Weekly Lunch Menu Preview

Well we made it through our first week of first grade! Granted it was only 3 days, but survived we did! My son was elated with his experience. His only complaints were "it was too short" and "we didn't do a lot of learning yet" By the third day he was doing handwork and attending his Mandarin class, so he was a little more pleased ;-) It's so fun to see him so eager to learn!

I found the pre planning for food really made the week a whole lot less stressful for me. I was able to quickly prep his snacks and lunch and never found myself wondering what I was going to pack. It was also good for us in our breakfast and dinner preparations. This week I begin home schooling my 3 1/2 year old. We will be having a baking day in our week and I'm excited for our rhythm to begin.

Today I prepped the beginning of our week. The whole process took an hour and a half. So, what's our plan for the week? Here you go:

SNACKS:

Strawberry Oat Muffins: 

 

 

 

(make sure you use silicone wrappers for these. They are a little sticky and pretty hard to remove the disposable wrappers. trust me! )
recipe found here: Strawberry Shortcake Muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups oats (we use gluten free oats)       
• 1 C greek yogurt
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 C honey
• 1 1/2 tsp
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 C strawberries ( I used blueberries because we had a lot)
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line 12 muffin tins with silicone or foil liners.
Place all of the ingredients (except the strawberries) in a blender or food processor, and blend until oats are smooth. Pour mixture into a medium sized bowl, and stir in strawberries. Divide remaining 1/2 cup diced strawberries over the top of each muffin. (This step is optional, but it really makes the strawberries burst with color and flavor on top of each muffin!)

Divide batter among cupcake liners, and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

 

Garlic Parmesan Roasted Garbanzo Beans

 

 

 

Found here: Garlic Parmesan Roasted Garbanzo Beans
These are a delicious snack!!!! Oh yummy!

• 1 Can of Chickpeas (Garbanzo Beans). I soak our beans, this is roughly 1 1/2 cups of beans.
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1/4 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
• 1 Teaspoon Garlic Salt
• 1 Teaspoon Kosher Salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 Degrees. Drain and rinse your beans in a colander.  Let them dry on paper towels until most of the excess moisture is absorbed. Spread the chickpeas out on a cookie greased cookie sheet. Roast the chickpeas in the oven for 45 minutes or until the beans are crunchy throughout. Remove from the oven and immediately toss with olive oil, garlic salt, Kosher salt and parmesan cheese. These will last for a couple of days in an airtight container.

Kale Chips

My kids love kale chips and we have a ton bursting at the seams in the garden. Kale chips are very easy to make. Just take your kale, clean, line a sided pan with aluminum foil and bake at 325 for 30 minutes or until crispy.  We add sea salt to ours. You can try other versions too.  I have sprinkled with garlic powder and that was super yummy, yet a little spicy for the kiddos.

We still have bread leftover from last week. I will add those to snacks in the beginning of the week, or just have a nice snack when my son returns home from school.

And since I had the strawberries out, I decided to make some homemade ice cream for dessert. Tonight we had chocolate chip, raspberry and strawberry ice cream. The boys were so excited!

 

Lunch this week:

I will add carrots and other veggies to his lunch like last week. I find it to make things so much easier if everything is cut and ready to go for the week. Submerge in water and it's so easy to just take out slices for lunch prep. That said, I found out my husband likes his carrots whole "I like to eat my carrots whole" Who knew he had an opinion on his carrot size ;-)

This week I really wanted to find a good salad recipe that was packed full of items in our garden. We have tons of zuchini, kale and swiss chard. I wanted it to translate for all of us.

Wild and Brown Rice Salad (8-10 servings)

 

 

For the Dressing

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard

For the Salad

• 1 1/2 cups cooked wild rice and 3 cups cooked brown rice 
• 1 yellow bell pepper cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• a handful of swiss chard
• 2 stalks celery cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1/2 seedless cucumber quartered lengthwise and cut into 1/4-inch slices
• 2 saueeted zuchinis 
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• we are adding spinach because we have a lot of it 

Instructions:

in a small bowl make the dressing. In a separate bowl add the cooked rice and add the ingredients. Serve warm or cold.  add cheese if you'd like.  

Leftover Quiche

 

 

An easy way to pack some good veggies and protein into a school lunch is having leftover dinner. We will make a quiche this week and use this as a lunch option. I always make two quiche in order to eat one and freeze the other.

Ingredients
2  pie crusts
whatever vegetables you have on hand. This is one of those recipes where you can clear out your fridge and add it into a couple of meals.

We have spinach, zucchini, beets, green beans and mushrooms (yep, we sneak them into the quiche ;-) 10 eggs (this is the pricey part of the meal). mozzarella cheese.

Instructions:
preheat oven to 325 degrees. add crusts to oven for 5 minutes to cook a little before adding the ingredients. Add your vegetables to the frying pan and saute until vegetables are soft. Add eggs, vegetables and cheese and cook for 30 minutes.

Homemade pesto. 

My sons will use this to dip veggies in and I will use to make pasta for their lunches or in a wrap.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of basil
• 2 cups of almonds
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 garlic
• 1/2 cup of parmasean cheese
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

blend all ingredients in the food processor. I added water to get the desired consistency.


This is our plan for the week thus far. I am sure we will add items here and there. I will be sure to share with you.

Please add in the comments some of your favorite recipes for school lunches. Sharing is caring :) I would love to hear your thoughts on if you try any of these recipes!