girls and one daughter only ate 1/2 her burrito because she had less time to eat lunch.

WEDNESDAY:

The girls requested an uncrustable again. We used the circle crimper from pampered chef. They had natural peanut butter and raw honey in theirs with 100% whole wheat bread. They also had fresh pineapple and strawberries. 

They LOVE these sandwiches because they both told me that the honey doesn't fall out. They ate all their fruit and said they were full.

Since the week was short, I thought I would show a few breakfasts that we rotate through regularly:

Whole Wheat Waffles

This is the waffle recipe my mom came up with when I was younger. We ate waffles every Sunday after church and they were always whole wheat. It is Victoria's (9) favorite. We make a double batch and keep them in the freezer for mornings we are in a hurry.

Plug in waffle iron to heat up.

In a bowl, add:

2 eggs, beaten

2 T. oil

2 C. buttermilk

Whisk together and add:

2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

Let sit for a minute and bubble up. Then add

1 3/4 C. whole wheat flour (I use fresh ground white wheat)

This makes between 3-4 waffles in my big 4 square waffle maker. For this recipe, I do not use a Belgium waffle maker, I use a flat one. You can find them at the thrift store for really cheap. 

Green Smoothie with Banana Bread

We like Blue Bonnet Chocolate Whey Protein Powder from grass fed cows and sweetened with stevia. We buy it HERE

In a blender, add

1 C. almond milk

1-2 frozen bananas (we keep in slices)

1/2 C. ice

2 handfuls of spinach

Blend the above and then add:

2 Scoops protein powder.

This is enough for my kids and a little for me if I am in a hurry.

The banana bread is from 100 Days of Real Food. The link is HERE
I did make these changes: 
I added 4 bananas instead of 3, 6 oz. natural vanilla yogurt instead of 1/4 C. plain yogurt, and added these spices: 1 t. cinnamon, 1/4 t. nutmeg and cloves and 1/8 t. ginger.