Breakfast and Lunch Ideas - Brandon,FL

A Banana in a hot dog bum with p-net butter and jelly drizzled on top to look like ketchup.... and you can sprinkle some sunflower seeds on it too...

C.,
my kids love this recipe for breakfast. Prepare rice the night before. For breakfast cook the rice with an egg, cheese, and throw in some cut up hot dogs. It's yummy, easy and nutritious.
Another quick meal is mac n cheese with cut up hot dogs and sweet peas. I'm vegetarian so I use morningstar veggie hot dogs, but you can use whatever you like. Good luck. M.

Hello C.,

here are some ideas,
eggwhite spanish omelet with veggies and salsa
old fashioned steel cut oats, with blueberries
instant or fast cooking barley with fruit of choice and milk
fresh fruit served with a protein shake

Lunches;
veggie burritos from heathfood store
organic chicken nuggets
leftover dinner served again at lunch (stuff that is good cold)
Corn tortilla with burger meat and beans
organic hot dogs
bean salad

there are many websites for additional ideas.

C. I went to your website and looked at your photography. WOW! You are a superb artisan!

Deb

I have a 7 and 2 year old. They enjoy different fruits, yogurts and they love waffles. You can keep those healthy with fruit toppings and also sausage. You can add meat and veggies to the eggs also.

My daughter loves to take ham rolled around gerkin pickles for lunch. (she's not a big bread eater) She is 4, but since your kids are a little older they may prefer what I do for myself. I take the ham slice and put a little veggie cream cheese and wrap it around a dill pickle. Sounds crazy but it's good. My daughter takes Raisins in her lunch and those Craisins, which are just cranberries dried. For breakfast we don't do much creative. Eggo's with fruit, Pancakes that I make with a heart shape mold, yogurt, cheesey scramble eggs. Good luck, finding creative new things is tough.
S. Gallo

I don't know if this helps, but my son loves the gogurt for breakfast, and also I make breakfast burritos with his favorite ingredients inside. For lunch and snacks he also likes the wraps with turkey, or ham and I put some of those already cut cheese cubes in a bag, he loves those. I don't know how healthy these are, but he also loves the jello w/fruit from Dole,they have tons of flavors so that can get you by for a few days. Hope this helps, S.

My two year old loves french toast and pancakes, I always add fresh fruit to make it healthier. He is also happy with yogurt and fresh fruit to dip in it.

My son loves breakfat burritos. I put eggs and cheese inside the flour tortilla and rolled it up and grill it for a few seconds til it's crispy. He loves dipping the burrito in the salsa. You can also do this for lunch, instead of using bread, use the tortilla - wrap sandwhich (lettuce, ham and mayo). Hopes this help~

Sandwiches made with pita bread are always a hit at my house. You can get really good pita at Nature's Food Patch or the Middle Eastern bakery on Busch in Temple Terrace. About once a month I buy a rotisserie chicken and use it for pasta, sandwiches, on top of frozen pizza and by itself, it also makes for quick easy lunches. Rot Chix, whole wheat pasta, olives, some frozen veggies, cheese and olive oil makes a great dinner and the leftovers get packed for lunch. Quasdilla are also easy and enjoyed cold for lunch around our house.

Breakfast is always a quick meal for all of us so I stick to premade stuff. Publix has a great new breakfast bread, lots of grains and fruit.

Breakfast borritos are the best!!!! if you cook all the items the night befor you can just throw them togethr in the shell and microwave it in the morning and it is quick!!! for lunch I am at a loss too....good luck!

My husband makes a breakfast "hash" with potatoes (you can used mashed or diced), sausage, eggs, cheese, onions, and bell pepper. Sometimes he adds mushrooms, too. He's made pumpkin pancakes with homemade whipped cream that were super delicious. We've also made crepes with a berry compote. We get alot of ideas from IHOP and Dennys.

For lunch, I like making quesadillas with grilled chicken or leftover steak and cheese. I sometimes add onions and peppers to them too. Lettuce wraps are good. You can wrap up just about anything. My husband (he's obviously the cook in our family) makes runzas (check it out online if you don't have a clue what they are, it's a Nebraska thing) or these yummy stuffed sandwiches. It's kinda like a pig in a blanket, but instead of a hotdog, it's ham, turkey, pastrami, cheese, tomato, onion, and potatoes. That recipe came from the Food Network site. The Dean boys had it on their show. It's something you could make on the weekend, with your kids' help of course, and make enough for lunches throughout the week.

Check out some online sites. There are soooo many websites with great recipes. We use the Food Network site alot, as well as, cooks.com and allrecipes.com.

A good resource is Super Baby Food (even though your kids are older..there are tons of creative recipes in there). Pampered Chef, Discovery Toys, and Williams Sonoma all publish kid cookbooks that take normal meals and make them fun.

Try this recipe:
1/2 C. natural peanut butter
1/2 C. honey
1 C. ground oats (or oat bran hot cereal)
1 C. dried milk

Mix together to form stiff dough. Shape into balls and serve. For variety, stack the balls to make a snowman, attach in a caterpillar shape, roll flat and cut with cookie cutters, roll flat and place between thin slices of apple for a sandwich, etc. Very versatile recipe, and contains 3 of the 4 major food groups. Serve with fresh fruit and it's a whole healthy meal.

For breakfast, try banana pancakes, peanut butter banana pancakes, sweet potato pancakes, apple pancakes, etc. You can make these ahead, like on a weekend make a double or triple batch, and freeze. Then when you want a quick meal or snack just throw 'em in the toaster. (pancakes can be made fun by making shapes or letters or messages in them)

Also breakfast: fruit and yogurt parfaits. Layer fresh cut fruit, yogurt and Kashi Go Lean Crunch in champagne flutes or margarita glasses. (Sometimes the container dresses up the meal.)

Kids love this one:
Roll 'Em Ups
2 C. Bisquick
2 C. Milk
2 eggs

Mix with whisk to form thin batter. Pour onto hot pan or griddle and spread thin into a 8-10 inch circle. When edges are dry and bubbles slow or stop, flip. Cook 30 more sec. and remove from pan. Spread with butter or peanut butter or jam (all fruit is a good alternative to jelly or jam). Optionally add chopped fruit such as bananas or apples or strawberries, placing in a row down the center. Then roll up and serve. These are like crepes but a little thicker and easier.

Lunch: take a string cheese and roll a thin slice of ham around it. YUM

Instead of tuna salad try chicken salad. Look for ones that have cranberries (craisins) or peanuts.

Other ways to have fun with food:
try backwards day: serve all your meals for one whole day in reverse (dinner snack lunch snack breakfast) Start the day with ice cream!

cut an ordinary sandwich with cookie cutters

Try Pampered Chef's Cut-N-Seal to make your own version of those Smuckers Uncrustables. You can do PB and J or tuna or chicken salad, even crab salad.

good luck! This is my area; I'm compiling recipes for a "what to feed your kid" cookbook!

H.