These adorable cheese-filled shamrocks start with our super simple bread dough recipe, with three quick additions: spinach Parmesan cheese mozzarella cheese sticks They’re a perfect idea for St. Patrick’s Day food, either in lunchboxes or serving a crowd. How to make cheese-filled shamrocks Prep the spinach & Parmesan Cook 1/2 cup frozen spinach (or fresh)…
Pesto Quiche Cups with Biscuit Dough
These delicious pesto quiche cups with biscuit dough are one of my kids’ favorite lunchbox ideas. And they’re an amazing make-ahead breakfast too. WHat you need to make pesto quiche cups with biscuit dough We use farm fresh eggs from our backyard chickens (which I highly recommend if only for the bug eating alone, but…
Pizza Pockets with Hidden Vegetables
What’s better than pizza for lunch? How about kid-friendly pizza pockets with hidden vegetables! My kids love the sweet and tangy flavor of our Veggie-Filled Tomato Sauce. But I was already roasting vegetables for quiche cups this week and decided to use a new method. The result is a super simple pizza sauce that’s packed…
Whole-Wheat Mini Tomato Galettes
These whole-wheat mini tomato galettes are a delicious lunch kids absolutely love. With a whole-wheat crust that comes together quick (and freezes like a dream) you can fill them with any combination of: fresh cherry tomatoes cheese (cheddar, goat, feta) sweet corn beans (white beans or chick peas) This delicious lunch (or light dinner) is…
Potato Galette Recipe with Feta, Corn & Dill
For a luxurious lunch or a hearty vegetarian dinner along side a salad, my kids LOVE this potato galette recipe. With whole-wheat flour, chick peas for protein and tons of potassium-rich potatoes, it’s a healthy meal. Add all that butter, sweet corn and creamy feta and you’ve got a treat. Here’s how I make our…
20 Lunch Box Ideas That Aren’t Sandwiches
With four kids in school, you can bet I’ve packed my share of lunch boxes! There’s nothing wrong with sandwiches but when you want to change things up (or use up leftovers) here are my kids FAVORITE lunch box ideas that break out of the school lunch rut. Also, these are their real lunch boxes,…
Shortcut Tomato Pie Made Miniature
I’ve been working on a tomato pie recipe all summer and guess what? Our Shortcut Tomato Pie is it! My friend Liz manages the kitchen at Weaver Street Market, our local co-op, and she lead me to this masterpiece. “Use biscuits as the dough!” she said. So we did and man, what a hit. Naturally…
What to do with Eggplant: Ratatouille 2 Ways (Your Kids Will Love Them Both!)
For the first time ever, I planted eggplant in my garden. And guess what? There’s now an Eggplant Situation out there. So you can guess what’s going on in here. All the eggplant recipes. I’ve experimented with Baked Eggplant Parmesan in summers past but this new idea is even simpler. Put a whole bunch of summer…
Toasted Bagel Bites
These toasted bagel bites are the simplest way to land a major hit at lunchtime. In three minutes flat, you can whip up one of our four kids’ favorite school lunches of all time. Plus, the mix-and-match options are endless. Use whole-wheat bagels, everything bagels or plain. Add peanut butter and jam, hummus, marinara sauce…
Make-Ahead Broccoli, Ham & Cheese Pockets
We loved our Spinach, Egg & Cheese Pockets for breakfast so much, I whipped up a version for lunch and the results are basically the same: DE-DE-DE-LICIOUS. And in between all that gooey cheese and satisfying ham is a cheeky serving of veggies. Tucked politely inside, along for the ride. Not bad for a bag…
Very Veggie Cheese Pinwheel Pizzas (Psst: The Sauce Is Loaded with Veggies!)
When I asked parents what dish they’d most like to see on our Foodlets Lunch menu for spring, one recipe beat out all the others. By a landslide. Very Veggie Cheese Pinwheel Pizzas! Loaded with our Veggie-Filled Tomato Sauce and bubbling cheese, these hand-held pizzas are the cutest way to get a cheeky serving of…
These Quiche Cups with Tomatoes, Cheese & Spinach are a hit for Dinner + School Lunches Too
Make these quiche cups for dinner and you’ve also got school lunches ready to go later in the week! I like to pair these hand-held quiches with a big salad on warm days or a deliciously simple soup on cold nights like we’re having now. Last night we had “Fairy Soup”, which starts with a…
Heart-Shaped Pizzas
There’s something so sweet about a Valentine’s Day lunch for kids, especially when it’s as simple to make as our heart-shaped pizzas. What you need to make heart-shaped pizzas Pizza crust (homemade or store-bought) Pizza sauce (A little marinara sauce works perfectly! Here’s my favorite homemade marinara recipe.) Mozzarella cheese Pepperoni (optional) Heart-shaped cookie cutter…
Instant Lunchbox Cornbread Muffins with Turkey Sausage & Spinach
My kids love cornbread. I make a honey-whole-wheat cornbread that’s packed with good-for-you ingredients and every time I do, everyone squeals. With de-light. But I don’t always have time to bake all the things from scratch. And I’m guessing you don’t either. That’s why I love these Instant Lunchbox Cornbread Muffins because drumroll please… You…
Make-Ahead Turkey Pesto Meatball Pockets
As the mom of four kids, here is one thing I believe: Making dinner doesn’t always have to be so hard. Because sometimes it is. So hard. The problem with managing a household full of four small kids is that I have all these Pinterest-y ideas about how our lives should work. I picture it…
Magical Mac & Cheese Cups (with Pureed Sweet Potato + Cauliflower Baked Right In!)
What’s the best lunch for kids? Leftover dinner. Especially when you can transform a crowd pleaser like Magical Mac & Cheese into…Magical Mac & Cheese Cups in minutes. Start with the basic recipe for Magical Mac & Cheese, which happens to include as much veggies as it does cheese, and add three quick things: 2…
Magical Mac & Cheese With Hidden Veggies in a Creamy Cheese Sauce
This is the best mac and cheese I’ve ever made. Kids love it. Parents feel good about serving it. And for those two reasons, I call it magical. With just a handful of ingredients, it’s possible to whip up a comfort food favorite like mac and cheese that just happens to be full of vegetables….
Taco Pop-Tarts
That’s right. These are a mash-up of tacos and Pop-Tarts. You can make them out of store-bought pie crust or make your own crust. They can be vegetarian or meaty. Or in our case, both. The whole thing can be served for lunch or dinner but if you’re looking for a hearty snack full of…
Week 3: 5 Healthy Lunches Kids Can Pack Themselves with Eggs & Mini Mozzarella Balls
This year we started a new strategy for school lunches. It’s called “3 Small Kids Pack Their Own Lunches, Even the Kindergartener”. Subtitle: “So Mommy Doesn’t Go Crazy.” Guess how it’s going? Surprisingly well! In this third installment, we’ve got a week’s worth of healthy lunch ideas, focusing on two main ingredients: mini mozzarella balls…
5 Healthy School Lunches Kids Can Make Themselves (With Chicken Breasts & Sausage)
You guys, I was so tired of packing lunches. And school hadn’t even started again yet. So this year I’m trying something different. It’s called Kids Pack Their Own Lunches. We’re on Week 2. It works like this: On the weekend I cut up 5-6 kinds of fruit and veggies and store them on a…