I’m so sorry my blog was down yesterday. So lame. I love DreamHost, but I guess they had a major power outage that caused a lot of problems. So, I’m happy to be up and running again today!! Yay!
We had another birthday at our house on Sunday…
This sweet little guy turned 5 on St. Patty’s day. I have to laugh at this picture because he’s going through an “I don’t know how to smile naturally for pictures” stage. This was about as good as I could get….without giving him a complex. 😉
He’s such a cutie patootie. I made this fun little cake for him using the Wilton 3D Cruiser pan and it was so easy! The only thing that didn’t work out too well was the black gel tube frosting I used. I didn’t have any black food coloring, so I just used the gel. It wasn’t quite thick enough to stay in place, so it was a little drippy. It ended up looking like the car had flat tires, lol. My son didn’t seem to notice though…so I was happy.
My 14 year old said, “Wow, that cake looks good mom….even for you!” Awww, he’s so sweet. 😉
We have another birthday coming up soon. My sweet baby turns 3 on April 3rd. Sigh. I don’t like all this “kids getting older” business. 🙁 AND, all this birthday cake is killing me!
Speaking of my sweet little baby, I enjoyed some yummy chocolate protein pancakes for breakfast with him today.
Yes, I’m having a “scary hair” day….actually it’s an “I didn’t feel like doing my hair today” day, lol. 😉
I usually don’t share my protein pancakes with the kids. The recipe only makes 5-6 pancakes per batch because I have to make them in the blender. So, I usually eat 1-2 of them and then freeze the rest. However, today my baby said he wanted some too. So I shared. 😉 He kept kifing my blueberries too.
People often ask me what I feed my kids. I get asked about healthy “kid friendly” dinners a lot and what I put in my kids lunch boxes.
So, today I will talk about lunch. I will talk about dinner another day.
Quick disclaimer: I am a CrAzY busy mom of 5 kids (as y’all know), so we don’t eat perfect all the time. I definitely try to get my kids to eat fruits and veggies as often as I can, but we also have plenty of “lame, quick food” days too. I’ve learned to just go with the flow.
My junior high child just buys school lunch every day. He’s my pickiest eater, so I don’t think he makes the best choices, but I’m just happy he’s eating. He is super skinny by nature, so I’m always trying to put a little “meat” on him. 😉
My 6th grade daughter and 3rd grade son have school lunch about twice a week and they take a home lunch 3 days a week. Here’s a typical lunch box for them;
They have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches 90% of the time and never get sick of them. Once in a while I’ll make them a ham or turkey sandwich or wrap, but they usually prefer good ‘ol PB&J. I try to make their PB&Js as healthy as possible. Here is what I typically I use…
I love Granny’s Delight bread. It’s a local company, so if you’re not in Utah I would recommend just looking for a bread that’s 100% whole wheat or whole grain. I also look for breads that have high fiber (at least 3g per slice) and high protein contents. I also look at the ingredients and make sure there are no weird things in there (i.e. hydrogenated oils).
I also use natural peanut butter. I usually use Adams for me and Skippy Natural or Jif Natural for my kids. However, I just ran out of Skippy, so I used Adam’s for this pic.
I also try to use good quality, low sugar jams. I LOVE this jam from Costco. It’s just a good quality, simple ingredient jam with no high fructose corn syrup. Yay.
Here are some of the other things I like to put in my kids lunches:
- string cheese/Babybel cheese
- yogurt (small containers or Simply…Go-Gurt)
- fruit (strawberries, apple slices, raspberries, blueberries, oranges or half of a banana are pretty typical)
- carrots with hummus
- I rarely give them chips unless we have some leftover from a party or BBQ or something. I usually give them higher quality crackers/snacks like Triscuits, Goldfish, Kashi, popcorn, kettle corn and Pirate’s Booty.
- Note: I love Pirate’s Booty too. I measured out a serving (weighed it on my food scale) and this is how much it was! Only 130 calories and very satisfying. Not too shabby.
- I usually don’t put treats in my kids lunches unless we happen to have leftover cookies or something. I probably only put a treat in their lunch about once a month….it keeps it “special.”
- There are definitely days when I haven’t gone to the grocery store and we are short on good stuff. I will usually throw in an “emergency granola bar” or something like that. I try to buy better brands like Kashi, Nature’s Path or somthing similar.
That’s about it! Oh, and I bought that fun little lunch container at Old Navy if you can believe it. They are great, although they are a little bit of a pain to wash in the dishwasher because they are so bulky. They are made by Sistema and I’ve seen them at TJ Maxx as well. I also bought the little drink bottles on Amazon and I LOVE THEM SO MUCH! They are the perfect size. I usually fill them with milk, chocolate milk or water.
So, there ya go. Nothing fancy, but it works!
As far as my sweet little kiddos who get to stay at home with me….well I will share with you one of their very favorite lunches!
We call it a “smorgasbord” and I’ve been making them since my oldest was a baby. I started making them as a way to get them to eat healthier foods. I would put foods that I knew they would like on there and then add something I wasn’t quite sure they would like….hoping they would try it!
It’s worked like a charm and all my kids love it when I make “smorgasbords!” I made them for my two babies yesterday…
They had this alongside some cheese crisps, which they LOVE!
They also love it when I give them a toothpick to eat everything with! They love being able to “poke it.” Note: obviously, don’t give a toothpick to a tiny child. Use your best judgement. 😉
Anyway, the smorgasbords usually consist of things like cheese, pickles, deli meat (I try to buy natural, “no nitrites/nitrates” versions), fruit, cut up sandwiches or carrots with dip.
They are a little bit of a pain to make, but my kids always love them and eat them really well.
Well, I think that’s enough “lunch talk” for today. I gotta run! I hope y’all have a great night! xoxo
Love the lunch ideas and I have been enjoying reading through your posts and browsing through your recipes! I’m glad I stumbled upon your blog!
Thanks so much! 😉
I need to buy those lunch packs! They look perfect for on the go. I am impressed with that cake, alot better than I could do!
I really love the lunch boxes. I use them all the time! As far as the cake goes….the pan makes it so easy! I am not a pro at all and I really don’t have a lot of patience, so this kind of cake is perfect for me! 😉
I think your lunch ideas are great! Looking at these pictures, your beautiful kiddos are happy and healthy! My daughter buys lunch at school. It used to make me cringe, but our school has since adopted a new program that only allows healthy choices for all meals, snacks and drinks, so I feel okay with her eating the school luches now. The cafeteria is now called the Nutrition Lab and all the cafeteria workers had to attend 40 hours at the culinary program at our local tech school.
Wow, your school sounds amazing! I love the “nutrition lab” and I love that they educate the cafeteria workers! That’s awesome. We moved about 5 years ago and the old school was MUCH better about nutrition. Our schools now are not too good about nutrition, especially the junior high. 🙁 I’m hoping they will improve….we’ll see. 😉