Heather says:
I am being very good and keeping my feet up. There is one little problem, all these monkeys that call me mom still demand to be fed three or more times a day. I have a handle on quick dinners, but our lunch menu needs some sprucing up. Typically we have sandwiches, quesadillas, or leftovers.
What are your go-tos for easy lunches?
Here we do meat and cheese wraps, yogurt and fruit. Soup and sandwiches.
Breakfast foods; homemade “helper” meals (ground beef, macaroni, cream soup, etc.); fruit and yogurt; fried egg sandwiches; English muffin pizzas; Ramen noodles (not so healthy, but cheap and easy); biscuits and gravy; omelets; cheese and crackers with a fruit smoothie; lots of leftovers.
Aside from all the above, which sounds really yummy, I’m a big fan of spreads and a good loaf of bread for lunch (which is kinda like a sandwich, but I eat it appetizer-style…). I like this spread from Alton Brown-
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_28713,00.html?rsrc=search
I am a brown bagger since I only get half an hour at work. I tend to make what I call “home-made” TV dinners where I mix and match what I have cooked in the evening prior and store them in a Rubbermaid contain with three separate compartments. I also make my sandwiches the night before. If you spread a little butter on the bread they do not get soggy. I put the mayo and mustard between the meat and cheese and keep the lettuce, tomato and pickle in the snack sized Ziploc bags for easy transport and a non-soggy lunch.
I also make extras at dinner of one-pot meals and portion out a couple of lunches for a quick warm up in the microwave.
Peas and tortellini are a semi-healthy house fave:
http://foodielovespicky.blogspot.com/2007/03/peas-and-tortellini.html
Turkey hot dogs in Annie’s stars
Hummus and veggies, hummus and pretzels, hummus with fingers 🙂
Lately my lunches have been cereal, cereal and well a left over if it is still in the fridge. My kids love left over pizza…one likes it hot and the other one loves cold pizza so they both can get what they want. Buttered noodles is also a huge fav. at our house, we add a little garlic salt for taste and maybe a canned something or other on the side. That is about it here.
One that we do often is to grab one of those packets of flavored pastas (Lipton or Knorr) and cook it up. I love the jalapeño-flavored one with spiral pasta. After it cooks, I add a can of all-white chicken breast and chop in some fresh tomato.
A favorite in our house is flour tortilla pizzas. You lay flour tortillas o ut on a baking sheet, spread a little bit of pizza sauce (or spaghetti sauce), top with cheese and your favorite toppings, stick it under the broiler and voila. Instant pizza. 🙂
Soup!
Pita bread: microwave 15 seconds to separate in two. Drizzle olive oil all over, sprinkle shredded cheese and italian herbs, maybe add some thin tomato slices, parmesan cheese and thinly sliced mushrooms. Toast in toaster oven until golden, then eat alone or with some hummus.
Tuna or egg salad sandwiches.
When things were difficult for me while I had HORRIBLE morning sickness, I discovered putting a basket of fresh fruit on the dining room table that they could grab worked wonderfully well! Whenever they said they were hungry, I would tell them to grab fruit. They would wash it and eat it and I never had to leave the couch.
I also bought a CHEAP blender from goodwill that I allow my oldest (7yr) to use. She would make smoothies for herself and her sisters (and sometimes me too! She has a recipe book (children’s) for smoothies, but you can just give her some simple rules: bananas for a base, add juice or water – at least 1/2-1 cup, frozen fruit – it is best to limit it to one type otherwise the taste might not be the best. I also encourage her to add lettuce or spinach (60% fruit, 40% greens) to make a green smoothie. VERY healthy and actually tastes really good (despite what it sounds like).
We also do lettuce wraps. VERY easy. Sometimes I just take jelly and wrap it up in the romaine leaves (they make perfect “taco” shells). Sometimes I mash a banana with cinnamon and spread on the leaves before wrapping. Great thing about this is it is another one kids can easily do by themselves. 🙂
Tacos are also quick and easy, especially if the filling is already made. 🙂
Hope you are feeling better soon!!!
Around here, lunch is usually left overs from breakfast or Dinner from the previous day. However, if there is left over Chicken, my wife will make her famous Chicken Salad which I love on toasted bread.
(don’t get excited about the name, it’s something I started calling it 🙂 )
Don
we do a lot of carrot and celery sticks with various dips. (hummus is a good nutritious one)