Toddler Lunch/ Snack Ideas

Lunches have always been the easiest thing for me and my kids.
I know it's not really unique but it's healthy and easy. The one lunch that I serve over and over is cut up cheese, crackers a fruit and a veggie. The nice thing about that lunch is that they get all the food groups and you can switch it up everytime. E.g. Sesame crackers, sliced cheddar, cantelope and sliced red peppers. The next day, Flax crackers, sliced monteray jack, watermelon and carrots. Then wheat crackers, sliced mozzerella, apples and broccoli. You can serve the veggies with dip if you want to but my kids love plain fruit and veggies. They also now like hard boiled eggs which is also another quick and easy side. You don't have to make anything too fancy, my kids are always happy to see a nice variety of food on their plate and I'm happy to get rid of left over fruits and veggies!

I always refer to the website www.weelicious.com
You can click on the "school lunch" picture, on the top of the page. (then search the page, for the recipe.) There are awesome ideas for school lunches.

- Egg salad (you can sub some cauliflower puree for some of the mayo to make it even healthier)
- Cheese Quesadillas or Cheese/Chicken Quesadillas (you can add butternut squash puree to make it healthier too)
- Avocado boats (sliced avocado on tortilla chips or crackers)
- Couscous salad (with lite Caesar dressing, chopped tomatoes, chopped cucumber)
- Edamame
- Egg in a cup (spray inside of mug w/Pam, crack 1 egg in and stir with fork, microwave for 1 minute, immediately invert onto a plate)

My kids love to have yogurt, with a nutragrain/granola bar, some popcorn/trail mix and a fruit smoothie to drink. A favorite is a yogurt parafait, get some vanilla yogurt and layer in yogurt, cut strawberries, cut bananna, and some granola or favorite cereal, then repeat layers. It is a favorite at our house. Cheese and crackers is a big hit too, they love to try different types of cheese. My son loves to have black olives mixed with ranch dressing. You can make your own "lunchables", crackers, cut pieces of cheese or cheese cube and topped with bologna cut into small square or lunch meat of your choice, a cup of fruit salad and celery filled with peanut butter or cream cheese (add raisins and make it ants on a log). Jamieoliver.com has a ton of great and healthy recipes. You can do soup and bake up some sweet potato fries.
Good Luck
Good Luck