Not Sandwiches Again! 3 Alternatives to Give your Child’s Lunch a Kick

Today I’m happy to have a guest post from Nadia Jones. Can’t wait to try some of these yummy (and fun!) lunches myself! You can learn more about Nadia at the bottom of this post.

There is no denying that sandwiches are the back-to-school-lunch staple. While they may do their job for the first weeks of school, those PB&J and ham sandwiches will start to get boring—fast. To throw-in some variety and keep your child’s lunches interesting, try some of these yummy (and of course healthy) sandwich-alternative ideas listed below.

Mini Pizza

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/deed.en

These mini pizzas are typically an all-time hit and fit perfectly in any-sized lunch box. The best part is that they’re easy enough to assemble the morning of or simply the night before—as a bonus they’re extremely budget-friendly. This particular recipe uses an English muffin as the crust, but a bagel can in fact be used as a substitute.

Ingredients:

• One whole-wheat English muffin, split

• 2 tablespoons of pizza sauce (marinara or spaghetti sauce will work as well); divided

• 2 pieces of sliced mozzarella (or 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese)

• Favorite toppings: sliced mushrooms, chopped onions, peppers, pepperoni, pineapple chunks, tomatoes (Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box as well, using toppings such as using broccoli, avocado slices, caramelized onions, spinach and turkey salami)

Directions: Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. Spread a tablespoon of pizza sauce on each English muffin piece. Place favorite toppings on top of sauce (for softer veggies, sauté them first). Sprinkle cheese. Place English muffins on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven for 3 to 5 minutes (or until the cheese has melted). You can also place the pizzas in the microwave, but it will alter the taste a tad (make sure to toast the English muffins before placing the pizza sauce if you want to try this option).

Turkey Spiral Wrap

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/deed.en/

This lunch recipe is super easy. Below is our version, but you can get pretty creative with what you choose to add to your wrap—just take a look at some of the ingredients in the photo above.

• 2 whole wheat flour tortillas

• 4 pieces of turkey

• 2 slices of provolone cheese

• ½ cup of spinach leaves

• ¼ cup of ranch dressing

Directions: Warm up tortillas in a frying pan or microwave (do not use oil). Remove from pan and place on plate. Add a drizzle of ranch dressing on each tortilla. Add cheese, ham, and then spinach (in that order). Roll the tortilla like forming a taquito. Cut each rolled-up tortilla into 4 parts. You Should create a total of 8 pieces.

Chicken and Feta Cheese Pita Sandwich

Source: Kraft.com

This is our own twist on a recipe provided by Kraft. Note that you can use a can of tuna to replace the chicken (like in the photo above) or omit the meat all together for a veggie-pita that is just as tasty.

Ingredients:

pre-cooked grilled chicken strips (or shred last night’s left over chicken dinner)

• 1 whole wheat pita bread pockets, or one whole wheat pita bread, halved to form pockets

• 2 teaspoons of extra-virgin olive oil

• 2 teaspoons lemon juice

• 1 teaspoon of red wine vinegar

• ¼ cup of chopped tomatoes,

• ¼ cup of chopped cucumber (seeded and peeled)

• ¼ cup chopped green bell pepper

• ¼ cup chopped red

• ¼ cup of crumbled feta cheese

• ½ of shredded romaine lettuce

Directions: in a large bowl, mix together all ingredients except lettuce, bread and chicken strips. Take each pita pocket and fill it with the lettuce and chicken. Spoon the vegetable dressing on top of chicken.

Nadia Jones blogs at online college about education, college, student, teacher, money saving, movie related topics. You can reach her at nadia.jones5 @ gmail.com.

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